In the stretch

Santos, the third guy on the painting crew, is a terrific worker, but both Darren and I had to keep him from overreaching on Saturday.

He's eager to get as much of the ceiling sanded as he can from the ladder, but we don't want him to risk a fall so we pulled him down a rung or two.

Speed is great, but not at the cost of safety.

Roy is dreading putting a scaffold up, but resigned to it -- and we're ready for him. Arnold broke down his big, heavy radial saw Friday, and it was the first time in months we'd seen the dining room without that table set.

And speaking of cleaning things up: I dropped a six-pack off with the Rude Tourist around noon, told him there's no reason today shouldn't be better than yesterday and wished him a good stay in Key West.

I was moved by one of my mom's maxims: Be kind to kind people, and even kinder to unkind people.