SALISBURY — There are lots of things a person can do on a pleasant Thursday. An industrious person, in fact, can probably find an odd job or two that needs doing.

That’s what Bud Mickle did. He spent time applying a fresh coat of white paint on the picket fence in front of the Utzman-Chambers House on South Jackson Street.

It wasn’t busy work, though.

The circa 1815 Federal townhouse — built by Jacob Stirewalt and one of the few surviving Federal period townhouses in the Piedmont — is owned by Rowan Museum and operated as a museum open to the public. It’s also a mainstay on the annual OctoberTour of historic homes, which this year takes place Oct. 8 and 9.

So when visitors to house take note of the crafstmanship that went into construction and the dedication that spurred its restoration, they might also stop a moment and admire how clean and white the picket fence is.

And for  that, they’ll have Bud Mickle — who spent a pleasant Thursday in mid-September getting the fence that way — to thank.