Some Assembly Required...

 

Yeah, I'm kidding - a bunch of assembly required.  And, we were totally good with that.

Are you writing about furniture?  Music, scoots and motorcycles, cats and more cats, RVing, boating, fun (?) summer jobs... and, you're writing about furniture?  Not just regular ol' furniture, but patio furniture?

Well, yeah.  Because like all of that stuff, it's something Joan and I do together.  Getting new patio furniture was Joan's idea, but I was onboard right away - the stuff we bought when we first moved into this house was nice, but the sun and heat really took a toll on it.  Joan made covers for the arms and back of the chairs and the couch to try to get it to last a bit longer.  But, it wasn't going to make it.

We shopped around for furniture, but couldn't find exactly what we wanted.  Together, we decided that it needed to be that HDPE stuff.  But, with comfortable cushions.  She found exactly what we were looking for on-line... for less than half of what we expected to pay... but, we had to put it together ourselves.

For full disclosure, Joan got us a chair (HDPE) to match our tall table and chairs, and two Adirondack chairs for Steph and Dan (also HDPE) that she put together on her own at times while I was making music with the guys.  I'm here to participate this time.

  That's what the first chair looked like; but with the cushions from the old plastic wicker, which are nicer than what this new furniture came with.  Probably.  Those new cushions were vacuum sealed and flat as a pancake - the instructions say to let it "air up" for at least 24 hours.  So, we'll see.

Here's what the old furniture looked like...

 We worked on that first chair together, then Joan took one while I took another...

 Before taking on assembling the couch, we took a break for lunch.  Joan surprised me with requesting...

 Yep, a bit of nostalgia: Whataburger.  We talked a bit about our time in Texas.  I have stronger feelings for it than she does.

Then, back to work...

 

 And, the final result... 

 I think it looks good, it is comfortable, and there is no doubt it will hold up better than the old stuff.

And, we're coming in to the cooler season, so we'll get to spend more time out there.