Raymond just getting started on painting the Manse’s oil tank, early last Saturday morning. (I hope you appreciate the vintage Harvest Gold stove that you can see through the pantry window.)
From what I can gather, readers of this blog fall into two camps: those who know the Queensborough area and are interested in news and commentary on it; and those whose interest is primarily in the renovation-of-the-Manse aspect of things. And I feel like that latter group must have been disappointed with me in recent times, because I have said little or nothing about the renovation project.
But there’s a very good reason for that: we haven’t done any renovation work. In fact, in the last two or three months we’ve barely even discussed our renovation plans. Why? Because the late-spring and high-summer and early-fall weather has been gorgeous, the area is beautiful, there is a lot of exploring to do and, well, it’s kind of more fun, on a nice sunny day, to take leisurely drives down almost-forgotten country roads and see what there is to see than to get yourself covered in dust and dirt as you tear off bad old panelling or rip up bad old flooring.
So I apologize, renovation buffs! I promise we will get to it. Especially now that the weather is turning and the outdoors is not quite so alluring.
But last weekend we did actually get a necessary house project done at the Manse. Not a big one, mind you, and not a sexy one; but it had to be done, and now it is. Readers, the oil tank has been painted. And not just any colour, either! It’s been painted my favourite colour, bright red. Way back in February Fred Middleton, the inspector for our insurance company, had pointed out that the ungainly old thing had only a primer coat on it and that we needed to give it a proper paint job to prevent rust. So we have – okay, Raymond, the painter of the operation, has – complied, and here is the evidence:
Is that a handsome oil tank, or what? (Not to mention the guy in the New England Patriots shirt, who performed the paint job.)
And I can’t resist showing you two other photos of the bright-red oil tank and how well it fits into the Mansescape. Here’s “Red Oil Tank With Raymond’s Red Truck”:
And here is the slightly more subtle “Red Oil Tank With Red Autumn Tree”:
Who knew an oil tank could look so good?
Meanwhile, at the Manse 
Katherine, I agree….it is RED!
And (as a children’s book title says) Red Is Best, is it not?
I LOVE it. Red is my favourite colour too. And it’s nice to see Ray actually working.
Ha ha ha! Yes, well, he’s the trained painter in the household, so painting jobs will always fall to him. He certainly made short work of this one.
And then add in the red tractor you wrote about on Sept 29…all that would remain is finding a little red wagon.
You’re absolutely right! And you know, John and Ken used to have a little red wagon at the Manse. Hasn’t thought of that in many a year. Must see if I can find one.