Hard to top the purchase of a toaster for improving things around here, but I'm all about the new heat gun. Randy and I had a hard look at the rails, thought about doing a patch job and realized that it was time to strip and start again. So off I go to Ace Hardware to purchase a heat gun. 

Ace Hardware is all over the Caribbean, and some of them are big and modern and full of stuff to gladden a girl's heart. The Ace in Green Cove Springs is not this kind of store. There's a drinking fountain, and the sign over it says "Do Not Spit In The Fountain." I did not. I went nowhere near the fountain. But they had a heat gun, replacement blades for the Red Devil scraper, and a chisel-tipped paint scraper. Lock and load. 

There was a moment this afternoon when the aft rails, top and bottom, were just about cleaned off. "Randy," I said, "Remember when we scraped the rails and let them go gray?" We pondered that for a full five minutes, then talked idly about paint and then admitted that we're going to sand and varnish for as long as it takes. 

Other purchases we've taken note of in the vicinity: our Russian neighbours have added to their tablescape. We're calling it "the dinner of the damned."