Remember: Don't use the towel my husband has been using for a week.

I got adventurous today.  I decided to clean the siding on our house.  I don’t think it’s been cleaned for over 5 years.  We bought it as an, as is HUD foreclosure last year.  The north wall is / was very green.  The house is with full basement and is like a 2 story. 

I showered went out and bought a 16 foot telescoping pole with brush and the contractors Clorox.  I read online to mix the bleach 1 / 3 water.  Since I had the contractors Clorox instead of regular bleach, I decided to mix 6 cups to 2 gallons water in my garden sprayer.  The contractors Clorox was thick and seemed to have detergent in it.  My sprayer had the fan head spray on it, so it didn’t spray very far.  Since I couldn’t find the regular head, I emptied ½ of the solution into a bucket and brushed the back of the house.  The dirt is higher in the back of the house, so it is easier to reach the eaves.  I had on safety glasses and a baseball hat, but still I was getting the solution on me.  I tried gloves, but the water was running into the gloves.  I had to keep washing myself off including my hair because the solution kept dripping on me.  Yuck! 

My neighbor came over and reminded me that all he does is spray the house with the bleach.  He doesn’t have to brush.  As I got to the deck part of the back of the house I was able to spray the house.  It worked.  I really didn’t need to scrub, or just lightly scrub.  I decided to go back out and find a new head for my sprayer, or a new sprayer.  I showered again, and changed.

I was so excited that I found they had the regular head in a build kit.  I also picked up some regular bleach.  I mixed ½ gallon of bleach to 2 gallons water and added some dish soap.  I put the new regular tip on the sprayer and it did spray quite far.  I started on the front porch.  I washed it down.  The ceiling is about 20 feet or so.  The water was dripping on me.  I got the ladder so I could get the solution on the ceiling.  The wind changed directions and I was sprayed too.  I had to again rinse myself and hair.  I figured the people driving by were laughing at me.  I found that I could mostly spray the house without the ladder.  I had to scrub in a couple places.  I also had to put the baby bird back in its nest again.

A month ago I told my husband I didn’t want that bird’s nest in the corner.  He knocked the nest down and it had 2 baby birds.  We put the nest back up with the babies and the parents came back all was well.  Just yesterday one of the babies had fallen from the nest and died on the front porch.  Now today I scared the other one out.  I found it on the ground next to the porch.  I was scared to pick it up and had to chase it down.  I finally scooped it up and got it back in.  It appears to be ok so far.

After having enough knowing that my husband was going to have to help with getting on the roof to spray the dormer.  I think he’s going to have to spray the top of the north wall from the roof too.  The power line comes in halfway from the top so it would be hard to spray and it’s really high. 

I cleaned up and went in and showered again.  Since my towel was already used a couple times today it was wet, so I thought I’d use my husband’s dry towel.  Mistake!  He uses corny soap and shampoo.  I didn’t even think about it until I was using it.  It didn’t feel right. I showered off again and reused my wet towel again.  I guess its time to wash towels.