It is truly a joy to say that our new front porch is done and share these pictures with you. We absolutely love this porch, and marvel at its artistry and fine workmanship. Burke and Ray did a wonderful job and were a pleasure to have around for a couple of weeks as well! One thing you can't see on this picture (but can on the maker's mark picture) is that EVERY edge of EVERY board was routered to give it a smooth, finished look with no sharp edges. I hope you can come sit on this lovely porch some day and see it for yourself!
The only thing left to do, and it's a fairly big thing, is to decide how to paint and stain this beauty so that it looks like it blends with our house, yet shows as much of this beautiful cedar as possible. We have a LOT of white trim on our house, and our pergola that is about 20 feet away is white as well, so we're thinking that the bigger beams on the top and all the big posts will be white, and we'll stain the rest something fairly pale, just to protect the wood and keep it from graying as cedar does if left untreated. Burke assures us we have until spring to decide.
This is what the benches look like. I can't wait to find/make some nice cushions (with barn-red being the main color) and hang some colorful flower baskets. We will also be looking for a nice table as well as a glider as the main furnishings for this outdoor room we have added. I can see spending many lovely days out here!
Full-size, this picture is legible, but I'm not sure it is here. We asked Burke to put some kind of maker's mark on the porch and he brought the brand he uses when he builds furniture or cabinets and we found a good place for it here. We have also asked him to make us a new screen door that will match the style of the porch and that will fit and look better than the $5 plastic yard sale special that is on there now!
We knew it wouldn't take long, but unfortunately the chickens are enjoying the new porch as well. I try to shoo them off as soon as I see them, but alas they have left their calling cards a few times already. Good thing they started laying eggs again so at least they have one redeeming quality. Actually, these two girls are my new ones from this summer and are the last two that have yet to start laying. We are up to getting 3 or 4 eggs a day now, which is plenty for our needs. Hopefully we'll be able to start giving them away again after the holidays.
Believe it or not, even on December 5th there are still things to be harvested here on Red Pony Ranch. This picture shows everything I got out of the garden today, except for the day's eggs which, of course, I got out of the hen house. Still in the garden are beets, carrots, leeks, parsley and more swiss chard. This is my first year growing chard and I have to say I love that stuff. It's wonderful in soups and egg dishes and also makes a lovely fresh side dish when sauteed in a bit of garlic and olive oil. This time I made a cheese/broccoli/chard soup. Here's the picture below. This is before I added more milk and the cheese. I just wanted to capture those lovely colors. We love soup all winter and especially like it when it's mostly from our own garden.
Well, we sure hope you are having a wonderful beginning to your holiday season. As of today we are totally done putting up all the outdoor lights and decorations, and the tree is up inside and lighted but not yet decorated. I'll tackle that tomorrow. I did get my nice nativity set up and now baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds and the stable animals are nestled sweetly in the boughs cut off the bottom of the Christmas tree. We had a wonderful sermon at church today about believing in the unbelievable. I hope you believe in the real Christmas!
