All Decked Out gets a facelift!

Every three or four years, the siding at All Decked Out has to be restained.  It's a big job, but we've got a good friend who is an expert at it.  So for the past few days, Luke (assisted by his wife, Ruth-Ann), have been hard at work on All Decked Out.  Here are some pictures to show the "work in progress." 

After pressure washing the decks, Luke sprays every spindle - tedious work.

Then he moves around to the front and starts working near the front door.

 Pretty soon, the ladder comes out.  Notice the spot in the lower right where the grapevine heart-shaped wreath has been removed.















He even gets up on the roof and stains the chimney!
















And here's what it looks like when it's done (the weather held just long enough to finish the job - as you can see, it's now cloudy and the wind is blowing down the leaves).  First, the hot tub deck.















Here's the front - all finished.















In case you're wondering if all this work made a difference, here's the front porch before it was stained.

And here it is after the staining is complete.















Oh, by the way, Luke and Ruth-Ann had a "helper," too.  He was right below them - near the steps under the hot tub deck.















Thank you, Luke and Ruth-Ann, for a great job - and for all your help to us!

Trash talk

I know - this is really a stretch - from a post about church to a post about trash.  But I just thought I'd tell you about our trash bin at All Decked Out.

If you've been to All Decked Out, you may have had the problem one of our guests recently had.  They called us because they couldn't find the trash bin.

The problem is that it's about 50 feet from the cabin, out by the main road.  But it's hidden by a bush that has grown up.  Here's a picture to show you where it is:

















The trash bin used to be on the other side of this bush, closer to the cabin.  But a really big bear knocked it over (we think) and we had to put it in a little more "level" position.  So we moved it here.  We do have a sign just inside the front door that tells our guests where it is.  But apparently, not everybody sees the sign.  So what do you think?  Should we cut down the bush so it's easier to see?