Painting the porch and small engine maintenance

Wild Mustang. The new paint is the lighter color. 

One of the last things to do to the porch was to paint the floor. Once again we struggled with the color and purchased three different samples before settling on our color, called Wild Mustang. Then it was a matter of scraping  and prep work. First, we had to remove all the furniture and clean the picture window and screen door. That was followed by a scrubbing of the walls and floor and complete wash down. All this left the floor of the porch quite wet and naturally it took a good day for it to dry out enough for painting. Before painting I scraped the loose paint off, mainly near the front where it got more sun and rain. As I started, the trim work was tedious and took the most time but rolling the rest of the porch was quite easy, and pleasant since you can pretty much stand there and apply the paint, rather than bending over, or stretching to reach a high point. It really looked good after one coat but decided for durability I decided to do a second. The wood was so dried out the first coat took most of a gallon, so I was off to Home Depot for a second. It was worth it and the porch looks great. I have a few other minor jobs left but the porch is finally done!

Cushion malfunction. This was AFTER I cleaned up.

After a successful and uneventful porch painting, things got a bit sillier and stupid, at least on my part. First, the cushion covers for the porch furniture needed to be washed. So, we needed to unzip the covers and remove the padding. Cindy unzipped one and found that the paper covering the interior padding had deteriorated. So, rather than making a mess in the basement, we decided to remove the cushions outdoors. That was fine, until a rogue wind gust came up and blew my little pile of papers all over the driveway, and neighbor's yard. So, I ended up bending over picking lots of little pieces of paper, all over the place.

It's mocking me. 

Next comedy session came as I decided to try and start my snowblower. I had started it once last October after bringing it over from our old house, but then it sat all winter and summer without running. I couldn't remember if I had stored it properly, which I do by mainly just adding fuel stabilizer. I think the problem began as I was concerned that it would not start and it became a self fulfilling prophesy. I got the keys, unlocked the chain, and pushed the machine to the front of the garage, and checked the fuel. I primed it, set the choke and throttle, and pulled the start cord. Nothing. Not a surprise. Pulled again. Nothing. Ok, not a big surprise, it sat there for quite some time. I went and got the cord, and plugged in the electric start and pushed the start button. It cranked and cranked. Nothing. Ok, now I'm concerned. It has always started. After several more unsuccessful attempts, I got my tools. I pulled the spark plug. It looked fine and there was fuel in the carburetor. I put it all back together, tightened everything down and tried again. Nothing. This went on for some time, with me giving the little electric motor a chance to cool off, but just cranking and cranking it, mainly because my limited knowledge of engines prohibited me from doing anything else. Well, I was making enough noise that one of my neighbors, a retired mechanic and small engine expert arrived to find out "who was cranking the hell out of some small engine". He offered to help and asked me to pull the plug then checked to see if it was getting any spark. I did and it wasn't. He said, well it could be the magneto, or as he looked at the engine, that you didn't put the key in. DOH! The solution, as he sagely nodded with a small smile, "was in your pocket the entire time". Oof. I truly am a moron. I really wonder how long I would have cranked that thing without noticing that I hadn't put in the key. Realizing he was working with a complete idiot, he gave the poor snowblower a quick inspection and offered some other tips, including some gear oil for the driveshaft. I actually knew the tires needed air but don't have a pump so he offered help with both so I pushed it three houses down to his garage and he took care of it for me. He recommended that I fix some of the surface rust inside the machine to keep the snow from sticking. He also suggested adjusting the little skid plates on the front of the cowling to protect the bottom of the machine from wear. I did both the rust and adjustment after I got it home and I should be good to go for the winter, assuming it snows.

Which brings up my last blog. I promised a winter prediction, among other things this time around. Well, this blog has gone on too long so you're going to have to wait for that, along with the fascinating story of firewood and leaky plumbing. I bet you can't wait!