Is There a Carpenter in the House?
One fall many, many years ago, I volunteered to paint our house on Oakbrook Drive while the children were in school. I was afraid of heights back then, but it was a split level and not too difficult. The hardest part for me was getting back off the roof onto the ladder after painting that little triangle where the upper story connected. However, I remember moving off quite quickly on the back side when I discovered some unhappy wasps! I'm recording this story because painting a few hours outside each day in the beautiful weather made it one of my favorite and memorable autumns. Another reason is because I was quite proud of my accomplishment. However, after finishing, Larry found a couple nail holes to touch up, and claimed we both painted it!
This summer, before painting our farm house, we noticed that it also had one of those triangles on the roof. Larry volunteered to do it first thing. It was a very awkward job and part of the time he had to lay on his side and paint with his left hand. After he primed and painted it, I discovered I hated the color. What were we going to do? I didn't panic, but experimented by mixing the almost gold color, with the white trim paint until I got the shade I liked. Larry was so happy that I was able to come up with a color I could live with, and he could live with me, that he primed and painted it again without complaining. That made four times, and without spilling paint on the roof! He also acquired a visibly bruised hip.
This is the old part of the house and you can see the triangle on the lower roof. The color in the photos is not showing up accurately, but is a pretty creamy yellow.
Sometime while in the process of finishing the painting, Larry noticed a similar triangle above the patio. How did we not see it before? He also discovered that it hadn't been done properly and was rotting. Another project to put on his never ending list, and not an easy one for him. Bummer.
We bought the boards in McCook and brought them home in our blue Honda 'truck'. Finally a day was set aside to tackle it. Larry is not a carpenter and it took him a long time to cut the boards with angles at each end, but he did it!
I stayed in hollering distance to be of help when he needed me, and to our amazement it turned out quite well. I'm very proud of him! Then he primed and painted it, and now we are really finished with the house. He even lets me say that I painted it!
