Winter is back...

So, after a lovely weekend with temps into the 70’s, we’re back down at freezing with snow today. Woot. On the brightside, I’m optimistic about my birthday wish, but still concerned that someone can’t accept a loss. Mostly though I’m trying not to think too much about it. So that’s all I’ll say on that matter.

I was hard at work over the weekend continuing the cleaning spree. I’ve now officially got a guest room, although it could still use a bit of polish. (Note the picture on the floor, not the wall…)

I spent most of Sunday finally getting outside to patch the holes the woodpeckers added to my front siding. How bad was it? Oh, let me show you…

This was the garage before the patching started. The holes are a little hard to see, but you can spot the big pecked off patches easily.

The patches make everything really stand out. The patch stuff said to mix in color, but my stain turned it into something resembling chocolate milk that never dried, so I just ended up putting it on white.

Of course it was not just the garage where they lovingly put holes into my house. The house number was a favorite pecking perch.

The area near the front window was also a mess.

I initally intended to let the patch dry overnight and come back out on Monday to stain it. However after dinner I realized it was going to rain all day on Monday, then snow on Tuesday. ARGH! Minnesota, why?! That meant I would need to get back out and stain it that evening, or risk it not getting done until spring. To do that, I also had to find a work light and attach it to the ladder to see in the dark. Sunset is now about 5PM.

With only one coat of stain, it still looked pretty bad…

So I ended up trying to slap on a second coat on as much of it as I could before calling it a night. I was able to touch up the house numbers and the garage since I did those parts first. That meant they were at least partially dry by the time I finished the area by the window. In some spots the patch was still wet, so I had to be extra careful.

I wasn’t sure until the next day how it would turn out, but overall things were looking pretty good I think.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a good second coat on the area near the window, or the side of the post with the house numbers, as they were still pretty wet when I finished Sunday night. So deciding I’d need to fix those up more, I got take a small steep ladder out to work on the post. Fortunately this spot was also mostly out of the rain thanks to the overhang and wind direction.

However the front window would be more challenging. I decided pulling out the big ladder would not only be miserable in the rain, but also unsafe. So instead I took the screen out of the window. That allowed me to reach everything to add another coat rather safely from inside the house. Woot!

I popped out before the snow set in today to get a last look, and I must say I think it looked pretty good considering. It’s certainly not invisible, but much better than it was.

Also, please notice that I now have those lovely mirror discs hanging from the house to deter the woodpeckers. I am not sure if it was the weather or the discs, but I’ve now had two days without the sound of woodpeckers attacking my house. I’m optimistic and keeping my fingers crossed that this trend continues.

This was the one home task that I really wanted to get done this fall, but things just kept getting in the way. I’m really glad that I managed to squeeze it in. It makes me feel good that I got this one last thing done before the snow and cold returns for the winter.