Weekend Bits, bike and non-bike.

Been off the bike for a few weeks now, due to a few small health problems with the area down there normally in close proximity to the seat while riding...if you get my drift. Nothing serious, but just irritating, so doctors orders and all that.... I did finally get to ride to work three times last week, total of about 36 miles all together. Then this last Saturday, I did the short group ride, which added another 35 miles or so to the tally for the week. 70 miles...not too bad I guess. First time on the road bike since August, so that felt good.

Anyway, been using the time off the bike to get a few projects done around the house. My house was built in 1949, and like many older houses, it has a bunch of features and character that you just don't get in newer construction. For example. We have terracotta window sills.

Which of course, have been painted a billion times...here's the worst one in our master bedroom. The plan with these nasty looking things is to strip the window sills chemically and then re caulk the windows, repair any plaster issues, seal the windowsills and then prime and paint the window openings...but this time NOT the window sills!

First off, tape the beasts. Here's that window number one, ready for the citrus stripper. You can see in the left corner there that the plaster is in rough shape, and that under the window is not very well sealed off to the outside at all.

And after...stripped cleaned caulked and plaster patched, ready for sealer and a coat of that primer and semi gloss paint I mentioned earlier. Not bad if I do say so myself. That big dark monolith to the left there is my dresser...covered in a yellow drop cloth in the previous pic.

Window number 2...a little easier as most of the paint has chipped off...I'm sure belching lead into the air in the bedroom and bumping off my brain cells in the process.

And the same window...stripped and caulked. Here under the window sill you can see I've had to make a plaster patch as well. Turned out pretty good.

Window number 3...a damn lumpy mess of paint and other goo. This is the north facing window, so it stays damp here, more than I'd like.

The window sill turned out great, though, and with the primer and semi-gloss paint inside the jam, it will be ready for any condensation that still may form here... but I'm hoping that will no longer be an issue.

So there...one more project off the list. I might have all this crap done before I die. HA!