Saturday, November 13, 2021

I can see clearly now

       One reason I fell in love with our last house was its many windows. Six in the living room alone, a big many-paned bay in the dining room, another in the kitchen. One reason I was happy to leave our last house was its many windows.

          Not only did it have many windows, but each window was grided with twelve individual panes, top and bottom, each pain pane framed with wood. Thus, cleaning one side of a window (never mind the storms and screens) meant cleaning twenty-four individual little windows. Each window easily took me 25 minutes by the time I fought with the storms and schlepped outside to hose the screens and do the other side.  

Our condo has only eight windows in the entire downstairs but my window washing days are over. If men can hire other people to cut their grass, I can certainly pay someone else to break out the Windex and paper towels.


So into my life came Mark, a chatty guy (he has an 11th month-old Cocker spaniel named Rosy – ask me anything about her, I could probably tell you) who’s been out with his squeegee for 40 years. Maybe his family set him to work at age 12, because he didn’t look old enough to have been on the job that long, and he’s darn spry on that ladder. 

 


 

 

And it’s still a mystery how he managed with just one bucket, while I need spray, sponges, paper towels, the hose, and the sink.

 

 

 

 

 

 


The impetus wasn’t only the four-year-old dirt (I really, really hate doing windows). We’ve just had the porch glassed in, it was covered with meaty contractor prints, and it sits too high for me to feel comfortable on a ladder.

 

 

 

 


 Anyway, it was magical, I tell you.

 

12 comments:

  1. Professional window washers are such a gift. We had an itinerant guy just show up and offer to do the entire house (two sliding glass doors) for $50. $50! It wasn't a perfect job, but it was good enough and we did not have to do it. Hope he comes back in the spring. Love the glassed in porch.

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    1. Thank you! We’re really glad we can sit out there now on a warmish fall day.

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  2. Wow. Our house would look much, much better with a Mark to minister to it.

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  3. I decided the easiest way to wash all the many windows inside and and and the storm windows was to do just one window a day. I did pretty well for four or five days and then it rained and then it got cold and I never did get all the way around the house.

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    1. That’s a brilliant idea, but I hate the job so much I think I’d peter out after a few days.

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  4. It sounds like a very good idea to hire a window washer. All my outside windows require a step ladder.

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    1. Plus even when I do clean windows, I don’t seem to do a very good job.

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  5. I haven't cleaned my windows since I moved in here. I occasionally wipe cat nose prints off the bottom quarter, but don't care about the rest and the outside now has been covered with bolted on security screens so can't be cleaned anyway.

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  6. Just beautiful! You remind me that I should do my windows, but maybe next month. Or maybe in spring. :-)

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