Penpals

                                                                 Penpals

                                                                     by gene

                                                                 Summer 2026

This story is told 

in a land that is old

That Fairytales do come true

Such a tale I now relate

a story so great

of Penpals, me and you

It was July of 1968

They met at a dance, it was great

a beautiful girl and  handsome boy

Separated by many miles

that day enjoyed each others smiles

a friendship started full of joy

A time of letters had begun

East Coast, West Coast, one by one

penpals writing just for fun

A war was on he went to serve

in April of 1970 had the nerve

to visit the parents home and the lovely one

Penpals wrote as years went by

unremembered words across an ocean did fly

three years on the lad's service did end

The lovely lass and her family uprooted

away from the snow in Florida they settled

1974 letters penpals did no longer send

40 years of different lives

of children and Grooms and Brides

The World changed as Penpals got older

Think we now of 2014

our man wonders how the Lady has been

on Facebook he contacts her, being bolder

Lady is married with children

living long in Phoenix, many changes she's seen

divorced he lives in a small California town

Emails went back and forth

lives explained, for what it's worth

he asked " I'm going to Flagstaff. May I come by?"

Lady and her Hubby tossed it about

That Lady wanted to see him there was no doubt

In May he made the long trip to see her

Over grand mountains, across vast desert

on a motorcycle to Flagstaff he did get

near Sedona a delay caused by a fire

Eventually to Phoenix he made his way

and with the fair couple he did stay

next toured Arizona on his way home

Penpals had met after many long years

Birthday and Christmas cards, till one brought tears

Lovely Lady's beloved was gone

Lady had moved to Flagstaff

emails sent like notes on a raft

He made Lady a birthday gift

Lady needed to assemble

and called the man to help enable

5 hours they talked, both got a lift

Since then they texted, emailed and did call

together inside them Love's apple did fall

distance is major, miles 743

August and Lady did visit for a week

THERE was the happiness both did seek

he said "I can't believe there is a woman who would drive so far to see me!"

Returned to home Lady will see him again

he misses Lady, Lady misses him

his turn to visit will come soon

Penpals started so long ago

like a rose, love has blossomed they know

growing in two hearts with plenty of room

Painting my garage to match the house

 Yesterday I finished it!

   My garage was put up before I bought the place, I have been here 36 years. It is just a large metal shed, big enough if empty for maybe a VW beetle. The former owner did motorcycle repairs in it I have been told.

   A few years back I rattle canned the front so it didn't look so bad from the street. It has gotten worse on the sides and the redwood duff piled up on the roof and sat there and rusted pinholes which over the last 3 years I have been fighting. The duff didn't fall off due to how the edge of the roof was held together. There was an angle that they screwed to the ridges and it hung down and blocked the duff from sliding off.

In these 2 pics you can see the angle where I had removed part of it and you can see the rust on the side.

At first I wasn't going to do anything except try to seal the roof. I bought 5 gallons of sealer after researching it.

    Supposedly this was going to cover my roof.

I got my neighbor Joe to come over and keep track if I fell off my ladder. He helped a lot more by filling the paint tray and doing some of the application! Thanks Joe!

   I started by blowing off the duff and using a 9" paint roller on a broom handle rolling the sealant on the roof. It was frustrating right away! The ridges on my roof are around 7" apart, the damn roller did not fit nicely and made it hard to get down on the sides of the ridges I got about halfway done and thought to cut down the roller to fit. That helped, but the roller tool was too wide and slowed things up. Frustrating!

   It took Joe and I about 3 hours to get the roof coated, we used less than half the 5 gallons! I knew it was going to take at least another coat.

First coat done.

     As I was sharing the pics with my wonderful girlfriend she suggested that I paint the garage to match my house.

I thought about it.

   A few days later I put the second coat of sealant on the roof and again Joe came over and helped! Thanks Joe! This time I had bought some 6" rollers and a 6' tool. It really made a difference and the whole roof was recovered is around an hour!

   Now we had used up around half of the sealant. I didn't want to not use it, after all I had paid for it! It was at this time i figured that I really needed to move that stupid angle so the duff would hopefully fall off the roof.

   I had some self-tapping sheet metal screws and with 2 drills and a couple of clamps set about taking off the angle and reinstalling it under the roof edge. I used extra screws to hold some of the ridges in place and keep the angle situated for building integrity.

You can see in the pics how I did things.

    Once this was all done, the next day I set about to sand off the rust and make the paint better to stick to. This was very tiring to do all this sanding! I used 80 grit.

    Next day I put on plastic tarp to help with overspray.

I wanted to get a single cover paint. I found a Behr direct to metal paint at HD. It said it was at my local(15mi) store. The lady there was very helpful and we were told they don't carry it, I had to drive another 15 miles to the next store to get it. Which I did. Not a happy camper.... Once there they matched my house paint, it is Coyote Mint leaf color.

The trim was taped off and the next day I got my airless sprayer set up and sprayed on a single coat. I barely had enough to do the job by tilting the pail so my pump pick up would be in the paint!

A day later I taped off the walls and painted the trim to match the Coyote Mint blossom on my house.

   And that's when I realized I needed to stain the garage deck to match my front porch deck......

But I wasn't done yet! I still had around a half bucket of sealant! I spent yesterday putting as thick a coat as I could on it. I still have enough to do another coat. I don't think I will put it on. Going up and down and standing on the ladder REALLY hurts my bad ankle. That and I don't think it will leak and I will keep the rest for emergencies.