Slick!

Once the terrace was completed, we realized there was one teeny addition that would have a huge impact on our quality of life. The railing across the balusters is a generous 9" wide, so we set drinks on it, peel bananas and slice oranges and refill feeders on it, stand on it, the birds sit and make messes on it, the squirrels (cussed little critters) run around on it, the Woolly Opossums traipse across it, the monkeys jump on it - it's a regular highway of activity and a work area to boot. The white paint that the crew applied remained white for about a day. The stains quickly became unsightly, the paint began peeling due to frequent precipitation, and I made it worse by spraying it with water in semi-successful attempts to clean things up.

So we contacted Oscar, who returned in mid-December (with an assistant) to tile the top surface of the railing. It looks fantastic! Marco commented this afternoon that it was the best thing about this whole place. Truly, it is a dream to simply aim the hose at whatever falls on the railing, give it a quick blast, and once again it looks like new. The birds struggle to get traction on it, but that doesn't stop them from continuing to consider it part of their world. Check Marco's video, shot on a rainy day when the birds were bedraggled, disheveled and focused on getting their share of the White Plate Special: