Another Night at Work

We painted again last night and Lil Hit was very docile. Helpful even. We are starting to warm up to him.

It took us three hours and 20 minutes to get through the job. This sky walk is one of the largest. We each painted 15 windows. My theme for the night was snowmen. I had them water skiing, surfing, sledding, fishing and the one pictured above is a Nar-Do-Well Snowmen leaning against a lamp post while sucking on a Candy Cane.

We have two more sky walks to do and then we are finished. And another healthy addition to the House Remodeling Fund.

The Home of Little Hitler

We painted last night at the Bank of America skywalk across Sprague Avenue. We have to call in advance so the Security Detail will know we are allowed to be there.

Last Spring when we were painting skywalks for Coaches vs. Cancer, we came across this guy at the Security Desk who was just a little tyrant. In the two or three minutes that we were in his sphere, he barked orders at three different people...me included. Apparently he didn't like the way I leaned my ladder against his guard station.

Susan and I immediately christened him "Little Hitler". 

"Lil Hit" was again on duty last night. Not quite so bad as I remember. He's definitely a cop wannabe taking charge of his little kingdom.

Anyway, we painted for three hours and got that one finished up. I painted a bunch of figures doing Winter-Like activity. Susan painted Snow Flakes.

I'm trying to decide if I had some gas syphoned from my car. I noticed I was almost empty last night and I was 100 miles short of my normal range. I get about 300 miles out of a tank and I was at 200.

So I filled up this morning and my mileage is definitely off. I'm down about 4 miles a gallon from my typical mileage. I shall be keeping an eye on this and start looking to purchase a locking gas cap...which I should have had all along.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

We decided to make some home made Kahlua. With Mark over last night for second Thanksgiving, we thought it would be a fun thing to do. I really should have read the recipe completely. The recipe calls for 5 pounds of sugar, two cups of brown sugar, and a 7 ounce container of Taster's Choice Freeze Dried Coffee. You mix that together in a gallon and a half of water and let it boil or 3 to 4 HOURS. Then, once it is cool, you add a bottle of Everclear and some vanilla. 


The timing simply didn't work out. The mixture has cooled now and we can add the Everclear and vanilla and try to get it into some bottles before we head out to paint tonight. 


The whole house smells like burned coffee. The mixture splattered all over the stove while it boiled and made a horrible sticky mess. The next time I do this, I will be outside on the portable propane burner...waaaaay out of reach of anything I don't want to get stained.

Sky walk Painting will continue tonight and through Thursday unless we get any other sky walks added.

Thanksgiving Sunday and No Defense!

Since we didn't have Thanksgiving here at home, we miss out on turkey and all the leftovers. Well, we can't have that. So today we will prepare a Thanksgiving meal that couldn't be beat. Plus, we have sky walks to paint so it will be a very busy day. B'Bye!


11:17PM: Okay, the day is over and it was a good one. We invited our friend Mark over to share dinner and it was fabulous. The turkey came out perfect, the mashed potatoes were creamy, the white trash casserole was the thing that dreams are made of and the gravy was simply Gravylicious.


We finished one more sky walk today although we had a little trouble getting access. Since it's part of the Mall and sky walk system, I figured it would be open. But alas, it was not. I managed to flag down a custodian who got me to the right people to approve us being in there.


I guess I should go back to yesterday. We got downtown about ten and got to work on a sky walk that crosses Howard avenue between the Chase Bank Building, which used to be the Washington Mutual Bank Building and the old Crescent Department Store Building, now called Crescent Court.


I had a disaster that has never happened to me before. I was moving my ladder a couple of inches, well aware of my paint jar on the top, and watched in slow motion as it tumbled off and onto the carpet in the sky walk.


Susan reacts very well to these sorts of emergencies. She screams, "Holy Mother of God!" at the top of her lungs and goes into manic panic mode. I spilled a lot of paint and it took close to half an hour before we could return to work. We got it up though and you would never know unless we pointed it out.


I have never had that happen to me in 30 plus years of painting windows. It happened to me again today. Honest to God! I just couldn't believe it. I was cleaning some lines off an image and I had placed the paint on the railing along the sky walk. It's not very wide railing and I either didn't place it squarely on the rail or some movement I made bumped it off. Not sure! Doesn't really matter.


Susan responded with "Holy Mother of God!" which translates into, "You Stupid MoFo, you did it AGAIN?!"


It wasn't as much paint this time but it was still stressful and unbelievably stupid. I have no defense!

Black Friday

Today we painted for two and a half hours and completed three jobs. They were all outside jobs and we are now done with them. The rest of our painting will be indoors. 

It was sunny today but much colder than yesterday. My fingers were pretty chilled by the time we finished.

My other accomplishment of the day was to get some Christmas lights out. I got it done but I lost three strings of lights over the summer. I know they worked when I put them away but that was not the case when I pulled them out tonight. Two worked for half the string and one was a complete burn out. I am tempted to spend the time to find the bad light and get them working again, but that takes forever and I would be letting down the throw away society we have developed here. Easier to buy a set of lights.

I have to get the new LED lights. They are a cleaner looking light and I think they will last longer although I think I have made it three Christmases with these lights.

The Annual Thanksgiving Day Blog-A-Thon

8:38AM: We have just gotten up and here I am at the Computer typing away. I got up earlier to shoot up T.J. and I sat down here to review what we did last year on Thanksgiving. It turns out I did the same Blogathon as I am doing here and I found the information I left very helpful in planning my day today. I also found a bunch of misspelled words which I will have to go back and fix.


We have some window painting to do today and according to last years blog, It took us about two and a half hours to do it. We didn't get started until 11:30. Hell, we stayed in bed until ten.


The other interesting thing that I probably would not have remembered is that there was snow on the ground (I kind of remember that) and it was really chilly.


Today, it's approaching 40 degrees outside and it's sunny. 


So, we are off to tackle Turkeyday. Here we go!


2:29PM: We have returned from our painting duties for the day. The day started sunny but was cloudy by the time we started painting. In contrast to years past, it was warm. These first few windows that we paint are all outside painting jobs so having a fairly warm day is a nice bonus.


 Now we are preparing to go to my sister's house for a fabulous Thanksgiving Meal that couldn't be beat. In the meantime, here are a bunch of pictures from our painting efforts today.

The possibility exists that someone might be happy that we put up Santa and a reindeer. I don't care. I don't get to paint Santa much so I think this was an appropriate sight. This is the entryway to the Holy Family Medical Building. You would think they would be okay with a Christmas theme...even if it doesn't depict the Holy Family.

3:27PM: We are getting ready to leave. I don't have time to be sitting here typing this. I've got to finish making myself presentable.


8:48PM: We have returned home from a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn't be beat with shovels and rakes and implements of...wait...I've lost focus.


Dinner was great and the potential drama that threatened to unfold never did...and that is as far as I'm going with that. Oh...my niece did get very very drunk.

Rain for Noah

We endured a long night of skywalk painting last night. We painted until eleven. When we got home, we were beat. I look forward to a couple of nights off.

It rained the whole evening...I'll bet it rained seven hundred and ninety-six inches while we were painting. I bring this up only because it totally negates my last post where I was complaining about the insubstantial snowfall. It is all gone and I am ready for a fresh volume of sturdy snow of the substantial variety.

Things I say

It is Monday morning after a pleasant but busy weekend. No work was accomplished on house projects as we have moved into the busy Holiday Window Painting Season. It started a week earlier than usual due to a series of windows that needed to be up by this Friday.

I have always refused to paint before Thanksgiving. The Christmas season comes earlier and earlier every year and I don't like it. This year, I can't complain about it because I am part of the problem.

So, it's like I always say, "If you can't  be a part of the solution, be a part of the problem!"

Here are other things I always say.

"It's another day on this side of the dirt."
"Well, What are ya gunna do?!"
"Turn off your turn signal, you dumb old feeb!"
"And get OUT OF MY LANE!"
"Can I get this in plaid?"
"Just put more ketchup on it."
"That's wedged in there pretty tight!"

The snowfall over the weekend was quite frustrating to an Anal Retentive Snow Shoveler such as myself.

It never snowed enough to break out the snow blower. It just snowed lightly and then kind of melted and then froze, creating a nice rugged frost over the surface of the walk and driveway.

Then it snowed lightly s'more and kind of melted and added to the rugged ice.

So, the walks and driveway are not cleared very well and my snow blower am awaiting a snowfall with some gusto.

Anticipating the Worst and not getting it.

I have just arrived at work. I came in early because I didn't know what the commute mixed with weather would bring.

It brought nothing! Well....nothing of consequence!

I woke up around three and got up to check the conditions. It was snowing pretty hard but it looked wet. I shall write again the sage Indian Adage I learned many years ago from a Montana Man who is not an Indian.

Big Snow - Little Snow
Little Snow - Big Snow

This morning it was big snow falling from the sky so I expect little accumulation. However, persistence doesn't really come in to play with this adage so if there are lots of Big Snows, that could accumulate into a large snow fall.

It looks as though it is going to snow off and on all day. So maybe we'll get something. All I can tell you is that I am ready at Snow Blower Central. My baby is tuned up, gassed up, looking good and ready to blow.

Okay...Really...Here Come Da Snow

We are all really excited and nervous now about the coming snow. Many inches are expected by morning. Whether they land here or elsewhere is still in dispute. Focus Groups are meeting to discuss the possibility that maybe the snow will fall in areas around here. Papers are being written and Blogs are being bloggered. 


Let's see what happens in the morning.

Here Come Da Snow

The area forecasters are all a-twitter about the impending snow we are about to get. They can't help themselves even though I expect nothing will come of it.

To their credit, it is snowing right now and it is beginning to stick. Also to their credit, they predict it will turn to rain which is why I think nothing will come of it.

It all remains to be seen but it doesn't prevent me from going on a rant about drivers in this area...and perhaps they are the same everywhere...especially everywhere there is snow.

The first snow of the year is the worst because nobody seems to have a clue what to do. Painted lanes no longer matter because they are covered in snow, so you can just wander around the boulevard and make your own lane. Following distances decrease because everyone is going slower so it is best to get right up on the person in front of you to encourage them to get the hell out of your way. It doesn't work by the way. You'll only barrel up on the next person going slow who is going slow because of the person in front of him et cetera et cetera et you know!

So the first couple of drives after a snowfall are frustrating for someone like me who drives perfectly and is inconvenienced by every other driver including YOU!

We haven't done much stuff on the house since the weekend as it has been a busy week of doing other stuff. There have been lots of meetings to attend for groups and organizations we are members of but now discover we would rather not...be members of.

So here comes my wisdom for the day: It's much easier to be an island!

Staining, Scraping, Steaming, and Drinking

Susan continued removing wall paper today.

I did some stuff too. I don't see that it's any of your business though.

Okay, that was pretty harsh. Sorry! I have a bit of an attitude going and I guess I should explain.

I would like to know what the reasoning would be behind painting over stained wood with latex paint. And not just one coat...several coats. I do not understand that kind of thinking in a house such as this. The style of the house is Craftsman, after all. A Craftsman is a Craftsman because if the woodwork. A Craftsman become a Paintman when you add latex. Or in this case, lead based paint infused with asbestos. Asbestoman?

I understand orange shag carpet. It was the 70's and everyone was stoned! Fortunately, we came down from the high. 

And now, we are getting over the latex. But it is not easy. I'm getting high breathing the fumes. It takes quite a bit of paint remover to get this crap up.

My biggest problem is that I'm not patient enough to let the stuff work for 15 or 20 minutes. I'm trying to develop my patience more better-er.

Historically Historic History of a Historical Nature

We awoke this morning to a light dusting of whiteness throughout the neighborhood. Now while you might think I am referring to the racial make up of our neighborhood, you would be wrong. well...you would be right but that 's not what I'm referring to here.


It snowed a little. It was all gone by nine but it was another indicator to me that it's time to put away the deck furniture.


I did that plus a bunch of other stuff around the yard.


Susan continued work on our hallway and started removing wallpaper in the next and final section to complete. We came across a very cool piece of history.


Upon removing the full length mirror in the hallway next to the bathroom and we found history written on the wall.

We were ecstatic. The Markwoods (former owners)left us a message. I know it doesn't seem like much in the grand scheme of things. But we have left similar messages around the house in the course of our remodeling so it's exciting when we come across one ourselves. It feels like it was left for us.

The plan was to wallpaper that whole area but this discovery changed all that. Now we will wallpaper around that space, add our own message and replace the mirror.

I also spent a good portion of the day sanding trim for the hallway. I hope to get one set of trim stained tomorrow and get it back in place.

We had a little snowfall during the day but it came after I finished raking leaves. Now I have a bunch of wet leaves to haul to the dump. I love paying to dump water.

In unrelated news, Norman continues to survive. We thought he was dying a couple of months back but he's much better now. Except for being blind and having fish palsy.

Return to Standard Time

I love weekends that include accomplishment and beer. That describes our weekend perfectly.


Susan and I stayed up late (almost to midnight) on Friday and got caught up on some TV shows we DVR'd. 


Saturday was a day we had all to ourselves. We didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. Susan wallpapered and I worked in the yard with a brief diversion at Susan's car.

Her door handle had come loose and I have fixed it once so I knew better this time what I was doing. I ended up attaching the door handle to the thingy that came loose with JB Weld,  a remarkable adhesive that every home owner should have. I hope it holds this time.

After the car, I starting bagging leaves. I bought some super heavy duty garbage bags and I can really pack the leaves in. I'm going to load a few bags into the car and try to stop at the dump every morning this week. I have noticed that the trees did not produce a lot of chestnuts this year. Either that, or the squirrels have been very good at cleaning them up. Finally, they are good for something.

I flew the ghost one last time on Saturday night and we experimented with some glow sticks. The problem is the glow sticks get killed by cold temperatures so they really don't work that well.

I tore the whole thing down on Sunday and stowed it in the garage. The biggest problem I had was with one of the post holders that I pounded into the ground. The two that had 24 inch spikes pulled right out. The one that had the 36 inch spike totally wore me out. I finally got it but not before sweaqting through my clothes and dislocating my back. Next year, 24's all around.

Halloween Wrap Up

As mentioned in the last blog, we were beat after a long night of servicing trick or treaters...and scaring them as well. Everything went well and the Axworthy Flying Ghost performed perfectly all night long.

There was one issue with it and I know how to solve it for next year. I plugged one of the fog machines into the same cord that the Flying Ghosts were on. The ghosts would occassionally slow down and sometimes stop. I think power was drawn off when the fog machine engaged. I'll just dedicate an extension cord to the ghosts next year.

I had a mishap earlier in the day during set up. I decided to try and tighten up the line on the Ghosts before setting it up for the evening. I knotted up a new, shorter spacer and while trying to attach it, the line broke. Actually, one of the spinner clips broke. The tight line pulled one of the rings on the spinner clip right out.

So as I was trying to replace the line, I got tangled in it. I must have looked pretty retarded stumbling around the yard, waving my arms at nothing. I ended up with a wad of fishing line that looked like Christmas lights that had been rode hard and put away wet. I think I'm starting to mix my metaphors.

In the course of re-stringing the whole thing, I put a nice sharp knife blade half way through the tip of my pinky.

So blood was not a problem for Halloween.

Anyway, we've spent the last couple of nights stowing all the Halloween stuff. We are almost done. I have to get up on the balcony and get that stuff down.

We had a good time up on the balcony last night. We put four pumpkins up there and our way of bringing them down is to park a garbage can on the sidewalk and try to hit it. I did well with mine but Susan totally missed. What a mess!

I was also using my leaf blower last night to clear off the leaves that have accumulated over the last couple of weeks. In the course of blowing, I uncovered some sort of little electronic unit. At first I thought it was a sport radio or something like that. It turns out that it is a Radar Detector. I stuck batteries in it and tried it out on my way to work this morning. I appears to work. So...SCORE!

We are now estimating that we had over 1,200 kids come through the candy bowl. My neighbors who use a clicker to count the number of kids ended up with 1,135 and they quit at 8:30. We went until almost nine and I'm pretty sure we had at least 65 come by in that time. The number is not really important. I have never seen a mass of Halloween Revelers like the group that annually shows up in our neighborhood.

Here are some pictures from the night. They are not great pics cuz I'm not a great pic taker. And I was busy with stuff. Nevertheless, here they are.

I'm starting to think I'll be needing to add a Technical Supervisor position in years to come. You have to keep the scary CD going, check the ghosts, keep the fog machines filled and scare the kids.

In closing, we would like to thank our many friends who showed up to help with crowd control and candy distribution.