Loose Ends

 Let's not leave any loose ends lying about, we might regret it.  See, I always try to provide useful advice that will improve your life.  And at no charge -- what more could one ask?

In this case, I had noticed that one end post on the 36 was loose at the bottom, and it was noticeable when one pulls on the attached hand rail to get up into the car.  Last time, I had drilled a hole and started to insert a large lag screw to hold the post in place, but I needed to drill the hole out a little more.  So I started out by doing that.  It's fortunate we had a 12" lag screw of the right type for this purpose; it's lying on the end of the car in the picture.  The pipe clamp pulls the corner post into position while drilling and inserting the screw, which goes straight up through the floor..

Most of the rest of the day was taken up with surface prep and painting, as usual.  The first two sectors of lower siding on the aisle side were stripped and sanded, and then painted with a first coat of brown primer.

Now that's what I call real, tangible progress, progress that provides hope for the future - getting rid of green and replacing it with brown. I'm running on an anti-green platform.  Or at least standing on it.  My platform is too small for running.  In any case, my name is Randall Hicks, and I approved this message.  Such as it is. 

Then I put a first coat of finish blue on the #2 end, and black on the tack molding.  Sorry, I'm afraid a lot of posts are going to look like this, stripping and repainting a little at a time.  But that's the way things get done. 

 Let's see what Tim is up to.  All of the roof hardware has been removed, and he's hard at work making replacement wood pieces where the originals were rotted out.  Other sections have been filled with epoxy.  As usual, he's making progress at a remarkable rate.

And while we're up here, to the left our little open car is patiently waiting for next summer.