Plane Crash by moe.
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/moe2006-02-28.flac16/moe2006-02-28d4t04_64kb.mp3]
So yesterday I found myself in an odd position. I had to paint the side of the roof (a 10″ or so wide board that runs the length of the roof) of the house I’m working on. The problem that was posed was that since this board and the rest of the roof jutted out about two feet from the side of the house, reaching it was difficult and awkward on a ladder.
I did try the ladder with a brush attached to a pole, but that didn’t get the board covered completely. The top of the board, right next to the shingles, didn’t get the paint it needed. We tossed around a couple other ideas, and ultimately decided I’d just hang over the edge of the roof to paint them.
I’m scared of heights. In middle school, the IDEAS program went to this overnight camp somewhere in the backwoods of CT. The idea was to get us to challenge ourselves in not-very-subtle ways. There were different stations where the goal would be teamwork, or communication, or any other theme they could come up with. One was the Giant’s Ladder. This was a large ‘rope ladder’ made up of logs and steel cable. It was about 5 stories high. Each person climbing was hooked up to a climbing(repelling?) harness to make sure they’d be safe. The rungs were about shoulder height (I don’t remember how tall I was then, but it was shoulder height). I remember I partnered up with a kid who I had never met before that day, but we got along well. We talked it over, and figured that we could just vault ourselves individually up to the next rung, but quickly discovered that they were too far apart for that to work. So we cooperated (you win, program), and got ourselves halfway up, then we took a break. The method we used to get up each rung was pretty straight forward: one person (usually me) would steady themselves by holding the rung above, and balancing on the rung below. Then I would extend one leg so my partner could use my knee as a step. Once he was up, he would reach down, and pull me up. This worked extremely well, but there was one problem. Whenever I was pulled up, in order to get my grip, I’d need to be on my belly. That meant I was looking straight down. So at that halfway point, I started to get freaked out. Each time I looked down it got worse, until with about a quarter of the way left, I had to stop. The councilors and my classmates tried to urge me on, in a bunch of different ways. They saw this as another challenge for me to overcome. I never made it to the top (take that, program!), but I took a picture of everyone on the ground from that spot.
So yesterday when I was hanging over the edge of the roof, I was a bit freaked out at first. It is a two story house with an attic, so at the highest point it reaches about three stories. Painting those spots, you have no choice but to look straight down. I tried to distract myself by keeping an eye on what I was painting. That half worked.
Painting from the roof was much much faster than with the ladder, and it was actually less freaky than being at the same height on a ladder. Its nice to have something (mostly) solid under your feet. I liked this because it took me out of my element, which is something I don’t do often. I like my element. Its comfy and familiar.
I had to go up again today to touch up a few spots that didn’t come out so well. It was easier today. I’m going to go on a tangent now. Today, the roof was far hotter than it was yesterday. And yesterday, it was hot. Yesterday, I poured water on the shingles to cool them off, and it steamed. In ten minutes it was dry again. So today, I went up there without any water, and I think I actually burned my hand. How absurd. Why would you make a roof black? It makes it harder to cool a house with air conditioning (using more power).
Also, in case you’re wondering what a ridgepole is, it is ‘a horizontal beam at the ridge of a roof to which the rafters are attached.’ I walked the ridgepole.
I’d like to apologize for this entry. It had a point when I started it, but now there isn’t one. Enjoy my odd stories.