Porch Update

She's getting close. I've been saying that for a while now, but I'm running out of things to do in an effort to put off dealing with the railing. 

This weekend I got the tongue and groove beadboard ceiling installation finished up, painted the perimeter real quick, and got it trimmed out with quarter round. There's still more painting to do on that front, but otherwise...railing time. 

I wanted to throw some paint on the ceiling before calling it a day on Saturday, but the dogs wanted to check out the porch progress so instead we wrapped up the evening by just hanging out on the dusty porch floor. 

Roscoe would be right up on the edge like Freckles if he weren't so old and in poor health. He pretty much has to use his front half to drag his back half around; any time he can lay down to take some weight off his back legs, he's all about it. I think he'll like the porch when it's all done and cleaned up. I know Freckles will -- it'll give her a whole new vantage point for squirrel-watching. 

Speaking of the dogs, weekend porch progress is usually hampered a bit by meal-prepping for the dogs. I know that probably sounds ridiculous to anybody who 1, doesn't have dogs or 2, has dogs but feeds them "dog food". Roscoe and Freckles do get regular ol' dog food, Merrick stuff, but they get a pretty fair amount of "people food" too. I've always shared food with Roscoe but the older he gets the more thought and effort I put into cooking him food aimed at addressing his health situation(s). Joint strength and pain management/mitigation, really.   

This weekend I fired up a new recipe, something with zucchini. Apparently zucchini is pretty good for arthritic dogs, but Roscoe's gotten picky in his old age and meat and eggs are the only thing I can really count on him eating. Freckles, on the other hand, is a little food vacuum. She eats her food, every last little piece, then scavenges around Roscoe's bowl to eat anything he spits out. 

The recipe was something like

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 large zucchini, shredded
• 1 cup baby spinach, shredded
• 1 cup carrots, shredded
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 egg
• 3 cups cooked rice

I doubled the recipe because even with Roscoe not eating as much as he used to, the dogs go through a LOT of food. And I don't really like anything about cooking nor is my kitchen set up or stocked for legit cooking, so if I'm gonna do it...go big or go home, right? 

So far Roscoe's eating the stuff, which makes me happy. I don't know that it'll have any real effect but the deal he and I worked out is that as long as he keeps waking up each day, I'll keep trying to turn back the clock.   

Back to the porch. Today, Sunday, I got a little paint up and knocked out the quarter round. It shouldn't have taken me all day but I put in a little yard time with Freckles and some of the quarter round took me a few cuts to get just right. 

One post required a coped 135° joint, another post required me to miter a couple pieces of trim at 67.5° each, not a gimme cut on a standard miter saw.  But the trim is up and honestly, I really like it. Kinda wish I wasn't going to paint it the same color as the ceiling and make it totally blend in, but no part of me wants to paint it a standalone color. 

I'll probably get the rest of the ceiling painted Monday after work, and then...the railing work really begins.