I’ve sanded and scraped and painted (with at least one coat of paint) roughly one half of the deck. Yesterday, I started late. I had forgotten I had arranged for a visit by the pest control guy. About the time I was ready to make breakfast, then head outside to work on the deck, my wife reminded me of it. She chides me for failing to look at the calendar first thing every morning. For good reason, I might add. More than once I’ve forgotten early dental appointments and such things; fortunately, she has rescued me with her snarls and expressions of annoyance at my failure to look at the calendar. At any rate, I didn’t start working on the deck until after 10. I made breakfast before the pest control guy got here. Korean street toast, by the way, which I mentioned less than a week ago. I thought it was okay, but it needed a spice boost, so I flooded it with my jalapeño paste, which gave it the kick it needed.
ANYWAY, I ate, I watched the pest guy do his magic, and only then did I get out to begin working on the deck. Lots of sanding, a fair amount of scraping, and more than a little rest time in between. I finally began to paint sometime after lunch; maybe around 1:00 p.m.
I managed to get only one coat on the lower right-side deck (which I had scraped and sanded) by the time I cratered, around 3:15 p.m. I didn’t have the energy to lay on a second coat yesterday (and I doubt the first one would have been dry enough in time to allow it, anyway). Today I have commitments that will prevent me from painting:
- A morning visit with my oncologist, who will review my latest CT scan and tell me, I hope, there is nothing new to report. I hope she will know that my cough continues unabated, but I doubt she pays any attention to my other medical records. I will tell her, anyway, I have an appointment to see an ENT specialist on August 12 in the hope he can figure out the reason for my cough and the cure.
- Then, this afternoon I am scheduled to read some of my writing at an event organized by the Friends of the Coronado Center Library (FOCCL). Eight members of my writers’ club joined together to publish a short anthology of our work; we’ll hawk it to the tiny audience that comes to hear us and will read something and talk about writing. Not all of us; only 3-4 of us. And I won’t likely read out of the anthology; instead, I’ll read some vignettes from my blog. They are shorter.
- But before all of this, I’ll go get a haircut. The barber opens at 7 and I plan to be there shortly after the doors open. I need a haircut. I needed a haircut a month ago. I need it more so now.
If the weather cooperates, I’ll awaken early Friday morning and will work on the deck again. The house cleaner comes at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, but I suspect my deck work won’t matter to her, except when I need to come inside to breathe filtered air and get water to address my dehydration. I hope the weather Friday morning will remain moderately comfortable for at least a while. I am no good with high heat and high humidity.
My hair will be more attractive, if all goes according to plan, by the time I read this afternoon.
