I was so utterly wrong...

I was wrong.  The lower porch was not easier.  All I got done today was priming.  Doing so took between 7-8 hours.  I had to use three different ladders.  I stood way too much.  And I've been in the worse pain yet for the past four hours.

Tylenol.
Ibuprophen.
Heat.
And lots and lots and lots of weeping.

There's no two ways about it.  Come next spring, I just have to have help painting.

Yes, I finished in the dark.  Yes, I used the off-color house red as primer on the 2x4 that frames the top of the porch now, tying all the new porch posts to the house for extra support.  Yes, I primed the stair handrail and the lower stair posts because that wood was older and because I wanted some connectedness between the already-primed post caps.  Yes, I am a fool for trying to do this.

Even if the end result is ever so much better than where the porch started.  I was so utterly wrong thinking I could do this painting.  SIGH.

Becky sent me photos of moss to cheer me up in my agony.  Such mercy.

Seriously, one can never have too many photos of moss.

In my book, moss is one of God's greatest gifts of creation.  And its so cool.  And GREEN!

Becky also didn't admonish me for torturing myself so and getting myself into this very, very, very painful state by taking on too much.  Again ... merciful.  But I will say that the entire world has my permission to remind me ... bluntly and repeatedly ... next spring that I have to have help with the painting.  Period.

I just had to look at those moss covered tree roots one more time.