George Gets a Makeover

Last October, I was in our local department store, and saw a garden gnome that just had to come home with me. Every winter, I look out my kitchen windows at a drab backyard. Yes, we live in a beautiful part of the country, surrounded by gorgeous forest land, but nevertheless, looking out at the same patch of colorless yard doesn't make me smile when the rain continues for weeks on end.

So I took it upon myself to improve my winter view with some native evergreen plants and one silly gnome, which I named George.

Here he is, one year ago, in his new home.

Even though he was proclaimed to be an outdoor garden ornament, the quality of his paint job was apparently not up to snuff. By the time December rolled into January, he was already showing signs of weather damage, and the arrival of Spring was greeted with much embarrassment on his part. Poor George. It wasn't his fault. He did his job well, providing many smiles during the gloomy months.

With another winter looming, I took it upon myself to do something I had never done in my life: use paints to decorate a three-dimensional figure. Armed with tips from a lady at my local Home Depot (let's hope her suggestions are more trustworthy than his original label), I bought supplies and waited for the perfect day.

The Farmboy used one of his toys (sandblaster!) to get the remnants of old paint off, and I ignored all other duties for an entire relaxing warm and sunny day in the outside air.

He may not have the same depth of detail, but I can guarantee his new coat of paint is thicker and very well coated with protective lacquer.

Plus, he now has glitter on his lampglass and a shimmery golden belt. Not to mention green pants, instead of that old pair, which was a quite shabby shade of brown.

The hours I spent bringing him back to a presentable condition will be absolutely worth it as he repays me by providing smiles from his home outside my window.