Spring

Yesterday was a booger of a day. My task for the weekend is to paint bathrooms so that when they install carpet and tile (this week and/or next week)I won't have to worry about spilling paint on the new floors. Good idea. Very good idea.

But before I started that I decided to fill some of the potholes caused by the snow melt and rain run off. My driveway is dirt and gravel. When you drive into my driveway, it is as good as having a ride on a bucking bronco! Really bad! It should probably be graded and re-graveled, but I'm also considering having it paved, so I thought I'd do a temporary fix until I check out costs of paving.

I drove down the road where the county had recently graded and shoveled the dirt/gravel mixture they shoved to the side of the road into buckets, loaded the buckets into the truck and emptied them into the holes. I got one side of the driveway relatively well filled in, and will do the other side in a few days. Then I got a rake and shoveled and raked displaced gravel back into the tracks where it should be. Folks, that is hard work. And that is why the other entrance will have to wait a few days. I knew I'd done enough hard labor for one day. I rested a while, had a glass of iced tea, and then began painting.

I started with painting the guest bathroom. It was going well, even considering the difficulties of painting areas like behind the toilet. Geez, that calls for a contortionist! I was on my head, my stomach on the seat, reaching up and behind the tank with every apparatus I could find in order to cover the wall. I was also on the floor, wedged between the tub and pedestal (almost couldn't get out!), on my knees on the seat lid and hanging over the tank in attempt to reach all the areas. I think I painted the back of the tank as well as the wall, but figured it was OK. About the time I got finished, I began to wonder why we paint there, in the first place. The only kind of person who would look there would be a person who would look in the medicine cabinet to see what you have there, and I don't have friends like that!!

Anyhoo, it is nicely painted behind the toilet as well as everywhere else, and you are free to check it out when you visit. Then ... just before I was on the final three square feet of wall, I turned to get more paint on the roller, and ... damn! Someone moved the paint tray!! It must have been Ali!! I stepped on the edge of the tray and spilled paint all over the floor!!

I hear the questions going through your wee heads ... Yes, I was using a drop cloth, but there was enough spilled paint that it ran right off the edge. And ... AND ... I was standing in it. Well, I thought for a couple seconds, and then dipped my roller in the glop in the floor and continued painting. No sense in wasting more than necessary!!

I fortunately had a roll of paper towels there, so I cleaned up as well as possible with wet paper towels. Then I put two multi-layered pads of paper towels on the floor, stepped one foot on each and shuffled to the front door.

I decided that I wouldn't start on the other bathroom. It was late in the day, 5:00 or so, and obviously my paint karma was not good. But I could prepare for today. So I began sanding a couple places where I had filled some holes. I also had to remove residue of one of those borders that a previous resident had put up. (BTW, those things are yucky; don't put them up unless you're really, really sure you like them and want to keep them for many years! Use the temporary kind.) That removal task entailed a wire brush and sand paper. It was raising a lot of dust, so I thought I'd be smart and turn on the shop vac, hold the hose near my work, and it would pick up much of the dust and debris. Worked like a charm!

Until .....

Sighhhh. The collection bag came loose inside the tank at some time. I was so engrossed in my task that I didn't notice until I felt I couldn't breathe AND I couldn't see well. Everything, I repeat, everything in the room was coated with a fine white dust, including my glasses!! Double damn!!

Replaced the bag, vacuumed the whole room, and decided to take a breather. And lawdy, did I need one after that. I walked out and realized that the fine dust had ... well, of course ... gone all over the house!! Ali was sneezing up a storm, and China was standing near the front door with her nose to the screen! I opened all the windows, turned on the ceiling fans, and put the a/c on "ventilate," so the fan would run constantly for a while. Then we all three went to the deck for the next half hour.

I may never get this house clean again! But the tile and carpet installation will raise more dust again, so I'm gritting my teeth over the amount of cleaning I have done and will do in just a few days. Oh, well!

The wind blew incessantly yesterday. It isn't supposed to blow much today, so I'm going to spray Roundup on some weeds in the back yard. I'm hoping to get my grass seed planted in the next two or three weeks, and the thistles gotta go!

Then I get to paint again!! Yippee skippee!!! NOT!

Oh, I forgot to tell another thing. While doing all that, I aggravated the old injury in my thumb/wrist/hand from back in KC. It has been bothering me somewhat anyway, but this stuff put it over the top. I'm wearing that lovely brace again. It will make difficult such things as holding a paint brush or roller, a piece of sandpaper, a scraper, a shovel, a rake, etc. Generally it is in the way, but I have no choice but to push on as best I can. It's gotta get done!

But today is a new day. It is spring. It is beautiful out there! Here are a few of the indigenous flowers bring the essence of spring with them. Enjoy!

You can click on a picture to enlarge it, if you want.

Cool Slideshows

And then, just for fun:

If this doesn't cheer up your day, sumpthin's wrong with you!!!

Click on the link below . You will get a black page. Click your mouse anywhere (& everywhere) on the page & see what happens. Better yet, click & drag your mouse all over the black page...Enjoy!!

Spring