Deck Follies #5

It rained quite a bit on Canada Day, at least here in Toronto, so I basically cancelled all our plans.  During the breaks in the rain I got almost all the last of the coarse sanding done.  It doesn't really look all that different to be honest, unfortunately.

Sat. I finished the coarse sanding.  It now looks like this:

I laid down the wash and hosed the deck down.  It is supposed to dry for two days, but I am not sure I can wait that long.  My plan is tomorrow to do the medium sanding (no getting distracted by any more scraping!) and then see if that it feels dry enough to put down the first coat of stain. 

If nothing else, I can get started on the spindles, which apparently take forever.  My daughter said she will help out, though of course I will have to pay her something.

I am thoroughly sick of this, and my arms are very sore.  I am hoping (perhaps against common sense) that the stain will somewhat smooth out the strange variations in color (mostly but not entirely due to paint embedded in the wood grain).  I guess I'll know in about a week after it dries completely.  I probably won't post any more updates until it is finished, as it is just too frustrating.