So Many Decks!

 I told you about the new deck porch yesterday. Tomorrow, I will be crawling under it to retrieve the pieces of wood HeWho left under there as he worked. There is a 4' 4X4 under there! There were a bunch of scrap pieces that I collected into a pile as he worked. Didn't get them all and I saw him picking up short pieces of the cedar rail pieces. Maybe 6" long and my mind was planning what I could do with them. I thought he was just adding them to my pile.

HE TOOK THEM TO THE DUMP and disposed of them. One would think he didn't even KNOW me. I save stuff. I compost for my organic garden. I am so upset about this. All those pieces of treated wood. I have no idea what they would have become! I save popsicle sticks to label my vegetables I plant. I save all those sets of plastic cutlery. If we ever have a crowd of folks to feed, I got it covered. I am thrifty. My Dad was thrifty and so was my mother-in-law. I am not as thrifty as she was. I will not be washing that plastic cutlery after it is used, it will go in the burn barrel.

You might recall that we also built a deck and steps up the embankment. The pizza oven lives up there. One of my excursions of buying used stuff had us in an old barn picking up cement blocks. The owner was going to demolish the barn and told us to take anything we wanted. This was not music to the ears of HeWho cannot hear, but I loaded all manner of stuff including some pallets and an old barn door.

I dragged two of the pallets to my She Shed and with great effort placed the blocks to hold the pallets. HeWho helped me get it level (with the new laser level his wife gifted him). I placed the pallets on top and was going to use the barn door as the floor until HeWho likes to spend money and complain about it bought new decking boards. Six boards 6" X 8'. My little deck is quite small.

I salvaged the old deck railing form the front porch and used it at the highest end of the deck. Unfortunately, not enough railing was left to go around the deck. Just as well, since the door would not open all the way if there was railing all the way around. I suppose I should have measured that before I decided on the width of the deck. I have a baby gate coming that will keep Eddie in place when I am working in my shed. Once the door is propped open, I can pull the gate across the unrailed part.

Eddie likes all the new decks. He really just likes to follow me around and explore while I work my gardens. He is good about coming back to me when I call him, but those rogue pit bulls still show up from time to time and I just can't take that chance.

Eddie just had a birthday and turned 7. His muzzle has some gray in it, but he is still quite a handsome boy. He shares a birthday with my granddaughter, Layla. She is now 24 and such a beautiful young lady. I am proud to be her Gramma.

My old girl, Toni Louise, is getting old and slow. Her muzzle is very gray and her eyes are filmy with cataracts. The best guess is that she is around 16. She was a young dog when we adopted her. With her long legs and sense of adventure, she kept us on our toes every time she escaped, earning her middle name of Louise, after my old Saint Bernard who was apt to escape and run at every opportunity.

 Always with that endearing goofy face she made when caught, she was a big baby. I miss her. Nobody would bother me when she was by my side. Her mere size was intimidating. Not that she would hurt anyone intentionally, it was the little doxie at my feet who would bite you whether you earned a bite or not. He just didn't like anyone but me. I miss him, too. He has been gone for 7 years and I still sometimes expect to see him around a corner. 

I know Toni's life span is drawing to an end. She never escapes anymore. She walked out the door just the other day, but did not run away. She sleeps most of the time now and is missing a lot of teeth. She has a special diet of soft food that she gets to eat without being bothered by the other dogs. She is fine with Eddie, but Mr. BoJangles has made it his life mission to irritate her. She has taken to sleeping under our bed instead of in it. I sometimes have to wake her for a treat. If I don't, Bo will wake her and taunt her with his treat. I am dreading the day she goes over the bridge.