Time to relax ... or is there ?

As I'm ( actually we both are ) looking forward to some relaxing days/nights outside on our new Patio , that is now pretty much completed .. at least so I thought .

Enjoying our first Dinner together out of the House and in our own backyard . Having bought a nice Patio Table with six Chairs , we got to sit down to a nice Dinner and kept looking about .. to see what all the hard work has established . Being sooo much cooler in the early Evenings , we lost track of time and talked til close or after 11pm that night .

One funny thing , I like to mention is . Hence Patio's are very rare in Shanghai , it was of no surprise .. that while Qing talked to her Mom .. ask my LaoPo if she takes the Patio Set into the House each night ? That it would get Dusty otherwise . Soooo Funny , made me laugh out loud .. knowing that she really meant it . I just love my new Family and their Culture that comes with it . It certainly calls for some Humorous moments , more so then misunderstandings .

Anyway , all done I thought .. when my sweet Wife brought up .. LaoGong .. you know we need to Paint our Patio/Concrete too . Don't you just love it , those Wife's just can not get you to Exercise enough .. to keep you in good shape . hahaha

Away from Building with "WOOD" and to Building with "LOVE" !

Guy's , this is for the Romantic Dude .. so if you are NOT .. don't read further . ???



If anybody has ever followed my Blog over the two years , seen where I have mentioned that it is my honest feeling " Women are truely like Flower's . Their are all different ( not two are really alike ) as are all the many kinds of Flower's from all over the World .


Put into my words , if you don't like the LOOK / SMELL / BEAUTY of each one of them .. you do not really LIKE Women as they are . Yes .. yes , of course some Women ruin that reputation and sometimes in a big way . Sad really ! Men distribute to this , by NOT being in at least a somewhat of a way ROMANTIC . With this Quoted sentence above and feeling strongly that this is very true , I feel Qing and I will never have any kind of problems that would even in the slightest way .. ever NOT love each other more with each passing day .

Anyway , she has a fovourite " Flower " and it is ( like my Mei-Mei Lily ) the Lily Plant . Knowing this for more than four year's now , I purchased a Lily Plant of course in Qing's honor .. my Sister Lily and for my late Wife .. who's favourite was also the same Flower . Can I call this coincidence or is it just meant to be that way ?

Just looking at this beautiful Flower .. I see my LaoPo with all "HER" beauty !

Just some Pic's ...

Another crazy Weekend .

This time it started on Friday already . Getting a call from my Neighbor , to see if we wanted to go out to eat and listen to some Music afterwards . It was a Greek Restaurant ( food was excellent ) with some DJ Music after all the Tables are moved into another Room to clear way for Dancing . This is where we worked "off "our Food we stuffed ourselves with . It got really crowded by 10 pm , and ones we hit the Floor .. there was no stopping til closing time at 1:00am Saturday . Now before Friday and Dinner was ever mentioned , I was going to get up early and start Painting the Patio . Well , this still went down , but not "early " like planned . Let's say , about 11am I was out there with Brush in my Hand and Ladder . By 6:00 pm , I called it a day . There was still Sunday to finish it . Yeah .. finish I did .. even put up one of the Light Fixtures . Must say , Qing and I love it .. the Paint and the Light we chose .

Anyway , tired and burned out by now .. what happens ? My Bro ( the Neighbor ) calls and ask us to come over for Bar-B-Que at 5:00 pm . We both agreed to it and arrived at their House ( walked .. haha ) at 6:00 . The trouble there , this also went on til about Midnight . Red Wine and great Cigar's , how can one relax better .. I thought . So today , please someone keep my away !!!! So I get some " REST " .

I will take Photo's when done and  Post them , please have patience .

Just an Up-date how it's progressing .. !

 Here are a couple more Photo's of todays work . Next step is Painting/Trim installation and of to the Light Fixtures/Fan , also not to forget .. finishing ( to beautify the Post's ) the little last minute details to complete the Job .

Actually , the Shingles are Grey .. not Blue what they seem to be .

One "Relaxing" Weekend after another !

Oh yes ... just another day in the "Home" Office . Why would we otherwise always find ourselves working on our days "OFF" ? The big difference is , while working at Home .. one usually spends Money .. instead of making it .

Anyway , one needs to finish what one starts .. is that not right .. no matter what you have tackled . This being no exception , I was at it again . This time only Saturday , remember I have other yard work on top of all that .

So what was on the Menu this time ? Roofing Paper  and Shingles , which I .. as always did not have enough of . Along the Trim for the sides ( 10 feet each ) were of course about six inches too short , that I had to purchase one more . So to work I went on top of the Patio Cover , where it was quite Hot .. that I felt sorry for Roofer's .. having to do this all day for a living . After putting down the Roofing Paper and lay down five packages of the Shingles , I ran out of Roofing Nails of course . This I used as an excuse , to get down from there and call it a day . Being 75% done , it was a worthwhile day .. all the less .

Knowing that a Home Owners work is never done , I saw today . I helped my Neighbor with my Truck and we drove to Home Depot to pick up 80 Boxes of Tiles . Loading and un-loading these Boxes , I tell you .. who needs to go to a Gym for a Workout ? Had to make two Trips , my little Truck is "only" a 1/2 Ton 2x4 .

After all this weight lifting , to relax .. I had to cut my Lawns . Do I need to tell you , I'm Pooped out now . All that's left , enough energy to write this Blog post .

Some more Photo's of this weeks progress .

Two Weekends down and can't believe what came up ?

Two Weekends going pretty much non-stop , working on our Patio Cover .

To think , I bought the House over eleven (11) yrs. ago . Thinking of doing this many .. many times , but somehow never got to it . Well , actually .. there was just too much other project's on Hand and this wasn't one of the most urgently needed item on that List .

Anyway , so here in only two full Weekends of hard labor .. it is standing there more than half finished . I guess it took my LaoPo's push to get me going and her brother's Wife coming to Visit us end of July or beginning August this year . Of course with today's Economy , I could have not done it without my LaoPo's financial help to get it off the ground .
I've have always been use to , do all I've done in Stages .. as Money was always a factor getting things moving at top speed . This I call "Team Work" ! Even she is very much involved , as she plays .. Contractor's Assistant ( measuring/cutting ) / Lifting and handing needed Tools/Supplies to me / and the most important of all .. she is a "Great" inspector . If you think , I could get away with Lousy and not so perfect Work .. I had another thing coming . Work did not proceed til this was taken care of , to her approval . Of course I knew about those small mistakes and I was going to fix them later , but NO ! This had to be taken care of first .

I never liked Inspector's , but I "LOVE" this one ! So far it is all approved now , but the Water-proofing and Shingles were discussed over and over .. how will you do this ? Have you done this before ? Do we really need all this ? Are you sure , water wont run down from the Roof onto the Patio ? The time I've been questioned , I could have finished with something .. I'm sure . hahaha

So here are some Photo's I took yesterday , before the Top was covered completely .

New Background , hope everyone likes it ?

After trying this and that for days now , I think I've come to at least be able to go around the previous problem I had staying Singed-In into my own Blog . Ahhhh .. if it also works from my Computer at Home , I'm happy again and of course I will continue this ( my favourite ) Blog .

Anyway , been working on the Patio each day after coming Home . It's like a sickness , can't get enough of . I'm either crazy or just excided to be making progress as planned . Photo's of progress will follow soon .