Another step...

Well, another step (pun intended) has taken place in traveling down that dark tunnel that never seems to end (the back porch restoration project).  I did learn an important home improvement tidbit that makes me wish I had learned it earlier in my life ... much earlier:  using a chip brush with stain is far, far, far better than using either a foam brush or a rag.

The end result actually surprised me.  The color is far closer to what I wanted and looks very little like my test scrap of deck board (which I used paper towel to stain).  I think that the result is hard to photograph because it is a cloudy day and the steps are actually a bit browner than what I see here on my screen.  Since they are stained only, not sealed, I believe the final color after sealing will be most pleasing to me, given that they will be darker and a bit richer.

If you had told me that the steps would require an entire small can of stain, I would have laughed at you.  You would have been right.  And I would have been wrong.  I was able to squeeze out just enough final drops to lightly coat the cut ends of the deck boards so that there would not be a glaring contrast between ends and steps after sealing.  Barely.  Just barely.

Of course, if you read the directions, as I did, you will read that it is best if you sand the wood before you begin.  I moaned and groaned and really, really, really pouted about that, but I did it.  ARGH.  I am glad that I did, though.

If the weather is good tomorrow, I am considering sealing the steps.  Mostly I am considering spending my birthday wearying myself because I don't want the steps to get dirty between staining and sealing.  Plus, rain is not forecasted again until Saturday.  That would give the steps enough time to dry/cure/look pretty darn awesome before any rain or other wear might fall upon them again.

I am now all sweaty and miserable and yet happy the staining is done.  Amos, who has picked up the distressing habit of HOWLING the entire time I am working outdoors and he's trapped inside (the new dog in the house across the alley howls at night), is most glad that I am back in the safety of his bosom.  Once I cool down (and Amos calms down enough to leave my shoulders), I shall shower and think about eating.

I might only think about it.

At six in the morning, when I feed Amos, take medicine, and change ice packs, I eat one Hidden Valley granola bar and drink 8 ounces of milk.  I have noticed that if—instead for a dessert later in the day—I eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios for lunch, I can spend the afternoon not battling violent nausea.  However, once I eat something more substantial, the nausea starts and, many evenings, I notice that my stomach is not emptying all that quickly.  Zofran and Ginger Ale and sometimes saltines are my staples in the battle. Sometimes I have to resort to activated charcoal again.

I don't think this is all in my head.
I think that at least the beginning of the end of the efficacy of the erythromycin has actually arrived.
Maybe 86% sure that it has.

If I seal the steps tomorrow, I will have to skip the whole trying to be a brave middle-aged woman and finally go to a real restaurant by myself.  After all, a gal can only gird her loins so much in a single day.  I received a birthday dessert from Panera (added to my account).  Maybe I will order one of those sodium fest salads to pick me up after sealing the steps.

Do you think Amos, now that he howls, could learn to sing "Happy Birthday" to me???????