Some background

I realized if you're not familiar with my family's background the previous post isn't humorous. Let me share why Ginet thought the picture below looked like a Tom Owen idea.

I don't recall the year, but it was the era when my family owned the one minivan we ever had. A Plymouth Voyager if I recall correctly. We had been in our house in Georgia for more than 5 and less than 10 years, and the wood siding needed painting. My parents have always been smart with money and never shy to enlist the help of their kids (and kids-in-law, right Chris) when there was work to be done. These are both good principles - smart use of money and teaching your kids to work. I whole-heartedly recommend teaching them to anyone you know. My parents and wife have tried to teach them to me...to no avail. If you have suggestions I'm sure they will take them.

Anyway, one side of the house was effectively three stories high (basement, main floor and second floor). My dad didn't have a ladder tall enough to reach the top of that side of the house. The one we borrowed fell about 6 feet short. The good news is that a minivan is about 6 feet tall. You can place a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood on top to distribute the weight of the ladder and the painter to avoid denting the roof of that fine minivan. Once this is done you have a rather effective solution to the problem posed by a tall wall:

- Drive minivan next to wall, not too far or shallow angle will prevent ladder from being high enough, but not too close or steep angle will make climbing and descending the ladder with a bucket of paint and the brush challenging.

- Once van is positioned place plywood on top.

- Place ladder on top and extend it.

- Send sons, who are incredibly inept when it comes to risk calculation, up ladder to paint siding that is 30 feet above the driveway.

As I look back on this I think we should have moved our trampoline over by where we were painting in case we fell. The good news is...I learned from this experience. When I painted our house in Colorado, my ladder wasn't tall enough. I simply placed a sheet of plywood on top of the hot tub and shazaam!!!