November, 2012

Just another stunning California sunset

Well, as I post this, we have been back for 6 weeks. The first two consisted of little else but getting in the door. This is not exactly like showing up at the Bee or arriving at home in France. There, we have to shop for groceries as we have been away for 8 months but things at home  are much more organized and settled.

Here, well as much as we are home we were still like fish out of water. Not having a vehicle, beds, TV, telephone, internet and much to our surprise not even pots, pans or utensils (we had forgotten that we disposed of them as Janice wanted to replace them with new). Then, we realized that we also didn’t have a wardrobe either as we are used to simply opening the closet doors and finding weather and location specific clothing. Apparently, we had done away with all that when we left. At first, we felt like bag ladies living under the bridge. It took a full two weeks to get organized to the point where I could start painting.

Ready, set, paint!

I have been at it for a month and the job is done. I even tore up the carpeting in the open areas (everywhere but the office and the bedrooms), unloaded 4 tons (3,600 kilos) of Turkish Travertine to prepare covering 850 SF. (80 SM) of flooring and 2 bath / shower enclosures with “Rainforest” marble from India. It would be fine if I could just focus on a project till it was done but that is not how it works.

Janice examining the "Rainforest" marble going on the bath counter and fireplace hearth

Life had a way on interrupting progress by having our phone line go dead. Since the problem was between the box where the phone company has their connection and the house, it became MY problem and they have nothing to do with it. I may have been busy but suddenly there was a new priority and everything ground to a halt until I tracked the problem down. The fact that our phone line is buried in a 200 foot long conduit under our driveway made the task more fun.

Jammed food disposers, low water pressure from the well, dishwashers that needed new parts, electrical issues, R/O units on the fritz, window gaskets to replace…you get the idea, there is a lot more to painting than just painting. Janice said it felt like playing whack-a-mole. For every problem we solved, 3 more pop up.

Janice not only comes up with the great ideas but gets down and dirty making them happen

Speaking of Janice, shortly after we arrived, she had enough sense to book the next flight out of here to go visit the kids and grand kids in Seattle Washington for 10 days. Halloween came and went but how would I know?...I was up on a ladder. The bad news was that the place looked much worse when she returned. By then the carpeting was up and the old floor tile was well on its way to being removed. A bare, stained cement floor is not a pretty sight.

In years past, we put lights on the house for Halloween, turning it into a 30 foot high pumpkin. Commuter planes would circle before landing at the airport

Opening boxes of stuff after 8 years was like Christmas morning. Stuff we had forgotten we owned, treasures we had not seen in years and mostly...prized pieces of art that survived unscathed. In fact, except for mouse droppings here and there, everything pulled through perfectly.

It is great to slowly have my workshop available, with all the tools I need and more supplies than many small hardware stores I have been to. Here I don’t have to mooch off of neighbors and friends, I have what I need.

The only serious drawback in my cursed knee. It has only gotten worse and my local doctor is considering a replacement but by the time I take all the necessary tests I may not have enough time to have it done here before we leave. This lifestyle has real implications for continuity in health care. 

The end result is that I work at a glacial pace because of my knee, constantly in pain at 1/3 of my normal underachiever speed. If I was working for a living I would fire myself in a New York minute for being too slow. As you can see from the picture, I need to get cracking as there are only 37 more floor finishing days before all the kids arrive for Christmas.

I sure hope I have something pretty to show you next month.