salleyway brite; fig tree

Baltimore is under a tropical storm warning. Apparently, Hanna has us in her sights - fortunately she's weak and not at hurricane status. A hurricane in Baltimore? Yep, it happens. Isabel came through in 2003 and from the way people talk about her, she was one angry b*tch.

I thought Salleyway Brite had a good ring to it - and when you see the pictures you'll understand why it's an appropriate title. I also thought it sounded like something Gwyneth Paltrow might name her child.

Once again, a job that could have taken hours (or days) was made super easy with the right tool. And once again, you get to see the tool after it's been used:

The paint sprayer is fun and perfect for painting things like masonry and brickwork because it can really get into the nooks and crannies. My lesson learned: the red (now yellowish) hose in the picture screws into the machine sort of like a garden hose. As I worked up and down the salleyway and kept turning and adjusting, the hose started loosening - much to my dismay. There isn't a safety mechanism to stop the paint from shooting out at a blinding speed if this is to happen. You get the point - now we have a nice mess to deal with. It was a comical mistake; yellow paint shot up in the air, all over me and the siding:

I think the pressure washer will clean it off - but we'll worry about that later.

Craig really wants me to start doing before and after shots, so - before:

After:

From the other end - Jaxxon came by to inspect:

It looks a little ridiculous in the picture. The yellow is more subdued in real life and brightens it up in a cheery sort of way; not a "hey, guys, come to our house to check out the sun" sort of way.

Now about this fig tree. We're quite fortunate to have a mature tree in our neighbor's back yard providing shade and some wildlife. I also like that it actually gets figs and the leaves are pretty:



The problem is that it attracts a billion flies per second (people who have visited can affirm this problem - it's disgusting). It also attracts a few too many birds - who LOVE to eat the figs and subsequently turn them into fig'poo. It wouldn't be nearly as bad if we had grass below the tree, but it gets uglier and uglier as the summer goes on. I was going to write about it and tell you all how I want to chop it down - but then today I took this picture of the birdhouse that we love. And look, a little yellow finch flew right by as I took the picture. He looks like a ghost, just to the right of the birdhouse:



Then he sat up here in the tree and made a "SAVE THE FIGS" sign:

Damn finches. I'll be oiling my chainsaw...