Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Now I remember.

I remember why I haven't broke out the sprayer in quite some time.  And I'm not talking about lawn and garden either.  I mean,  spraying paint.
It's not the spraying that's the bother,  it's all the bloody prep involved.   Gah!
I don't have anything remotely like a "spray booth" or anything,  so that's one consideration.  So,  there needs to be a certain flow of air through the garage,  preferably no humidity.  What else?  I guess that's basically it.
Then of course,  I have to put up some sort of barriers to keep the paint from getting everywhere.

All because I had this notion that putting primer in all those nooks and crannies would be a bother.

The result makes it all worth it,  but only barely.   Then there's the gun to clean.




Anyhoodle,  that looks better.  
I know, I could have left it "wood coloured" ,  and it would have been perfectly functional,  but a little bit of paint never hurts.

If it wasn't such a complete pain in the ass,  I'd paint the entire garage.  I suspect it would something akin to a nightmare however.  

It is what it is.



The temperatures around here have been up and down like a toilet seat lately it seems.  Saturday was hot and humid,  then for the next three days it's been almost cold.  Relatively speaking of course.
Tonight was a sailing night,  and I made sure to go with the long trousers, socks and runners,  since I damned near froze my feet off last week. It just takes getting a couple splashes of ice cold water off that lake,  and soon enough I couldn't feel my feet at all.

Unfortunately, tonight it was dead as a fart out there,  and after a "delay",   they packed it in.  Most everyone then races to the clubhouse for a cold one.   We had adequate liquids on board,  so we chose to get everything stowed away,  set the hook and broke out the coolers.  (Um, beer coolers,  not those smarmy drinky-poo things)


I did take a picture of the Shepherd's Pie that I made last night,  which T.C. and I finished off this evening,  but it tasted better than it looked.  Possibly I could have helped it out with some sort of modification in a photo editing program,  but you can just use your imagination instead.  
It looked gastly.  Really.

Don't know why,  but I had a craving for Shepherd's Pie.   Plus,  there's always that hidden bonus of being able to have at least one left over meal out of the deal.

Who me, lazy?

In other "excitement",  there was a phone call today at around two o'clock from my (let me think about this) "nephew"?   He's the son-in-law of my sister-in-law.  Actually,  probably no relation.
Anyway,  turns out it was a plumbing question.  Which was basically a cry for help.  Seems that water had been discovered,  and after ripping out some closet or other in the basement,  it turns out that one of the copper pipes had started to leak.   There were no signs of a burst pipe as a result of a freeze,  but it was a very fine stream that was coming out about a half an inch from a joint.  I never thought it was possible,  but apparently this is a "thing".  Copper pipes can in fact, start to leak with little or no provocation.

Oh,  of course,  I know all this, since it was mentioned that he'd shut off the water for the whole house,  at which point I simply said,  "I'll be there within a half hour."    I packed up the car with whatever plumbing stuff I figured I'd need,  and headed off to sort it out.
Turns out, I couldn't get the water out of the one side, so we ended up putting in a couple "shark" fittings with a short length of PEX tubing.

Some kind soul has written a little Wiki blurb here, if you're not sure what that is.

I've used it here and there,  but I guess I'm old fashioned,  since I still have mostly all copper fittings here at the Ponderosa.

In this situation (sorry,  no pictures)  it was pretty awesome,  since there's no need to use a torch, or trying to get the copper above its "kindling" temperature so the solder will melt.  Plus,  this spot was really close to bit of the frame that easily could have been set alight,  so I was using my little heat deflectors,  with a spray bottle handy.
The pex isn't the cheapest method, mind you,  but when you need to turn the bloody water back on and nothing else works, totally worth it.

This is probably why we have a standing invitation to their cottage.
Pays to be handy.

'Cause,  if you're wife doesn't find you handsome"?   You know that one,  I'm sure.

Speaking of which:  Keeps yer stick on the ice.

Thanks for stopping by.




4 comments:

  1. Ever seen Mr.Bean painting his room? A nice little explosive charge under the paint can and you won't have to bother with the sprayer. It always works.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pretty funky weather lately, but will be a nice hot weekend.
    It sure does pay to be handy, and do a few favours.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After getting rid of a lot of tools including the spray gun I simply use the Aerosol Cans. Never heard of the Mr. Bean method before. Of course my parents didn't allow me those type of educational shows. Wouldn't have looked good on the trade application either.
    Like you also said being handy gets you invited to a lot of peoples homes. Just nice when you get the "Heads Up".
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's abut time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Painting anything is a challenge. We have a clunky old van that I rattle can painted. It's now 30 years old and the rattle can paint job held up just as good as can be expected.

    ReplyDelete

Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.