Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!

Ah yes, a day at home with absolutely gorgeous weather and so many things to do!  Of course we never accomplish everything we want to, but what does that really matter in the long run.  It'll all get done, or it won't.  The plan today was to continue with my bureau and table projects (I finally got the long-awaited burst of inspiration for the table), measure out the space for Sparky's patio that we decided we need to construct, and then split the wood that's taking up space in the garden.  So I put on my Sunday pants, which are colorfully adorned with various shades of paint, grass stains, hair dye and motor oil, and started out.

This is the back of the bureau; as you can maybe see, it's pretty bad.  The luan on the back is beyond repair but I can replace that easily enough. The rest of it is made from thicker pine and other than a few digs that I repaired with wood putty, is in good shape. 

The table, which I've also had for a couple of years, was a real find; it's maple with a butcher block top, and while it's not expensively made, it's sturdy and it's MAPLE.  Very pretty top, and I paid a whole dollar for it.  After turning over several different ideas in my mind for what I wanted it to look like, I finally decided to paint the legs and support bracket and stain the top.  Not an original idea, but what comes after that will set it apart.

I don't know if the thing originally had wheels on it or what, but the bottoms of the legs had these metal      insets with threaded holes.  They had to go, I'll just use some of those non-scratchy felt-bottomed furniture feet  I've got stashed somewhere.

So next, we started measuring out the space for Sparky's patio.  She and my dad had talked about it, but never got around to doing it.  So Preston and I are going to tackle it, and give her a nice spot to sit outside and entertain.  Preston, who I thought had built at least one of everything in his lifetime, has never done a paver patio before, so this will be a learning experience for both of us.  It seems pretty straightforward, but then everything does until you actually try to do it.  I said I was going to do the digging myself, but on seeing what a 12x12 space actually looks like, I took Sparky's advice and called our neighbor, Captain Bobcat. True to form, he said "I'll be right up".  And sure enough, 1/2 hour later we had a large hole in the yard.

Preston says if he had a Bobcat, he'd never leave the yard.

This week, as long as the weather holds, will see a bunch of stone and sand, and oh yeah...I guess we'll have to go get pavers at some point.  Of course this means I will have to repaint that ugly-ass table.  I guess at some point my dad must have hit a sale on obnoxious green paint.

We never did get around to splitting the wood, but there's time before I need to call the rototiller dude.  That's one thing Captain Bobcat doesn't have, a rototiller.  Surprisingly enough.  But that's ok,  that's why we have Thomas Reilly, #749-5296.  I went on and on about him after he tilled our garden last year, so I'm not going to do it again; just trust me, if you live in RI and need your garden tilled, he's your guy.