A Hardy Flower and A Late Fall Project

Today's weather was absolutely gorgeous. (Yes, Virginia, there is a sun!) We've been trying to work outside this past week and it's not been nice. Frozen fingers and tingling toes, bundled in winter hats, gloves, and down work jackets. But today was truly an Indian Summer day. (Can I still say that?) Our thermometer in the shade at the back of the house hit a high of 59.9° so I know out in front in the sunshine it must have been way into the 60s. We both stripped down to flannel shirts (well, pants and a couple of other garments, too) shortly after going out.

I've lost the tag for this white phlox plant but it certainly is hardy. We've had at least three nights down into the 20s so far and it's still blooming away. It's really more like a bush. Stands 4-5' tall and has about 12-15 sturdy stalks with these blossoms out on the tip ends.

Even our honey bees were out searching for any last little bit of nectar available today.

Several years ago, Roy added this little shed area on to the end of the house where a door enters the back of the garage.

We've used it to store the lawn mower, a wheel barrow, garden tools and so forth. He's always wanted to put a cement floor in it and figured if it was gonna happen this year, it was now or never. So yesterday and today, he's been working at laying the ground work for the cement flooring.

First he put down a vapor barrier topped with a gravel base. We happen to have 8 five-gallon plastic buckets that had been poured full of concrete (don't ask) which he'd been wanting to get rid of so he used some muscles and a very large sledge hammer to break the eight solid chunks apart. (Then we took him to the chiropractor. Just kidding.) These chunks he used as filler. Steel mesh reinforcement wire got laid on top . . . and then he called it a day. Tomorrow, the cement gets mixed and poured.

In the pictures above, you may notice (ha! how could you miss it?) a pole that seems to be smack-dab in the middle of the shed doorway. Long story short, one night during a wind storm, we were awakened by a rather horrendous crash on our roof and ran out to see if we'd been struck by a meteor. Nope, just our antennae being blown over. The next day we found out (as we were trying rather unsuccessfully to get it back on the roof) that we got perfect reception if we leaned it in just this spot against the back of the house. Who were we to look a gift horse in the mouth? As a temporary stop-gap, and we all know how those go, Roy fastened it securely to the edge of the shed roof until we could get help to mount it back up on the roof. Rest assured, it WILL be remounted before we finish up our little shed remodeling and enclose the front complete with door! I hope.

Check back tomorrow to see how the end of our fascinating cement project unfolds.