Honey-Doings: Part V

In the last episode, I had hit a pot hole. The ride had been fairly smooth until then. To my dismay, I found that the window was in rough shape. The whole thing had to be taken apart. To remove the older windows, you must first remove the vertical sash boards on either side of the casement. These are sometimes nailed in, but mine were held in place with three screws in each. It was apparent that it had been many years, decades perhaps, when this window was last disassembled, if ever at all. As such, there were several layers of paint on those side boards. That doesn't bode well if your purpose is to remove screws.

With the blade of a screwdriver on the paint-filled slots, it took a few taps with a hammer to chip the paint away, so that I might turn the screws out. The verticals removed, it was only a matter of pulling the lower window forward and pulling the knotted rope from the slot and hole on the side of the window. The upper window is held in place by a narrow strip of wood, sometimes called sash beading. This strip separates the two windows and also serves as a guide to allow them to move up and down freely.

Outside and using the tail gate of my truck as a work bench, I began scraping the windows and removing the cracked glazing. I also prepped the sash pieces and beading. It was overcast but very humid. The forecast had called for possible passing thunderstorms in our area, but I didn't give it much thought. After all, it was the same report we were given for both Monday and Tuesday, without a sprinkle.

But today the air was changing and a cool breeze had begun to waft through the trees. My perspiration caused a slight chill to come over my body. There was a sudden gust of wind and a sickening crash! One of the windows, both of which I had leaned against my truck until I was ready for them, had been blown over. Yes, oh astute ones, there was broken glass. It was the top window and two of the six panes had been broken.

Did I say I had hit a pot hole earlier? Maybe I understated it a tad? It was a damned sinkhole now! Having taken three steps backward after one forward, I resigned myself to the fact that fate had dealt me another set back. Glancing at my watch, I noted that it was 11:15. I figured that by the time I got the two broken panes out of the window, measured the size of the panes, and drove to the hardware store it would be noon ... Lunchtime. With the way my luck had been running, the only one who cut glass, was probably the only one who could mix paint, and would be ... out to lunch.

A glance up at the sky revealed that there was most definitely a storm brewing. I hurriedly went to work finishing the scraping, sanding and finally painting all the parts of the window. This time, the fates were being kinder. Although the winds were a harbinger of the approaching thunderstorm, they were also speeding up the drying process of the paint.

Then the rains came!

To be continued ... in what else but Honey-Doings: Part VI?

NO.215