My brother is TOO cool!

Greetings from Baby Shower Central! My niece is expecting her first child early next month, and so my sils and I are giving a baby shower next Sunday. At my house!

A bit of background here - my parents have been living in southeastern KY for the last 4 years. They bought property there and it's dad's "retirement project." After they had lived there for about a year (but kept their house in Indiana also) my landlady announced that she was selling her house. (I lived in a walk-out basement apartment that was quite lovely.)

Since I had such a good experience in that apartment, I decided to take my dad up on his long-standing offer to finish his walk-out basement into an apartment for me. Let me count the ways that it is the best apartment I've ever had! I have a yard, so I now have a place for a dog or two, my brothers and their families are within a couple of miles, I'm right there when mom & dad come to visit, all new appliances and my choice of paint colors and layout....it's fabulous! Can you say "attached garage!?"

So after living there for 2 years, this is my first BIG event to host. Since I'll be out of town the 2 days before the shower, I spent last weekend scrubbing and rearranging and ....well, yes, I even washed the windows! And noticed that while we've talked about the need to power-wash the mold off "my" side of the house....we hadn't done it yet. My windows face north and overlook a creek that runs behind the property. The combination of the shade and the humidity means that we have to power-wash the siding with chemicals every year or two.

I mentioned this to my brother Andy on Sunday evening. I had already checked with my brother Mark who OWNS a power-washer, and found that it isn't working, so I was looking into renting one. Andy just nodded his head and said he had a plan.

I arrived home Monday after work to see this:




This is not just a little power washer - this is construction equipment which his boss let him borrow. This, this is Tim Taylor with a power washer. (Insert appropriate "manly" grunts!) The mold is gone!! (So are the screens from the windows and one of the vent covers, but let's not quibble....)

It is in fact so powerful that it can be used to dig post holes. The spray is sharp enough that it will "cut out" dirt. He also used it to replace a couple of fence posts along the lane. (I know what you're thinking and no, I didn't back into those posts. HE did. I only backed into the propane trailer!) Anyway, he just "cut" in a circle with the power washer, and had a suction hose laying there to suck the mud up as he went. Pretty snazzy.

Aren't power tools fun? And brothers even better????