April 14th, 2008
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Like a Bug in Brandy

I’m finding it so hard to spend any time on the computer lately, because it’s so hard to be indoors at all! Austin has to be The Greatest Place on Earth this week. The weather is perfect, the birds are singing, and everyone is just a little bit happier.

Also! Green! Since I moved here in December, everything has been brown. I didn’t know that my backyard has shade! Or that there are flowers out front! Or that my tree isn’t dead!

This is what I’ve been doing…

day-120.JPG I got a gazebo, and I don’t even care that I have a real house anymore.

I might just move the fridge out here and sell the house to someone else.

img_0079.JPG This is my back patio before. Concrete slab.
img_0082.JPG Now it’s an oasis of bug-free shade. And I’m not even done with it yet!

I’m currently “extending” the concrete with a border of pavers and pebble gravel. I will also add some potted plants, string some xmas lights, and (someday) get some new patio furniture.

img_0086.JPG This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it’s a room. A room with a breeze blowing through it.

All of this wonderfulness was only 200 bucks from Home Depot, plus three hours of assembly.

img_0107.JPG A rare moment indoors.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 8:04 am . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

24 Comments

  1. Oh that looks so nice! Expect a steady stream of visitors!(please put me on the list) ;-)
    Great post, great photos!

    Comment by Densie — April 14, 2008 @ 8:12 am

  2. Please keep showing us pictures as your gazebo patio oasis grows. It looks great and gives me(us?) some ideas on how to improve our own. Thanks! (Oh to be in Austin, now that spring is here… or something like that)

    Comment by Jo — April 14, 2008 @ 8:45 am

  3. It looks very tropical. MUCH better than the beads I have hanging in my doorway.

    Comment by Billy — April 14, 2008 @ 8:47 am

  4. Okay, I totally envy you for your bug freedom. If there is a mosquito or fly within a 10-block radius, it will home in on me and probably try to explore my hair. Thus, I kill anything with wings and more than 4 legs.

    Comment by kim — April 14, 2008 @ 9:08 am

  5. Aren’t gazebos grand. We got one last year from Home Depot and I loved to go out there to read or knit. We haven’t opened ours up this year yet, but I am getting anxious. Right now, ours is on a patch of grass, but we have plans to put down some pavers and add some foliage to make it even more inviting.

    Comment by Tina — April 14, 2008 @ 9:36 am

  6. i’d drag a futon out there and sleep outdoors too :)

    Comment by brenda in toronto — April 14, 2008 @ 10:08 am

  7. So lovin’ that look! You inspire me.

    Comment by dirtsister — April 14, 2008 @ 10:31 am

  8. I hear the weater in Austin is so much nicer than Houston and from the looks of it, it must be. Your gazebo looks like a fabulous oasis! I’m sure you will enjoy it from now until probably next November. :)

    Comment by Sarah — April 14, 2008 @ 10:35 am

  9. Abe seems to silently approve of the patio :)

    Comment by Karo — April 14, 2008 @ 10:43 am

  10. Haha … what did you say to Abe to make him cock his head like that? :) Lovely gazebo!

    Comment by Cassie — April 14, 2008 @ 11:05 am

  11. Your back yard looks fabulous !! I have been catching up on your news, you and the B’s look very happy, Austin looks wonderful ! Is it the netting that keeps the bugs away, or something else ? I have been trying candles but the bugs are starting to bug me.

    Comment by Beth — April 14, 2008 @ 11:10 am

  12. OMG, I am SO getting one of those next paycheck! We have a great big cement slab out back that we can’t enjoy because the sun just sizzles the shit out everything, but with a gazebo . . . Woo! Party central! Thanks for the idea, Staci! :D

    Comment by Stacey — April 14, 2008 @ 11:20 am

  13. i might actually want to be outdoors in my yard if i had one of those. perhaps, papa, sammie and i will discuss it. :) i’ll be sure to give you a heads up if i ever leave wisconsin for an actual vacation. i may be coming to your neck of the woods. it always looks so inviting.

    Comment by zeghsy — April 14, 2008 @ 11:31 am

  14. Love the pictures of your yard and the gazebo, but I have one question: where is the possum?

    Comment by Pat in Tulsa — April 14, 2008 @ 1:15 pm

  15. i love the gazebo…makes me want to get one. i can’t stand the heat…
    the boys are so cute – all relaxed and stuff.

    Comment by Therisa — April 14, 2008 @ 1:18 pm

  16. Oh how lovely! We bought our gazebo last year at Lowe’s during their closeout sale. Got the $350 thing for a mere $150. However, it took us almost 5 hours to put it together! Or maybe it just felt like 5 hours. Regardless, the instructions said it should take two people two hours to put together. That’s with proper instructions, which we didn’t have.

    Still, it’s survived being outdoors all winter, several high windstorms and a tornado. I’d say it’s here for the long run. Now I just have to wait for it to get warm enough for me to be outside in it.

    Comment by Tammy — April 14, 2008 @ 1:30 pm

  17. So cool, enjoy
    Ginny, Callie and Jack
    Tampa

    Comment by Ginny Padawer — April 14, 2008 @ 5:54 pm

  18. Very cool, I love it. Can’t wait to see it when it is done. The boys look exceptionally cute today too.

    Comment by Heather — April 15, 2008 @ 6:37 am

  19. I’m moving in with you! Can I bring a golden retriever?

    Comment by linda — April 15, 2008 @ 6:50 am

  20. OMG, I am so jealous. What a life. I have been doing some knitting outside. Last week was warm and sunny here in Pennsylvania. Got a nice tan because I don’t have a lovely gazebo but I do have a huge oak tree which gives us lovely shade in the summer when the leaves are opened. Right now the oak is just budding, which means flowers soon then leaves. Spring is the best. Enjoy!

    Comment by Ahrisha — April 15, 2008 @ 7:51 am

  21. I was just saying to my husband last week, that I really miss the Austin Spring. The gorgeous weather.

    I had no idea those gazebos are only $200!

    Comment by yarngineer — April 15, 2008 @ 8:52 am

  22. Love, love, love the gazebo. This is what I’m looking at.

    http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

    Fits right in a corner of my back yard.

    Comment by Patricia — April 16, 2008 @ 5:53 am

  23. Great gazebo. Wouldn’t work here in Yorkshire England however. The winds coming off the Bronte Moors would soon huff and puff and blow it down.
    Les

    Comment by les siddall — April 16, 2008 @ 10:14 am

  24. We had a gazebo until last year. Then some kind of freak weather incident rendered it rather unusable. We do still have the frame up in the backyard. Which, I’ve decided, is the Oregon equivalent to having a car up on blocks in your front yard.

    Comment by avalynda — April 27, 2008 @ 2:32 pm

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