The Motivation Continues

It was something I wanted to do last fall, but I got busy doing some painting inside and outside. Then spring rolled around but it was always wet and never really hot enough to pull out the pressure washer and clean the patio deck. Wednesday was the perfect day for that. Temperatures never got into the 80s, a slight wind from the NNE at 17 mph and bright sunshine to help dry things out.

The real highlight of the day though, was remembering not only where everything attached on the pressure washer without looking at the owners manual but also the steps to follow to get it to run. Last fall before doing the sidewalk and driveway I had to revert back to the owners manual because I could remember nothing about the machine nor how to operate it. So I was off to a good start. The hounds were inside, patio chairs and table were moved to the yard, without me hurting myself in someway. So things were looking good.

It would be pretty easy to clean it. I have been here two years and three months and I know the deck had not been cleaned during that time. I am guessing it had not been cleaned off besides using a regular garden hose in many years, maybe not at all since they built it. Of course the angle of the sun was going to be a factor after things were wet. Depending on the sun, it might be hard to tell what had been done or not.

I like pressure washing so it was not a problem to move the machine around the yard. Where I cleaned each individual brick you see there. From there I moved the machine further right and started washing the fence. I was able to get all the way around inside the fence without using an electrical extension cord or adding more hose to the one I was using. I only had to move the machine. The fence was another thing I had been wanting to clean but I didn't want to do it by hand.

By the time I finished the fence I was pretty proud of myself and how clean the patio deck looked. Before it was completely dry I wasn't sure it was going to have any color to it by the way it looked partially dry. 

Of course anytime I am doing some sort of project, one leads to another unexpectedly. In this case I had made the mistake of trying the washer on the white gutter and overhang while standing on the ground without dragging the ladder out. That gray looking color on metal, along with the normal dirt came off quite easy ... without adding soap. I was able to get this corner of the house done ... but a different project popped up about the time I was finishing the gutter.

I saw some dirt running down the siding and one thing led to another ... where being careful to keep the spray nozzle angled downward and going with the flow of the siding where there was a seam ... I cleaned this side of the house, the front and side of the shed. It was amazing the see the amount of dirt coming off the side of the house. I use to do the about every spring on the old house up north. It had aluminum siding that I had painted over. Still I had to be careful with the angle of the nozzle so I wasn't shooting water up inside the siding.

The hounds and dog were not happy they were not outside during all these activities, frolicking in the wet grass and on the wet patio. Believe me if they were outside they would have been all over the place with that washer running. If you look close you will see the three amigos just inside that door wanting outside.

At the time I wondered which one would be the first one to track their wet paws across my cleaned deck. I had no doubt it would happen but I didn't want it to happen. There was really only two places the ground was really wet ... along the edge of the patio and I doubted any of them would walk there. The other place was along the side of the great room where the overhang and gutter had been dripping like a heavy rain ... plus the water from the siding was in that area along the side of the house.

Well there is only one of them that ALWAYS runs under the overhang on that side of the house, especially if he is running from the shed. The shed door was open because I was putting the pressure washer and accessories back inside. Not only did his paws pick up the puddles of water and dirt on the shed floor but as I closed the shed door, he went sprinting along the side of the house through the small mud puddles .....

made a left hand turn up on my clean deck and headed inside thinking he was going to be fed his late lunch. Not only did I have muddy paw prints on my clean patio deck, but also along the laminate floor and then on the kitchen tile and down the hallway .... because he always eats his meals in the computer room.

Walter was the guilty one .... I guess he was just showing me what will happed after the next rain we have. 

This morning I had planned to move things out of the mud room, ie: dog food containers and clean that from top to bottom. Like it happens sometimes with me, only one thing can redirect my thought process and before I know it I am doing another project and not the one I planned on doing. This morning that "trigger" was bringing in the trash and recycling bins back to the garage from out by the street for pickup. Then it turned into a different project.

I have no plans on buying any more puppies that have to be crate trained or even stay in a crate while I am gone. I had a small crate and a large crate that someone could use. So I decided to clean them up, wipe off the cobwebs and hose them off, take photos and sell them on Offer Up. I've never sold anything on there but I hear it is a good place to sell garbage sale type stuff.

The large dog crate was sitting between the recycling bin and the cardboard box, a box that the tv came in last February. I had plans for those boxes also.

I started with Walter's old crate. As I was using the screwdriver to open up some clips that held the crate together, so I cold collapse it .. those thin metal clips broke as soon as I tried bending them back. So that crate went into the trash.

I wasn't taking that chance with the large crate but I also changed my mind about selling it. They are expensive brand new but this one was well used and the plastic floor was damaged. Years ago Stella decided since I had locked all the possible ways of her escaping with small brinks padlocks, maybe she could escape by eating the hard plastic floor. I have no idea how she did that but about a 1/3 of the floor was broken up by the time I got home that day in Arizona.

So instead of selling it ... I decided to donate it to someone that could use a large dog crate. This is normal neighborhood activity. I was told when I moved in that if I had anything I needed to give away or get rid of, just set it out front and someone would take it. Well it works. Two years ago I set a large gas grill the seller left at the house ... out front and it was gone within hours.

Monday I sat two large patio chairs that I thought I might repair, out in that same spot and they were both gone by the afternoon. I will leave the dog crate out through the weekend but I doubt that it will take that long for someone to pick it up. A small water and food dish are included, with a short stand for the bowls.

With those out of the way it was time to finally break down the two boxes that my 65" tv came in. The first one I kept for almost two years and the second was the replacement tv I bought last February. Why the replacement ??? Long time readers might remember how Henry and Sampson was playing one Sunday morning and as Samson ran after Henry in the corner of the room, he nipped at the tv screen and destroyed the picture. You can read about what happened here. 

I cut up the two Sony tv boxes with a box cutter and almost filled that recycling bin. (green lid) Then my neighbor said she would get rid of the large pieces of styrofoam, so she took them. That left me with a clean corner for my bikes. 

Some might ask why did I keep the tv boxes so long? You'll love this answer. Although I did not have any problems moving my older Sony tv from Indiana to Arizona in a small U-Haul trailer in May 2019, without a box ... just wrapped in bubblewrap ... I decided to keep the boxes just in case I moved again. You read that right ... just in case I moved again.

So maybe today was a new beginning by getting rid of the tv boxes, signifying that I am not moving anywhere. It is hard to hear those words come out of my mouth. Like me saying I am keeping my car forever .... I know the chances of that are slim.

Yet .... when I see the following photos, from last winter ... it still makes me want to move, no matter how nice the house is and how perfect is is for all of us.

Not only has it happed every winter I have lived here and in some springs when it is raining every other day ... buy my neighbors have all told me "it has done that forever, over 60 years. They were young kids living next door 60 years ago.  Believe it or not, all the grass grew back naturally this year after those floods. I did not add any grass seed or fertilize this year just to see what it would do naturally.

There will be a couple of differences this winter though with hopes of winning the flooding war. I have added top soil to some of the low spots. All summer I have mowed the grass inside the fence 3-4" tall after and I plan to mow it tall before winter. That way the winter temps and the wet yard should not kill the grass and not make all of these mud spots where water can stand. 

You have to understand that stuff like this just drives me literally insane ... then when the dogs go outside and track their muddy paws back inside ... I go over the cliff with insanity. When I saw the backyard photos in March of 2021 before moving back here in May 2021 I did not see signs in the yard where the water had damaged the grass. In fact by the way it looked, flooding in the backyard was not even a thought in my head.

So there was another major thing checked off the to do list today. I have only two more projects that I call major ones to do. After that it is just doing a deep cleaning inside. Like a spring cleaning in the fall. 

College football is back on tv tonight to really start the 2023 season. Five days/nights in a row, there will be college football on multiple tv channels. With pro football to follow in a couple of weeks, then MLB Playoffs and World Series ... it might be my favorite time of year ... in addition to great fall weather.

The hounds and dog are in their deep sleep afternoon siesta, with Walter snoring really loud, I finish this post. I might have time and enough energy to get that mud room wiped down and the floor mopped yet today.

It was another successful day here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana and some more things checked off on that long "to do" list.