Rainy day projects

OK, I give. The rain is clearly settling in for the long haul, so I may as well accept it.

I inherited a beat up old potting bench from my sister when she moved, which I think I will try to fix up a bit. So far I've sanded it down and need to do some carpentry repair. Any suggestions for a vintage-type finish? It is cedar, previously stained but weather worn and now sanded in some spots down to bare wood. I'm thinking of painting it with a very diluted water-based paint (almost like white wash, perhaps with gray or green), sanding again to distress it, then coating it with Thompsons water seal. (?) Any other ideas?

Another rainy project, of course, is to clean out the barn - yuk, boring.

Also need to build a trellis for a honeysuckle that got whacked back to the ground this year and is in dire need of a place to climb.

Also have some french doors in the barn that need refinishing.

Guess I really can't justify laying on the couch in my sweats with a good book, huh... dang.

I dunno - couch/sweats/book gets my vote...

Couch + book gets my vote as well. There will be lots of time to do those other chores. I'm telling myself that the rain is here to tell us to slow down. Cook something good, walk the dog in the drizzle, wear warm socks, make a fire in the fireplace.

I don't know about the finish. You might consider some of the boat finishing products to protect against moisture.

My neighbors put a 15' 4 x 4 (or maybe bigger) in the center of her bed with copper pipes sticking out on the sides. She's draped that in netting to give her Akebia something to crawl up and she's put hogwire around the post at the base to keep the deer from tipping the plant off at the base.

I have an ephemeral lonicera going up a started iron hook in the ground and I have the native lonicera ciliosa growing up huge rotted trunks through trees and ultimately, it looks like, growing up themselves - don't know how they do that.

I agree that the lonicera seem to create their own support, but need something to get started with. I got a cool piece of driftwood for the top, to remind me not to let them go beyond that point into the gutters. This plant's primary job is to screen the PUD meter box, so I have to also be sure the little numbers are visible to my meter reader. Last year we restained the house and tore down the prior lattice, starting anew this year. At this point, it's just sprawling all over the ground, I really need to get after this project.

Oh, got it. Does ours die back? I guess the woody part remains - like a grape, right. I can't for the life of me remember what mine did. It's neglected, clearly. This year it'll be bigger, though, and will get back at me for that.

I like to keep climbers off of structures - I have no patients for pulling them off of walls, fences, etc. Hey, how about those "lattices" that are create from wire/string. You know, where there are a series of hooks into something at top and something below and the vines grow up wire stretched in between. I love the idea.

We put something similar to that on the facia of our deck for an evergreen clematis. I'm hoping it will fill in quickly and hide the wires. Right now it's rather industrial looking.

Hmm, I hear a crackling fire calling me - and the couch - and the book - ribs in the oven. What's wrong with a little rain...???

I cleaned out my closet and hauled out 5 garbage bags for Goodwill. Clothes I've outgrown and hoped to fit into again. NOT gonna happen. Bye, bye!
My daughter came and we wandered through the upstairs bedrooms yesterday afternoon. I purged alot to her and got her to take some of her "stuff" that has been stored since she left home 8 years ago.
I am sick of the rain and getting a wee bit depressed over it. I'm going to go watch movies.

I got out my winter crochet project, since it's not feeling like spring or summer anyway. It's either that or clean the house and I'm working on seeing how long I can go without vacuuming up pet hair.

Here's the result of my rainy day project. My 7 year old helped me make a bird feeder out of a soda bottle and wooden spoon. Haven't seen anyone perch there yet, but I'm hoping.

*Like*

Great project Kymmco.

I'm sure you'll get a visitor soon, it looks very tempting! I can't seem to keep up with the demand on my feeder, I think this might have something to do with it, DH caught him in the act this morning:

I went out this morning with your words of encouragement ringing in my ears and glanced at the new feeder - which really irritated the little chickadee sitting there munching away :) So, I've had my first visitor sighting, and apparently there have been many more since the level of food in the feeder looks significantly depleted.

Success!

Excellent. They can always tell a feeder made with love . . .