On the light side … have some more straw-ban funnies, courtesy of Len Savage:
Author: Claire
Whew. Another weekend away from the computer, working outdoors. After feeling like a vampire bat in a cave of gloom for nine months, it sure feels good to work in the sunshine. Or even in the slightly-less-wet gloom, which is what we had yesterday. The Wandering Monk finished his part of the east wall project on Friday, then returned yesterday at no charge to remove the scaffolding and help with a few extra bits. Nice guy, that Monk. Since then I’ve been painting trim. There is a lot of trim on this house. It’s very good at covering old idiocies…
Maybe the ugly and unregarded east side of Ye Olde Wreck has some potential after all. The Wandering Monk isn’t really headless. He’s just the one bad angle in an otherwise happy shot. I told him I had no great expectations for the east wall renovation — that I merely wanted to get it done, check it off the list, and move on to more gratifying work. He told me it would be “beeeautiful” when we finished. Hyperbole, I thought. But you know, it’s getting there. Skirting, belly band — even seemingly small things like replacing broken shingles or covering…
I finished up the north gable end yesterday and we swung around to begin work on the east wall. That’s The Wandering Monk above, with his magical Honda pressure washer. They cleaned decades of grime off the siding and incidentally revealed bad seals at the top of two windows. Really bad seals, in one case. One window merely dribbled harmlessly under the force of the washer. The other admitted what seemed half the aquatic blast into my living room, drenching a desk, paperwork, and electronics. That was … interesting. OTOH, this is a good moment to learn about things that…
I’m spending as much of this weekend as I can outdoors and away from the computer. A dose of sunshine (however watery and cloud-filtered) and a dose of physical work are just the thing to burn away depression. Feels good to get things done, too. On Tuesday The Wandering Monk and I got the north gable end repaired, trimmed, and almost ready to paint. Since then I’ve been slooooowwwwwly cleaning, caulking, painting, and otherwise finishing the wall, eaves, and fascia. Except — drat! — for one spot no more than three feet square. It’s too high to reach by ladder…