If you don't live in SA, you may not be so easily entertained by an hour or two of solid, aquifer filling, grass watering, temperature lowering rain.
We have set records for the number of 100+ degree days in a month this year. AlGore may actually pack-up and move here.
All that aside, I offer you a few minutes of San Antonio rain, before we go back to the ol' fireball which is certain to return tomorrow.
I think we can all agree that any rain is most welcome, so I'm not complaining or anything. But... I did just stain my deck yesterday afternoon thinking that perhaps we could go a full 24 hours without another downpour.
The goofy thing is, this little quick and easy project was a fiasco from the word go.
I zip down to Home Depot and grab a can of Thompson's deck stain with the idea that I would use my pump sprayer to apply a nice thin coat. Of course, I get the pump sprayer from the shed, fill it up with Thompson's, pump it up and commence to do nothing. I guess the sprayer part of the pump sprayer is jacked up.
If you own a pump sprayer, you know that once you pump it up, there is a lot of pressure built up. If you turn the handle too quickly, the stain or bug spray or whatever is in the pump will no kidding, spray everywhere, but mostly directly into your face. I know this from a previous experience.
So, I slowly and gently relieved the pressure, only receiving a slight misting along the bottom of my shorts and knees. That will give you a golden tan for sure.
Anyway, the stain can also be applied by brush or roller, so I busted out a bucket, grabbed a roller and commenced to rolling. The only problem is, I didn't have a roller screen or a tray to really thin out the amount of stain going onto the roller itself. This meant that perhaps a third of my stain went directly into the cracks between the boards and now the dirt and rocks under my deck also have a nice golden tan.
Oh, there was one other issue. As soon as I had rolled about three or four feet of deck, I realized that the "Natural Cedar Color" that I expected to be fairly clear, was actually no kidding, a color. And it looked sort of orange.
My wife was inside watching TV at this point in time, so I was hoping to work quickly and finish as quick as possible and not mention it to her until perhaps later in the evening.
And just about the time I had half the deck finished, I ran out of Thompson's. And that was about the time my wife walked out on the patio and gave me the look. Instead of simply telling me how horrible the deck looked, she told me how horrible it looked and offered to get the power washer to start washing it off! How thoughtful.
I assurred her that once the stain soaked in and dried, it would have more of a natural cedar appearance.
I made my way back to Home Depot to buy another can. Oh, did I mention that I had purchased the last gallon of the Thompson's Natural Cedar Color? Instead, there was a different Thompson's product that was just a few dollars more and it also was some form of Cedar shade. But as soon as I got home and opened it up, I could tell immediately that it was darker.
I also had purchased a roller tray so at least, I figured, I wouldn't be slopping it on so heavily - maybe that would make it lighter.
I finished the second half of the deck and immediately realized that in spite of putting it on thinner than the first gallon, this was clearly darker than the first. So what would you do? I quickly re-did the first half of the deck with the new color, and to be honest, I'm pretty pleased with the final color, even though it was not at all planned.
So, 24 hours later, rain and all, here is the deck. I personally like the color. And my wife didn't bust out the power washer while I was at work today, so maybe she can live with it.
I'm sorry if you've been doing your part by checking in from time to time only to find that I haven't been doing my part by adding additional important information for you to read and look at! I could use a three-day weekend about twice a week, just to keep up with everything.
Just yesterday, I took off early from work so my wife and I could do some running around to get ready for the weekend. As I was emptying my wallet into the gas tank, we got something not seen so often in these parts this year; rain!
This is the view from the gas station at HEB on Grissom/Culebra/Tezel/471 (an intersection with a name like that is what happens when people randomly change street names for no apparent reason).
4th of July weekend or not, let it rain, I can work around it!
You know that old deal about the US Postal Service and the slogan "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds", yea, well that ain't really their slogan. But if it were official, they could add Fire to the motto.
Turns out some semi-junk mail of mine was caught up in an accident involving a mail truck on the way to San Antonio which resulted in a fire of some sort. The USPS folks recovered all the mail that wasn't burnt to a crisp, and stuck each charred item in an envelope with an explanation and got it to the rightful recipients.
Now silly me, I thought it was some sort of marketing ploy when I looked through the clear envelop and saw the charred edges of my mail, so I opened it. Now, my office pretty much smells like my wife tried to burn the place down.
But, good on the Postal folks anyway. It could have been a check from Ed McMahon or something important, so I'm glad they got it to me, still moist from the fire department and charred from the fire. Oh, and I hope the driver is okay.
A few quick things to report. First, We went over to the HEB at Grissom/Tezel/Culebra to grab an item or two and saw a great deal of turmoil in the center front of the store where the cash registers are. Thankfully, it turns out that they are installing those automated, self-service, do-it-yourself type registers where you can go in, grab something, ring it up yourself and pay without having to interact with your friendly HEB cashier.
Please note: If you are too stupid to operate one of these devices, please enroll yourself in a course or something before you get in line in front of me. Thanks.
For the most part, I think these things operate on the weight of the item scanned - in other words, if you purchase a box of HoHo's, the machine knows the weight, so you can't try to trick it by scanning a pack of gum, but sneakily placing the HoHo's in your bag. It will note the difference in weight. This is also why you can't scan in one item but throw in a dozen. Ya filthy thief.
I only mention this because some people, not trying to do anything illegal, will scan an item but put it in their basket instead of on the convenient holding shelf, or some lady will stick her purse on the shelf along with her HoHo's, then it requires an intervention by a certified HEB cashier and this little situation slows me down while I'm standing behind them waiting to get out with a hot fresh loaf of French Bread! So while we have time during construction, get your act together, people.
We got out and got home just in time to avoid yet another downpour.
Attention God: We get it. No, no need for an ark; repenting shall commence shortly. But if we can keep it going just long enough to beat the aquifer level record, that'd be nice. Thanks.
Speaking of nature, does anybody know what kind of flower this is? 
We pulled these plants - we called them corn plants because of the stalk like appearance - from our front yard and threw them into a tub in the back. They have grown wonderfully for several years and now, with all the rain, they are blooming. If 
you know what they are, please tell me.
We got up and got out onto the back porch before 7AM this morning, hoping to beat the sun that would surely be pounding on our backs as we finished with the tile. By most accounts, doing the grout is the easy part of the whole process. Sure, it's a messy business, but other than watching my wife crawl around on her hands and knees with a grout sponge, I didn't think I'd have to get involved.
Important Note: If you go with a 1/8 inch grout line, you have to use a grout tool to get all the excess thin-set from in between so you will have some space to put the grout. I did not realize this when I insisted that we go with a 1/8 inch grout line instead of a normal sized gap. Hmmm. Quite a dilemma.
So, there I was on my butt (my knees are shot and crawling on them is a NO-GO), with a grout tool trying to stay several rows ahead of my wife and she did the easy part.
Things were going quite smoothly, considering that we were both rather sore from yesterday's tile laying. With only a few breaks for coffee and to mix more grout, we were well within reach of finishing before the sun and the heat would come for us.
After doing the sponge-off to get most of the leftover grout, we thought it would be a perfect time to go do our Sunday HEB Plus ritual, then come home and bust out the mop and finish things up.
As my wife was doing some last minute touch-ups, I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready. When I got out, I was surprised to hear what sounded just like rain, but there was no possibility of that since I could see through the light in the windows that it was already sunny. On top of that, if it really were raining, surely my wife would be screaming up a storm (no pun intended).
Intrigued, I thought perhaps I should investigate further, like actually looking through the curtains and out the window. Yep, full sun. And yep, that sound was rain!
I ran downstairs to find my wife sitting happily in front of the computer playing Solitaire while our freshly grouted tile was getting a nice soaking. I yelled, "It's raining!" to which she promptly responded, "Yeah. Right." and continued with her game of solitaire.
In the process of grabbing the electric fan (still plugged in and running), my new drill and circular saw (both very much soaked), and a boom box (still blasting Jack-FM), I got completely drenched.
And then the rain stopped.
So, 24 hours later, rain and all, here is the deck. I personally like the color. And my wife didn't bust out the power washer while I was at work today, so maybe she can live with it.
This is the view from the gas station at HEB on Grissom/Culebra/Tezel/471 (an intersection with a name like that is what happens when people randomly change street names for no apparent reason).
Now silly me, I thought it was some sort of marketing ploy when I looked through the clear envelop and saw the charred edges of my mail, so I opened it. Now, my office pretty much smells like my wife tried to burn the place down.
A few quick things to report. First, We went over to the HEB at Grissom/Tezel/Culebra to grab an item or two and saw a great deal of turmoil in the center front of the store where the cash registers are. Thankfully, it turns out that they are installing those automated, self-service, do-it-yourself type registers where you can go in, grab something, ring it up yourself and pay without having to interact with your friendly HEB cashier.
For the most part, I think these things operate on the weight of the item scanned - in other words, if you purchase a box of HoHo's, the machine knows the weight, so you can't try to trick it by scanning a pack of gum, but sneakily placing the HoHo's in your bag. It will note the difference in weight. This is also why you can't scan in one item but throw in a dozen. Ya filthy thief.
We got out and got home just in time to avoid yet another downpour.
We pulled these plants - we called them corn plants because of the stalk like appearance - from our front yard and threw them into a tub in the back. They have grown wonderfully for several years and now, with all the rain, they are blooming. If 
you know what they are, please tell me.
We got up and got out onto the back porch before 7AM this morning, hoping to beat the sun that would surely be pounding on our backs as we finished with the tile. By most accounts, doing the grout is the easy part of the whole process. Sure, it's a messy business, but other than watching my wife crawl around on her hands and knees with a grout sponge, I didn't think I'd have to get involved.
As my wife was doing some last minute touch-ups, I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready. When I got out, I was surprised to hear what sounded just like rain, but there was no possibility of that since I could see through the light in the windows that it was already sunny. On top of that, if it really were raining, surely my wife would be screaming up a storm (no pun intended).
I ran downstairs to find my wife sitting happily in front of the computer playing Solitaire while our freshly grouted tile was getting a nice soaking. I yelled, "It's raining!" to which she promptly responded, "Yeah. Right." and continued with her game of solitaire.
