A Splash of Turquoise

A low-flying sprayer plane buzzed the house at 6:00 a.m., then again at 6:45 and 7:15. By the third pass Harley wanted out, Jenkins wanted breakfast, and it was clear another early day at the ranch was underway. At least the sun was shining and the skies were bright.

A couple of coffees and some social media scrolling started the morning for both of us. S had breakfast and headed to town for a rodeo safety meeting at 10:00 before delivering the last load of 20 bales to a buddy. Meanwhile, I settled in at the computer to work on blogs, tutorials, marketing, and all the usual computer tasks.

 see more ice cream shots below

Before long it was time to tackle the front entry project.

I fired up the pressure washer and gave the walls around the front door, the deck, and the stairs a thorough cleaning. There was an impressive amount of dirt and grime that came off. Once that was done, I hand washed around the door and cleaned the hanging and wall light fixtures as well.

Then came the big decision.

Paint colour.

S suggested green, but every shade I looked at felt a little too safe. I still love the classy deep purple we've had, but I was in the mood for something fun. After far too much wavering and second-guessing, I decided to go bold. And if you know me you know ...

Turquoise blue.

For the next couple of hours I happily painted the front door and sidelights while enjoying the sunshine with Harley and the cats sleeping near by.

S arrived home shortly after 2:00 and removed the last stubborn screws from the door handle that I didn't want to strip. That allowed me to paint the final little sections I'd been avoiding. While I cleaned up my brushes, he pressure washed the cats' wooden dining spool.

glass scraped and first coat complete!

A cold beer on the shaded deck was well deserved.

Afterwards S retreated to Big Brown for a nap while I spent some more time working on marketing, tutorials, and blog content before heading back outside. I moved Bird and Jimmy into the round pen to clean off some of the alfalfa as it will be mowed tomorrow for the quarantine pen and then decided the wooden spool needed a makeover too.

A little milk paint mixing later and it was sporting a rich navy finish.

The door received its second coat of turquoise while S putzed around with the hay rake since Grady may be borrowing it.

Supper was leftover stew, which was perfect because the house was already warm from having the door open for most of the day and the air conditioner turned off.

ice cream time in the city

The deck mats went back into place, everything was tidied up, and the front entrance looked fresh and renewed.

Later I applied a clear coat to the wooden spool to deepen the navy colour before we reinstalled the freshly painted door hardware. 

The evening was beautiful. Golden-hour sunshine, warm temperatures, and only a handful of mosquitoes.

B arrived around 7:00 after taking a sick day from work. During chores she discovered Bird had developed a swollen lump on his chest and Switch had a swollen left hind ankle, so she spent time doctoring both of them before feeding the herd. We loaded up some halters for tomorrow finding Cricket's halters in her storage tubs.

She headed home around 8:00 while S ironed shirts and watched FIFA. I watered plants before joining him to rewatch the soil documentary Groundswell.

Outside, the sky put on a gorgeous golden-hour display that lingered long into the evening.

Not a bad way to end a day that started with a crop duster rattling the windows.