A Little Hard Work Pays Off!

So it's been a while since my last blog - over a month to be exact. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about - it's just the opposite - I've been too darn busy! I've been traveling some for work, Morgan graduated, we had Mother's Day, Morgan's birthday, and a trip to Six Flags over Georgia just to name a few things that kept me from blogging last month. Anyways, things are finally settling down (as much as they ever can) now that it's the summer, so I finally had time to tackle a big job that's been hanging over my head: my deck.

My deck is very nice and large. When I first moved in, the owners had several varieties of flowers/plants/vines (not sure which as I am no gardner!) that were prettily growing up the posts and draping nicely over the rail. As I said, I'm no gardner, so they pretty much haven't been touched for two years. For those of you who are gardeners, I think you can see where this is headed. Long story short, my deck had become the Amazon! I didn't want to be out there because you could hardly move without the vines touching you. There were birds constantly in and out of the mess. And there were bugs! About the only thing I was doing anymore out back was using the grill. It was time to take back the deck!

Nicky helped me out (thank God - I could not have done the pruning myself, the stalks were 2-3 inches thick) and together we put in about 4 hours to get my deck looking beautiful. It was 92 degrees and humid as h***, but we accomplished:

- Cut away all the overgrown plants (including some not associated with the deck, and weeding the tubs the plants originate in) We found two birds nests and other unidentifiable objects hidden in the brush. The mess left behind was pretty gross.

- Pressure washed the deck and patio furniture (ok, the pressure washer I borrowed from my dad was crap, so pressure wash really means Nicky power sprayed the deck the old-fashioned way while I used the scrub brush on my hands and knees to get the stuck crap/stains removed)

- Removed the old broken table umbrella

- Restrung the party lights (although we did lose a few strands I will have to replace due to all the chopping at the brush!)

- Spruced up the place with s few potted Petunias and a cute little pillow

The deck looks awesome! I am very pleased with the end result and have already gone out there twice (even though it's 100 degrees and hot as Hades) since we finished it. It was backbreaking work, so today, I'm treating my sore muscles to a day at the pool!

Enjoy the final product of our labors. (I didn't think to take a before picture, as that would have made this after picture really impressive!)