Paint, Paint, Skunk, Pod

I am sure every muscle in my body is maxed out.  After a marathon session of priming two rooms over the weekend, my hand has gone completely numb and I am unable to close it accept around a paint brush.  I woke up Sat morning with the realization that most of the walls in the hippie house need to be primed first and then painted because ALL of the walls were done in semi-gloss ( and the trim in flat- that is a reversal of my paint world).  We tried putting samples on the wall but they almost slid off - hence the primer which took me 4 solid/no-bathroom-break hours to finish.  

The ex-cons showed up during the week without permission or an estimate and did a bad hair job on the weeds but at least you can see the barn...see Lewis strolling in front of the barn.

Then Saturday the 'Pod' arrived with our furniture.  Irv and I struggled to empty it (which we did but I can't feel my legs anymore).  One of the neighbors stopped to say hello and some how to let us know that the neighbors to our right (on the dead end street) are all alcoholics (including her) divided into 'those with guns' and 'those without guns...well maybe not but they don't drink and shoot'.  Nice.  I am not making this up.  I only hope they don't hit the boy scouts in the camp behind the house. Perhaps there is a reality show in this- Barn Island Marsh People!  The neighbors to our left had on Sat night the biggest bon fire in their yard that I have ever seen in any yard...kids running around with men drinking beers watching the fire.  Beers, guns and fire are big here.....is this the real Stonington CT here?  Oh , yes and pizza (big Italian population here).

 And the skunks. As a kid, I remember there were lots of skunks in that area.  The dogs get me up at 5 am Sun to go out and as soon as we go outside a skunk the size of a bear crosses the road.  The dogs GO INSANE. Lewis went from being 13 to being 2 yrs old...I almost lost my arm keeping them from pulling me face first down the street.  Irv was sleeping sweetly during the skunk near encounter.