I crack myself up with that title. The total square feet of the fence I need to stain is just under 200. Hah! That’s nothing which is why I was so willing to do it myself this week.
Taking advantage of a couple of dry days between the usual intermittent winter rain storms here, I knew I had to get this done by Sunday. So yesterday I took down the Christmas lights along the fence, moved all the potted plants away, cleared out the little Rubbermaid storage shed in the corner and moved it out of the way. It needs to be off the house wall anyway for the tenting. I also went ahead and raked back the pebbles along that corner of the wall. Yes, this task has a dual purpose 🙂
Didn’t get started today until after lunch due to some other lingering errands – including purchasing the ingredients to a slow cooker minestrone soup recipe that I am drooling over right now (30 more minutes!) – I think it was about 12:30 when I got started which makes sense given the the shadows on this photo:
What I should have focused on what the area just to the left of that last post on the left side of the photo. There are several smaller boards in place securing the fence to the post just against the houses and I had to stain all of that. That dang corner and the top pieces took a lot of time and patience. But, as you can see the sun was on my back and I had a podcast playing on my ipod in the portable speakers that I brought outside and I was plenty happy.
Around 1:30 Renee texted me to see if I wanted to join her for a one hour easy run just from my house down on the 56 trail. Since I HAD planned this afternoon on stopping around 4pm and going for a run (SO needed!!) I said “why not?!” and stopped at this point to take a run break. Again, perfect weather and I am actually glad she pulled me out earlier because by 4pm I think it would have been a lot more uncomfortably cold on the trail. We had just the right blend of soft winter sun, no wind and occasional shade.
I was back in front of the fence exactly at 3pm and continued non-stop until 5pm which put me perfectly at the natural light waning, a chill taking over and hey – the whole short side was done!
So the fence is made with cedar. The stain I am using is an acrylic/latex based stain that is clear enough to show the wood grain patterns, but obviously packs a colorful punch! I wanted to closely match the post color from the top two photos so I chose a Mahogany stain color. All of the posts are that darker wood tone already with the center boards and horizontal support beams in much lighter tone. It’s treated wood, but given that we are about to tent for termites and this area is rampant with them AND that my back yard is a naturally damp, low sun area I really wanted that new wood extra protected.
I love the results so far! Of course, I may not be as enthusiastic after the LONGER portion tomorrow, but other than finishing up the bit around the planter in the corner there wont be as many intricate spots. Plus, I can get started a lot earlier so I should be able to finish it.
Now is that damn minestrone ready?!!
Trees & Flowers & Birds! 
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