Proof That I Have Done Manual Labor

My quest to earn a little cash during the summer of 2000 led me to volunteer to help paint Sarah's great-grandmother's house in Wichita.  What could be a better job than that?  Flexible hours, good pay, and I get to work with my girlfriend!  Was it worth it?  Weigh the evidence presented here in pictures and decide for yourself.

Step 1: Scraping (AHH!)

Here's Sarah and I going to town on the siding.  Scraping was by far the most time-consuming part of the project, and required the most physical exertion.  I suppose that's why I have the most pictures of it.  My co-workers say that I am quite good at this task and even call me the Scraping King.  Below is the completely scraped south side of the house, mostly my project (it took several days).  Following that are a few more pictures of the process.

As you can tell Sarah likes heights.  I like heights too, I just don't like using a shaky extension ladder to get there.  Below left, Sarah and I at the end of a hard day of scraping.  Below right, Sarah's mom Kathy, who, although she is holding a scraper in the picture, actually let Sarah and I do most of that, claiming she needed to do the windows.  Hmmm...  (And yes, I know that little comment is gonna get me in trouble...all in jest!)

Step 2: Washing (the fun part)

Between scraping and priming we got to wash the house down with this handy-dandy soaker.  Sarah and I both got a turn, but of course when I was using it both ends decided to come off, thus drenching me even more and forcing me to employ the Handyman's Secret Weapon, duct tape. 

Step 3: Priming/Painting (mostly not my step)

By the time we finally got around to painting all I got to do was give the foundation around the house its first coat, as shown at left.  The rest of the painting was handled by Kathy, but during her trip to finish it off she forgot her camera (way to go) so the only picture that's even close to showing a finished product is below, which shows the south side after one coat.  Our next project: A huge two-story wood house in Osborne.

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