I can see peeling paint when I close my eyes

Believe it or not..  I've had over 1,200 people looking at my blog from all around the world.  It makes me really happy every time I check who my audience is.  This week I have three new people reading from the United Kingdom!  Thrilling! 

So it was back to work for me today and for the next six weeks at least, I'll be covering two portfolios.   Everybody was in a great mood and happy to be back after a long, relaxing summer.  I guess you could say that technically I've been on holidays because I did take a few days and go to the lake at the end of July, and I also sort of had another few days off last week.  In between times, I took a summer job working as a nurse for home care.  Oh those patients, they are the best.  Nice to make new friends and learn more about this beautiful city.  I had three weeks of full-time orientation in July, learned scads of stuff, and then worked three shifts a week for most of August.

In between times, there was a flood at my regular office and I had a big project to keep me out of mischief at home.  I wanted to repaint my garage door.  A simple thing.  The paint was peeling when I bought the place two years ago, and it hasn't improved.  It had some kind of really heavy duty, oil-based paint on it (epoxy?) and I wanted to change the new finish to a water-based stain.  Why (everybody asks)?  Because stain doesn't crack and peel in the hot sun like oil-based paint...at least I don't think it does.  My vision is that when I eventually have to re-stain, then that's all I'll have to do....not all this scraping/sand-o-rama rigamarole that I did this year.  (Incidentally, I do have experience in this, because I re-did my back deck last summer).  I think I must have some sort of affliction that drives to do these ignorant jobs....  :-( 

Keep in mind to get to the goal isn't exactly easy because you can't put latex over oil.  So readying the surface means scraping and sanding ad nauseum, then repeat.  All the old coats have to go.  The first step of paint loosening, chipping away paint, scraping, wire brushing, rasping and you-name-it  took me weeks.  The sanding was about a day, while the staining happened over a couple of days. In the end, I had nearly worn out my hands, wrists and forearms and had to apply ice paks for several hours on the final day. It was worth it.

I had to smile and eventually learn to hold my tongue at all the passersby who watched me working away during those hot summer days.  They most often had a word of wisdom or two or a tiny suggestion here and there.  Over time, it was obvious some were frustrated with my slow progress and concerned that I was overdoing it.  "Don't work too hard" was pretty common, and mostly everyone said what a big job it was.  No kidding.  Some shook their heads, others clucked their tongues.  Others came right out and told me that I was doing it all the hard way.   A common thread was that I could blast the paint off with a pressure washer instead..  What they didn't know was that I had already applied two coats of paint remover gel which has to stay wet as much as possible.  Every time I used the garden hose to wet things down, the water ran into the garage into a low spot on one side.  That side just happened to be where my two electric deep freezes sit.  Somehow, the pressure washer was a little over the top. 

I didn't plan very well with the first coat of gel, because in the midst of scraping the now loosened, long rolling curly Q's of paint off , I had to go out somewhere in my vehicle and that meant opening the garage door.  All those wet chips and pieces of sticky paint and crudded up paint remover gel went flying and dripping down everywhere as I opened the overhead door (onto my red vehicle specifically) which was parked in it's place (inside the garage)...Since I didn't have the foresight to hose it down right away, it dried and stuck there. I had been preoccupied with trying to suck up the unwanted water with the shop vac prior to leaving and ignored the fact that all that muck had dropped onto me and stuck too.  Since I didn't have time to rush in and sponge myself off, no wonder I was getting funny looks.

I had tried a test section using oven cleaner as a paint remover last year and found it really does work, but is even messier and probably more toxic than the commercial paint removal concoctions.  I had researched paint removers on the internet and got so excited when I read about oven cleaner that I rushed out and bought six cans.  When it came time, I was all gung ho, but a male friend urged me not use it.  He didn't really have a good reason, but I tend to defer to others more knowledgeable and in the end, spent $69 for a half gallon pail of something less caustic.  I noticed there were really no bugs bothering me, so they must not have liked it.  I did end up with a sore throat every day while using it, but that doesn't count I guess.  Incidentally, I have a lawn with weeds, but my neighbour who is a scientist forbids me to use chemical weed killer because like he says, they cause cancer in the weed, so what do you think they'll do to you?  Him, I believe.  Incidentally, I've cleaned three ovens this summer, and am getting pretty good at it.

A male friend helped stave off the chance of electrocution by flood waters in the garage by raising the deep freeze closest to the door up onto two - two by four's, so at least it wasn't sitting directly in the newly created puddles on the cement floor.  It took me awhile, but eventually (another day) I realized I could set up a barricade made of plastic and boards, so it wasn't so easy for the water to pool into that corner.   The resulting garbage bags didn't look too professional, but served the purpose.  At that point, I almost tried the pressure washer, but the paint was so unbelievably stuck on, I seriously doubt it would have worked.

Another fellow came along one day and offered to lend me both of his sanders.  As it turns out, I have my own.  I have an old rectangular sander which I used as well as another pretty professional-looking belt sander.  I realized that the sanders wouldn't be of much value until I got rid of the big pieces and chunks of paint.  I just had to get rid of the majority of the old paint first and leave the sanding as a final step before staining.  I used coarse sandpaper and a wire screen type of material on the rectangular sander.   When I finally did use the belt sander, I was at the bitter end of scraping and had to wear goggles and a face mask.  I hadn't done so and realized I needed to because of the fine sawdust collecting in my eyes...but man, it was 29 and 30 degrees celsius temperatures, and awfully suffocating work. 

A most extraordinary thing happened when I pulled out the power tools.  The collective neighbourhood sigh of relief was almost palpable...especially from the men.  They had been forced to sit back and watch me for days, as I was reduced to struggling with anything that remotely worked as a scraper.  My best tool was a type of razor blade (thanks Home Depot) and several  different-sized putty knives.  I used a butter knife from the kitchen drawer for all of the rounded moulding edges.  But, I guess the manual scraping was taking it's toll on everybody, not just me.   A fellow showed up one day and brought me his heat gun, almost begging me to use it....something I still have to return.  Unfortunately, it didn't work, probably because the door was wet.  It was a small version of a hair dryer from what I could tell.  Supposedly, you just have to heat up the paint and it peels off like nobody's business.  Great for furniture I guess. 

A tidbit about what works for furniture stripping came to me long ago from a lady in Hudson Bay.  She used to douse furniture with lye soap out on the lawn in a tub of water.  She recommended wearing rubber gloves, ha ha....

When I finally got to the staining, I realized I had to put the first coat on with a paint brush, because of all the nooks and crannies.  The garage door is white with brown trim.  I gave it two coats of white and then thought one coat of brown would do.  Not quite.  Every brush stroke showed.  In the meantime a man called out that I was really doing it the hard way.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I answered, "Believe me, if I knew what the easy way was, I would be doing it."  I waited for him to share his much revered secret, but he just laughed and strode off.  Now I was getting ticked.  A lady slowed as she drove by and rolled her window down.  She asked if I was almost done and then smirked about how much scraping I'd put into it....I'm not sure what look I gave her, because she quickly back peddled with, "you've done an awful lot of work, and it's looking great"....After that, I couldn't wait to be done.  I was getting embarrassed...  I immediately retired the paint brush and broke out a tiny roller for the fastest final coat of brown paint on record.  My hands never hurt so much as after using that piece of crap....but I was done at 10:45 a.m. on August 19...a Sunday no less. 

What really made it all worthwhile was an  elderly gentleman and his wife who were visiting in the area.  They were loading their car to leave as I was putting the final touches on.  As they went to leave, he hollered across the street to tell me what a beautiful job I had done.  Awhhh...My whole mood lifted.  My spirit soared.  No longer was I feeling bad.  Suddenly I was elevated to project completion...because I knew I had done a great job!  I backed up and took a long hard look.  He was right, it was beautiful.  Yes, I guess I am meticulous and a slow worker, and maybe I do things the hard way, but darn it, why not... because it sure feels good when it's all over. 

Simple Things

It's the simple things in life that truly make me happy, not the convoluted and complicated ones.  I had almost forgotten the simple joy of riding in a vehicle with the windows rolled down.  The situation came about yesterday, because of some funky smell in my SUV.  It was evening and I started out by driving down Spadina Crescent, along the river bank.  I powered every window down, even opened the sun roof.  The sun, wind and humidity were just right and the air was oh, so fresh!  I hardly ever do this, but was quite thrilled at how exhilarating it felt.  I got to wondering why I don't do it more often.
I vaguely recalled what led to my overlooking and almost discarding this lovely way of driving.

Bugs are one.  Getting hit on the cheek or eye or mouth by a wayward insect makes you want to go for the window roller upper pretty quick.  I was scraping paint off the outside of my house yesterday and a mammoth dragonfly flew into the garage door and then did the most startling things...it was a form of the "chicken" really.  The buzzing noise he made was frightening, and he flew all over the place, in a confused thrashing way, poor thing.  I was ducking and getting out of his road at every turn.  The fluttering and grinding of his anntennae, legs and big wings is something I never want to come in contact with.  In my books, I want to avoid insect fluttering anywhere near me especially that of moths, who tend to shed a grey powder.   So, bugs should be avoided when possible, whether on horseback, riding a bike or whatever, you can easily be "taken out" by an insect, and... when you least expect it!  I got hit hard on the cheek by a massive bumble bee one afternoon, on a Honda 50 when I was about 16...we were only half way home.  Now that hurt!

If you slow down with your windows open, especially on a cloudy, muggy day (but any day really),  black flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, no see um's, etc. usually sense the opportunity for fair game and go for it.  These creatures dive bomb and bite and leave you itching or bleeding or both. Some you feel in the moment and can swat, but mostly you find out because you start to scratch some time later.  You know, it's those pesky females that do it, because apparently, the males are more docile, or just not built that way (at least for the mosquitoes)..

Wasps, hornets, and spiders are others who seem to find their way inside your car by accident and might have to sting you while trying to find their way back out.  The result isn't the innocent mosquito bite, it's more like an injection of painful venom that may or may not cause you to have a severe reaction.  You will definitely feel it exactly when it happens...no doubt.  Most people can count on one hand how many bee stings they've ever had in their life. They can vividly recount exactly what they were doing at the time.  When my son was about four, we were in the straweberry patch on our acreage.  His little blue jeans had a gap at the waistband at the back.  He was down on his hands and knees playing and a monolith bumble bee started to crawl down the gaping area.  His dad saw this and whacked our little boy hard on the backside in order to kill the bee.  Oh dear, it was a bee sting and a hit all at the same time....Yes, there was loud wailing involved, but there was no loss of limb and he has grown up to be a fine man.... In fact, you may not know you have an allergy to bee stings until it happens and then know that the plan will include a quick trip to the nearest emergency department for a shot of adrenalin! 

Not only that, but all the swatting and enticing of the biting insect, (i.e. bee) out of the cab of the vehicle may cause you, the driver, to swerve all over the road. Not pretty...This erratic driving, to the surrounding drivers, could look like drunk driving, and there's a number to report that.  You could find yourself up in front of a magistrate, explaining yourself faster than a cat on a hot tin roof (or a dragonfly, temporarily head-injured from hitting the garage door)!  Driving with the windows rolled up in the first place might have been smarter in the long run.


Another excuse to keep the windows up on a summer's day is rain.  No point in getting wet or God forbid splashed by a semi on the highway or a speeding demon on some city street.   The chance of having lightning come in through the car window or sun roof is also not pretty, so better play it safe.  On the other hand, especially in cities, sometimes during a downpour, the water can't get away fast enough through the street drains and flooding occurs.  In low-lying areas, like underpasses, the water can get too deep within minutes.  In the past, as some of you may remember, this has caused serious consequences, including loss of life.  Maybe when approaching a situation like this, having even one window down would serve to be an escape route, if worse came to worse.  That's only my opinion though, just a thought that crossed my mind.  Why I got to always riding with the windows rolled up tightly, even when it's not raining, is mainly habit though, because as you know, it doesn't rain every day.

As you may have guessed, I am nothing if not practical and safety-conscious. My kids as they got older used to tease me when I reminded them about taking their raincoats, etc.  They used to say things to the effect that I wanted them to wear their space outfits and boots wherever they went, just as a cautionary measure....We would laugh together....To my mind, that was a perfectly normal request!  I think most mothers and fathers would agree.   :-)

In my defense though there are other valid reasons.  Obviously, the freezing cold of winter is a deterrant to rolled down windows.  Who wants to freeze their noses, ears or digits off just to get some fresh air...enough to last you all day at work in an office where there are no windows?  I guess not me.    But....there are days, even in winter when the temperature soars and the sun shines brightly....so why not roll down the windows and open the sun roof?  My excuse?   It never crossed my mind.  Don't get me wrong, I have been known to open the windows a crack in the dead of winter.


So now, it's been summer officially for a couple months, but in reality only for the last couple of weeks.   Why not roll the windows down and ride like the wind or even while parked?  Well.....what about vandals?  What about thieves?  What about blowing dirt and big dogs running loose?  I recently listened to directives for work that say you need to keep everything of any value out of sight in your vehicle.  Even loose change!  They said your garage door opener is an appealing target, because thieves steal it along with your car registration (from the glove box) and then go break into your house.  But let's be realistic.  There is NOT a boogey man under every bed!  In reality, 80% of people are wonderful and 20% are something else.  The odds of you getting affected by crime or randomness is pretty minimal, don't you think?....But then again, Karma can be fairly nasty.   Oh joy!  On the occasions when I have had the opportunity (basically out of necessity) to eat lunch in my car in an unsavoury neighbourhood,  I have tended to throw caution to the wind and roll down the windows anyway...especially if there's no one around.   Oh, and by the way....keep your heads up.  I'ts important to keep track of what's happening around you at all times.  Just a little more fodder :-)

What of these 20%?  Well....What about when you get to a stop sign or red light?  The other day I sat at a red light beside a carload (I mean, six or eight people in an old model, run down something).  They were enjoying their music blaring with all the windows rolled down :-)...  They were obviously "on" something and some had the typical facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome (poor souls).  They were happy as anything, and waving at me and giving me the thumbs up.  They obviously thought everyone would love their music as much as they did.   I smiled back and returned the thumbs up, all the while quaking in my boots with my foot itching to jump off the brake and floor the gas pedal!  I thought about it later....maybe I would benefit from being "on" something, but at the time, I was happy as anything to have my automatic door locks on, my windows rolled up and sun roof firmly secured.  There.