<h4>By Lee Scott</h4>
You may have noticed there has been a lot of rain lately. Even the Water Festival Opening Ceremony was rained out, and many of the Hunting Island campers left town early. Because of all this rain, there were associated problems. Streets were flooded, and we had electric outages. One problem that faced me after the rain stopped was my screened porch.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>It was a mess. Two weeks of rain had taken a toll on all the contents, and not just the flooring. It seemed liked everything was covered with dirt. The cushions on the furniture all needed to be cleaned, and the metal furniture had to be wiped down. But the worst part was the mildew.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>Time for a little elbow grease. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

I tried to pull a Tom Sawyer on my husband by saying, “Honey, I am going out to clean up the porches. It is so much fun!”

“You have fun,” he replied and added, “You may want to whitewash that fence, too.”

But as I started to move patio tables, he did come out to help. We moved all the furniture, the plants, and the indoor/outdoor rug, then got out our buckets and brushes. Then I pulled out my rubber gloves, and he grabbed the bleach, soap, and hose and together we swabbed the deck.

Now, as boaters we understand the concept of swabbing the deck, but why must I do it on my screened porch.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>I am always going out and cleaning the glass table tops on the end tables and I thought initially it was just pollen, but after wiping them down a few times, I discovered it was something more. My neighbor, Charlie, suggested that it was the dirt from the marshland that hangs in the air and comes in on a nice breeze. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

So, we have learned that one of our regular chores here in the Lowcountry is scrubbing down decks, railings, and steps. With the humidity and the floating particles of dirt, the porch becomes uninviting. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

After we finished scrubbing, we both took showers and inspected our work. We had to wait a few hours until everything dried before we put all the furniture back.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>The results were amazing, and we were pleased with our work that evening as we enjoyed our cocktails on our beautiful scrubbed porch. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

“Well I guess we are not the only ones who have to clean up the mildew and grime on their porches,” I said. “It must be all over the Lowcountry.”

“No, you are wrong,” said my spouse. “Some people never have to do it. They hire people to do it.”<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Shiver me timbers, matey. He is probably right. <span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>