How to use outdoor furniture

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Most of the outdoor furniture that I see for sale just looks good on a web page, or a catalog page, or in a display in a store. The reality of outdoor furniture is that it lives outdoors, and it's meant to be used outdoors. That means it gets dirty, dusty, rained on, that sort of thing. And one of the best things I've learned is to use cheap furniture, and towels.

Here is my favorite place to relax in The Tropical Paradise. I spend most of my time on the computer, since I work at home, so when I go outside, I like to give my brain, and my eyes, a break. That's my iPod there, connected to a portable speaker. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and just like a book, I hit pause to bookmark, and get back to it later

The chaise lounge is an inexpensive one from Target. It's aluminum, so it's light enough to easily move around to follow the shade. The table, as you can see, is plastic. Also lightweight and easy to move.

But it's the towels that really make this comfortable. Not only do they feel good, they are easy to clean. And since this is under a tree, I give the towels a flick and the leaves are gone.

Yeah, I know that this isn't going to be showing up any time soon in a *House Beautiful* magazine. But most of the stuff I see there doesn't really belong outdoors, it belongs under a glass case.

Excuse me, I've been on the computer too long already today, I'm going to take a break. Hopefully Macintosh, the good little wiener dog, will have time to hang out with me!

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