I’ve been dreading this day since I first decided I was going to paint the cabin this summer…
The original cabin siding was not of the best, and I put it up nine years ago. Only two sunny walls are still clad with it; the east side, which is easy to maintain, and…
…that triangle of wall above the bedroom addition. Which is not easy to get to thanks to my irrational fear of heights. I mean setting up the ladder is a pain because it weighs a ton and I have to remove the porch stairs first, but once I’ve done that getting up on the bedroom roof is so easy even I can do it without hesitation. But if procrastination were an olympic sport I’d be the betting man’s favorite for gold. I was going to put this whole thing off till next month except when I did peek over the edge…
…that siding really did need servicing – that wall gets clobbered with rain during Monsoon which is not over. Paint was the least of it – in fact I’m just sitting here waiting for the caulking to set up so I can go back up and do the painting, which will be the quickest and easiest part.
Fear of heights can be crippling, but not totally irrational.
Fear of heights is indeed irrational. It’s the ground that hurts, plus the ingnominal humiliation of the ladder and paint bucket hitting you shortly after your own sudden stop. This is why we invented bungalows. Even Luke Skywalker’s parents invented a nifty “hide from the twin nuclear furnaces in the sky” hole in the ground, but Mr Lucas never elaborated how Mr Skywalker Sr came to be mobility impaired, nor did he elaborate the family name….Mr Skywalker Thud, the Groundwhumper. Might have injected some humour into episodes 3 and 4 while we were waiting on forest teddies that defeat 6th Gen space warfare Jedi killing clones.
At a certain age, being up on a ladder, even with two legs, is a bit of a calculated risk. With one leg…..:::waggles hand::::
Never been a fan of heights. I don’t like looking down when on the ladder because I feel off balance. A couple of months ago had to get on the roof to seal around the many vent pipes. I had to get pissed off at myself for feeling like such a puss in order to do the deed. That worked well enough to get the job done.
When Shuttle was still flying, it was fun to take someone scared of heights to the top of the Rotating Service Structure and have them look down into the flame trench over 200 ‘ below!