Painting the Truck Tray.

Truck tray undercoated.

Alice Springs.

Sunday, 12th February, 2012

From the moment we picked up our truck, the paint job on the tray has been a source of complaint. I had got a very good quote to sandblast the tray in Alice, but with our departure imminent, we thought we might give it a quick clean and spray ourselves.

Wire brushing the metal went well, and soon the tray was good to paint. It was then the problem started. There were no thinners to be had in town. Stock was due in during the week. I had enough to start, so that is what we did.

By 9am Sunday, the tray was a nice grey primer colour, but the white top coat will have to wait until next weekend. At least the undercoat looks OK.

The good news of the week is that Zebbie has picked up again. It was so surprising. She was in very poor condition - hadn't drunk for five days, and food was a distant memory. Her eyes just stared, and did not respond. She seemed quite like a vegetable, then on Thursday, she just seemed to snap out of it and started to return to her old self.

She's not out of the woods yet, but she is drinking by herself, responds to her name, and is very aware of her surroundings. Providing she does not have a relapse, there is hope she might pull through.

Truck tray painted.

Update - Sunday, 19th February, 2012

The temperature this weekend has been hot - 40C+ - so we started very early to apply the white enamel to the truck tray. It did not go well. The wind kept changing direction and blowing the masking newspaper around. It also blew the spray mist and all sorts of debris onto the wet paint. Then the ants were very active and it was a frequent break to brush a biting ant from my ankle. Then, just after I had cleaned the spray gun and put the compressor away, I found a patch that had not had enough coating.

We set off the paint job with a pair of new mudflaps on the back. If you look at it from a distance it seems a reasonable job.

On a brighter note, Zebbie has been really improving this week. After not pooing for over two weeks, she did 3 poos in one day. It was cause for much celebration and phone calls to all possibly interested friends - "Zebbie has just done a poo!". I'm sure they were thrilled too! She has also been eating well. Not back to her original quantities yet though.