Aug 4 - huge progress with teamwork

I decided somewhere along that way that I'd try the front peak. It was the lightning bolt that struck me while I was sleeping. With David being unsure about when he could come, what kind of timing was I looking at doing most of this myself ? His priority has to be making the transaction go smoothly; mine has to be getting this staining finished.

So ... I stood up the big ladder -- 30' -- and extended it so that it leaned against the top window trim and its feet were against the deck railing foot. That sounds easier than it is because with the 30' ladder, as I try to stand it up I reach a point where it overbalances. I have to wedge the feet under something as I "walk" under the ladder propping it up or have someone hold down the feet.

It was surprisingly easy to paint that section. Surprisingly, because I thought that I would be so close to the wall without the stand-offs, that I wouldn't be able to reach very far. I next needed to lower the ladder a tad and move it to the right to continue down the peak -- I asked Jason for help with this because I didn't trust myself moving the ladder vertical and then lowering the extension ... if it started to go on me I wouldn't be able to stop it ... Jason's help was simply insurance, and valuable at that !

Down and down, soon I had moved to the shorter ladder. To lower the 30' ladder, I asked Sandy to hold the feet and then we got it out of the way. Since the sun was quickly warming things up, I moved to the bedroom wing, working quickly to finish the 2nd floor section and then stopping because the sun was then full on the 1st floor -- to hot to paint.

It was then noon and Sandy had volunteered to help so I got her setup to work on the front of the kitchen, the only part not in the sun. I had my lunch and then joined her. We finished all but the small section under the windows, which by then was in the sun. We then moved to the 1st floor of the bedrooms and tackled that, now that it was in the shade. Well ... the wall was in the shade but we were in the sun and it was hot work. I did the upper part while she worked across the bottom. Finishing my part, I moved back to the front of the great room, it now being shady, working on the short extension ladder and stepladder, getting it down to the last few feet above the deck.

My goal at that point was to paint down to where Sandy could reach without a ladder. She finished up the bedroom and stopped for the day -- it was after 5pm -- and I used the last little bit of paint in my can to do the top of the 5 foot section of the great room projecting out from the bedroom wing. Since each of these sections intersects with the roof line, there's a part that is only roof accessible. I'd completed the one by the kitchen; I now completed its brother on the other side. There is one small area left to do up where the chimney comes up from the great room -- a 45 degree section of roof with the shed dormer intersecting.

Today, for me, is going to be pretty much a wipe-out. I have the Roads Board meeting at 10 a.m. going through noon, a pre-meeting at 9:30 and perhaps lunch with the other trustees afterwards. It remains to be seen as to whether I'll be able to do much more than that little section. Sandy will be able to complete the small bit remaining in a couple of hours and then may move to the side of the kitchen, although I'll talk to her - would prefer that she start the lower end of the wall facing Jason.

At this rate we'll be finished the high-priority stuff before the weekend is out. That will also, I figure, use up the six gallons of stain that we had on hand. We've finished three at this point; another half-gallon will take care of the remaining frontal areas and it will likely take 2-2.5 to do that side wall. There's only one window, the master bedroom side window, leaving a lot of siding to soak up stain.

It looks great. Slightly browner than the original, it actually looks better. We're both pleased with the result. We're going to continue the project, hoping to do the entire house before we run out of time -- we don't expect to do all this before going to Europe but can continue when we get back. Each area will have it's own challenges -- some difficult footing at the back; very awkward back peak due to the small roof over the back entrance.

After cleanup, we went next door to kibbitz. Jason soon finished up what he was doing and we sat and chatted. Back home, we had salmon (or trout) on the barbie. I haven't been fishing much, so no crappie or bass that day.

Tomorrow I have to go for a bike ride and then have Mass. It will be another short day, from a painting perspective. Hopefully Sunday will be a full day; the predicted weather was looking good, the last time I checked.

Onward !