This painting crew will NEVER make Angie's List of recommendations

March 16, 2014 – Sunday

-21 degrees/clear/calm (another record bites the dust)

Pentoga Road

Can I ever relate to this

Traditionally, the third week of March is generally the unofficial start of maple syrup season.

To have sap flow, the temperatures need to be above freezing during the daylight hours and below at night. The bigger the difference/the harder the flow. In year’s past, an average high for a “maple day” might be forty to fifty degrees, the low in the mid-teens.

It will be at least another week, possibly two or three, maybe six or eight, before any sap will be collected this season. There’s a day or two this coming week that are forecast to flirt with the upper thirties, but most don’t even approach that mark. It’s now a waiting game.

I started painting in the kitchen with a vengeance Saturday morning. The bottom half of the walls, that below the chair rails, was first. The paint covered well and I was finished by 10 AM.

This wall had to be completely mudded and sanded before any painting took place

New trim was needed to go around part of the countertops. After a quick trip to the lumberyard, I prepared to begin painting the top part of the walls.

I poured the paint into the tray and carefully rolled some onto the wall. What the heck? There were huge chunks in the paint… hard, white, chunks. I was a bit upset. No, I was really mad.

Come to find out, a large batch of base paint had gotten frozen and been ruined. I called Sargie and asked her to get another gallon and PLEASE, have them check to ensure the paint was good. It took three cans to finally find one that hadn’t been frozen. The situation was enough to make an old school teacher cuss.

I filled the rest of the day by going on my walk, carrying in wood, playing with the dog, installing a grow light in the indoor greenhouse and transplanting a few more tomatoes and peppers.

Andy and I texted back and forth, talking about who the Packers have traded and who they have acquired during this season of NFL free agency. It helps to pass the football time until next season arrives.

Sargie arrived home, donned her painting clothes, and away we went.

We finished an hour and a half later. 

Today’s going to be a busy one on Pentoga Road. I’ll begin getting ready to fly to Andy’s for a week. Wood will need to be brought in for Sargie and no doubt, once everything is moved off the dining room table, we’ll clean the house. No matter the amount of damage control, after a week of sanding drywall, dust seems to find every nook and cranny. 

It's going to be nice to move the kitchen out of the dining room

Tonight is the annual corned beef and cabbage feed at Mark and Sheri’s church. It’s a meal we never miss and the food is outstanding, the company better.

Time to get moving. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…