Aug/Sept 2022 Island Trip – Day 11

With the cessation of dust and dirt making in the house, the first order of business was to vacuum it. Tomorrow’s activities will make dust all over again, but just for one day, it was nice to have the place ‘swept up.’

My neighbor to the east and I went on an excursion that lasted longer than either of us thought it would. We agreed that 10am was a fine time to pick blackberries. She asked if we could use my truck to make a dump run for a client of hers. This was great actually as after my Friday dump run I suddenly found myself with two huge bags of additional trash. My friend added her garbage to the mix, and there was a full load. Our travels went something like this:

• Load our collective garbage.

• Pick lotsa blackberries. Mine are freezing right now for use later.

• Look for an estate sale my friend heard about. Didn’t find it.

• Go to pick up her client’s trash only to find the client’s neighbor has loaded it into his truck!! The client gave my friend a sweet bird house, which my friend gave to me ❤️.

• We stop at the lumber company so I could buy a new back for a shelf that hides the back of the washing machine from the second bedroom. The cheapest 1/8th material they had was a mahogany veneer 😳. It’s less expensive that masonite.. I also picked up switch plate and outlet cover insulators. While painting, and removing the covers as I went, the airflow coming from the ones on the outside wall was impressive. I must have last painted the house when it wasn’t as windy, or I was heating it.

• While driving through town, we spotted the estate sale sign, and found our way to the event. Neither of us had cash, though we both know the gal running the sale and she would have held things for us… Estate sales give me pause. It’s the accumulation of a person’s life that their family doesn’t want (or possibly can’t afford to keep). This woman was a flamboyant and classy dresser. There were dresses from the 60’s that Jackie O would have worn. Straight up style.

• Next was the dump, finally! We were three hours into our adventure and both of us hungry. We headed home!

After a quick and easy lunch I went back to painting. The grey walls are all rolled out now. There’s touch up to do here caused by 1) bad lighting, 2) bad prep (should’ve washed the walls perhaps?) 3) should have used a bigger roller, but this seems unlikely on a mostly sooth walled interior, 4) Losing my touch? I don’t believe so, or 5) some combo of the above… It’s just so weird to watch out for spots where the roller leaves spots unpainted as I go, only to find them after the paint dries. Sigh. I did finesse an edging contraption for cutting in between the walls and baseboard that, after getting the hang of it, is much faster and easier on me, than cutting in on my knees with a good sash brush!

I quit working at 5 and started freezing my blackberries!