Weekend Projects Go Bust

The air is warm; the windows are open. This will not last long. It's time to cram in a few projects that must be done according to weather. For example, use the smelly polyurethane now or forever hold your peace -- or till next spring at least.

We had about 3 cups of forest-green paint leftover from the old tree house. The forest-green picnic table was in bad shape. Time to use up the leftover paint so as to dispose of the container and spiff up the worn spots of wood. When we woke up this morning, the picnic table looked wet, really wet! Turned out I put water-base on top of oil-base paint. Gary came to the rescue. He hosed down the picnic table and benches, washing the unstuck paint onto the deck, and then he sprayed down the deck so it didn't turn green. And all this before he headed out to preach this morning. Wow -- that's patience for a wife who screwed up her first weekend project.

The kitchen table has been SO sticky. Don't know why. But when it's not just paper that sticks to the table but even potholders that need to be peeled off, it's time to do something. Friday afternoon I stripped the table top. One polyurethane coat after another went on smoothly, leaving me an increasingly smooth and beautiful table top. Anticipating a final coat, I just went to check for dryness. There are bubbles. Not little pinprick air bubbles that make the smooth surface feel a bit sandy -- these are airbubbles 1/4" or 1/2" in diameter. WHAT HAPPENED??? Screw-up #2.

As long as I was wielding a paintbrush full of polyurethane, I decided to coat the mantel. The wood there is so rough that it cannot be dusted: the wood shreds fibers off the dustcloth. Six coats of polyurethane later, it's not smooth, but it is definitely smooth enough to dust. After my experience with the kitchen table, I'm thinkin' better to leave well enough alone on the mantel.

The last summer project to tackle is freezing or canning the hot peppers. But I can wait until a rainy or cold day for that. No sense in wasting these final gorgeous days of sunshine!