Hard very severe

A couple of lifetimes ago, when I was an RAF Mountain Rescue Rock Climbing Instructor, VS or "Very Severe" climbs like "Overhanging Bastion" at Castle Rock of Triermaine were the toughest climbs I was ever able to lead.

This is using the descriptive British rock climb rating scale.

My old buddy Geoff Abbot and I had some wicked hard days on Castle Rock. I couldn't get up there now.

But I wasn't aware at the time that I was in fact preparing for a future life of construction work.

But it is a good job that I do have a decent head for heights.

Here's our cheap and nasty twenty-foot extension ladder all set up to finish the siding job. This is the last bit of siding on the whole house, not just the extension. There remains about forty running feet of garage wall, but importantly the existing garage wall is not green. This particular milestone, The Covering of the Green, is important because when we bought this old farmhouse, in addition to being almost ready to fall into its cellar hole, it was a sickly shade of pale lime green. Here's an old photo:


But the Green is now Covered.

Hallelujah!

I was more than happy to finish this siding project, not least because, after adding the second coat of paint today, I can put that bloody awful ladder away for the rest of the summer! It's so flimsy that at full extension, when you're in the middle of the span, the thing flexes like a bow, moving nine or ten inches per flex. It's bad enough that it flexes this way when your hands are empty. When you're trying to carry siding boards, it's twice as bad. Really nerve-racking, knee-trembling stuff. Back in the day, we used to joke about "disco leg", when the rock climb is so hard and scary your leg starts to spasm uncontrollably, like John Travolta's in one of those horrible seventy's dancing flicks.

I definitely had a case of disco leg yesterday on that bloody ladder.

Here's the interior of the extension, which is starting to look more furnished following Aimee's dickering efforts, trying to get all we need and save money.

Now added to our collection are a second hand changing table, a second hand crib, and a glider chair (for nursing and comforting the baby). All of this, for less than $250. What a deal!

Finally, I raked, seeded, and covered with hay all of the bare patch where the new septic drain field is, as well as the scar left by the spoil pile from the extension's foundation hole (which Tim used for fill around the drain field).

This leaves us with a nice secure and private grassy dell in front of the new deck, where no doubt a swing set will have to be built, one fine day perhaps next summer.

Luckily, unless I get carried away, we'll only need a step ladder for that swing set, not that ricketty old extension ladder.

I may need to splurge on a better extension ladder when my next high-up job comes around. The good ones cost four or five hundred dollars, but that's a lot cheaper than a broken leg.