Greetings from the retired one (September’s Epistle)
[New and Improved! Now with pictures!!!!
Time is moving on
I called the Red Cross to offer to take in a few refugees from New Orleans (just wanted to help out) but when they found out that we didn't have a flushing toilet, running water (hot or cold) or a working shower, they offered us a bus ticket to Houston so we could get emergency shelter that met the basic UN humanitarian standards. They think that being this poor is funny, those assholes.
And so here we are. I am pleased to announce that my bride is still with me as we have officially gone from refugee status to regular people with flushing toilet. Praise the Lord!!!
This has been quite a productive month with 2 new outside doors installed, 3 new Maple framed living room windows installed, insulation, drywall, paint, slate floor (in the bathroom), bathroom sink and toilet (shower was already in)
Of course the rough plumbing was completed, tested and is in use.
Well, sort of in use.
The system is all running just fine but the only thing that “works” is the toilet, shower, bathroom sink and the outside faucets. That is because……….
The plumbing was quite a bit more involved than what is usually done in a home. For starters, we are not here during winter months and we don’t heat the place. Therefore, everything freezes solid. Frozen pipes with water in them burst. It is not unusual for cottagers to drain their plumbing lines before closing up for the winter and we are no exception. We have however set this up with the idea that an old man will be doing the work in 20 years. So we put air “nipples” in the lines. (Easy cowboy, that’s what they are called…) This compressed air is used to push the water out of the lines ensuring a problem free return. Then we added features that we don’t have in any of our other homes (yet), like re-circulation pumps. This ensures that every faucet has instant hot water without any delay day or night. We are cutting our ties from refugee status with a vengeance…Add to that a greywater system where all water that is not from the toilet or the food disposer side of the kitchen sink is allowed to gravity flow to a mulch field to filter out prior to flowing back to the river and it becomes a split system. If a need arises, a diverter valve can have all drains flow into the black water holding tank for pump out.
Next, we are getting down and dirty and blasting ahead with putting our kitchen together.
We love this place
Months after we have arrived I still occasionally hear Janice outside sitting by the river shouting, “I love the Bee” to no one in particular. Just an uncontrolled exclamation of overwhelming joy at the blessing that this place has brought us. We are thrilled that out “out in the woods” experience has been controlled to the point that we have no mosquitoes and fewer other bugs, creepy crawlers or spiders. We know that without our aggressive efforts to control them we would be over ridden with the little buggers. God bless Monsanto and Agent Orange!
We have found a backwoods one man lumber mill operator. This has allowed us to have a lot of custom cut, milled and processed Maple wood trim made to order for window and door framing, baseboards and general trim pieces including a bookcase I whipped up. This was particularly nice since all our kitchen cabinets and new interior window frames are all Maple also.
It’s a kick to see life on the water. We know it is a weekend if there are boats coming and going all day long. Holliday weekends are a real sight with a boat parade that never ends. During the week though, things are often quieter. The best boats are the ones that cause the whole cabin to vibrate. They go by at about 5 MPH but all 10 gazillion horsepower in their twin engines in these 60 foot long “cigarette” boats purrs with a deep rumble that sounds like the space shuttle warming up for a takeoff. These boats were built for only two things: speed and being 60-foot long “chick magnets”. Invariably, they are piloted by one guy with no less than 3 healthy looking “hood ornaments” laying out on the bow.
Come 6-7 PM though, the day trippers are all gone and we “river rats” are the only ones left. The river is all ours and the dawns and sunsets are the best we have ever seen anywhere. Coming from California, that’s a tall order.
It is a brand new experience for us to see the geese (sometimes referred to as “Canadian” geese but I have never checked their passports) begin to “practice” for their migration. They spend all summer long just hanging around and eating the riverweeds and laying in the sun. But now they fly around the area building up their flying stamina for the long trip and take turns in the lead.
Never a dull moment around here!
A couple of weeks ago we were just returning from a day out shopping when we got home and the phone was ringing. Janice ran up to answer while I docked the boat only to have my cousin in California tell us that Cassie has just undergone emergency gallbladder surgery.
Oookkkkkk………….
Run that by me again?
Cassie had had a couple of episodes of abdominal pains in the previous week, twice having gone to the emergency room. Batteries of tests later she had been released with no cause found. She was seeing a doctor to follow up and try to determine the cause when a dye test determined the culprit. Surgery followed within hours and when we got home it was already a done deal. Since it was a “fait accompli” the outcome was already known and Cassie was doing well. Because of the no fooling around last minute flight logistics involved, we decided that Daddy should go alone.
22 hours later, I was in Los Angeles by the baby’s hospital bedside. I spent a week cooking, driving, settling her in school and generally poor babying her back to health. Once back on her feet, I headed back. I had taken the boat to get back to the marina and driven the car to the airport in Buffalo 4 hours away to catch my flight to LA.
Janice has never been enthusiastic about taking the boat out by herself. It’s an older boat and is too big and awkward to handle alone. So she saw little point in coming to the marina with me. While she had plenty of supplies and had a week off from construction chores she did not miss her chance at a little drama by signing all of her emails with “Robinson Crusoe”. Then she would call our neighbors a hundred yards away and say “ hey, could you pick me up a quart of milk next time you go to the market?”
Meanwhile, I was conjuring up delightful mental images of returning to a woman who had been marooned on an island....
It seems like we have spent more time in California this summer than at the Bee.
Hey, that one looks nice….
Not so coincidentally because of Janice’s inability to pilot our big-o-pickup truck on water and the winding down of having to bring large construction materials in the boat we decided to start looking around for a new boat. Our boat served it’s purpose well but being older it was nickeling and diming us to death on repairs
I don’t want to revisit old wounds but… the price of gas!!!! What is wrong with this world? Now we are paying European prices for gas here. I have been poking fun at people who own motor homes, huge pickups or Hummers. Ha! Meanwhile, we zip about in a boat that gets 1 (not a typo) mile per gallon of gas. (2 liters per Kilometer for our foreign friends and family)
Per mile!
The last straw was when we discovered that it is one of the few boats in existence that does not have an adjustable out drive. That means that you cannot raise the propeller and operate the boat in shallow water where there are rocks.
Ours is white with pinstripes and is a foot shorter than this
That is no small consideration when the river level drops in the fall (as much as 2 feet from summer highs) and we are planning to be here till Nov 1. Add that to the fact that we are no longer novice boaters so we have had a chance to get a better feel for what kind of boating we want to do and what kind of boat best meets our need. Needless to say, the best time to shop for a boat here is in the fall when they are all about to be tucked in for the winter and there are no buyers. We found a 19-foot Rinker bow rider. It is a different color than the one above, a foot shorter and it was previously owned by the proverbial “little old lady from Pasadena”. It is immaculate.
Now wait a minute….
I have noticed recently that different friends and family members have asked “So Michael, what are you going to do with yourself when you are all done with your construction projects?”
The tone is decidedly in the “workaholic” range.
Well boys and girls, I am here to tell you that some of you have me all wrong. My nature is to be as lazy as the best of them. The problem is that our financial resources have always fallen short of our ambitions and the only way we have been able to make the two meet is with sweat equity. Besides, we are way too particular as to how we want things to be to live with someone else’s idea of how our home should be. We were just not genetically cut out for that.
It might come as a big surprise to some that I don’t wake up in the morning and think “oh good, today I get to dig a trench or mix a batch of concrete or lay a slate floor” I would much prefer to do anything else but the only way to have the homes we have chosen to have is to build or remodel the darn things ourselves. Oh sure, there is a sense of satisfaction at doing things but the only thing that motivates us is enjoying the use of the finished product. Not the process.
If we could afford it I would love to pick up the phone and “call the man” to tell him to get his butt over here and get this ‘whatever’ done. In time, I hope to wrap some of the construction (except in California) and diversify my interests in purely decadent pleasurable activities.
I say “except in California” because I don’t think I will live long enough to finish the projects we have in mind for there.
Enough, talk to you next month.
XO Michael
[New and Improved! Now with pictures!!!!
Time is moving on
I called the Red Cross to offer to take in a few refugees from New Orleans (just wanted to help out) but when they found out that we didn't have a flushing toilet, running water (hot or cold) or a working shower, they offered us a bus ticket to Houston so we could get emergency shelter that met the basic UN humanitarian standards. They think that being this poor is funny, those assholes.
And so here we are. I am pleased to announce that my bride is still with me as we have officially gone from refugee status to regular people with flushing toilet. Praise the Lord!!!
This has been quite a productive month with 2 new outside doors installed, 3 new Maple framed living room windows installed, insulation, drywall, paint, slate floor (in the bathroom), bathroom sink and toilet (shower was already in)
Of course the rough plumbing was completed, tested and is in use.
Well, sort of in use.
The system is all running just fine but the only thing that “works” is the toilet, shower, bathroom sink and the outside faucets. That is because……….
The plumbing was quite a bit more involved than what is usually done in a home. For starters, we are not here during winter months and we don’t heat the place. Therefore, everything freezes solid. Frozen pipes with water in them burst. It is not unusual for cottagers to drain their plumbing lines before closing up for the winter and we are no exception. We have however set this up with the idea that an old man will be doing the work in 20 years. So we put air “nipples” in the lines. (Easy cowboy, that’s what they are called…) This compressed air is used to push the water out of the lines ensuring a problem free return. Then we added features that we don’t have in any of our other homes (yet), like re-circulation pumps. This ensures that every faucet has instant hot water without any delay day or night. We are cutting our ties from refugee status with a vengeance…Add to that a greywater system where all water that is not from the toilet or the food disposer side of the kitchen sink is allowed to gravity flow to a mulch field to filter out prior to flowing back to the river and it becomes a split system. If a need arises, a diverter valve can have all drains flow into the black water holding tank for pump out.
Next, we are getting down and dirty and blasting ahead with putting our kitchen together.
We love this place
Months after we have arrived I still occasionally hear Janice outside sitting by the river shouting, “I love the Bee” to no one in particular. Just an uncontrolled exclamation of overwhelming joy at the blessing that this place has brought us. We are thrilled that out “out in the woods” experience has been controlled to the point that we have no mosquitoes and fewer other bugs, creepy crawlers or spiders. We know that without our aggressive efforts to control them we would be over ridden with the little buggers. God bless Monsanto and Agent Orange!
We have found a backwoods one man lumber mill operator. This has allowed us to have a lot of custom cut, milled and processed Maple wood trim made to order for window and door framing, baseboards and general trim pieces including a bookcase I whipped up. This was particularly nice since all our kitchen cabinets and new interior window frames are all Maple also.
It’s a kick to see life on the water. We know it is a weekend if there are boats coming and going all day long. Holliday weekends are a real sight with a boat parade that never ends. During the week though, things are often quieter. The best boats are the ones that cause the whole cabin to vibrate. They go by at about 5 MPH but all 10 gazillion horsepower in their twin engines in these 60 foot long “cigarette” boats purrs with a deep rumble that sounds like the space shuttle warming up for a takeoff. These boats were built for only two things: speed and being 60-foot long “chick magnets”. Invariably, they are piloted by one guy with no less than 3 healthy looking “hood ornaments” laying out on the bow.
Come 6-7 PM though, the day trippers are all gone and we “river rats” are the only ones left. The river is all ours and the dawns and sunsets are the best we have ever seen anywhere. Coming from California, that’s a tall order.
It is a brand new experience for us to see the geese (sometimes referred to as “Canadian” geese but I have never checked their passports) begin to “practice” for their migration. They spend all summer long just hanging around and eating the riverweeds and laying in the sun. But now they fly around the area building up their flying stamina for the long trip and take turns in the lead.
Never a dull moment around here!
A couple of weeks ago we were just returning from a day out shopping when we got home and the phone was ringing. Janice ran up to answer while I docked the boat only to have my cousin in California tell us that Cassie has just undergone emergency gallbladder surgery.
Oookkkkkk………….
Run that by me again?
Cassie had had a couple of episodes of abdominal pains in the previous week, twice having gone to the emergency room. Batteries of tests later she had been released with no cause found. She was seeing a doctor to follow up and try to determine the cause when a dye test determined the culprit. Surgery followed within hours and when we got home it was already a done deal. Since it was a “fait accompli” the outcome was already known and Cassie was doing well. Because of the no fooling around last minute flight logistics involved, we decided that Daddy should go alone.
22 hours later, I was in Los Angeles by the baby’s hospital bedside. I spent a week cooking, driving, settling her in school and generally poor babying her back to health. Once back on her feet, I headed back. I had taken the boat to get back to the marina and driven the car to the airport in Buffalo 4 hours away to catch my flight to LA.
Janice has never been enthusiastic about taking the boat out by herself. It’s an older boat and is too big and awkward to handle alone. So she saw little point in coming to the marina with me. While she had plenty of supplies and had a week off from construction chores she did not miss her chance at a little drama by signing all of her emails with “Robinson Crusoe”. Then she would call our neighbors a hundred yards away and say “ hey, could you pick me up a quart of milk next time you go to the market?”
Meanwhile, I was conjuring up delightful mental images of returning to a woman who had been marooned on an island....
It seems like we have spent more time in California this summer than at the Bee.
Hey, that one looks nice….
Not so coincidentally because of Janice’s inability to pilot our big-o-pickup truck on water and the winding down of having to bring large construction materials in the boat we decided to start looking around for a new boat. Our boat served it’s purpose well but being older it was nickeling and diming us to death on repairs
I don’t want to revisit old wounds but… the price of gas!!!! What is wrong with this world? Now we are paying European prices for gas here. I have been poking fun at people who own motor homes, huge pickups or Hummers. Ha! Meanwhile, we zip about in a boat that gets 1 (not a typo) mile per gallon of gas. (2 liters per Kilometer for our foreign friends and family)
Per mile!
The last straw was when we discovered that it is one of the few boats in existence that does not have an adjustable out drive. That means that you cannot raise the propeller and operate the boat in shallow water where there are rocks.
Ours is white with pinstripes and is a foot shorter than thisThat is no small consideration when the river level drops in the fall (as much as 2 feet from summer highs) and we are planning to be here till Nov 1. Add that to the fact that we are no longer novice boaters so we have had a chance to get a better feel for what kind of boating we want to do and what kind of boat best meets our need. Needless to say, the best time to shop for a boat here is in the fall when they are all about to be tucked in for the winter and there are no buyers. We found a 19-foot Rinker bow rider. It is a different color than the one above, a foot shorter and it was previously owned by the proverbial “little old lady from Pasadena”. It is immaculate.
Now wait a minute….
I have noticed recently that different friends and family members have asked “So Michael, what are you going to do with yourself when you are all done with your construction projects?”
The tone is decidedly in the “workaholic” range.
Well boys and girls, I am here to tell you that some of you have me all wrong. My nature is to be as lazy as the best of them. The problem is that our financial resources have always fallen short of our ambitions and the only way we have been able to make the two meet is with sweat equity. Besides, we are way too particular as to how we want things to be to live with someone else’s idea of how our home should be. We were just not genetically cut out for that.
It might come as a big surprise to some that I don’t wake up in the morning and think “oh good, today I get to dig a trench or mix a batch of concrete or lay a slate floor” I would much prefer to do anything else but the only way to have the homes we have chosen to have is to build or remodel the darn things ourselves. Oh sure, there is a sense of satisfaction at doing things but the only thing that motivates us is enjoying the use of the finished product. Not the process.
If we could afford it I would love to pick up the phone and “call the man” to tell him to get his butt over here and get this ‘whatever’ done. In time, I hope to wrap some of the construction (except in California) and diversify my interests in purely decadent pleasurable activities.
I say “except in California” because I don’t think I will live long enough to finish the projects we have in mind for there.
Enough, talk to you next month.
XO Michael
