It’s Raining!

Yes, today I am excited about the prospects of rain.  Already I can see the front moving in from the west, the wind has picked up and clouds cover the valley like a blanket of cotton balls.  Rain, for me is an excuse to take an ‘easy’ day from the work started on Monday.  We have begun preservation on the exterior of the school house.

Monday was a beautiful day, sunny with a slight breeze a nice day to start scraping paint from the clapboard siding.  After 6 hours of scraping and wire brushing I had finished the bottom 5 feet of the west side of the school house.  What have I gotten myself into?  Rick had spent his day, nailing the siding, going before me and securing the wood.  It is amazing how quickly a 5 pound box of nails can disappeared. After a quick trip to Durand to purchase more nails, Rick was back at it.  Swinging the hammer and grumbling ever so softly.  By the days end Rick could barely open and close his hand and I was troubled with severe shoulder pain. Even though I had consciously tried to use my left hand as much as possible, the sting in my right shoulder kept me awake at night.

Tuesday was an even better day.  In the last week we have seen a definite decrease in the mosquito population, making it possible to actually enjoy being outdoors. We set up scaffolding to start work on the midsection of the west side.  First a quick spray of all of the wasps nests, then more scraping and brushing.  The higher up we went, the easier it was to prep the wood for paint.  We decided that with the rains coming in today, it would be best to paint the wood we had nailed and prepared.  Plus we wanted to see how the paint was going to cover.  By 11 am we started to apply paint.  Nothing fancy, just a nice white flat exterior commercial grade paint.  About half way through I could barely move my right arm…ouch.  Rotatory cuff?  Bursitis?  No time to complain, or as Rick reminds me “you are getting older”.  By 2:00 p.m. I was done, physically and mentally.   I called my father at lunch, he arrived with a sling for my arm just as we were finishing.

“Looks good, but it is going to need another coat of paint”.  Yes, Dad, it is obvious that the school house will require two full coats of paint to provide good coverage and preserve the siding.  NUTS.  So today is a time to re-evaluate time lines and the amount of paint to purchase and to give my arm and Rick’s hands a much needed rest.

I am ever so grateful that we live in Little Plum Valley.  It is beautiful and the work on the basement bungalow is finished.  A second coat of paint?  No problem, I will take my time, and rest when needed and be grateful that we only have to scrape and nail the building once.