Family Mellmann

It might be an example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and it might just be a really good idea. When I was at the grocery store earlier today, this car was parked in the spot in front of me.  As we begin to put real plans behind our move west (to Montana), it's funny to encounter a sticker like this here in Vermont.  I see many cars with bumper stickers from all over New England and other areas of the US, but seldom do I see Montana.  I think we should take their advice. :)

As some crazy weather rolled into our area last night, I couldn't resist taking a few minutes to watch the clouds roll overhead, hear the wind blow through the trees, and enjoy our shiny white fence through the view of my roses.  About five minutes after this photo and the video below were taken, the sky darkened and the heavens opened up releasing a furious rain complete with thunder and lightning (we don't often get thunder and lightning).

...Old Gray Mare, she ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.  The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, many long years ago. Okay, so I'm no old mare, but I am working a good bit of grey in the mane.  And, this song has been humming in my head since Saturday afternoon while we were cleaning up from our first morning of painting and while my muscles were telling me to hire a painter.  Oh, if only I could my dear muscles.  If only I could.  Alas, no one around here to hire for such work. It turns out that painting a post and rail fence (also known as a Morgan Fence around here) is a stinking lot of work.  And for all the work, it's somehow less rewarding than hours spent planting, weeding, and deadheading in the garden. That said, 39 gallons of paint and roughly 44 man-hours of "blood, sweat, and tears" (really just sweat) and the fence is completely painted.  All 4.5 acres of it.  It now gleams so whitel

Between the rain (almost every other day all summer) and the heat (which comes with humidity), this has not been a good year to be an exterior painter.  Though I am not an exterior painter, I do have exterior painting jobs to do.  The biggest one, a project begun two years ago, is finally getting the attention it needed. After a brief stretch of nice weather, we finally have a weekend that might be just right for a painting a fence which surrounds surrounds the field across from our house (which we own).  Piece by piece we replaced rotted boards and scraped old paint off.  Laziness, distraction (a college graduation, for example), a summer road trip, and rain, have kept us from this last step.  Today was the big day. Ten gallons of paint and about 15 man-hours later and we see some progress.  We didn't quite make it to the quarter way around, but we can definitely see progress.  Here is a picture of the fence before and after (or after and before since I was painting from left to r