Bloodied but unbowed

[jhetley]

Every project exacts its toll. In most cases, the price is blood. I have apparently bled sufficiently to have finished painting the front porch. Even managed to make the porch and the gallon of paint come out even.

Now, to see if I can still move in the morning...

(Rain forecast for Friday, so I wanted to finish up today so the latex paint will have sufficient drying time. Some idiot painted the place two houses up from us a few years back without paying attention to the forecast. House started the day blue, ended the day brown again. All the paint washed off.)

So, I'll go forth and buy another gallon of primer and gallon of paint for the sunporch -- when we have a prospect of three or four paintable days in a row. Which may be next spring.

Comments

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

You cut yourself painting? Seriously?
Ok, I'm laughing with you, not at you. Promise.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Mostly scraped knuckles, working around all that Victorian trim and spindles and such. Also pinched my thumb in the clippers when pruning back a yew bush for clearance. And paint scrapers have to be sharp to work effectively.

I deduce that you haven't taken on the maintenance of a 150-year-old house lately.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

No, is it a good house then? Mine is 30 years old and is just falling to hell. The windows leak, we've have the siding all replaced 2 years ago and already the wood is rotting, we just had it repiped, what a nightmare. Isn't yours just falling apart? 150 years was waaaaay before central heat and air. I guess you don't have ac, up where you are, but what about heat? Don't tell me you just have a wood stove? Never had to use a paint scraper here. Just keep replacing wood panels and then paint. Florida sub tropics are real hard on wood exterior. Drunken monkies designed this house, I'm sure of it.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We have indoor plumbing, electricity, and central heat -- all of them afterthoughts to the original structure. Maintenance remains a ongoing battle, with this or that needing work every year. Last year, foundations. Year before that, re-roofing. Year before _that_, new drain lines. Next year, we'll probably bring the wiring up to 20th century standards.

Think of "housing" as a continual soap-opera of triumphs and tragedies.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

I often think of that movie, The Money Pit. Ever since becoming a homeowner, I stopped laughing years ago. I just sagely nod in an understanding way.
2 things still pending.
A) Cable (tv) is still strung across the backyard since they never bothered to dig it in and they won't schedule a time to come out and actually do it. I think I'll start hanging laundry on it.
B) Can't find an electrician to wire in our jacuzzi tub. It's a real simple job, the box in the garage is directly below the tub and the tub is open to the attic underneath so it's a no-brainer. Florida just has the laziest roofers, siders, painters, tree trimmers, electricians, etc... They never return your calls, when they do come out, they're late (hours) and never call back with an estimate.
The Money Pit.