I used to do a lot of hard work. It has just been a part of that country living life that I have actually enjoyed. I learned a lot from it, learned that I don’t want to have to do it to get by, and learned to appreciate those that do. This weekend I came back home to do some hard work, and I was quickly reminded that I don’t do it very often anymore.

My grandmother is selling her house. It’s a nice house, but there is some maintenance that needs to be done to tidy up a bit. The deck hasn’t been stained in a couple of years, so that was my main task. Now I have stained this deck many times before, and I know that rolling it sucks, brushing it really sucks, and spraying it with a garden sprayer is just a bad idea. This time, I found a paint sprayer in the storage room and decided to put it to use. After buying some new parts for the air compressor and using a little WD-40 (a Nobel Prize-worthy invention) to convince some old parts to let go, I was staining like a mad man. I did have a little problem with the regulator (80psi is not the best way to apply stain), but after that got down to a more manageable rate, things were going great! Today I felt it though – being hunched over while spraying a 600+ sqft deck with a 16 foot ramp and two sets of steps, my back was a little out of whack. Not to mention that I felt sick all day yesterday after inhaling a gallon of paint fumes.

Today I was back at it again, this time taking down an old bridge across the creek in the back yard. It was so worn down that I could rip off the planks with my hands or a couple of whacks with the hammer. After I got a plank off, I’d toss it in a pile. I ended up shoving a nail through my shoe, into my foot enough to make it bleed. It wasn’t really deep, but these nails were beyond rusty, and it’s been 7 years since my last Tetnis shot. So I headed to Urgent Care to take the necessary precautions.

Many of you might be laughing at my post, asking "You think that’s hard work?" Well, yes I do. I’ve worked harder (thank you UPS), but I am a bit rusty. Anyway, I just thought I’d share my weekend and express both my appreciation and condolences to those who do it every day.