How to: barter and caulk

It was a bright and sunny day, much like today.....ok it was today. A friend of mine got ahold of me to help with a pretty gross job. The shower in his master bathroom was getting gross and moldy. Since I am a handyman by trade, this was right up my alley. The part about this that I think is the best....it was a barter.

This past year was a good one, and I have really gotten to know a local artist. He is a prominent business owner and also the director of the play Stacie D was in. He had taken an interest in some of my knives and things and had an idea to barter tattoo work for knives......yes please. This led to us getting our wedding ring tattoos. The homestead activities were destroying our rings and we thought this would be best. Going without rings wasn't an option....she didn't want those wild women at the grocery store staring me down. 😂

As we got to know each other better it turns out that the tattoo artist also owned a cabin in the woods that needed..still needs alot of repair. So this time it was my idea to trade carpentry labor for tattoo work. He took it! This has led to him getting some major repairs done to his cabin, and me getting my arm tattooed.

In a community I think that bartering is a wonderful thing. Not everyone will trade for tattoos, but we all need something. Whether it is labor of labor, labor for skill, or skill for skill. Each one of us has something to offer. Even something as simple as helping someone stack firewood in exchange for a haircut.

The world that we currently know seems to revolve around the all mighty dollar. It seems that everything just shy of breathing requires money.
Any opportunity to barter is a good one. If our income is limited and I can offset the cost of something through labor I'll do it.

Though my skills may be limited in many things I can still make functional art. When I make a custom knife, I make it to last. Something you can even pass down. This type of skill has let us barter for more expensive things like large amounts of chickens.

As we move more toward a society that tracks everything, maybe it wouldn' be a bad idea to learn a skill you could trade. Something to ensure your long term ability to take care of yourself and others around you .....or get a tattoo. 🙃

So Today

Old gross moldy caulk

Beautiful, fresh new caulk

I started by cutting and scraping all of the old caulk off. I pulled it out from under each piece and from inside the seams.

I used a bleach and water mixture, and scrubbed down all of the seams. I normally don't use bleach, but he asked for it.

I reapplied new caulk to fill the joints and seams. Using my middle finger I smoothed it down and gave it a nice clean radius. If you dampen your finger it helps it to glide better and not stick as bad to your finger.......speaking of that we used Lexel.

This is not what I normally use, but it was recommended by the people at the store. Let me tell you...it was no joke. There was very little margin for error or fixing your mistakes. The fumes were brain numbing , and it stuck to everything. So by the time I left I was half stoned and my hands looked like a kindergartener that was playing in the glue. If you choose to use Lexel ...you've been warned. Haha.

I hope you enjoyed this little piece of our day. I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but once I had my fingers in it....no coming back 🙃