Today we were supposed to start painting the deck. And indeed we did... but it took longer than expected to finish taping all of the little fiddly bits to keep them from getting painted. Hours longer. So, Ken stopped by to say hi and we growled at him in a friendly fashion, as we were still taping and it was already late afternoon. But we were just finishing. The problem we had encountered (aside from it takes a long time to tape all the fiddly bits) is that 3M painter's blue masking tape AGES on the roll. Derek went to remove the tape and plastic I had used to protect the unbedded rubrail from the torrential downpour last Wednesday (less than 7 days before) and it was stuck much harder than it had a right to be. The roll of tape was older, and apparently the adhesive gets stronger as it ages! Yuck. Derek needed acetone to get the sticky residue off. Even when we were taping deck hardware, I started out using a roll of tape that I got in October and then switched to a new roll after using the first one up -- and it was the same width, same brand, just five months newer: it was LESS sticky. It says on the package that this tape can be left on for up to 14 days and will come off easily and cleanly, that it resists sunlight and water... but there is no warning that it has a "best if used by" date! So, that's the truth about blue tape: just as sunblock loses its SPF abilities if kept past the sell by date, blue tape loses its "clean removal" abilities if kept. Use it and toss the leftovers: DO NOT keep it around for future use, unless you just love the smell of acetone...

So then we painted the deck and the cabin top -- the first coat. We're doing the cockpit and the aft deck (it's like a workspace behind the cockpit: sort of a "back porch" for boats) tomorrow, depending on weather and our move-out (we have to move out of the house we were renting tomorrow, it being the 15th). We found a storage space where we can keep our car AND our stuff for a reasonable amount, so that's good. Tired. Sunburned. Grant made his excellent homemade spaghetti sauce for us tonight! Now we're tired, sunburned, full and sleepy... and we still have to move tomorrow :-)