"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Wazza Roof Painter


The Roof That Wazza Painted.




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My mate Wazza has alluded several times to an event that took place
when Julie and I lived in Toowoomba, a lovely small city about 2 hours
from Brisbane.

We had bought an old Queenslander house which we renovated over a 2 year period, during this time (1977 I think) Warren came for a visit and being the helpful type that he is he asked if we intended to repaint the corrugated iron roof, when we said yes he immediately offered to do said painting.

So the next morning we visited our friendly hardware store and selected a suitable paint, not being too sure how much paint we would need we brought home three X 1 gallon tins.

Warren was dispatched to the roof with a can of paint and a paint brush while both Julie and I went on with whatever tasks we were involved with at the time.

About 45 minutes later Warren called from the roof, “have you got another can of paint for me,” warning bells started to sound in my mind at this stage as I estimated how much paint he was going to use over the 3 days we had estimated it would take to paint the roof.

Quickly climbing the ladder to survey his work I found he had completed one small section of roof with his gallon of paint, Warren has always denied that he emptied the tin of paint onto the roof and just spread it out a bit with his brush, but I could see no other way to use so much paint on such a small area particularly on a non-porous surface like iron.

There followed some instruction on just how to paint by dipping the brush into the can and spreading the paint onto the roof, (you will recall from a very recent post that I am an experienced house painter) I believe our 3 gallons proved to be sufficient even though the first gallon was used so quickly.

In Warren’s defense I hasten to add that there was never a problem with this roof and especially the section where the paint was VERY thick.

Warren during his visits with us at Toowoomba also claimed the responsibility of pruning a very large Bougainvillea bush that grew on a large trellis at the side of the house, he christened this the “mongrel bush” and was always quite battle scarred by the time he had finished his pruning.

Bougainvillea’s are covered with very sharp curved thorns that have an attraction for hands and arms when they are being attacked by secateurs in the hands of the unwary.

As I have said before Warren has been a good friend over almost 40 years so we have had a few adventures in that time, it would be nice to think that there are a few more still to come.






13 comments:

Pamela said...

I have never seen a corrugated iron roof

Merle said...

Hi Peter ~~ Sounds a bit like neither of you are wonderful house painters !
Thanks for the Happy Birthday.
Take care, Love, Merle.

Puss-in-Boots said...

What happened to the longhandled roller? I'd have poured the paint on too, if I'd be expected to paint a large roof with a brush.

Bougainvilleas put on a beautiful show, but the thorns are certainly a bugger. We had a fence line of them, but Fred dug them out and gave them to my daughter and her partner. They planted them around the dam, and they look beautiful there.

Anonymous said...

Warren was just trying to do a thorough job.

Dave said...

*S* Great story Peter.... here's to many more adventures with your mate!

Cliff said...

I'll bet that section of the roof is still in perfect condition. Time will be kind to following adventures I'm sure.

Cliff said...

I just read your painting story below and was tickled. Been there done that. Isn't it amazing how everyone else has such a good sense of humor when things like that happen.
About the neighbor changing the light bulb. Good help like that is hard to find.

Jamie Dawn said...

Cute story.
My daughter did some THICK painting on her bedroom walls once. We had quite a time trying to smooth it out before it dried.
Warren is a real hoot! I'm sure the two of you will have some more adventures ahead.

Carolyn said...

They say "Thick paint makes for thick friendships." Well, ok, they really don't say that, lol! That's a great house Peter. I love the lines of it.

Happy weekend :)

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Do bougainvilleas (sp?) attack cats? I've got two cats who invade my backyard uninvited, and I would like to see them dissuaded organically.

TLP said...

pouring out paint and just spreading it around sounds like a good idea to me.

wazza said...

Gidday Peter,
Okay, okay enough of picking on poor ole' me.
Gimmme a break, do you see the size of that roof, and only three gallons for one big bloody roof.
Jees that wouldn't have covered the roof of a outhouse, and yeah I can hear what you say, what with the way I paint no doubt three gallons also wouldn't of been enough!!!
(Little did you know I was getting a kickback from the paint company for all the paint I could use....hahahahahah).

LZ Blogger said...

Peter - Funny story about Wazza (and the painted roof). As for Bougainvillea’s... we used to have those all over California, but people either love them or they hate them. I liked to look at them but NOT trim them. ~ jb///