December, 2016

Lucky us!

We are here,

and they came.

We had great company this past month. First, we had daughter Kami who drove up from Los Angeles where she had been working on a show for the past little while. She was in a hurry to return home to New Orleans where she was scheduled to start work on a new movie. Parents love having their kids come, even if it is only a drive by.

Next we had family who drove up from Southern California come for a spell. Joe and Monique last visited us in August at the island when they were driving to see folks in Eastern Canada. They are a blast to have around as they have traveled extensively and always regale us with stories of their adventures.

We also had our neighborhood get together. When we started our 'Pee-wee's big adventure' 12 years ago, we had a friend tell us flat out that we would tire of it in 6 months and would be back to 'settle down'. Some friends and neighbors thought we would never return. Having a full time renter here for 8 years while we split our time between France and the island sure seemed to confirm that in many peoples minds. 

But since we started to reintroduce being here for 4 months out of the year 4 years ago, we have made a point to invite our neighbors over each time we return to catch up on their adventures over the last 8 months. We had about a dozen people show up for nibbles and great visit, fuelled by lots of adult beverages...

The French connection 

Not all our experiences last month turned out to be wine and roses. We are about a month away from pulling the plug, heading up the coast to visit some kids and grand kids, then continue on to "La belle France". That said, Janice decided we should get right with the authorities and get the 'officially' required long term visas.

 As with many countries, you can visit with no fuss for up to 90 days with a plane ticket and a passport, but any longer requires a visa. No matter that we have a home, car, bank account and have been going there yearly for the past 12 years without incident, we are not residents, we are tourists with a house. Since we are there for 4 months, a visa is required. Officially...

This is no small detail. With the incidents that have occurred in France and throughout Europe in the past year or so, most countries are getting a lot more persnickety about this and it has the potential of causing problems we would rather avoid.

The process is akin to getting all the teeth in your mouth pulled. The requirements are listed on the consulate's web site, but there is no number to call to speak to anyone and they do not reply to emails. You get all the documents they require (30 pages each) then make an appointment online to drive to Los Angeles for a personal interview with all you financial records (to prove you will not become a financial burden), a copy of your property deed (to prove you have a place to stay), marriage certificates, utility bills and on and on and on.

Once at the consulate, you cool your heals outside the door on the sidewalk until they buzz you in. This admits you to an 8 person waiting room to...well...wait again. Finally, you get to speak to someone through 1 1/2" bullet proof glass. These are bureaucrat's bureaucrats. If your documents are not exactly the way the requirements stipulate, you are a no go.

One of the requirements was to have a letter from our health insurance stipulating that the coverage extended to France and would cover a minimum of $50,000. of medical care. The letter we produced stipulated that the coverage was UNLIMITED and was good WORLDWIDE. 

The document was denied as it did not stipulate the words "France" and "$50,000." as per the requirement.  Calling them friendly is like calling Anthony Weiner a photographer.

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Life in Janice's chain gang

OK, time to get back on that horse. After milking the "Honey, I am busy doing maintenance around the house" thing for as long as I could, the boss told me that party time was over and I had to do something productive before it became too obvious that I really am a lazy slug.

Last year, we built the deck in front of the house in what we described as phase one. Well, life  got in the way so I was not able to really get to phase two this year, that is to build the lower deck that mirror imaged the existing one.

This was our water treatment area prior to building the deck

This was the deck we built last year. On the right side of the photo is the area that will have the lower deck.

This past month, I did move in the right direction by completing the stacked stone wall below the existing deck, enclosing our water treatment system, pumps and storage tank. Below is the wall underneath the existing deck that we will see from the lower deck when I build it next year. Building a stone wall is easier than building say...an airplane, but it is as hard as building a...hmm...come to think about it, what would be hard to build?

Anyway, this was the area below the existing deck seen in the previous photo. The circular framing supporting the cantilevered portion of the deck is in place, making the next step a breeze. This photo is taken from where the new deck will be built next year. Cutting to the chase, this is how I built the stacked stone wall in 5 easy steps.

1. Cover the frame in 15 pound waterproofing felt paper

2. Cover the felt paper with a layer of plywood. Have a sip of tea then...

3. Cover the plywood with a layer of cement board

4. Cover the cement board with 3 coats of 'Red Guard' waterproofing membrane. (liquid gold would have been cheaper!)

5) Slap a bit of stone on it and TA DA! An honest morning's work for you, but being bone lazy I took several days to get'er done. Any faster and you-know-who's expectations rise to the moon as to what can be asked of me around here.

Obviously, you saw the door opening in the previous photos. Making it disappear was easy. I just used a basic principle of magic: hide it in plain sight!

Oh! I almost forgot. I also installed a waterfall as seen above. I will turn it on when we return next October and it will look like what you see below.