Adrian, Amateur Painter: The Front Steps, Part 2

Here's Part 1:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2013/10/adrian-amateur-painter-front-steps.html

I have been painting.  I have been painting.... a lot.  But it's something that needed done, and makes the house look a heck of a lot better.  I could spend some time talking about it, but let's just get to the pictures.

 

 

 

Again, it's quite a red.  It does have the tint of orange in it to look like Mario Andretti red.  My next job will be to paint the door.  Now I have to see if Lili (not her real name) wants it red or some other color.  So that will be another blog.  

Adrian, Amateur Painter: The Front Steps

Again, in a continuing series of me fixing broke stuff, I present another Amateur Painter series.  This time I am painting the front steps to my Girlfriend Lili's (not her real name) house.  I already tested out the paint primer and red paint on the back steps, and they turned out great.  So I got on a roll, and started to paint again.  (Sidenote: I'm actually starting to get good at this painting gig.)

So here's what I had to work with:

So first things first.  I put down the Kilz 2 paint primer first.  Again, I had it tinted gray so when I put the red paint on it, it wouldn't show up pink.  One thing to note.  Where there was already red paint, (in some places) I decided to not paint the primer over it.  I'll just put the red paint over it when the time comes. 

So here is the result of my hard work:

Due to the position of the sun, the photos can look a little washed out in places.  But overall, I got what I wanted painted.  Today was the perfect day to paint.  It was cool and dry, and those days don't come often in Florida.  Especially with a clear blue sky out. 

So here's the fun part.  I get to do it all over again tomorrow.  That's when I put the red paint on, and make it look really nice.  I'm not worried about the primer not being dry, as it was almost completely dry in places after only an hour.  And the other good news?  That means another great blog coming up. 

Read you then!

Amateur Handyman: Back Step Man, Part 2

Here's Part 1:  http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2013/10/amateur-handyman-back-step-man.html

So when we last left the back steps this is what they looked like.

So now that the primer was down it was time to paint.  Luckily, a few months ago I got some free paint.  The story of which can be found here:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2013/05/free-is-for-me.html

So now it was time to put the red paint down.

 

 

When the paint is wet, it almost looks like Mario Andretti red.  It has a touch of orange in it.  Once it dries it starts to look a bit more like Barn red.

I am really happy with the Kiltz 2 primer, in that, it made the red paint so easy to put on.  Since the red paint was in an old can I'm not sure what kind it was, but it was free, so I took a chance.  It's been pretty nice.  Despite it's old age, it went on just fine.  I wish all painting jobs were this easy. 

I know the pictures make it look nice, but in real life it looks great as well.  In fact, it looks so nice it's kind of making the rest of the house look bad.  Will I be put to work on painting the sides of the house?  Only Lili (not her real name) knows for sure.

But I do know this.  I will be painting the front sometime in the future.  Although I am going to have to put up some serious plastic tarps and blankets.  That job may take some time.  So keep an eye out for it. 

Amateur Handyman: Back Step Man

Yes, it's another new project given to me from my Girlfriend Lili (not her real name.)  As I've stated in the other Amateur Handyman posts, the people who lived in the house before Lili did their best to destroy the place.  So, little by little we are putting the place back together. 

In a previous post I showed how I added handrails to the back steps.  I had to do that before I painted them.  But in-between the build and the paint comes the paint primer.  We were in luck in that, the folks at Home Depot had a new converter for mixing the Kiltz 2 primer 2 gallon bucket.  Since we would be putting down red paint, we needed the primer to be a medium gray.  And they were able to do that.  It came out great.

So here's the back steps after the handrails.

Now it's time for a little paint primer.

I have to say, people either love or hate the Kiltz 2.  I love it.  It dries fast, and goes on easy.  I am excited about putting the red paint down soon.  And hey, that means I will get to post a "Part 2" for this blog.  Alright!

Frog Baseball

So my Dad and I were being a little bit snappish to each other as I was leaving the house.  Nothing bad, we were just acting like a couple of five year olds.  When I opened my car door I found that there was a Cuban Tree Frog hiding in the fold between the door and the body of the car. 

For reference, here's a picture of a Cuban Tree Frog.

That's when I got the great idea that I had learned from Beavis and Butthead some 20 years ago.  Frog Baseball!!!!

So I try to grab ahold of the frog, but it's really slimey.  I have a hard time hanging onto it.  It keeps wanting to slide/crawl out of my hand.  But then I finally get a grip on it, and decide to let loose on my best fastfrogball on my Dad. 

So I draw back, and boom.......  The frog doesn't go anywhere.  After all the sliding around, now it decides to stick to my hand like a giant frog like booger.  I think, "well, that's disappointing."

Then it hops away, and I decide to heck with it.  I have a hand full of frog slime, and places to go.  I've have to find something to throw at Dad another time. 

The Slimey End.

EDIT!!!:  Cuban Tree Frogs are an invasive species, and push out native frogs.  They should be squished without mercy.  I would not have thrown a native frog.  Only an invasive one deemed squishy.