Friends on Ladders

After a day of work, I drove out to the farm house and this is the beautiful sight I beheld when I pulled in the driveway.  Friends on ladders!  Friends putting up siding!   Friends making this crooked old house weatherproof!  What great friends we have. 

Brandon and his mother spent the entire day prepping the wall and getting as much done as they could so the after business hour work crew could tackle the high parts.  It's good to have friends that aren't afraid of ladders.

 

It was wonderful to watch everyone jump in and make such quick progress.  They all had their tasks under control, and I tried to make myself useful by dispensing beer and getting in the way so I could take photos.  Everyone was so speedy with their work that I had to snap pictures fast to not miss any of the action. 

I really wanted to make sure no one fell off a ladder because of a drastic drop in blood sugar.  Beer, burgers, hot dogs, grilled asparagus, potato chips, and fresh pineapple kept us out of the danger zone. 

Jamie scrubbed the rusty old attic vent with a wire brush and painted it.  When he was done it looked as good as new.  We thought we would have to buy a new one, so I was very surprised that it cleaned up so well.  

We worked until it was too dark to see, but didn't get the siding all the way to the top until the next day, when Brandon, inspired by his Captain America t-shirt, overcame his fear of ladders enough to help Joe finish it all the way the highest point.   He just opened up a whole new set of "honey do" lists now that I know he can go high when properly motivated.  Poor guy.  

Before the siding on the back wall could go on, an old leaky window needed to be replaced.  When the laundry room was added on to the house, for some reason it was built so that it slightly overlapped the frame of the window in the dining room.  So, this made it extra challenging for Brandon to put in a new window, which he had never done before. 

And, to make it even more satisfying of a task, it rained the entire time we worked on the siding on the back wall. Brandon was soaked, and the ground turned to mud where he was working.  The misty views of the surrounding farms were great though.

It rained so much that the dog refused to come out of the truck and had to be lifted out.  He kept saying "No! It's so wet and dirty, and I just had a bath!" (I'm pretty good at reading his mind, by the way). His application for farm dog status is under review and this incident is being carefully considered. 

Here it is -  an new door, a new window, a freshly painted attic vent, and the crowning achievement - siding!  Who new a person could be so proud of vinyl siding.  After shopping and comparing siding prices, I've learned to love it.  Affordable, easy to install, and keeps the rain out.  It's perfect.