Gopher was a no-show!

When I told Craig about the gopher last night and my disappointment in not being able to get a good picture of it, he put the long lens on his camera for me.  This monster has got to weigh ten pounds!

He usually uses it to take the studio pictures of my animal head sculptures for my web site.  On a tripod it is great.
 We left it downstairs where I could get it if the little guy poked his head out again.

But he didn't.  As I painted today I kept watching for movement in the ground, but there was none.

So I took this picture of a rose instead:

Painting went well.  I finished the second coat on the overhead beams pictured on Monday.
 I did take an after picture, with my camera, but it is too dark to post.
 The new color is a dark brown that reminds me of bitter sweet chocolate, and it was hard to photograph in that area.

This is part of the next area I'm going to be working on.  The stairs, railings and narrow wood uprights are all stained redwood and will not be painted.  The large beams and stair supports that are now the terra cotta color will be painted with the darker brown color.

I spent almost two hours today masking and still have a lot to do before I start to paint again.

 I will also be working on the large beams on this level of the front of the deck and down the center off the room. This should keep me busy most of next week!

Daily countdown:

502 days, or 1 year, 4 months, 15 days to go.

Exercise Goal:

1000 miles on the treadmill,  

Total walked = 167 miles  

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles  in National Parks!

Time spent Painting the House  

5 hours Thursday      Total = 18.5 hours