Tarps are up!

Jan 3, 2019

They’ve actually been up for a while! Since December 6, actually. Which is a little late…but better late than never, right?

The reason they got put up late is because my boyfriend kept saying he was going to do it! So, finally, when Thanksgiving came and went, I put them up myself! I’m used to it! By myself, it only took me maybe two hours or so – and that’s with busting my thumb.

I usually have the tarps up before Thanksgiving, after that it’s starting to get too cold. Usually anyway! As it is it snowed a couple of days after I put them up.

We put the tarps up to help keep the snow off the deck and also help block the wind. Anyone who lives in areas where blizzards and even snow storms are common, knows what I mean!

Not all the snow is kept at bay, but enough to make putting them up worth it! My dad used to put two sheets of plywood up on the short end of the deck – the area where the green tarp is in the photo below. But a year or two before he went blind I convinced him to switch to tarps. I knew that there was no way I could put the plywood up myself! (For one, I don’t like ladders!)

I put them up myself this year. Which I normally do anyway – for the last couple of years anyway! The year my dad went blind, it took him most of the day just to get one tarp up!! It took me a lot of convincing to let me do it! He’s a guy, and a doer, and a provider for his family! After he handed over the drill, I had it done in an hour or so!

Last year, when my boyfriend helped me, it took us most of the day! I don’t know why – but he wanted to do it totally different than the easy way! He does the same thing with mowing…mow for half an hour or so then take a break. Another half an hour – take a break. Which again, takes most of the day and I know it isn’t good for the mower…but I digress.

In order to put the tarps up, first I move all the wind chimes. They just get put on a wire that is strung close to the roof line. Then I grab a chair, a block of wood and the drill (the wood is already pre-drilled with screws). Then I just go along the top until that part is done. Then, I go “outside” and screw the blocks in along the middle and bottom of the railing. Does that make sense? I do one tarp at a time, completing one before moving on to the other. If you look closely at the first photo, you can see the blocks a long the roof that the tarp gets screwed to, sandwiched between two blocks of wood. The first set of blocks (that are visible in the first photo) stay up all year long. My boyfriend tried to take them down last year (spring) but I told him to leave them. Why? Because that’s the way it is and always will be as long as I’m living here. In all honesty, it’s much easier and quicker if those blocks stay up. (Knowing my boyfriend, they’d get lost or we’d lose the screws and then we’d spend half the day trying to find replacements! As it is, I had to search for five or six extra screws! But again, I digress!!)

I’m ambidextrous! I kinda knew it before, but when putting up the tarps this year…well, I realized I could use either hand. Sometimes using my left hand was better/easier than using my right! When I was younger and learning to write, color, etc…my mom would always take the crayon out of my left hand and put it in my right – when ever she noticed! She didn’t want a south paw…but knowing what I know know, I’m right brained. Which makes sense because I’m more artistic and creative which is supposedly controlled by the right brain. (There is nothing wrong with a south paw, or being left handed. My mom just didn’t want it.)

left handed and right handed

It snowed on January 11, 2019!

It’s nice being able to still sit on the deck…when it’s cold, breezy, snowing, it’s still somewhat enjoyable. It makes it…nicer?…to sit out there and take boots off, cool off a little before going back in the house! This way, you don’t drag snow, mud, debris in the house – everything stays outside, for the most part anyway!

I know I’m missing something, but I’m not sure what…so I will end it here!

Hope you enjoyed!

Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!!