180: Housework Can't Kill You, but Why Take a Chance.

This was my spring break, and in the absence of any really juicy plans, I pretty much hung around the ol' homestead all week...supposedly to get this place under control...but really, who actually believed that was going to happen???

So in my ongoing effort to not get anything accomplished,I ventured down to Shelton to check things out and get my fill of the Korean food that Urban Spoon rates at 1.5 stars and my mother rates as exemplary. On Tanya’s Scale of Surviving Restaurants, it fell smartly in between. The food was edible and the place was clean although they did not offer beer or valium latte’s lessen the impact of sitting in a strip mall restaurant in Shelton for a four-hour lunch. Andy had time to walk Sabra (twice) as well as listen to the radio and take two naps while we had our "lunch".

Andy, buckled in and ready to leave, sits with Sabra in the truck patiently waiting to go home for the last 45 minutes while we my mother finishes our visit in the parking lot.

Here's the finished parking lot at school. Now that the parking lot has been moved, the real construction can begin in the old student parking lot. What once was a neighborhood of 8 houses in now a parking lot with one house in the center...come July that house will be razed and it will be all parking lot.

 Thursday Bob got home from work a bit early and the rain started a bit late so he zipped out to mow before the rain took control of the situation. While Bob was mowing I hear the lawn mower stop abruptly, which is never a good sign. An even worse sign is when the cursing starts up immediately after the mower quits.

Bob managed to avoid Bear's soccer ball but was not so luck with his basketball. This is the end result of a riding lawn mower ingesting a basketball. Bob had to pry it off the blade and pull it through the debris chute.

Although the ball killed the mower engine, it didn't do any damage to the engine however the ball didn't make out so well. Maybe Bear won't notice that his ball has a big lawnmower-induced gash in it.

Since Nitro sits in his catio and watches the world go by, I decided to put some bird attracting stuff out back to bring in something for Nitro to watch. Now he has a suet feeder, a hummingbird feeder, a bag of nesting fluff, and a bird feeder to occupy him. 

We get a steady stream of little birds at our feeder. They never seem to mix bird brands, however. It's like there is an invisible sign-up sheet somewhere that they different brands of birds sign up on for a time slot to eat. I have no idea what each of the bird brands are...I need to look into that.

Friday, Darla being the good friend she is, called and forcibly removed me from my intended cleaning tasks to go mattress shopping with her. As a very wise woman, Phyllis Diller, once said,

So I sucked it up for a good friend and hopped in the car for a trip to parts unknown with her. Somehow I have shopped with Darla for their last two mattresses. For some reason I have been given a vote Erik was only too glad to give up. Maybe it's because Darla approaches mattress shopping with a headful of facts, figures, notepad and pen? Who does that anyway? 

Here Darla, eyes closed clutching her note tablet and pen, is absorbing data from the mattress she's currently laying on. (Yes, I know. I need laying, lying, layed, laid lessons from Kyanne.) Meanwhile I was playing with the movable power bases and providing ballast as needed while she worked her way through the mattresses. Darla said she enjoys reading my blog because it was Erma Bombeck-esque. So Darla, for that compliment I'm "rewarding" you with your own segment and picture.  Enjoy.

It's spring and my orchids are orchiding again. This one is really pretty with a second branch of flowers soon to follow.

Have a good week Everyone!

The project is slowly moving forward. Since the Jag is so low to the floor and the body panels curve all the way underneath, we had to raise the Jag up off the floor a bit so Bob can spray underneath so we made some lifts to do the job. Here the new lifts are all stacked up and ready to be called to action. RestoCat has just checked them out and given him his sniff of approval.

Bob took the rear windows out of the body so he could sand and detail around them.

The car and garage have been blown off/out several times to try to eradicate the dust. The garage is being tidied in preparation for a big day. Not the big day, but a big one getting the first coats of primer on so Bob can sand even more.

I had just spent over an hour cutting my nails and doing a new manicure when Bob called me to the garage to help him move the Jag bonnet. While I was there I ran my hands over the entire prepped Jag body to look for little things that might have slipped past Bob. Does this dust-covered hand look like the target of a fresh manicure?

This project is no longer a leisure project. At this point, it becomes a precision project and Bob is up to the task. He's done hours of this homework earlier but he does a last minute run-through of the instructions, highlighting the important facts before he actually mixes and applies the primer. He likes to be sure the timeline is correct and that he has all the materials he needs to complete the project. All the materials for this step are about $250 per gallon plus the hours to fix the problem if it's not done correctly. The next step is even more expensive per gallon with the paint being hideously expensive. If any of these steps aren't done correctly, all of the steps are ruined.

 After all his reading and highlighting he takes one more glance before he heads to the garage to start the priming. 

 Here's the mad scientist now mixing his evil potions. He also has that look like my life might be in jeopardy if I were to take another photo.

 Bob and RestoCat don their respirators and get to work on the first coat of primer. 

The first coat of primer is done. The Jag looks like he's lost it's front teeth.

 RC and Bob will suit up tomorrow to apply the second coat of primer.

The second coat of primer has been sprayed on. This will be topped with a guide coat so Bob can sand it veery smooth and be sure all the waves are out of the paint before the final coat goes on. Speaking of final coats, maybe it's time to choose the final paint...

The Jag looks like a Disney character. Notice the resemblance to 

'Mater 

and Nemo.