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Saturday, March 20, 2010

Hanging In There.....

I finally got around to staining shingles. I made Tessie do it while I sat around drinking coffee and eating bonbons.......Here's the photo to prove it.

OK......So I bribed her to hold the brush whilst I took the picture. I think that the fumes are getting to me. I love Minwax, but that stuff is harsh if you inhale it for prolonged periods. I finished about half of them and then had to quit until the smell dispersed.

I am using Red Mahogany stain. I tried Provincial and English Chestnut, but they were both too grey looking. Besides, Red Mahogany is my favorite stain, so I talked Tessie into liking it too.

When I had enough shingles to do the tower, I closed the stain and stopped holding my breath.


Tessie was in one of her "Let me help." moods. You know what I mean........That translates to "Let me tell you where you went wrong.".

I drew the lines on the tower roof before I even put it together, but she insisted on using a plumb line and a level to make sure everything was square. Then she re measured to make sure that the bottom line was exactly one and one half inches from the edge and every other line was exactly one inch apart. She finally let me start cutting and gluing.

I got about half way up before she noticed that the last line was only a half inch from the edge. I had to go through the explanation about how the last course of shingles would be cut across the top so that they would be the same length as the overlaps below.

She watched every move I made and kept whipping out a ruler to make sure that everything was going right.

I finally reached the last row......She bent over the edge to check it and went nose over toes. She managed to grasp the edge of the roof.

I do wish that she wouldn't panic and forget that she can "zap" when she does that. She started yelling,"Get me down from here! Now!"

I calmly walked away and as I did I told her, "Tessie! Go zap yourself!" For once she took the hint.

She turned red and disappeared. Maybe that little incident will keep her away from the roof while I am finishing it. I haven't seen her since.

One can only hope......

See you tomorrow.

6 comments:

Jo Raines said...

How I wish I were at this point on Joanna's house! Will probably make DH shingle for me. I am going to tackle the wiring, however.

Jody

Bellesanbeaus said...

Miss Casey...I love the look with the copper flashing at the bottom...very well done. When I get my house to that point maybe Tessie will be an expert roofer and can zap over to help me...one can always use extra cupcake batter money! Big hugs Beth

MiniKat said...

I loathe shingling. (Is that even a word?) I hope the remainder of the process goes smoothly for you.

Love the stain choice. Are you going to weather them at all?

Caseymini said...

Kat, I will probably use the prismacolor pencils as I usually do for the "weathering".

Jody, I do things out of turn if it doesn't affect the rest of the process. I don't like shingling, so I tend to get it out of the way ASAP.

Beth, the copper flashing was the easiest part. Self stick copper tape is great stuff!

My Realitty said...

This is so cute! I love that she tried to help. Shingling is slow or they droop! CM

Wendie-kins said...

"Go zap yourself!" I really did laugh out loud when I read that! bet you've wanted to say that to Tessie many times ;o)
Love the shingles colouring, its looking great, you have so much enthusiasm too, I wish my Skool of Majick had as quick a path of progress, maybe Tessie should come and nag (sorry Tessie...'help') me for a while?. x