Hot, Harry, and Tedious

Wednesday, 2:04 pm

By Kate

Jul

11

2007

Our lovely sea breezes went away this morning. They kept the worst of the northeast heat wave away from us, but today, it’s plenty warm and humid. We’re registering 86°, but the humidity makes it feel at least 10 degrees hotter and the air is so thick and heavy that it feels like breathing through a wet blanket. At least the house is still cool from the last two days, but going outside for more than a few seconds is just plain gross.

Despite the humidity, the sun has been strong enough to bake the clothes on the clothesline dry. No monkey-business today.

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The lad and a group of his friends went to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter film last night. They’ve all grown up with Harry and going to see the new film was an event they all looked forward to. Apparently the film did not disappoint. I’m told that it’s even better than the first film. The best of the lot. That’s pretty high praise from a group of super critical film buffs. I have been invited to go see it some time this week. If not for the lad working this afternoon, this would have been the perfect day to go sit in the theater’s refrigeration.

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I began stripping paint off the deck on Monday. What a slow and tedious project. A lot of the paint came off with a power wash, but there’s enough left, clinging tightly, that some stripping is necessary.

On Monday evening, I took the lad out to dinner and our waiter happened to also work at a nearby paint store. Somehow or other, that tidbit of information came up, so I mentioned my deck situation. I had assumed that once I got the latex paint off, I’d prime it with an oil based concoction and then use an oil based stain. But he said that the industry is getting away from oil based stains now. The best stains on the market are latex. Given that, I don’t have to be too picky about stripping every last bit of latex paint off the deck. That was music to my ears.

I still have to strip off some large areas where the paint thickly and stubbornly clings, but it doesn’t have to be right down to totally bare wood—just enough so that the remaining coverage won’t crack and peel later. I’m glad I found that out before wasting a lot of time. It’s still a tedious project. I wish that I’d used stain the first time around.