It was pouring on Monday.. Which we knew was going to happen.… It was a perfect day to put up our scaffolding. We had searched for options about how to paint the very high 27 foot peaks of Gabe’s house… Both of which are in narrow alleys between adjacent houses.we looked at tall ladders, pump jacks and scaffolding. Lasders was cheapest.. but there kS only. About 36 inches betweek gabes house and his neiggbor ted.. well actually bhis negbors on both side are name t ed,l the 36 inch one is  ‘nantucket ted’, That didnt give enough distanice for a safe ladder lean at that height. Pubp jacks are chep, but always reauire 2 people and need safety harnasses. Scaffolding is the  most expensive, but was the safest and gives the best quality, So we went. With scaffolding. The company we are workign wit h mostly does commercial scaffolding.. they rarely work with folks like hus whom are painiting their onwn h9mes.. they have been so gr eat to work with.. they offered to save us money by sending onky a foreman and getting us to help erect and later disman tel the scafokding,,
It was rainign oretty hard by the. Time that mario showed uo with hsi truck,, he was super nice to work wit h and called out toeices he needed for us to help build 24. Foot. Scaffolkds on both sides of the house. .. later on his colleague Si. Ame.. between the. 5 of us we got them up in less than 4 hours
We got them up in time to do some scraping.. at the end of the day the sun came out
Today was easter .. and it was also our first day of painting prep. we celebrated by Johnny are Tyvek’s bunny suits and beginning to strip and prep the house… It’s dirty work because we’re trying to be very clean from the standpoint of lead paint abatement. They’re strict laws out here but we would do it anyway. That meant Karina grounded six mill plastic, and wearing full hazmat gear… Tyvek, gloves, goggles, respirators… It also means collecting every crumb of paint and delivering it to the toxic waste group.… It’s been a real pain but we feel like we’re doing the right thing environmentally
We had an incredibly productive day… We were able to completely strip the back Of Gabe’s house which was the most weathered of all… It involves scraping with knives and carbide draw blades.… A lot of it came off. We were then able to actually get the first coat of primer on there…
It already looks so much better… So much more to do but it felt like great progress
today reminded me he much I enjoy traveling . tim picked me up around 12:30 and took me to the airport for my trip out to portland . I was so excited to see diane , gabé , nova and sam. I forgot how exited I was to spend tome in airplanes and airports . for more than 30 years this was my life . I was reminded how much I enjoyed the Quiet non interruption that’s air travel can. bring ..I love people watching an airport… I know it’s a terrible guilty pleasure because I probably have my own ozone hole because of it… I view my work on electric aircraft is kind of penance
Anyway it was very nice to be in that zone again for about nine hours… It was even better to see Diane and GabÉ when I got to Portland… We’re gonna be out here for a couple of weeks painting GabÉ’s house. Believe it or not I’m really excited about that
Had a busy day getting ready to leave for a couple of weeks… Got a lot done. Take a break in the evening to go to friend Bernd’s house for a wonderful costume Seder… It was a small Group… Just ben, tatro, Elizabeth, Geri, Mark, ‘Nancy and Moyers… We did an abbreviated version of Agata… But it had lots of good feeling. Geri had created a bunch of scenes from the movie the 10 Commandments literally spice things up… We all sort of came in costume… Ben was there as Moses… Jared was the pharaoh… Nancy was Miriam… I think tati was jechobed (mississippi mom) . I came as a generic priest… Wearing my clothes in the dark coat and some lights… With a sign that said “let my people glow”

We all brought different food… Elisabeth had made her own gefilte fish which was delicious. All the food was delicious. I made “machos”… Which are nachos made with Motzer… And I also had attempted to make matzoh meal chocolate chip cookies… They got really runny and thin so they ended up more like Florentines… But they weren’t bad
It was a really wonderful evening
Heading out to see Diane and GabÉ tomorrow… Can’t wait!
