paint

This afternoon, the deck got a new prime coat of Glidden oil base porch and deck paint. The previous owners slapped on some latex paint over pressure treated wood to make it look pretty for us to buy it just over a year ago. Like saw dust in the differential, ya know?
So Allison got most of the old paint off while I was in California. Not a drop of rain through the whole process. Then just as we’re ready to apply paint… Well a look at the past 10 days’ weather will finish that sentence. It has rained everyday. Some days a little and some days a lot. But we’re supposed to have 2 days of sunshine before the wood is dry enough to paint.
Yesterday, it was absolutely beautiful all morning and afternoon. Al and I decided to chance it because it didn’t look like rain was even possible. So I went into the garage to fetch the painting paraphernalia. I opened the door and lo and behold. It was raining. The sun was shining, mind you, but it was raining. I went back through the house to the deck and found Al sitting out there laughing. Of course, on this side of the house there were dark clouds. So you see how it’s been. It’s tough enough to get the wood to dry, and then to chance having no rain long enough for the paint to dry.
Yesterday’s surprise lasted only a few minutes and was fairly unproductive, so when today looked promising again, I decided things were dry enough. On went the prime coat and it’s been 5 hours and still no rain. Stars are out in fact. Maybe it will actually dry. But there’s a second coat to worry about. And then the point of all this ramble blog. I can’t walk on my deck for a week and can’t put furniture back on there for 2 weeks.
You should see it out there, all clean and beautiful. “Hey rod, come on out. The stars are gorgeous.” So I am confined to the cyberdeck for awhile.

My whole summer seems just like that. Summers are for projects, even if they are silly, unnecessary projects. But it seems as if I’ve not had a stretch long enough to even get a project started, much less completed. Same old unfinished things on the house, a year after we moved in. Same old rusty guitar chops. Same old messy garage.
I could really stand to drop some poundage and tighten up some sagination. But just like the paint, if I go to the gym, then I can’t for another two weeks, and it just renders my one trip ineffective. I wish I could just paint myself into shape, healthy. I wish I could just paint the mess away in the garage. I wish I could just paint music out of my heart and into my hands. I wish I wish I wish. But I can’t go out on the deck and find a star.