Still Recovering From My Vacation!

Wow, where has July gone? It is already the middle of the month and I haven’t blogged once.

My parents arrived on July 4th. They came out obviously to visit but also to work me into shape. I had told my dad a few months ago that our deck needed some work but I wasn’t sure what needed to be done. He and mom decided to come out for a week to help us fix our deck. In theory it didn’t need a lot of work (although that is not what it felt like).


We replaced some of the railing boards, sanded with both a floor sander we rented and an orbital sander we purchased with gift cards we received from our wedding. Then we had to paint. This was the tough part but with three people (Adam couldn’t get time off of work) it went fairly quickly. The weather cooperated somewhat. It was hot but it could have been worse. I had told my parents to sit in the sauna daily prior to their visit to get used to the humidity. They both thought I was exaggerating but soon found out that would have been a good idea.

The wood that we bought to redo the railing is still a bit wet so we have to wait for it to dry before we can paint. We should be able to in the next week or two.

We also pulled out the “snake bushes”. Earlier this spring we had a snake living in or near these bushes. At times it would sun itself on the top of the bushes. This caused Adam and me to study the bushes each time we were leaving or entering our house. Plus they were a pain in the backside to maintain. Even though the front flowerbed looks a bit barren right now I love not having the bushes there. This weekend we are going to put a layer of top soil down and then in the spring I am going to plant some royal azaleas.

It wasn’t all work and no play while my parents visited. We went to the Inner Harbor one day so mom could have her crab cakes. We also went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Baltimore Science Center. It was, as one visitor wrote in the guest book, “Cool, but not cool.” Both mom and I got nauseous. It was a once in a life time experience but for me only once.


We also took the metro into DC and watched the Nationals vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks. Mom and Dad had never ridden the metro and none of us had ever been to the new Nationals stadium. I think everyone enjoyed the game.

Izzy had fun too. I think she really enjoyed having people around her all day.