The balcony is done!!!

In between the rainy days, I've managed to get a second coat of stain on the deck! I've got all the boards back in place, the mess cleaned up, and all the outdoor stuff out of the living room and back where it belongs.

For 2-3 weeks, we lived with a kayak, deck chairs and a bunch of other stuff from the balcony in our living room.

It didn't all fit in the living room though - some of it had to stay out on the balcony. As you can see, the other kayak had to be propped in a corner to keep it out of the way. There is also the storage box that wouldn't fit in the living room. Every time I wanted to move a section of boards, I had to do a little shuffle with the boards and the box.

We have three sections of deck boards that needed cleaning and staining. You can see two of them here. I scrubbed top and bottom and stained both sides. (The bottom only got one coat of stain. We thought it would help them last longer, but I wasn't going to do more than one coat.)

We were lucky and had enough dry days to get one coat of stain on everything. (Including me...) We weren't so lucky with the second coat. I had to wait for the boards to dry out a bit between rain showers before they could be stained again. As well, I had to guess when there would be at least 24 hours of dry weather after staining so there would be enough time to dry before the next rain shower came. I didn't always guess correctly. Once section of boards was rained on within half a day. Dan was able to prop that section up against the building so the stained side was protected from the rain.

It all worked out in the end. Everything is back in place! No more kayaks in front of the couch, plant pots on the coffee table, drop sheets on the balcony... Betty the Cat is free to go outside again - no worries about bleach or wet stain getting on her paws now.

Next project... Replacing the taps in the bathroom sink...

Slimy Green Stuff

Wow! We're half-way through September already!! It's been another busy couple of weeks. September started with a sprint distance triathlon (Vancouver Triathlon) with two friends - Kelly & Suzanne.

Swim: 750m Bike: 18.8km Run: 5km

We had great weather for it (except for the short downpour just as I was going out on my bike...). The sprint is a perfect distance - not too hard, but long enough that you can challenge yourself. The day of the triathlon was also Suzanne's birthday (Happy Birthday!). What a great way to celebrate!

The following weekend was the Coho Run - a scenic 13km run (usually 14km, but the route was changed due to the damage in Stanley Park) from Kits to Ambleside. Pretty much all of it is along the water or through the park.

This week has been devoted to cleaning and staining the deck boards on the balcony. What a mess! The boards have never been cleaned in the whole time I've owned this place (10 years) and they had a thick coating of slimy green stuff. I was using water & bleach to clean them. (Yes, I was using bleach... Bad! Bad! Bad!) The Cat came out to see what I was up to and sat in a puddle of bleach water. I was a bit worried that she'd end up with a blonde butt, but she seems to have avoided any embarrassing fur catastrophes. The boards are now stained (and so am I - the red-brown colour goes nicely with my hair...). I'm hoping the rain holds off long enough to get another coat of stain on them...