Hyde Tools and Colorado To The Rescue

The dog days of summer are coming and at the ranch we are still picking away at projects that we hoped to have accomplished two months ago.

After last summers weather blew through with three storms of destruction, it has taken us this long to clean up and get a vision for putting things back together.

One of those visions is going to take more time than we have right now but a new and improved playground is in the design stage with input from the short people that use it.

And with the help of some complimentary tools from Hyde Tools we are making things presentable for this summer.

But let me tell you those short people have some definite ideas about how it should look!

I don't want to think it might take till Spring of 2018 but the truth is that in Minnesota once the weather turns brutally cold the trail to outside projects also goes cold.

While we anticipate playground replacement, we have a cedar deck that has seen it's fair share of life.  25 years ago it was new, but in deck years it's like what... 175?  Or doesn't deck life work the same as dog years?

A few years ago in hopes of getting a couple more summers out of it, we put one of those thick coatings on the deck.  I can't say we were overly impressed with that, but at least we didn't have to paint or stain the following year, and we have gotten those couple more summers out of it that we hoped.

Honestly nothing was really going to extend the life of this deck for very much longer.  It has some rotting areas and the time has come to quit maintaining it with easy fixes, and just tear it out.

However with a high school graduation in June and a wedding here in September, this wasn't going to be the summer of deck replacement, so we tacked on a new deck to the vision for the playground replacement.

Which meant a quick fix this summer .....again.

Having a replacement plan is a step in the right direction, but it wasn't really helping with this seasons unsightly boards, so Hyde Tools came to the rescue and we got to work.

*We* as in I watched till it was time to paint.

Brawn scraped off the big peeling paint chunks as well as small ones on the railing, with the small but tough Hyde Contour Scraper.  The tool has a quick release and different blade attachments which was really perfect for this task.

Our goal was just to patch things up and make the deck presentable to get one.more.summer of use from it, which meant low to no cost, so we used up the remaining deck coating and are considering this the last hurrah for the old boards.

The last hurrah because......

When my husband gets an idea in his head he is able to sculpt it exactly how he envisioned it.

When my husband's wife gets an idea in her head he isn't always able to sculpt it exactly how she envisioned it.

The wife has been told he is not a mind reader, and the husband has been told that she is a mind reader. 

So being the mind reader that wife is, when she saw the cell phone photo above posted to Instagram by her wonderful and talented friend Karin at Art Is Beauty, wife showed it to her husband.

First he had to put the power of coffee suggestion out of his mind and then he realized he was looking at a swimming hole he had been trying to describe to wife.

Karin was nice enough to allow me to use these vacation photos from her brothers home in Colorado.  I want him for my brother too - that pond is so beautiful and would fit in with our surroundings wonderfully.

Karin also posted some photos of her family swimming in it while she lounged in her bikini.  I wonder why she didn't send the bikini photo to me?

Since Hyde Tools doesn't have muscular robotic rock moving tools, we will have to utilize what they do have for this project ..... pressure washers for maintenance, and concrete and masonry items like trowels. 

Maybe this Fall, the deck with rotted boards will be removed, with a load of boulders and rocks dumped in it's place, and the sculptor will commence on his design with inspiration all the way from Colorado from a guy he never met who was able to read his mind better than the wife could.

****The wife may or may not have lied about Karin's bikini photos, but if you want some furniture painting inspiration please stop in at Art Is Beauty and say hello.  If you ask her for bikini photos she will know I sent you.****

To follow Art Is Beauty on Instagram, click {HERE} and while you're at it maybe you would follow Bliss Ranch too {HERE} ! 

Like tools?... may as well follow Hyde Tools on Instagram {HERE}

Bliss Ranch is a brand ambassador for Hyde Tools.  What does that mean?  It means I write whatever I want to write - like I always do - it means that I do not get paid to write anything about anything, and it means that Hyde Tools from time to time sends me complimentary products to try.