Patty O

By way of explanation for the post title, I will recount my mom's favorite joke, which goes as follows: "What is Irish and stays out all night?"  Patty O'Furniture!

Now that your Irish eyes are smiling, take a look at something that does not make anybody's eyes smile:

That hot mess is our "patio" AKA the concrete slab left over from somebody's old storage shed.  The above picture was taken this afternoon (when I couldn't stand eating indoors on this beautiful day and took my lunch out back).  Here's another picture from a while back:

A lot of the green grass you see above has since been dug in for the vegetable garden:

But back to the patio.  Can we just talk for a minute about the number of weeds that are growing in the 1/8th inch crack of concrete?  Seriously, ya can't get some plants to grow with lots of TLC and water and MiracleGro, yet we've got a mini jungle between a literal rock and hard place.

Or, we did have a jungle.  I got tired of seeing the weeds and pulled them all out today.  Then I swept the patio and sprayed it down with the strongest force our garden hose would provide.  I also moved our outdoor dining furniture from the front porch to back here (more on that in a minute) and served dinner.

I can't decide if it looks better or worse, but I'm OK with that either way because lots of projects look worse before they get better.  The color will certainly improve once it all dries and its not splotchy.  We have big plans for fixing up the space to include a grape arbor, landscaping, an outdoor carpet, etc, etc.  We've also considered painting or staining the concrete.  I have briefly also entertained the idea of adding a grid so we can play huge outdoor chess like we did on our honeymoon

Time will tell.  You will certainly be hearing a lot more about ol' Patty O in the near future.  Also about the now-naked front porch.  The front porch furniture is taking a sabbatical in the back yard ~ partially because we need to deal with the chipping paint situation out front, partially because it's only spring and warm enough to eat evening meals outdoors only in the sun, and partially as a thought experiment as to whether or not we need to own two outdoor furniture sets.  Stay tuned for riveting changes on all fronts (look at that, I started AND ended the post with a joke).

Excuse my silliness, I'm off to bed.  90 miles on a bike is still catching up to me!