Friday, August 15, 2014

Looney on a Ladder

 Friday...  finally!  Even though this has been a quieter week on the major summer work project I've been working on, getting caught up on all the other work things that have been pushed to the wayside is getting hair raising...  I live for 5 o'clock these days...  OR 5:30 is some cases.

Last night I decided to clean the gutters.  I knew they had to be cleaned for a LONG time, but kept putting it off.  Either it was too windy for the ladders, or too cold, or we just didn't feel like it.  But last night the weather was perfectand Leon was off playing with his daddy, so I decided to take the opportunity and get this thing DONE!  Robb was running an errand, so he lucked out.

I dragged out the ladder, dragged out the hose and hooked it up in our garage faucet for the first time EVER.  Or if we ever have before, i don't remember...  I found an additional hose and hooked it up so I could reach up the ladder with it.  Had one of the kids turn on the water as I climbed.  Got up there and the water started, but this hose was apparently broken on the other end and I got a quick shower for a little bit. up.on.the.ladder before I thought to drop my end of the hose so the main gush would shoot over the yard instead of at me.

Managed to get down without slipping or impaling myself on the lilac bush that the ladder was into and got the kids to turn it off.  Switched hoses, yelled to them to turn it back on and climbed the ladder.   and waited. and waited.  They must not have heard me...  So I yelled like a looney on a ladder to the front door, looking for something to throw at it to get their attention clear in the living room.  
Suddenly it turned on and I almost fell off. 

Drenched the area of the rain gutters in the front that were full of leaves and tons of goop.  NOTHING was moving.  So after giving it a good soak, I moved the ladder around the corner where the drain was.  Pulled some goop out of that and some drained.  I kept working on it and eventually the front side of the house started draining a little better. 

I had the ladder up against the white thing with the ladder down inside the overgrown lilac bushes.  They're bigger these days.  This photo is from Halloween, of course, several years ago when we decorated or cared about that sort of thing.
 
The big tree around the corner of the porch is what's causing all these problems of clogging.  And after having a few branches try to tear off some of my skin, I went and got the saw.  I now have two huge branches laying in the yard waiting to be taken to the lawn land fill.  There are a lot left to do.  Especially the branch that scratches at our bathroom window in the dead of winter giving me the creeps.  THAT'S the next to go!  I can't even GET to the gutter on that side of the house with those big branches in the way.

The tree is just behind and to the right of Meri in this photo.  It doesn't LOOK that big here,  but it is these days.  
 
By the time I had those two branches cut off and dragged around, it was getting pretty dark.  I didn't want to saw off a foot or anything in the dark... 

And besides I wanted to spend a little snuggle time with a certain 2 year old.  We snuggled while the girls and I watched another 10 minutes of Sabrina.  We'll eventually get that movie watched....

And we kept Leon up a smidgen too late.  When I woke him up this morning, he was begging in English, to "go back bed sleep!"  Now I know what he was crying all those months before speech came along...

6 comments:

Southern Gal said...

I can picture and hear the yelling going on waiting on someone to help out! And I've been up and down a step ladder for two whole weeks while painting two rooms. I wouldn't trust myself on a tall ladder after my experiences on the little one. ;) Which Sabrina? New or old? I love Humphrey Bogart.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Oh my goodness, I'm glad you're in one piece! That is quite an adventure.

Michelle said...

Girl, you need to be careful!!!!

mamahasspoken said...

I hate cleaning the gutters hence why hubby and the sons do it. This year we got smart and put on gutter guards. Best investment we made!
Hope you get them all clean out soon!

Jane said...

Thank you for this post - you have given me a reason to be thankful for living in a condo. Yes, I have gutters but it's someone else's job to clean them out!!

Jane said...

Thank you for this post - you have given me a reason to be thankful for living in a condo. Yes, I have gutters but it's someone else's job to clean them out!!

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