Xavier Paints a Barn
Greetings to everyone.
The need to paint the barn (a large storage shed) began more than a year ago. The need came to a head in the last few months. We decided to "get it done" this weekend.
It was Rebecca's reserve weekend, so that meant Xavier and Dad had to manage the project. We began in the early morning, right after breakfast, with a vigorous power washing. Xavier really liked that! It involved spraying water at high pressure.
After the barn dried (not a long wait as temperatures were rising to the high nineties), we caulked several seams and gaps. Xavier had some difficulty squeezing the caulk gun, but with Dad's help, he made some nice beads along some seams.
Growing bored with the caulking process, Xavier found other things to do while Dad finished caulking. One of the things he found to do was to turn on the hose and spray parts of the barn.
I explained that he needed to stop because the caulk had to dry. He understood. We removed the pressure nozzle from the hose and he played at filling his water table for the duration of the caulking.
Lunch time rolled around, so we cleaned up and ate lunch. After that, we played squirt guns, then nap time.
Dad used nap time to get the bulk of the painting done. I had determined from this morning that Xavier would not "just let Daddy roll the paint." He wanted to be involved, and not with some seemingly make-work effort either.
When Xavier got up from his nap, we masked off the trim. Xavier was fascinated with the taping machine and helped out whenever he could reach the areas being masked off.
As it was nearly 100
When the shadows of the trees mostly covered the barn, Xavier and I emerged, ready to finish the job of painting the trim. We found a shirt too small for Xavier and a pair of shorts suitable for a painting project. To top that off, we dressed Xavier in one of his bibs. (He has had this bib for nearly two years. It has rarely been used as a bib for eating, but often for paint projects. This is its biggest paint project to date)
Xavier had watched me pop the paint lid off the color I used while he slept (I found a few spots I missed and touched them up). When it came time to open the trim color, Xavier was on it! He had the lid off like a pro. Seriously, I was impressed. He used the hook tool like he did it every day.
I handed Xavier a three inch sponge brush and showed him where he could paint trim. Since most of the barn was masked off, I did not think he could do much harm to the job I did during his nap.
He did surprisingly well; I did not expect him to do so well (that's why I masked off the barn as heavily as I did—to protect it from the way I thought Xavier would paint). With Dad's help and instruction, he dipped his brush and painted the trim at his level with great accuracy. In fact, it was not until Dad was attending the higher parts that Xavier got bored and went off the reservation.
We left his free-form work on the side of the barn (you can see it from the yard, but not the house and patio). The small place on the barn door Xavier went rogue on Dad painted over (I couldn't live with leaving that there!).
At the end, we painted Xavier's hands and he slapped them against the side of the barn near some of his free-form work. Xavier insisted Dad also put his hand prints on the barn—next to his. "Here, Daddy. Put them here!" he directed me.
We cleaned our brushes and hands, then put away our tools and equipment. It was a productive day. Tomorrow, the masking paper will come down and the barn will be ready for many more winters.
Xavier's First Fireworks Display
Hello to everyone.
With the Fourth of July rapidly upon us, Rebecca and I wondered how to spend the weekend and how to celebrate the Fourth. I wanted to take in a fireworks display; I've wanted to do it the last couple of years, but we could not arrange it or find some place close. Our municipality is rather curmudgeonly about such things, so nowhere in our city.
The nearby speedway sometimes has them, but this year they were not advertising. Then, we heard that the city of Littleton has a patriotic heart and does a yearly festival. The park was just a few miles from us. They had bands and foods and krafts and bouncy houses—and most importunely: fireworks!
Because we came upon this knowledge late in the game, we drove down around 8:00 PM. The park was packed with a few thousand people. Not a problem, we had already planned to sit across the street in the mall parking lot.
Well, so did several hundred other people have the same idea. And the thousands in park had thought to park in the mall parking lot.
The night was cool after a day of heavy, short-lived rain showers. Dark, heavy clouds pushed over the mountains the closer to the fireworks show time. We brought with us a beach tent, one big enough to keep the three of us dry from any downpour. Though it was drizzling most of the night, it was not the rain we had to take concern with.
Instead of the rain and threatening skies, it was the lawn sprinklers. They're timing could not have been better planned! Starting thirty minutes before the show, like dominoes falling the zones came on—ten minutes each zone, then it shut down and the next zone charged. People scattered from their well-guarded positions into the relative dry of the large parking lot.
After we surrendered our spot to the sprinklers and after that zone finished, we put our tent back down. The grass was wet, but the tent has a floor. From inside, we watched the fireworks. Before the show began, Xavier asked frequently, "Where are the fireworks, Daddy? Mama, were are the fireworks?" Fireworks was his new word of the day. He may have been expecting something akin to the poppers he shared with his cousins a week prior at the family reunion.
At first, Xavier did not know what to think of the blooms bursting in the sky before him, but he warmed up to them quickly. Not afraid of the booms (we were a good quarter mile away from the launch point), Xavier watched intently. He would squeal happily, or point and say "Look, Mama, fireworks!" or "Fireworks, Daddy, fireworks!"
As we packed up the tent, walked across the parking lot to our car and the car ride home, Xavier asked repeated to see more fireworks. "More fireworks, Daddy! More fireworks." I guess the show made an impression.