stoney321 | I even offered him my virginity!

"I know, that was real sweet of you." LOL, Maxine Thortenberry! Some True Blood spoilers at the end, but I got a deck this weekend! 24 yards of cement, which is three truck loads. DAMN. And the crew got it poured, leveled, and lined off of one hour and ten minutes. CRAZY. Also, the Mr. and I built a fence yesterday. You know, like people do.

[By "days" I mean the actual number of physical work days, not consecutive.]

Day 12

Deck day! Cement truck is pulling up, they're creating a maze of walkways and getting things ready to go. (The white foam board you'll see is the edge-maker for the cantilevered edge we're doing.)

Here comes the mixer! This was a Saturday, so the little kids in the neighborhood kept circling on their bikes trying to get a closer look.

Smartly not cementing themselves into a corner.

These guys had an amazing system. They'd line up at the cement truck in two lines, one guy would fill a wheelbarrow, shift the channel to the barrow to the side, roll off, and someone from the line would move up to take their spot. Fast and efficient. (We just couldn't believe they were doing this by hand and not using a boom.)

They had two guys standing in the cement, pushing it into place, two other guys that used a leveling pole to smooth it out, then this is a floater - smoothing over the top for the next to last texture.

If you look at the right you'll see a guy with a white bucket. That's the color-guy. He spreads a powder all over the concrete - coat one.

Then the floater comes and smooths it into the wet cement, making it soak down into it.

Then the color guy comes back and applies another layer. Coat two. (There were 5 in all.)

Truck #2.

They still have the whole front section and the stepping pads left. It's a lot of cement, is what I'm saying. (It's called cool-crete.)

My tanning spot is all done with 5 coats of color! Still have to float it and then they'll come back today and do the acid wash.

I liked watching them stomp around in the cement. I bet it's fun the first few times you do it. Then I'm sure it's tiresome. :)

Like frosting a cake! A big, heavy, hot cake.

The final float over here. (OMG, I'm so obsessively taking pictures. DORK.)

All filled in!

Now they're putting in the "Crack" lines. It's still a solid floor of concrete, it's just a visual.

The guy in the red plaid shirt has a hand tool with a ridge - that's how the line is made.

Hot tub and stepping pads. (That's not a bend in the hot tub over flow, that's a weird shadow. I went out with my level to make sure. *g*)

Ready for your close up, Mr. Demille? When the deck is finished (acid washing) it should match the tile almost perfectly.

Some drains for when people slop out of the water.

OMG PLASTER NOW PLS.

It looks very pink here, but it's not.

A closeup of the stepping pads. Blue Mexican pebble will fill the cracks between them and the deck. A patch of Buffalo grass will go under the window (for Sally Derg and Hope - there will be another patch, too, over behind the diving board wrapping around to where the deck/pads stop.)

After a day of drying, here's how it looks - and you can see the back of the fence, too.

Here's the fence we built yesterday. It still needs the top rail, kick plate, and stain.

Now for something completely different. ITS-

TRUE BLOOD: I tell you what, if ever I needed to stress that I really don't care about certain characters - and actually find their story lines distasteful, last night cemented that. HOWEVER. Freaking BANANA PHONE, LOL x forever.

TRUE BLOOD SPOILERS

1. I'm so over Tara crying or boning some new guy every episode. honey, let the dust settle. Watch some TV and have a laugh. Or a non-cry. Good lord.
2. I'm over the dubya tee of Crystal and Hotshot and they've not even started that story line. With the exception of dialog like, "I just gotta marry my half-brother and let him breed me until I'm old or dead." and "That's just my double cousin." LOL.
3. Sam's character assassination continues with every ep. I did like his whole "I'm a nice guy" rant, but I hate everything else they're doing with him. You do NOT insult Terry, yo.
4. Uh... wtf with the Wiccan shit? I did lol at Arlene's arms up and out, though. And whoa did she look young in that dream scene!
5. BEEEEEL with his Freddy Krueger face. Ew. I'm ready for him to go to Peru.
6. Jessica and Hoyt continue to show HOW SEXY IS DONE, am I right?
7. PAM. Oh, Pam, you with your love for your maker. So wonderful.
8. The tender goodbye kiss from Eric! (But come on, they're not killing off Eric.)
9. The whole scene with Maxine and what's her face doll collector/dumped by Hoyt was hilarious.
10. I did love the scene with the vampires getting choked up over the sun. See, the show is SO BAD in so many ways, and then they do something like that, and I'm wanting more. DAMN YOU, ALAN BALL.
11. Have to say that I'm over Jesus and Lafayette's romance/trip down drug lane. Some new storylines pls.
12. BANANAS IN PAJAMAS. LOL, I love the idea that Pam screws with Eric and puts in random ring tones (and actually wrote something similar in a fic a while back, hahaha.)

Last, I'm pretty excited that Temple Grandin won so many awards, and how funny was she standing up and waving like she was waving a lasso? Hahahaha. Cute. Okay, now to start digging up crap soil to make way for plants and good soil (I'm not leaving anything to chance, I'm doing this myself.)