Scratch, Scratch, Scratch, Thump...Silence

Life at the House of 42 Doors sometimes takes some unusual turns. I often find myself thinking, "I never expected that."

We are replacing the siding on the external walls of the dormers. The original siding was painted cedar shake. I doubt it was originally painted. More than likely, it was left natural and allowed to gray. In any case, we are replacing it with painted cedar shakes. The color is the same as what we inherited and happens to be what I really like.

For all of the work we're having done, we're trying to paint everything on the ground, before it gets attached to the house twenty plus feet above the ground. This includes the cedar shakes. That means each of the 460 cedar shakes need to be painted before they are affixed to the house. We are painting both sides of each shake, although strictly speaking, we wouldn't have to. The paint just provides one more layer of protection from the moisture. We also don't need to paint the very end as that part will be tucked under the layers of shake above. It also gives a place to hang onto while painting the rest of the cedar shake.

The problem is where do you find room to lay out 460 cedar shakes for painting? A bit difficult. Unitl my brilliant wife suggested hanging them on the laundry line. It turns out to be an excellent solution, so long as it isn't overly windy or rainy. Which leads me back to my introduction.

A few nights ago, Ms. Huis said to me, "You'd better go take the shingles off the line. It looks like it's going to rain." It made sense to me, but I chuckled as I was taking the shingles off the line. It was a sentence I never imagined I'd hear.

Last night, we were woken up at about 2:45 by something scratching loudly in the exterior wall of our bedroom. I got up and thumped on the wall and the scratching stopped. Something didn't make it out in time from when they finished the roof. I hope it doesn't stink when it dies. I went back to bed and could only think of all the H.P. Lovecraft stories I've read...