The last few weeks have been a flurry (not snow thank god) of activity preparing the house for the eventual flurries that will arrive. (A rather cryptic way of saying - we are preparing the house/garden for winter). Regular readers will know that I like the changing seasons and the way they make us prepare for them. It is a basic part of life, that we have lost in our urban lives. The exaggerated weather changes in Canada has triggered that cycle of preparation for the changes.

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Well Jule's spotted some flaking paint on the gable end of the garage. Actually it was quite a bit of flaking paint and a decision was made to rub down and repaint to avoid winter damage.

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So yesterday up the ladder I went (probably about 10-12 feet, but it always feels higher somehow) and rubbed down sections moving along in small steps to avoid over stretching(I am not a great fan of heights). I repeated the process and filled the holes, painted an undercoat.

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I had just finished the final touches and let the paint brush fall to the ground and started to climb down.  I heard Jule's say "The ladder is slipping", of course I already knew this and the ladder slipped to the right, I know I cannot fall back (I would probably crush Jules and there is a huge pile of drying wood), so I opt to stay on the ladder and push it down below me by standing up on the rung. My old army training kicked in ... legs together, bend knees and roll on impact .... result no injury, sore head (well there are concrete slabs on the floor) and aching ankles from the impact.

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Decision - I will paint the gloss today and be really flipping careful.

PS We had a great evening at the Lunar Rogue with the newcomers club (I suppose it is just a social club really)