I'm happy to announce two milestones in the Great Painting The House Project. First, I'm finished painting around the power line. I've messed around the line on several occasions, and have developed a system that insulates me from the electricity (more than just the usual insulation on the wires) but it still is an uncomfortable place to be. With 220 volts and 100 amps the lines carry enough juice to make your eyeballs shoot from your head and splatter against the house -- damaging what is quite a nice paint job. (And what is it with vitreous humor? It's not so funny if it's your eyeballs that are splattering all over the wall.) And the second milestone is the end of standing 25 feet up on a ladder -- holding on with one hand and painting with the other. A great sigh of relief. The weather has moderated, nearly 20 degrees cooler, and I've been able to paint as much in the last couple of days as I did in a week of high temperatures.
I was on the ladder because I thought the grandchildren were a bit too cavalier about the height, and son Sean operates with only one and a half hands (on a good day). So I was on the top of the ladder, making mini-movements, carefully keeping in balance and slowly getting the paint on. All of the rest is close to the ground -- easy-peasy.
For the last two days we had house guests: One of dw's cousins -- Cindy Z, and her SO Ken G. They were easy guests, largely entertaining themselves. We had some pleasant conversation, and Saturday night dw's local family branch (brother John and Jan W., Aunt Dee and cousin Craig) came over for dinner and wine. We had a very nice time. A lot of laughing and light on the politics -- which can be contentious.
Books: "Unnatural Selection" (Aaron Elkins) A murder mystery that's an easy and entertaining read. Although I was troubled to read that Elkins transferred Land's End and the Isles of Scilly from the SW of Cornwall to the SE of England. To me that was a bit of reckless adventuring with geography. I perused "The 20TH Century Art Book" -- a compendium of artists A to Z with about one page each -- a color plate and short blurb apiece. A bunch of the artists I've never heard of, which says more about me than the artists. And I'm nearly finished with "Pulse" (Julian Barnes) -- it's a collection of short stories. I haven't enjoyed it as much as I did "Nothing To Be Frightened Of". The short stories strike me as being dry and uninvolving. He's certainly a skilled writer but this collection hasn't grabbed me.
P.S. dw and I don't watch much television, and what we do watch is largely on Public Broadcasting (in no small part because of our aversion to commercials). This week has been PBS fund drive with all of the dismal programs they insist on showing. It seems to me that if the station is attracting viewers with Nature or other similar programs, they shouldn't expect to get donations by showing Celtic Thunder -- Which makes me think of a bunch of Irishmen who drank too much Guiness and are now really gassy. A Celtic mass chorus of "Le Petomane". And I must say I don't care for Celtic music either. It's all jigga-jigga, tootle-toot / jigga-jigga, tootle-toot quick time, and then jigga-jigga, tootle-toot / jigga-jigga, tootle-toot even faster. And every tune is exactly the same. They need to give it a rest.
P.P.S. -- I contribute to PBS, and I haven't visited Ireland or Scotland but I hope to sometime. DA
I was on the ladder because I thought the grandchildren were a bit too cavalier about the height, and son Sean operates with only one and a half hands (on a good day). So I was on the top of the ladder, making mini-movements, carefully keeping in balance and slowly getting the paint on. All of the rest is close to the ground -- easy-peasy.
For the last two days we had house guests: One of dw's cousins -- Cindy Z, and her SO Ken G. They were easy guests, largely entertaining themselves. We had some pleasant conversation, and Saturday night dw's local family branch (brother John and Jan W., Aunt Dee and cousin Craig) came over for dinner and wine. We had a very nice time. A lot of laughing and light on the politics -- which can be contentious.
Books: "Unnatural Selection" (Aaron Elkins) A murder mystery that's an easy and entertaining read. Although I was troubled to read that Elkins transferred Land's End and the Isles of Scilly from the SW of Cornwall to the SE of England. To me that was a bit of reckless adventuring with geography. I perused "The 20TH Century Art Book" -- a compendium of artists A to Z with about one page each -- a color plate and short blurb apiece. A bunch of the artists I've never heard of, which says more about me than the artists. And I'm nearly finished with "Pulse" (Julian Barnes) -- it's a collection of short stories. I haven't enjoyed it as much as I did "Nothing To Be Frightened Of". The short stories strike me as being dry and uninvolving. He's certainly a skilled writer but this collection hasn't grabbed me.
P.S. dw and I don't watch much television, and what we do watch is largely on Public Broadcasting (in no small part because of our aversion to commercials). This week has been PBS fund drive with all of the dismal programs they insist on showing. It seems to me that if the station is attracting viewers with Nature or other similar programs, they shouldn't expect to get donations by showing Celtic Thunder -- Which makes me think of a bunch of Irishmen who drank too much Guiness and are now really gassy. A Celtic mass chorus of "Le Petomane". And I must say I don't care for Celtic music either. It's all jigga-jigga, tootle-toot / jigga-jigga, tootle-toot quick time, and then jigga-jigga, tootle-toot / jigga-jigga, tootle-toot even faster. And every tune is exactly the same. They need to give it a rest.
P.P.S. -- I contribute to PBS, and I haven't visited Ireland or Scotland but I hope to sometime. DA
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