Yesterday, while Kuma Bear studied fish, Lisa and I scraped flaky paint off the north steps and Lisa got out the leaf blower and blew everything clean. After that she applied a coat of sanding sealer as a primer coat and we left it to dry overnight.
Today was an ideal day for painting: not too hot, not too cold, and almost no breeze while Lisa applied more paint on the areas she prepped the day before. A light breeze came up while we tidied up, which helps the paint dry faster.
We're very satisfied with the results of this touch-up job. There are more pieces of the porch that need some repainting, and we hope to get at them in the next few days during the window of good weather that usually comes around this time of year. We would have started sooner, but we have been too sick to work. Even the hour or two each day of this work left us somewhat tired.