Good morning! Now that it is past the fall equinox and we are officially in fall, I thought I would update some of the Summer Series: Finish it Friday projects that took longer than I thought they would take. A few of the projects took quite a few weeks to finish, but at least they are finished!
The Summer Series started as a challenge to help me finish a project or family fun activity every Friday. These were the ones that I never seem to get done, but I really wanted or needed to do.
The husband is very glad I’ve done this Friday series. I’ve gotten quite a bit done this summer: family fun projects (lots of bleach t-shirts) and projects around the house. Of course that means, he had to help with projects around the house, but that’s ok, it’s nice to have them done.
This morning, I’m going to share a final update on three projects that took waaay longer than I planned: spindles, river rocks and towers of potatoes.
The spindles finally got painted and installed! I have wanted to paint the spindles for years, and even though I repainted the house last year, the spindles still didn’t get done. Thankfully, I thought they would be a good Finish It Friday project. It was not a quick one, though.
Choosing multiple colors didn’t help, but I am glad we chose 3 colors. Even though each color needed 2 coats of paint, they look really nice. The husband beveled and ripped 2 by 4’s to screw the spindles to. Then, he was able to attach the whole assembly to the porch, way better than my idea of toe-nailing every single spindle to the porch.
I think they are original to the house, since we found them in an old garage 10 years ago. There were just enough spindles to space out and put around the front porch. The porch looks so cute! I was surprised though, that just 8 inches of open spindle work makes the porch feel more closed in. I got used to it, but I am glad we didn’t put on a bottom railing.
Moving river rocks was another long project. It took most of the summer. We had placed the river rocks by the deck years ago, but the weeds were always out of control. The black underlayment didn’t seem to help, so I decided to remove all the river rock and plant wildflowers.
It took quite a while to sift and remove the rocks, but I took my time and tried to enjoy the project. After 1 month, I’m 1/2 way done but still enjoying my cup of coffee.
I did find many ‘treasures’ while sifting through the rocks. Most are old nails and bits of plates, but there are a few fun things. I like the child’s toy pitcher, we found a matching one in the garden a few years ago.
Thankfully, it’s finally all done-smooth dirt- ready for wildflowers in the spring! I did get impatient and moved a few flowers in before it was all finished. By the time I was done, they looked great!
My last update from the Summer Series is for the Towers of Potatoes. Last year, the towers were a great success and we had potatoes until after Christmas! This year, not so much.
The husband was surprised I got any potatoes! One of the towers looked sooo sad by the end of the season and I killed the other tower. I think it died because I didn’t add dirt constantly as they were growing.
I’d let them get bushy and then add dirt; let them get bushy again before adding more dirt. Probably not good for the potatoes, but I’ll try again next year. I still need to work on the procrastination thing- it would not have been hard to add the dirt once a week after hanging laundry. Instead, I ignored the plants until they were about a foot above the dirt.
I am glad I got some potatoes, maybe I can find a new camping recipe! At least I can try the towers of potatoes again next year, maybe I will pay more attention to them.
I think I will also try the Summer Series: Finish It Friday again, next year. I had so much fun this year, doing family fun projects and even finishing practical ones, that I will definitely try the challenge again. Maybe it could be all family fun projects or science experiments next year!
Happy Camping (or finally finishing looong projects!)
Frugal Campasaurus