The Last Hill... barely out of reach!

As "Charasiab Day" -- October 6th -- inches towards its conclusion, I am forced to admit I missed my deadline in prepping an anniversary game for this year.  Things have been insanely-busy at work, plus the Los Angeles Dodgers reached the post-season playoffs, making life even more hectic -- in a very good way -- for my family of fans and myself.  I actually completed the "puttying" AND gluing down of sand and pebbles for the last big hill a week or so ago.  Earlier this week, in a desperate attempt to get done in time, I set up to base-coat the completed hill using black acrylic spray-paint -- which I had been told by an art store clerk had an absolutely FLAT FINISH.  But after applying it, this turned out not to be the case.  UGH!!!  It was not a happy moment, outside, with my construction work-lamp set up and all the exterior lights on, seeing the gleaming finish on my fat hill.

My panicked response in the dark of the late night -- after coming home fromo endless work and knowing I would not be able to spraypaint it any time last week by the light of the sun, due to continuing demands of my work-schedule -- I decided to spray over the sadly shiny acrylic finish with classic flat black Rust-Oleum.  In the past this has worked in similar circumstanes, convincing me that the acrylic finish managed to add a protective coating over any bare styrofoam which would otherwise have been EATEN AWAY by the classic spraypaint.

Needless to say, I lost a CHUNK of the painstakingly-constructed hill to the RAVENOUS aerosel power of Rustoleum.

Worst part was I had no one to blame... but myself.

Oh, well, none of us are perfect.

In the end, thank goodness, it only ate away one or two spots in the same area of the hill, and repairing them didn't take all that long.  I repaired them with woodchips and putty, rather than styrofoam, even though I swore I would not spray the newly-refurbished version with Rustoleum or use anything other than FLAT BRUSHED-ON PAINT on it.

In the end I think the newly repaired version actually turned out a little better than it was originally, since focusing intently on the spot which had suffered damage led me to improve it a bit.

All that remains now is to paint it, which I hope to accomplish during late nights after work over coming week.

Wish me luck -- though since I won't even be touching a can of spraypaint, let alone using one on it!

Here's just a few pics, I'll add more as soon as I get the chance...