July 2024 Island Trip – Day 5

Our general contractor had an unexpected gap in his schedule. We were next on his list. House paint prep is underway! He got the ‘rough’ scraping of the soffits done, replaced a couple of punky pieces of car decking, that I happened to have in stock (meaning in the pile of misc lumber in the upper barn). His pressure washer declined to work. We sweet talked my dad’s pressure washer, fed it a new o-ring, and it was onboard! The south side, and part of the east side of the house are cleaned. The fun starts again tomorrow morning.

The landscaper was here today. Hiring him was such a good decision. He is meticulous… He cares about his work. More than I care about my line trimming!! The place looks simply amazing. And instead of doing the work he did, I was able to do other things (mostly weeding, which was very gratifying). I also mowed the east field and part of my dad’s garden.

Our latest idea is that I’ll stay on for most of next week given the house painting project, and wanting to advance the barn painting. This choice is also weighed by the fact that we’re headed to the coast the second week of August, and I’d have to return here between now and then. Why not just stay most of another week now? This leaves me getting creative about getting home.

Friends have offered me the use of an extra car while I’m here! And I’d likely fly home. That would reduce the over all trip time from, at best, 3.5 hours to 1. 25 hours, door to door. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.