Inside-Out I Clean it All!

We have a deal at Chez Petite.  Inside is my domain and outside is the responsibility of TBG.  There are two exceptions. Anything of a construction/maintenance nature inside falls to TBG (although I do fix things too), anything outside related to accessories/outdoor furniture is for me.  We do share sometimes -- like putting new stuff together, etc.  This weekend, we both toiled in the hot sun to clean up the back yard.  There was a ton of weed-whacking and blowing to be done.  The ground between the slate has pebbles but weeds are a big problem.  It took a lot of time to address that.  Some weeding got done in the beds, but not much!

All of the pollen and residue from TBGs jobs gunked up the patio furniture something fierce.  While he scrubbed it all when he put it out last month, it was horrible when I looked at it.  The table has a glass top and not only was grass and pollen caked on to the surface, it was on the underside too.  Is everyone else out there getting heavy coating of pollen and schmutz over everything outdoors? It is crazy.

We purchased these white benches through QVC three years ago.  They fold over to become half a table with a seat/bench.  They are too bulky to store in the garage, so they sit out all winter.  TBG cleaned them too last month.   It is amazing how dirty they get and it really shows up because they are white.  There was a lot of gunk on the underside because I don't think he paid much attention to that when he cleaned them, and then they got bombarded with pollen.  He's weed-whacked and blown a couple of time, so the build up was pretty gross.


It literally took me hours to get them clean.  Now I am willing to sit on them.  I have laid down the law -- if he's going to weed-whack and blow, he's going to move them to the driveway.  I can easily rinse them there and they won't get as dirty.  I am going to look into either a pressure spray or power washer to help with this.  I want them to be clean enough to sit on with just a quick wipe, so they will need to get rinsed down the weekends we are not at camp.

Our fire pit was a hot mess. It had ashes and clumps in it and lots of weeds growing.  We hope to keep some of the growth at bay by putting down slate.  We had a lot come up when we did the drive-way and might as well put it to good use.  It looks nicer too. 

The area cleaned up nicely and we will have to work to keep it that way.  We thought this design would be low maintenance but it is not turning out to be that way.  There have been more than a few times I thought of going back to grass because it would be quicker to mow.  That's a lower priority from a $$ perspective, so for now, we will just have to maintain.

I believe I earned my glass or three of wine after that. After all, I had to clean this set too!  We did not spend enough time enjoying the yard last year and want to be out more this year.  That can be hard when the backyard gets relentless sun, but the side is in the shade.  I hope to unwind with horsey-derves and a cold beverage more this year than in the past.  Keeping it clean will make it more enjoyable.  I just need to work this into my regular house-keeping routine so it is always clean enough to use.  Housework, the job that never ends!