IT'S A NICE, WARM SATURDAY MORNING - and you have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do!  No golf/fishing/tennis/ball
games/no picnics, you don't want to just lay around relaxing and doing nothing, your work from your job is all caught
up, the lawn is all taken care of, and your "Honey-Do" list is at least manageable... "I think I'll pressure wash the
house, patio and walk, maybe even the driveway" you tell yourself.

You go out to rent a machine, hoping they give you a good one, with all the right wands, hoses, and tips, and that
everything works properly.  You wait in line, eventually paying about $70.00 (leave a $350.00 security deposit) rent,
and another $45.00 to rent a concrete cleaner that looks like a lawn mower.  They tell you it works well, but you're
pretty much on your own. It CAN'T be too difficult for me to do my pressure washing myself, I WILL save some
money, WON'T I???

NOW you go over to the aisle for the pressure washing chemicals. "What works? What doesn't? What should I use?
How do I use it?"  THIS stuff costs $10.00+ a gallon (3 for house/3 for concrete) "THAT's another $60.00+" you tell
yourself as you have now spent close to $200.00 by the time you get all of the stuff you need.  Don't forget to stop for
gas on the way home.  You take everything out to your car and load up all by yourself (This sucker is HEAVY!), being
careful not to spill gas or anything else in the car, or have this stuff make a mess in the trunk of a nice car.

Home! FINALLY!  Now you have to unload, set everything up, run hoses, check connections and attachments.  You
get to drag the pressure washer, hoses and chemicals all over your nice lawn.  If you spill anything on the grass you
will surely know in the next few days.  It isn't looking too good, there are two connections that leak.  Now you have to
waste time and go back to get some "O" rings.

They didn't tell you that you have to hold the trigger on the wand open when you pull the starter rope or the machine
might not start.  Did they tell you if you ever start the machine, then turn it off, that the starter rope might not even turn
the machine over unless you pull the trigger to release pressure in the line?  It takes awhile to figure all of that out, but
NOW you can finally get started.

Several hours later you're ALL done.  Did you miss any spots? Did you rinse well?  Did you rinse the shrubbery well
enough?  You're hot and tired, NOW for the driveway, etc.  This will only take a few more hours, a "Piece of Cake",
as they say. 

As you use the concrete cleaning machine, you notice the "zebra stipes" that it leaves.  They can't all be cleaned off,
so you still have to go back over the driveway again with the regular wand and tips to try to clean things up.  Now you're
even more hot, and more tired, it's late, and now your back is killing you.

Collect everything, load it up and take it back before you have to pay another days rent, you STILL need to get your
deposit back.  As you back out of the driveway, you notice that your windows are spotted and streaked.  They didn't
tell you what to do, or even warn you about that!  NOW you will have to spend more time and $$ washing your windows
on some other nice Saturday coming up. BOY! was that ever fun! and it only took the whole day getting wet and hot
and tired, and you'll probably be sore tomorrow!

Later, you tell your next-door neighbor about your adventure, and how you spent $200.00 to clean your house and
driveway yourself. He laughs and tells you that he called "HMS" who will be out Monday to clean his house, driveway,
walks, and patio, ALL for only $325.00. They will be in and out in one day, and they should be done and gone by the
time he gets home from work.  They also gave him a GREAT "package price", so later they are going to come back
to seal his concrete surfaces.  He then mentions that he saw you working and would have helped you if he had known
earlier, but he just spent all day out on the golf course with his buddies...  


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