Windows: Complete

I did it. It took a little extra courage to talk myself into tackling that last window, but it's done.

As I said last week, I was nervous about the task. I'm not sure what was at the root of the hesitation. I'm not actually afraid to be on a ladder at that height, but I had managed to convince myself that chances were good I'd forget how to behave on a ladder and then I'd fall off and no one would see me, and I'd be lying there for days in pain and you know how it goes and I don't need to lead you down that road.

Rather than wasting time trying to talk sense into myself, I persuaded a friend of mine to come over to watch me do the work. He had two tasks - to help me to set the ladder, and to call 9-1-1 if I managed to come crashing down.

It took just a few minutes to set the ladder in place, and with him comfortably ensconced in a patio chair within eye- and earshot of the broken window, up the steps I went. I'd arrayed my tools within easy reach on a table just inside the window, so I grabbed the heat gun and chisel, and set to work. 

The work wasn't hard, though my arms did protest the part where I needed to hold the tools overhead for the hours (OK, twenty minutes) it took to ease out the broken pane. The work wasn't hard, and the day wasn't hot, and I was in the shade, but I was still sweating mightily just a few minutes into the project. Nerves.

I stopped to breathe several times, and managed, each time, to remember to bring the heat gun down without pointing it at anything that would get hurt by the blast from the nozzle. Slowly, carefully, I got the broken window out WITHOUT breaking any of the adjacent panes. See? I can learn!

I set the new pane into place, and, though still nervous, managed to place the glazing points without damaging the new glass. (Glazing points are little metal doohickeys that hold the glass in place until the glazing sets. As I learned while working at the castle, getting them set is a prime place in the world of window repair where glass gets broken and you get to get extra practice finding the proper angle of entry for the buggers.)  *Whew*

Nerves now at ease, it didn't take long at all to get the glazing in place, the window washed, and the storm reassembled.

See? There was nothing to be afraid of. Or, there was, and there's no harm in taking some precautions to lower risk.

This last window was a lesson in why it's OK to admit I'm afraid and to ask for help. Because I knew Ian was sitting there in the driveway, I was less nervous about the project. Because I was less nervous about the project, my arms were steadier. Because my arms were steadier, the work went more smoothly.

Here's to good friends, those who are willing to help us even (or especially) when the only help we really need is moral support.