New Sun Room Finished

Back in '95 when we first moved to our current home, the deck was split between screened and open deck.  The open deck was for grilling, and the screened area was for sitting and looking out over the cove.  It was also a place where I spent some night hours smoking cigars, listening to the blues and blues-based rock, while enjoying a couple of my favorite beverages!  Sometimes with family, or with my good friend Jeff, but most times it was just me and the night sounds.

It took me a long time sitting out there, sometimes wrapped up like an Eskimo, trying to determine which brand of beer, scotch, whiskey, stogie, and blues (Delta, Memphis, Chicago) I preferred.  Well, I got all that settled!  I found out I liked all the blues...no matter where it was created.  As for the other things, well, they are done in moderation these days, sometimes months go by, but I still like sitting out on the porch.

Sometimes, sitting out there in the dark is the best thing.  On the 4th of July, I usually sit out there around 8PM, and listen to the distant "wamp, wamp" sounds the holiday fireworks show in Kingston, some 8 miles down river, makes as the ordinances are fired and then explode; lighting up the southern sky.  

It always forces me back to March 1967 (I've written about it before), sitting on a sandbag at DaNang, and watching the southeastern sky light up in the same way.  Then, several seconds later the humid night air carried the "wamp, wamp" sound of mortars, and probably rockets, hitting an outpost, some 30 miles away, reached my ears.  Any attack in our area always put us on a 12-on-12-off shift.  Every post, every hole, was manned, and the SAT Teams were doubled until an all clear was issued.

Sorry, didn't mean to get side tracked, but once you've been under fire, you can't help but step back inside that reserved space in your mind from time-to-time.  That space is forever blocked off...nothing enters to overwrite it, and it can't be erased...ever!

I wanted to tell you that the screened portion is now a "sunroom".  The screen has been replaced by insulated windows with screens.  The windows are large and let in plenty of air if opened.  However, around these parts, the summers are always humid, so now I can sit out there more often in comfort.

The windows will be opened on beautiful, low humidity, days, and those comfortable days during the winter.  Most importantly, the windows will be closed during the time the trees make love!  No more will we have to cover up the furniture or take it to the basement to protect them from the yellow pollen.  It can stay in place year around...ready to be enjoyed at any time.

Judy is out there right now reading her Kindle!  She made me turn off the music, so she could concentrate, so I'm sitting here listening to my tunes and writing you.  When I finish, I will take my iPad out there and join her.  Maybe there will be a nap!

The installer finished the carpet just an hour ago, and we are now alone to enjoy it.

So, if you drop by, you'll probably be invited out there instead of our living room.  It's a wonderful place.  We've been truly blessed, and this is just one of many.

BTW Jeff, Judy says we can't smoke our cigars out there anymore...it's now part of the house, so we'll have to step out onto the deck!  But, the music will be blasting loud and clear in stereo!

Gone is the "tree house", but it's actually not that different!