Shades of Summer

No, I'm not talking about ghosts that haunt summertime, although there might be some lurking. I love shade, and we finally put a lid on our deck! We chose the metal louvered slats rather than the canvas retractable cover because it's sleeker and should last longer. I love the clean lines and the shadiness these slats provide (I have a love/hate relationship with the sun--love because it's necessary for life, hate because it can be deadly mean).

We opted for the manual operation only because we would need two motors (we have a large deck) and each motor costs $500. Ridiculous, I say. I can turn a crank like nobody's business! Besides, one less thing that uses electricity is okay in my book.

The summer sun is so brutal and relentless, so this project is long overdue. Here's a peek at our new covering for our now very enjoyable deck. I offer a couple of views of it opened and closed. You can see the crank (to the left) in this first picture. It can be removed and stowed if desired.

Here's a picture that shows that the cover is split into two sections, and we can control each side separately.

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And here are two random deck pictures:

Our new deck box to hide all the necessary yet unattractive deck stuff.

Limes! sort of...

Thanks for hanging out on our shady deck! Would you like some lime in your iced tea?