I still pull an occasional weed and water my container plants, but other garden pursuits are on hold.

Why?

Three weeks ago, my DW suggested I repaint the outside of our house this summer. I'm not stupid. "Suggestions" from my DW are considered and then acted upon. Lest you think I'm hen-pecked, number two son and I had started the house-painting project two years ago, but we only completed the west side. Last summer, all my children had summer jobs so I skipped that year. I am overdue in returning to this project.

My eldest son graduated college in May and is currently unemployed (my "slave" labor). Besides, as I pointed out to number one son, "As a home-owner, you're not always going to be able to afford to have things done. House painting is easy to learn. I painted a 50-gallon trash barrel when I was just six years old. I liked the squishy feel of the paint between my fingers, so I also painted both of my hands. My mom wasn't exactly pleased."

Our 1960's Pacific NW home has horizontal cedar siding, two-foot-wide soffits, and tallish gables on the north and south ends. Translation: Painter needs to mount a tall ladder and swing a paintbrush overhead. Since high ladders are not my favorite thing, I paint at ground level and on an 8-foot stepladder while my son(s) tackle the way-up-high stuff.

Prep was straight-forward, we didn't need to scrape much as the underlying paint was sound. (Just a little scraping on the weather-beaten south side.)

I squeezed out 4 tubes of painter's caulk to eliminate insect/spider/wasp/hornet entryways. I'm okay with wildlife, just not in locations under my roof.

This summer, we've already completed the north end with its peak 22 feet off the ground. We were going great guns on the south end until the RAINS descended. We're now on hold until Thursday when nicer weather is predicted to return. Barring unforseen events, I expect to complete our house-painting project by the end of August.

Before pictures follow:

Front of house, some priming completed, ready for finish coat

More house front with cable and phone lines primed, ready for finish coat

2-foot wide soffits (overhead painting)

Current progress picture:

South side approximately half finished (white and dark brown are the new colors we've chosen). We had to quit painting because of rain.

As for gardening...some of my south side plants got trampled a bit in the painting process, but I've had worse losses from sour weather, so I'm not complaining.

In early September, we'll probably tackle the "doggie deterrent" fence out at Mossyrock...

Meanwhile, my garden languishes...