Like a Duck to Water

Tim sent me this picture today of Owen in a kayak somewhere in Mendocino County where they are vacationing. He seems quite pleased with himself and the whole adventure, and I think the picture  much better than anything I have managed to take today. I suspect Joni took the picture so credits to her as today's guest photographer. 

OilMan has now removed the unsightly bench from the bottom of the stairs in back, hauled off all the wood and sawed off the posts. We thought we were going to put in a cable railing but after a visit to the nice young guys at the railing fabricators' we have come to the conclusion that it would be
a) too expensive, and
b) not so attractive

Not wanting anybody to walk off the unprotected edge of the deck, we decided on some strategically placed large flower pots. We found some attractive pots at Cottage Garden and filled them with some colorful flowers. The ground squirrels ate every blossom. OilMan made some chicken wire tubes to put around the pots to keep them out, but then read that dog hair and cayenne pepper were good deterrents, so now our pots of plants with no flowers are surrounded with chicken wire and stuffed with dog hair and cayenne.

Not exactly the look I was going for...