Wind and Stain

We spent the weekend at The Ranch, staining the exterior siding of our garage/apartment. What should have been a relatively easy task to complete, was in fact quite difficult thanks to Mother Nature. The skies were beautiful and blue and the sun was shining, but the wind was blowing something fierce! At one point, Neal's hat almost blew off of my head even though I had the chin strap tied.

Neal's paint tray blew over many times before he came up with an invention to keep things protected from the wind. But that didn't stop the ladder from blowing down several times and scaring the daylights out of poor George. George lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and his people were evacuated and not allowed to take him. I often wonder if he has flashbacks from that traumatic event. He is really scared of loud noises and wind.

The wind was so bad Friday night that we felt we were in a hurricane in our little popup. Neither of us got much sleep, so we decided to move the popup up hill and park it in front of the garage to hopefully get a wind break. Because we didn't want to repack and unpack everything and lower the popup, Neal put away a few things, lowered the tent over one bed and slowly and carefully moved our home on wheels to its new spot. It was much calmer Saturday night and we all slept better. We discussed taking the mattresses from the popup and sleeping on the floor in the new garage because it was much quieter in there, but there was no heat, and at least our popup has a furnace. And yes, it's June and we still need to use the heat on those chilly nights!

We chose a natural color for the stain and we were really pleased with the way it turned out. It was supposed to be a one-coat stain, but we decided to go with two coats for extra protection and because there were some streak spots after just one coat. I especially like the framing around the doors and windows. That was an extra touch from our builder and I think it adds to the rustic look. The wagon wheel inserts for the garage door still have not been installed, and the builder has to come back and do some tweaking of the doors, but overall we are very satisfied with the way things turned out. Neither of us has ever built a house before, but we've certainly heard horror stories from others who have had bad experiences. Luckily, we've only had a few minor snags that I think we can live with.

We finally decided to call it quits early Sunday afternoon. We were able to completely finish three sides and only lack the back wall and some overhang touch-up, which we will do next weekend. I kept telling Neal that this weekend would have been perfect weather for inside tasks due to the wind, but we just aren't that far along yet. It was a good feeling getting so much accomplished, despite all the dirt in my eyes, ears, nose and mouth!

Here's a little video to give you an idea of just how strong those winds were inside our popup.