The Joys of Home Ownership

I have talked about painting the trim and doors on the house a different color for 3 years now...since we bought and moved into this place.  The brick is a sort of white with tiny gray stones that run through the center of each brick.  The last owners of this house had a brown shingle roof put on, with a beige front door, brown gutters, brown trim, brown shutters, brown garage door...you get the picture.  It all created an optical illusion...that the brick was beige.  The house looked rather dismal to me.  So, with a thank you nod to God, many high wind storms and hail storms created just enough damage to our roof that the insurance would pay to have it replaced.  Here was my chance!  I talked Sr. into having gray shingles put on...we got the new mold/mildew resistant kind and they were rated for this area with its high wind storms and hail so they should not fracture or rip off so easily. 

While Sr. was away in Tucson for some company computer gadget training (that's what I call it anyway) I got a gallon of paint in the greenish color I liked and painted the front door...and the garage door...and the trim around the garage door.  I took the shutters down.  I will return to THAT story in a moment.

I was nervous about picking Sr. up at the airport and bringing him home since I had not told him about the painting I was going to do.  We pulled around the corner and into the driveway just as I hit the garage door opener button...and he went, "what the...???  WHAT DID YOU DO?  WHY NOW?  You don't have enought warm days until winter to paint it ALL green!  Those brown gutters with that green door look like **it!" 

sigh

"I am going to paint the gutters and facia a dark grey..but it will have to wait until spring."

"In the meantime it will look like **it"   "I thought we had discussed doing this as a project when I was here."

"I don't recall those words ever entering into it.  You said you did not look forward to having to paint it and I told you that you wouldn't have to, I would take care of it and that was the last I heard about it from you."

He was at a loss for words...for quite a while.  Then he turned nice.  He made dinner, did the dishes, baked a cake from scratch (yes...REALLY!)

As for the shutters, I was afraid to take those down.  Heaven knows when the last time was that they had been taken down and cleaned and the brick cleaned behind them.  I was afraid of disturbing some bats. 

I carefully took out the screws that secured them to the brick and peeked behind.  Mostly spider webs and muddauber nests.  At least the first set.  The next two sets had spiders behind them that I could have hitched to a plow and put in a couple acres of corn.  I THREW them out into the yard.  Luckily I am not a squeamish type when it comes to spiders or the neighbors would have been heading for their basements thinking the tornado siren had gone off.  Once they realized it was not that siren but something else, they would have looked out their windows and thought that maybe I was practicing a dance for flashmob.

I got the hose rolled out and turned the nozzle to 'JET'.  Then I blasted the spiders out into some other part of the yard.  By the looks of the mess on the shutters I was guessing they were storing up their winter provisions.  As I blasted it I could have sworn I freed a Hobbit.  There was a flash of what I perceived to be 'Sting' (the blade, not the musician) and,sadly, something else that looked like half of a fairy...which would make this sound like a fractured fairy tale!

Anyhows...I next scrubbed them down with a scrub brush and they are still stored in the garage awaiting their coat of paint...which I am hoping to get on them this Friday so they will be ready for hanging on Saturday.  I also had to blast the brick.  Who knew spiders could create such a horrible mess?  I will have to spray the brick with Fantastic before I hang the shutters back up.  Why?  Because wasps, bees, spiders, and most other bugs hate it.  It will actually kill ants and bees on contact!  Gotta love it!

When I say anything about taking down the shutters and cleaning them, at least 50% of listeners have responded with, "shutters have to be cleaned?"  *shrug*  My parents have done it every couple of years for as long as I can remember.  Why not?  The shutters hang around outside collecting the dust and dirt (and spider crap) and after while, it piles up.  My youngest sister and her husband powerwash their brick house every year!  My bricks didn't get power washed.  I am the Pig Pen of the family I guess.