What a lovely shade of blue...on the kitchen floor??

Well, it was bound to happen. After more than forty years of painting something, walls, floors, ceilings, and, ah yes, cornholes, a can of paint gets dumped.

Luckily it was a quart. Or nowadays, it is a 29 ounce can. Notice that you don't buy quarts anymore. You buy LESS. Like tissue, and ice cream, and anything prepackaged. It is now less than it was.

So, we don't raise prices. We just get less for the same money, which means they raised prices without telling you they raised prices. And all that having to redo the packages. Hope they are made in America. That means the new American jobs are "redoing what we have already done".
So anyway, as I was saying; I was closing a can of "true blue" Krylon, the 29 ounce size from Sears. From Sears because Drug Mart did not have it in the Painters Choice, which I would have preferred. I just finished a section of the Case Western Reserve cornhole board that a lady ordered. I was working in the dining area of the living room, mind you. Debbee suggested that because it is simply too humid in the sun room where I normally finish painting to come into the house. The sun room has much more sunlight and more room for my "stuff."

So I took the open can from the dining area to the kitchen sink, 7/8 full can of true blue. And I mean BLUE. True Blue. I never mess up the edges so it is easy to push the lid down and get a good temporary seal before tapping on the lid with a hammer when I am completely done. But I am not completely done yet. So I pushed down only.

Remember, I am just a little older than I used to be and the hands don't have the strength they once had. So, I am squeezing the can between my thumb and whatever fingers I can get around the bottom of the can.

I have this "thing" with my right hand that needs surgery to help straighten out the hand to its normal configuration. One finger is folded in such a way that the hand cannot lay flat. When shaking hands, it is the first finger in for the shake, so I have to position my hand to kind of wrap around your hand so you don't get a "finger bump" and wonder "what the heck was that all about?".

Squeezing the lid and bottom of the can, and suddenly it takes flight. Sort of like trying to hold onto jell-o, or a wet ice cube.

Well, it was airborne. And before I could react, it landed safely on its side on the floor, two feet away. At first, I thought it held. But no! It just sort of, laid down. And out came a lot of pretty blue latex paint. It reminded me of those scenes from a crime show when someone is shot in the head and they always show a pool of blood right next to the head to prove they were shot in the head.

Well, this true blue was defiantly shot in the head.

I reached for the can immediately to stand it upright. Luckily, if that is the right word to use at a time like this, I saved enough of the paint to finish the job. But all I could think was that this was nine dollars laying on the floor and a roll of paper towels will be used in the clean up process.

Ok, think fast! It's water based latex. So get lots of water on it right away. And get started wiping. NOW!

Suddenly, my knees did not ache so much and I went straight down to the floor on both knees using a bench I had handy to rest my chest and stomach on so I could use both hands. (I think I wrote a blog about this type of bench and its handy use both in the house or in the garden. If I didn't, I will soon. Very handy item.)

The wiping begins. I got up off the floor only to get a bucket of water to keep the area wet. If I dare say, working quickly and with wet paint made even wetter, the clean up went very well.

Sure! I used a lot of paper towels, but the floor shows no signs of the accident. And from now on, its using only the mallet to seal off the lid.

If you do use a hammer to seal the lid, tap it lightly. It does not take much to seal it. And use a cloth over the lid while tapping. The cloth will catch any spray that might be in the trenches of the can.

Hope you like the featured cornhole.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!