Finishing Touches

It is another beautiful day outside. The weather is warming up enough that it is now too warm for my comforter and quilt; the season is here to remove the comforter and go with a light quilt for the spring and summer. Cold weather in the fall will force the change, seven months away from now. Today, it is lovely and light although I am sure winter will grip us at least once or twice as we move through spring. It is the way of the land, to surprise continually.

It was another late morning this morning too. I was up very late last night, with Jim arriving well past 1:00 AM. We talked for at least an hour, going over the work to be done and the things I had done while he was home. After that I managed to finally get to bed. If you take the 2:00 AM bedtime and the fact that I need at least 10 hours of sleep these days, getting up at 11:45 is about right. I am reasonably rested and ready to interfere with his work day.

My friend Dion is coming over the help today. We are doing the filling and taping of the gyproc, taking the rough cut sheets and using plaster and a fabric tape to make that smooth finished wall that speaks of a well made home. It takes at least two, and usually three coats of fill to build a smooth join in the wall board. In between each coat you have to sand the plaster smooth in order to build a base for the smooth final finish. It takes a day for each coat to dry. This means the whole job will take today, tomorrow and Sunday. It will be another three days of activity, including dust from the sanding.

The end of the job is in sight. After we tape and fill, we paint and finish. The part that I will fuss over the most is probably the basedboards and other finishing touches. I suspect some of those will remain undone in spite of Jim's best efforts. It always seems there are small bits at the end that have to be done, and redone. These finishing touches always take far longer than anticipated. That's just the way it is.