Above -- the front peak.
These are the wedge-shaped sections of wall that I've been yammering about. From this vantage point, it looks easy, but that ladder is practically vertical and the ropes hold it from falling backward !
On again, off again yesterday - the massive system took aim for us, spread, dissipated, dropped 3-4 drops and vanished. We stopped staining a couple of times but in the final analysis did everything that we were going to do, and then some.
My setup with the ladder at the dormer worked well. With a paintbrush jammed into a piece of closet rod, I extended my reach and slathered stain over the far bits. That finished off the side facing Jason. Yay !! Other than some touch-up spots this year's priority areas are complete. However, in the process, we've found that parts of the back are in dire need, otherwise they'll be in rough shape next year. So ... as we expected ... we continued.
Sandy had already started the back of the Great Room; I setup a ladder to get to the small roof over the back entrance and another ladder on that roof to access the back peak. It was easy going. I remember getting up there once before and feeling height-challenged -- well, after all the ladder work that I've done in the past week, this felt very secure. It's all a mind game. I even had a part to paint over that roof where I didn't need the ladder. I enjoyed the first staining that I've been able to do not standing on a ladder !
Next, with the short ladder, I did the high sides of that area and pretty soon the back of the great room was complete. Sandy was working below and I avoided dripping stain on her head. Al -- her hairdresser -- would have had some fun removing that stain on Tuesday :). Highlights ?
Executive decision time -- Sandy had moved onto the back of the kitchen while I finished up. By that point the rain was imminent, based on the Doppler, and we quit. After a suitable time in the house and checking the Doppler again, I decided to go out and do some hard-to-reach areas. It looked like the rain had passed us by. Later we would get a few drops on the deck, but nothing more.
Sandy, in the meanwhile, had cleaned up. She was reluctant to start again but her desire to finish took over and she was back at it. It started doing the few boards under the back eves of the bedroom, ended up doing all the way to the bottom of the windows in that area. I only have 4-6 more boards to do across ... but we're out of stain. Sandy has a cup or two of stain left that she'll apply to the bottom boards of the kitchen back this a.m.
As I was finishing up, Jim came along, sat on the steps and chatted. Bonnie is down at Pam's minding the grand-kids. I only had a bit to finish and then Jim and I had a couple of the Muskoka dark beer. Sandy finished what she was doing, or at least finished for the day, and got a glass of wine. There we were, sitting at the back of the house on the concrete steps, chatting. It's not the most scenic spot, but a good place to stop.
Earlier in the day I had a staining break when the computer froze. I initially thought that Sandy had contracted a virus, but no, it was heat-induced. My external drive wouldn't even boot, the machine couldn't find the primary partition. Yikes. I left it off for a while and then it booted up. In the meantime, I dug through all the spare transformers aka wall-warts and found one close to 12v. I attached it to a small case fan and it's now blowing at the external drive (that doesn't have its own fan). It seems that we're keeping the house too hot for a constant-use non-fan-cooled external drive. I'll rig up something more permanent at some point. I also sat that external drive on an unused DVD drive, to give it something metal for heat dissipation. Sigh. Whatever works.
Dinner ... steak ... the last of a filet that we'd cut up from last summer, frozen and shrink wrapped, well kept in the freezer, it was a delicious change. Mushrooms, grilled zucchini and boiled new potatoes completed the picture.
Tonight's dinner will be quite different. We're driving to Toronto so that we'll be there for Sandy's first-thing hair appointment tomorrow. She managed to get us a room at the Harbour Castle for $50 which also cost 4000 Starwood points, but there was a 4000 Starwood point "welcome back" deal, so net-net the room will cost $50. What a deal ! I called Alnasir and we're going to meet them for dinner tonight. Abby was originally going to come along -- they do take dogs -- but she's now going to stay at David's, dropped off along the way. She'd have been fine at the HC, but this is easier.
9:30 hair appointment; 2:30 Social Security appointment in Niagara Falls; then back here. We won't have much luggage ...
Today ... before we leave I might go for a bike ride. I'm due and the weather is great and we're out of stain. Speaking of which, I have to find out where we can get more since even if the RONA in Parry Sound has the base back in stock, apparently they close at 6pm. That's a weird time for a building place to close during the summer. I'll double-check that time too.
Onward ... Barrie-ward ... Toronto-ward.
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