Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Next project


Our freshly painted blue and white house looks cute as a Dutch candy tin. But one project always leads to another. This was a good time to paint the old deck, with everything cleared off.  

On Sunday, after everyone left, I scraped peeling paint on my hands and knees for a while. Poor me.  It didn't take long to get bored, and from that lowly vantage point, I could see this was basically an endless, thankless job.  Since I didn't paint it last summer, the floor was in worse condition than usual.

A perfectionist of course would have kept going, but I just hit the rough stuff with my sharp hand scraper, scrubbed it with detergent, and called it a day.  I don't use power tools and have no desire to learn how at this stage of life.  


Anyway, since this deck was built around 1980, all things considered it's held up pretty well.  The stairs were rotted and just replaced by that expensive handy-woman service, but no one is in danger of falling through the deck boards in the near future.

Tom was very worried when he left, knowing I was about to paint the floor dark brown, smack against his perfect blue wall.  As professional painter, he said his pet peeve is "subcontractors" (that would be me) who come in after one of his perfect jobs, and then make him look bad with their slapdash work.

I admit,  I'm a fast and messy painter, but Tom will be happy to hear that not a single drop splattered on the side of the house. 

It's a small deck and always cluttered up with stuff like a grill, table, chairs and plants. It's nice to see it cleaned up and empty for a change while the paint cures. 

We're having a week of absolutely perfect summer weather.  I think the Northwest is the only part of the country not sweltering hot right now.

Speaking of scorching, I'm flying to Las Vegas tomorrow. I'm looking forward to visiting my dad and sister for a few days.

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