Our new dining area

Yes. It's a nightime shot and so it's difficult to see everything. We've been busy, though. We finished building the trellis on the old frames from the second carport roof. We put more dirt and other material out onto the space where we removed the gravel stones -- the old driveway. And we managed to move the compost and put it behind a vanity fence, which you can just barely see in the far left corner. Maxim likes it. She says it makes the yard look nice. The grass is also coming in some more as we have had a little bit more rain (although still far less than what is expected this time of year). Friday we completed installing the ceiling straw panels (as you can see) and a ceiling fan and so we had a small deck-opening party to celebrate. We moved the dining room table out to accommodate everyone, but now that it's out there, we haven't moved it back. We have to move it in on Tuesday when we leave for New England. But we intend to move it right back out there when we return.

I did not get the stump burned out, although we are down to the very last remnants. One more burn (perhaps even tonight) and it will be ready. We intend to set up a small "primitive area" with log seating and a fire pit out under the eucalyptus tree. You can see in the last shot that new facing is on as well. I installed the new joists and put on the facing during the week. I intended to paint it, but I could not find my paint chip sample when I arrived at the hardware store and I didn't want to guess. I'll get to that in August. We have more landscaping to complete and a couple of blue planter boxes to fill. But we're closing in on the final stages of our summer renovation of the back yard.

New Deck (or, how to recycle a roof)

You might remember (or be reminded by scrolling down a few entries) that the back carport had two roofs. When Ken and Cor visited last April, Ken and I decided to remove the second roof. It was an eyesore and it leaked and it just seemed to take up space for no good reason. We didn't keep our car back here and we usually just stuck a few things to store, careful not to put them under the leak. Removing the extra roof set off a chain reaction that went something like this: once the roof was on the ground and we began cutting it up, I noticed that the joists were made of pressure treated lumber in good shape. I could make something... Marcela and I have been tossing around different ideas for the space out the back door for three years. Having lumber on hand helped decide it. For two weeks I sunk footings, squared frames, and installed joists. For another two weeks I attached decking. Viola! We have a deck. 12' by 16', plenty of room for us. We are covering the ceiling with reed (you can see it piled on the edge of the deck) installing an outdoor ceiling fan and lighting, and will seed the area that used to be the gravel driveway under the old roof with grass. When the Abuelos visited over the winter holidays they brought along a woven hammock. I decided to see if it would fit between our palm trees and (as you can plainly see) it does. One of these days we will upgrade to a real hammock, but for now, a camping pad inside the woven cloth makes a very comfortable place to rest. Marcela has said for some time that all we need to do is fix up a few things and we'll have a great backyard. She's been at the plants for a long time. And this summer we discover the back yard. Morning breezes come in off of Tampa Bay and we sip our coffee and mate and nibble breakfast while the cats chase anoles across the back yard. Yesterday a pilated woodpecker lumbered it way through our oak tree. Crow-sized with a brilliant tuft of red jutting out of the top of his head.

There were extra pieces of pressure treated lumber when the deck was finished and those were fashioned into two planters, which we painted blue. We will grow kitchen herbs and flowers in these. I built a step down into the yard which still needs decking to be finished. Marcela painted both back doors as well. She wants me to close in the electrical box and water heater. And if you scroll back to the top picture, you can see in the far right side the old metal frame for the old second roof, now being strung to carry the weight of corral honeysuckle, a Florida vine that produces a bright orange flower.