One Way to Spend Indepence Day

Just another Sunday afternoon in South Florida.

I'm not the kind of guy who really does much in the way of celebrating the summer holidays. I don't have a circle of friends in Greenville who regularly get together for cookouts and other activities most associated with Memorial Day, Labor Day and Independence Day. (Yes, I used the politically incorrect term “Independence Day.” Many of those born after 1990, are scratching their heads and thinking, what the hell is Independence Day?) I'm usually left to my own devices for the summer holidays.

Hey, we never really needed a reason to head to someone's house and toss back a couple by the pool.

When I lived in Florida, any day the average person was free from work was cause to gather, tip a few beers, cook burgers and lounge around a friend's pool. This held true whether it was a state-mandated holiday or a weekend. I'm sure everyone wasn't as fortunate as I to have have a platoon of friends with a similar mindset to mine. Not everyone in South Florida was at the beach, on a boat or cavorting in a friend's pool, but an awful lot of folks were. It's probably the only thing I really miss about no longer living in Florida: Having an infinite supply of good friends with whom to goof off.

Consequently my Independence Day this year looked like any other day for me. I arose at my usual time, which is between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. I was at my PC 20 minutes later responding to e-mails and hitting my favorite news sites. I then polished up a story for a client that I had written the day before. By 9:00, I was finishing up installing the new ceiling fan on the front porch. Thirty minutes later I was out mowing the dirt. I have about three-quarters of an acre to mow. Roughly 20 percent of that is flat. The rest is hill. Compounding the task are the swales for water runoff, running along two sides of my lawn. Mowing always requires about 90 minutes of work and at least that much time recovering afterwards. I skip the gym on mowing days; after all, how much cardio does a guy need? Even a fat, old guy?

After cooling down and eating a quick lunch, I had a decision to make: Shower, dress and head downtown for a few hours of bar hopping, or stay home and paint? I chose the latter. I had declared this the season to paint the outside trim of my house. Areas that suffer the brunt of weather, like step railings, get painted every two or three years, but this was to be an all-inclusive trim painting. For the first time in the 11 years owning this house, I was going to paint the front-porch and carport ceilings.

The front porch turned out rather well, I think.

Actually, I had already painted both those ceilings by that time. Last weekend, I pressure washed both the front porch and carport in preparation for painting. When I hit the painted areas in the carport, I stripped off a lot of the paint. My goal was to complete the carport painting before the next big rain.

I went ahead and painted the front-porch ceiling that day, while I had all the stuff off the porch and in the front yard. I didn't want to have to move all the furniture and the rug more than once. Both ceilings are bead board, which entails cutting in the grooves between each plank with a brush, then rolling the flats. I cut in and rolled the front-porch ceiling the same day as I pressure washed everything. I then moved all the porch furnishings back before night fall.

Another masterpiece in home renovation: the carport-painting project 2019.

The following day, I cut in all the grooves on the carport ceiling and then rolled it on Wednesday. This brought me to Independence Day. After lunch, I used painter's tape along the borders of the ceiling and then painted all the white trim. By 4:00, I had cleaned up the mess, showered and was cranked back in my recliner with a pour of Wathens bourbon and a little TV.

I grilled a steak and fried up some hash browns for dinner. I was in bed by 10:30. Another Independence Day for the record books. I was sufficiently bushed that my collapse into a sound sleep wasn't disturbed by all the fireworks exploding in the neighborhood.

Would I rather have been hanging out, drinking, laughing and eating too much potato salad? Yes, I would have. But, I managed to accomplish a lot. I can settle for that.