If someone had videoed the acrobatics involved in getting past the kid on a ladder with a bucket of paint and into Puckerbrush School yesterday to take a couple of photos, It would be clearer, now, how I ended up with a front end plastered in fresh "banana pudding" yellow. It wasn't my finest hour.
Not that the Cromer Construction guys didn't warn --- "careful, the paint on that door's wet" and "watch out, that wall, too." At least they didn't add, "you idiot." At least out loud.
The good news, we're nearing the end of a two-year-plus project that hopefully will give our 140-year-old baby many more years of life. Puckerbrush will celebrate its 140th birthday this fall.
Two years ago, Pierschbacher Construction replaced the roof with an historically accurate reproduction of its original cedar-shingled surface. Last summer, we evacuated the building and G M Builders took up two layers of flooring (the latest put into place just before Pearl Harbor Day in 1941) so that the old building's underpinnings could be repaired --- then relaid the 1941 floor.
The Cromer guys moved in last week with the return of warmer weather. First, a narrow strip of flooring near the west wall was filled with new oak (there was a little spoilage when the original floor was lifted). New paint is being applied this week --- "banana pudding" is very close to the faded yellow on the walls when the building moved to the museum campus more than 40 years ago.
Next week, new flooring will be stained to match the old, some sanding will be done to resolve a few issues with the old flooring, new sealer applied --- and we should be ready to move the furniture back in. That includes a massive cast iron stove, desks, a couple of display cases and other paraphernalia.
By the time Chariton Community School fourth-graders arrive for their annual visit in late May, we should be ready for them. And that's a cause for celebration.
I was actually thinking this morning, "wow, we should get some of those little blue paper booties so that no one will mess up the floor." Then it occurred to me just how silly that would be for a surface that has welcomed the shoed, booted and bare feet of generations of Lucas County kids during the course of its 140 years.
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