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.
