Saturday, February 23, 2019

Rock Slides and Rain, Porches and LSU...Oh And A Cat Update

In my best Tina Turner voice...."I can't stand the rain against my window...bringing back sweet memories." Who remembers this great BJ Thomas song?..."Raindrops keep falling on my head," Yes, here in Western North Carolina and Eastern TN we are, "Singing in the rain, just singing in the rain." Hoping that the rain doesn't turn into..."Purple Rain." If you didn't know, we are experiencing Texas kind of rain, well, actually this is Texas rain because it came up from the gulf coast. With all this rain a rock slide has occurred on  I-40 and has both east and west bound lanes closed at the TN/NC border.

Roy received an unexpected call yesterday that has made both of us happy. The contractor that built and remodeled our front porch has been so busy building homes he has not been able to take on remodeling work but he can begin our back porch in a couple of weeks. Our plan has been the screening in and covering our deck out back, with add ons of electrical outlets and a small uncovered porch to the entrance for quite some time. I have gathered several names of contractors in the area that people recommend. Each time I went to make the call about giving us a bid, I didn't follow through. With this time in between, the search for furniture and the like has stopped because, no storage. But with this word yesterday, the better part of the afternoon was spent looking at websites for ideas. My personal thing is trying not to do the back porch in wicker...especially white wicker. It's pretty but predictable. Doug, my brother, texted ideas with me yesterday. He is so creative with using the unusual for decor. Trying to use this space in the best way, I have pretty much come to the conclusion that a metal daybed with an outdoor/water resistant fabric for the mattress is a good way to go. This frees up space for a couple of side chairs. There are several local stores that do a great job on re-purposing furniture and that is where I might start the chair search and for other ideas. Bought a table and a beverage cart several years ago for that porch and they are still in boxes, in the garage. Through the couple of years delay we have talked through several ideas, even including an outdoor TV and an outdoor fireplace. But in that time we realized the entertainment is outdoors, so no TV and while the fireplace is still in the thought process, we are backing away from it. Things I have learned from building our home in Katy and purchasing this house in the mountains, you don't end up using things as much as you thought. Totally, we use our indoor fireplace in Katy, but not the outdoor one so much. Of course the weather here is more conducive for fireplace use. Yes, I should be looking at lighting fixtures but now I am researching automatic shades for those sunsets in summer and shades to provide a little protection from the elements.

Well, I had to take a little time out to watch the second half of the LSU basketball game. Thank you Inez for reminding me the game was on. LSU won in overtime over TN. Woot!

Strawyer and Buddy had a window encounter today. Nothing wild but it is fun to watch. Riley is around and ignores my presence but is happy to eat the food. Mama Cat showed up today and was mean to everyone. The backyard is so mushy. Can't even get to the feeder to feed the birds. After today it seems like we have some dry days ahead and for this we are thankful.

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