Painting by the Numbers
11/06/18 08:27
It looks like another stellar morning in the neighborhood. I can hear the morning banter of my neighbors across the way as they discuss god only knows what and I can't say that a I care one way or another. Sometimes I just want the noise to go away. Sometimes I like to think that I don't want to be distracted by this or that especially in the early morning when my whims are easily jolted. I'll turn up the music and that should do the trick. Loud enough so that I can no longer hear them but not so loud as to disturb their sensibilities. And not so loud, mind you, that it starts to bother me. The focus needs to be on the task at hand and music occasionally helps in that regard.
Having the choice between going to the market with my shopping list early on and writing in this here journal I decided that the store can wait. Were I to wait to do the journal thing it might well not happen. That's just the way it works. To borrow a much overused phrase, one needs to strike while the iron is hot.
I have to say that the staining of the cedar shingles on the back deck yesterday went probably better than expected. I offered to pay the Ev man 15 clams an hour to lend a hand and he signed on without a fuss. I don't know that this boy has ever even held a paint brush in his hand much less used it to do a job. We drove off early on to Home Depot to grab the stain (a nice Cape Code grey), a couple of brushes, and miscellaneous other items. Evan wanted to stop at Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee just to light a fire under his butt a bit so we did that before going to Home Depot to buy our supplies.
Once back at the house, he helped me lay out the materials on the back deck after clearing away the chairs and table and that included putting down a plastic drop sheet. Evan, always making connections in his head that may or may not be useful or constructive, commented that it reminded him of the kill sheets used by Michael Hall in the terrific Netflix series, Dexter. That's just great. Now our son is thinking like a serial killer.
But he worked fastidiously the better part of an hour and stayed away as I asked him to from the edges of the window frames and molding along the roof overhang. I figured if he could just concentrate on broad strokes with the brush that would be a good place to start. After an hour he had had just about enough and that was that. Tomorrow, I said to him, you will work two hours painting and you can work your way up to doing a full days work. I've not determined what "tomorrows" project is as yet but we can probably find another section of the house requiring a fresh coat of stain if for no other reason that to use up the existing stain.
Evan covered a pretty good section in the hour that he worked and I was satisfied that it was a good start. It significantly reduced the amount of time required for me to finish the back deck area which I ultimately did by later in the afternoon. Did I tell you that it looks just fabulous? I love to take before and after photos when I expect a vastly different look and did so this time although not as extensively as I should have in retrospect. That is how good I think it looks after the fact.
In a funny sort of way, I finished it up so that Evan could see what finishing it himself might well look like. In other words, I wanted to prove to him that it's worthwhile to keep plugging away when you are on the right track. Not that he couldn't see it for himself, or that he needed me to point it out to him, but just seeing the finished product knowing full well that he made a major contribution to something that ended up looking just terrific might well incentivize him to take on such tasks in the future.
The look on his face after all was said and done told me that my thinking was correct. Not that he was chomping at the bit to get started on another project, but that the project he contributed to was beyond successful. The fact that we did it together, even if not concurrently, was secondary. He helped his dad and I helped my son. Is that not the way of the universe? I was also glad that I had asked him to help and I think he was happy to know that I had enough confidence in his abilities to ask him to assist in the first place. Never mind that he knew not a whit about painting. It's not really about painting at the end of the day.
Nancy was good enough to stop by Amato's in Seabrook on her way home from Rosman's and pick up a pizza for dinner. I almost made the mistake of ordering a half pepperoni when he had asked me to have her pick up a half buffalo chicken. Evan overheard me ordering the pizza on the phone and he stuck his head out of his bedroom just long enough and quickly enough so that I corrected myself mid sentence while on the phone with the man taking the order.
I think Nancy got to the store while I was on the phone ordering it so that led to confusion and we exchanged texts back and forth until it finally got straightened out. It was the perfect ending to a satisfying day. Nancy was wowed by the new look on the back deck and said as much to the two of us responsible. Glad you like it. We do too.
Having the choice between going to the market with my shopping list early on and writing in this here journal I decided that the store can wait. Were I to wait to do the journal thing it might well not happen. That's just the way it works. To borrow a much overused phrase, one needs to strike while the iron is hot.
I have to say that the staining of the cedar shingles on the back deck yesterday went probably better than expected. I offered to pay the Ev man 15 clams an hour to lend a hand and he signed on without a fuss. I don't know that this boy has ever even held a paint brush in his hand much less used it to do a job. We drove off early on to Home Depot to grab the stain (a nice Cape Code grey), a couple of brushes, and miscellaneous other items. Evan wanted to stop at Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee just to light a fire under his butt a bit so we did that before going to Home Depot to buy our supplies.
Once back at the house, he helped me lay out the materials on the back deck after clearing away the chairs and table and that included putting down a plastic drop sheet. Evan, always making connections in his head that may or may not be useful or constructive, commented that it reminded him of the kill sheets used by Michael Hall in the terrific Netflix series, Dexter. That's just great. Now our son is thinking like a serial killer.
But he worked fastidiously the better part of an hour and stayed away as I asked him to from the edges of the window frames and molding along the roof overhang. I figured if he could just concentrate on broad strokes with the brush that would be a good place to start. After an hour he had had just about enough and that was that. Tomorrow, I said to him, you will work two hours painting and you can work your way up to doing a full days work. I've not determined what "tomorrows" project is as yet but we can probably find another section of the house requiring a fresh coat of stain if for no other reason that to use up the existing stain.
Evan covered a pretty good section in the hour that he worked and I was satisfied that it was a good start. It significantly reduced the amount of time required for me to finish the back deck area which I ultimately did by later in the afternoon. Did I tell you that it looks just fabulous? I love to take before and after photos when I expect a vastly different look and did so this time although not as extensively as I should have in retrospect. That is how good I think it looks after the fact.
In a funny sort of way, I finished it up so that Evan could see what finishing it himself might well look like. In other words, I wanted to prove to him that it's worthwhile to keep plugging away when you are on the right track. Not that he couldn't see it for himself, or that he needed me to point it out to him, but just seeing the finished product knowing full well that he made a major contribution to something that ended up looking just terrific might well incentivize him to take on such tasks in the future.
The look on his face after all was said and done told me that my thinking was correct. Not that he was chomping at the bit to get started on another project, but that the project he contributed to was beyond successful. The fact that we did it together, even if not concurrently, was secondary. He helped his dad and I helped my son. Is that not the way of the universe? I was also glad that I had asked him to help and I think he was happy to know that I had enough confidence in his abilities to ask him to assist in the first place. Never mind that he knew not a whit about painting. It's not really about painting at the end of the day.
Nancy was good enough to stop by Amato's in Seabrook on her way home from Rosman's and pick up a pizza for dinner. I almost made the mistake of ordering a half pepperoni when he had asked me to have her pick up a half buffalo chicken. Evan overheard me ordering the pizza on the phone and he stuck his head out of his bedroom just long enough and quickly enough so that I corrected myself mid sentence while on the phone with the man taking the order.
I think Nancy got to the store while I was on the phone ordering it so that led to confusion and we exchanged texts back and forth until it finally got straightened out. It was the perfect ending to a satisfying day. Nancy was wowed by the new look on the back deck and said as much to the two of us responsible. Glad you like it. We do too.