Today is the second day of my little mini vacation. Not really a vacation but a few days to do some work around the house, not be at regular work and also practice retirement. Yesterday I got up at 0500 as usual, had morning devotions and breakfast with my lovely wife and after she went off to work i proceeded to work around the house. I started by thoroughly removing everything from the walls on the screened porch and then washing the walls with a solution of TSP and rinsing everything with a hose. While that dried I set everything up to wash and rinse the front of the house. Another wet and messy job, but one that I knew would make Kim happy and it did. I am hoping to wash more of the house today.

After completing that task i went to the porch to see if it had dried from its earlier washing. I took off the end of September thinking there would be cooler temperatures for working outside. Wrong again! By this time it was mid morning and already around 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity and although the porch was dry I was soaking wet. Regardless, it was time to press on and get the job finished. Now painting is one of my favorite home projects, can you say facetious, so with a bounce in my step i gathered up the paint, brushes and all things paint related to begin the task at hand. After getting about half way through the screened portion of the porch i decided it was time to have some lunch since it was a little after noon and i was running out of energy.

After a short lunch break and a quick call to Kim, although she dissed me again, i returned to the work at hand. I was beginning to feel like the karate kid painting for Mr. Miyagi. The difference is that when your a young boy you build muscles, but i was starting to feel muscles and parts of my body i didn't realize i still had. Which is one of the reasons i am sitting here at the computer instead of outside starting another project. But at least i am getting a clean white porch. Anyway, i continued on with the painting though getting to the bottom areas and back up again was becoming more difficult. Finally i reached the last brush stroke, stood back and realized that after cleaning up and putting everything back in place i would be finished. I cleaned the paint brush, cleaned and reinstalled the lattice, vacuumed the floor and decided i would put everything else away tomorrow. By this time Kim arrived home from work and i decided, actually my body screamed, that is enough for today.

Well that was my first day of vacation and after a shower, dinner and conversation with my wife I sat in my recliner and watched some TV while Kim went out to her rehearsal. The plan was to work a little, set a little, work a little more and sort of act like i had plenty of time to complete my projects, kind of like being retired. As Kim said when she got home, "I didn't think you would be able to do that" when she saw i had completed the whole project. I am going to work harder at that today, though since i am not moving as quickly today i may not have much choice. I guess it is time to start the work a little part of my day and be sure to include some set a little part later. I think i can do it with a little practice. Time to start.