“What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open.” – Jose Manuel Barroso (Portuguese politician)
Yesterday, rummaging through the garage (because that is what one does on a staycation), we unearthed our son-in-law Craig’s pressure washer. I think I may have found my happy place!
It was actually Rebekah who did the legwork, jumping on YouTube to find out how to connect all the pieces and make the thing work. She got the ball rolling, started (and quickly moved on from) the driveway, then set about knocking a decade or more of “character” off the mailbox.
Then I had a go and I couldn’t believe how satisfying it was to watch concrete go from disgusting shades of grime and mold to clean. It took some time, fiddling with the nozzle, the distance, the angle, and other settings, but after a while the idea of a clean driveway (we have a long one) morphed from an exercise in futility to something that may actually come to pass.
I started with my parents’ mailbox, cleaned their front stoop and steps, moved over to our entry, then did the sidewalk from the driveway to the front door. Over the next few days the driveway will clean up one section at a time.
My neighbor’ son, who works for a guy who owns a pressure washer so massive it’s bolted to a trailer he pulls behind a heavy-duty pickup truck, said, “We could do the whole thing for you for a couple of hundred bucks…”
But where would be the fun in that? The way I’m doing it I can experience satisfaction, avoid blowing crater-sized holes in the driveway, take care of my parents too, order a well-deserved pizza at the end of the day, and still be $175 ahead. It’s win-win.
Just another serendipity here in Wake Forest in “The Summer of 2020.”
Looking forward to the new day – DEREK
Must have been the week for power washing. I did our driveway, walkway, and our deck. Next week we re-stain the deck. I need to speak to my boss about the working conditions. No outside work when it’s above 75 degrees and feeling like 90 degrees. One can dream.
On Fri, Jul 17, 2020 at 10:27 AM Pilgrim in Progress wrote:
> derekmaul posted: “”What people call serendipity sometimes is just having > your eyes open.” – Jose Manuel Barroso (Portuguese politician) Yesterday, > rummaging through the garage (because that is what one does on a > staycation), we unearthed our son-in-law Craig’s pressure was” >
You reminded us of a time when we lived in Florida and Chuck borrowed a friend’s power washer to clean our driveway. Chuck compared the project to cleaning the kitchen floor with a tooth brush!! Time consuming and tedious. More power to you in your perseverance. Good luck.
Love this! Be sure to ask Bob about the time I discovered the joy of pressure washing and nearly put myself in early labor with Lindsey before I could stop myself!😂. I pressure washed the entire pier at the river last year. There is nothing like it!