a painting story

[Mike S.]

A true story...

A few weeks ago I decided to stain the new deck I had just built, I was home alone and it was a nice warm day and I decided to take advantage of it and get the staining done. Having been previously been warned I made a mental note to be very careful to not paint myself into a corner..imagine how awkward that would be. I kept that thought as I went out the sliding door onto the deck, started at the far side, stained the railing, worked across the floor boards, and then ended up at the stairs. After I finished the stairs I took a step back, congratulated myself on how nice it looked, and patted myself on the back thinking... see, I didn't paint myself into a corner after all! I was feeling very self satisfied as I then walked around to the front of the house to find that the front door was locked, the keys were inside, and I had just painted myself out of the only open door to the house!

Nothing like sitting outside calling yourself stupid for 2 hours till you can get keys and get in...I don't think I will live this one down for quite a while.

[RicodJour]

Don't you love that feeling as it dawns on you that you did something stupid? I did something similar with a second floor screened porch that has a lockset where the knob turns on the inside but is locked from the outside. It's easy to exit, but...it's true - you can never go back!

R

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Now that's funny.

I keep a house key hidden in two places. One in my car, the other in the garage that can be opened with a keypad.

Or course, I'd never lock myself out, but I've heard stories of others doing it so I'm prepared. Nope, not me, it was just stories that I've heard.

[RicodJour]

The project I have going now is an exterior refacing. We're adding some decorative window sills. The owner asked the stucco guy if they would hold someone's weight if someone stood on them. I looked at him and he explained that they frequently get locked out of the house and have to break in through an open window. I asked him why he doesn't hide a key somewhere or get one of those pushbutton or remote-activated locksets.

It's one thing to lock yourself out once in a blue moon, but to _plan_ on locking yourself out...! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

R

[Jeff Wisnia]

That's funny, but doesn't quite qualify as an oopsasecond* event.

Jeff

• Oopsasecond - An infinitesimal unit of time between doing something stupid and realizing that you shouldn't have done it.

Ex: Accidently saying "yes" to your computer asking you if you really want to reformat its hard drive.

JW

[Liz MacDonald]

Last weekend I sang a choir concert. No place to leave a purse, so I left the house in my long black gown with just my wallet and car keys. I'd use the garage door opener to get back in. The rest of the family was out of town.

Got home, pressed the button. The door jerked a bit and the opener light started flashing. In disbelief, I tried it a few more times.

In my long gown, I balanced on a log to get the key stashed up under the porch. I'd put that key out there years ago when a pissed-off

3-year-old locked me out when I walked the dog.

Once I got inside, I found that the extension spring had let go. Liz

[Mike S.]

I usually have a few keys stashed too, but the kids had used them and not replaced them, and the neighbor who has our key wasn't home.

3 strikes and I was out ..oh well!

[Bob]

I hauled a ladder over to a neighbor's once after she locked herself onto a second floor deck in a similar manner. Another neighbor heard her yelling and cames to get me

Bob

[robson]

At my neighbor's expense he was trying to clean out his unlined fire place chimmney from the roof and dropped the flue brush partway down the chimmney. His arm was not long enough to reach it so he stuck his foot down and tried to hook it out. 20 minutes later, with a sledge hammer I freed him. That was funny.

[Banty]

Was he wearing a reds suit?

[RicodJour]

A real man would have gnawed off his leg at the knee instead of breaking up some perfectly good brickwork!

R

[robson]

no, but his face was red after it made the 3rd page of the local news paper :)

[scott21230]

I won't go outside my house with a key, even if only to the yard.

[Bob]

How do you lock your door? How do you unlock it?

Bob