front yard photos

Does anyone here know how bad it is to leave paint on wood when you decide to lay down a new coat of primer?

I ask, because I spent hours on my front porch, scraping and then peeling by hand whatever would come up. This photo shows what results I have for that effort. I don't have the proper tools to whisk away the remaining paint or sand it away. This is probably as good as it gets. I'll wait another day for any more edges to peel up on their own, before I give it a last scrape and add the primer. At this rate, though, it would take me all summer to do the frames around my doors, windows, and eaves.

It wasn't fun, because we still have "bad air" in Minneapolis, and it's hot under the sun. We're back up to "red" air pollution status between ozone and smoke. I had my N95 mask on anyway, just for that, but also because these old houses sometimes have lead paint on them somewhere. I tested my indoor woodwork when I first moved in, and it was fine, but I never tested the outdoor stuff. Considering my slow pace at this work, I may decide that I and the house would both be better off to just pay somebody else to do it well.

In happier news, while sitting on my porch sofa trying to de-stress with my cat recently, watching the leaves move in the wind... I saw these 2 birds land on some old wild mullein from last year. They perched there and searched it for any remaining seeds. That's exactly why I like my yard this way, although it probably simply looks unkempt to others.

I have no idea what kind of birds those are. Sorry, the picture isn't very good quality.