Labor Day Scrape - Day Three

So today I finally had to climb the extension ladder to finish sanding paint off the north wall of the house.

I've been dreading this for weeks. Up until now, the most difficult position I've worked in was on my knees, to sand the lowest siding panels about a foot and a half off the ground. Working off the top of the six-foot ladder was no trouble at all, just like standing, really, and I could reach all the panels up to the top of the six-foot ladder from the ground.

But now, all that's left is too high to get to from the six-footer, so I have no choice but to climb the extension ladder.

Maybe you can understand better how that's a problem if I point out that, for the most part, sanding is easiest when I'm holding the sander right in front of my solar plexus. I can reach as high as my nipples or drop it down to my waist without too much trouble, and I can hold the sander head-high for five or ten minutes before I need a breather.

Working off the extension ladder, though, is all reaching. There's no practical way to get at the wall directly behind the ladder, so I have no choice but to reach for the siding on the left and the siding on the right, and I can't reach far. At most, I can sand away a patch of paint eight to ten inches wide on both sides of the ladder, then I have to climb down, shift it to one side, climb back up, do it again.

I've been at it since about ten o'clock this morning and I'm already pretty much beat. It's a good thing I'm working in shadow and there's a fair breeze blowing past the house because I don't think I would have lasted this long otherwise. The coveralls and leather gloves are absolutely necessary but hot as hell. Five minutes after I suit up and start sanding I'm drenched in sweat so that, when I peel out of them an hour or so later, it's like struggling out of a dripping-wet sleeping bag.

But I've got to go back out now. I don't want to quit before I've finished off that patch of paint between the windows, and I'd like to get up two panels beyond that. Keep me in your thoughts.