Painting the garage
Stephen and I haven't had the same enthusiasm for painting the garage as we had for painting the house. I think we can blame some of that on Covid, some on the wet weather and the rest on the poorly-made iron cladding that surrounds the building.
Whilst the front was painted relatively easily some months back, the sides, with their rust and uneven surfaces, provide a daunting prospect.
Yesterday, I suggested to Stephen that we take a look at what would be involved to finish the job. Before we knew it, the scaffolding was in place and the sanding underway. This morning, we put the first coat of paint on. This wall is relatively small, I must admit, and the easiest of the three remaining walls, but it certainly feels good to have made a start.
As I mentioned above, the weather has played a part in the painting-delay. Finally, we have had a few straight days of sunshine. No excuse not to paint, really.
The garage is full of holes, and leaks everywhere. Michael, my son, painted the roof a year ago, so at least we don't have to worry about that but we will have to tackle the leaks and rotting timber at some stage. An add-on was built at the back of the garage and the beams holding this in place are well over-due for replacement.
Six years ago, another son, Jason, converted half of the garage for my treatment room, also providing a watertight storage space at the back of it.
The rest of the garage has been open slather for starlings, rabbits, mice, rats and cats. Its also a place for tools, my car, and loads of junk - those things that we just might need in the future. Stephen has actually started tackling this pile and earlier this morning we took our first load to the dump, which included his old TV. Nobody has an old square version these days. This was an expensive deposit ($10) as apparently these contain dangerous chemicals and must be dismantled to prevent the poisons reaching the water supply. Who would've thought that these once up-to-date appliances were so toxic? I wonder if today's flat screens are equally as toxic. There has been so much push to convert people to using electric cars. I wonder how the batteries for these will be disposed of. And then there are the elements that make up the batteries. Will mining these leave the landscapes scarred and depleted? And how will we charge these cars if the expected rate of conversion is achieved? It seems our answers to one problem, just create another. A bit like drugs really. We take one to combat a problem but the side-effects create their own set of new problems.
Gosh, how did we get on to this topic. Perhaps painting is the easy part, after all.