(by Bg Porter)
(Previously.)
I spent most of this week cooped up in a conference center in Lake Arrowhead, CA with my cow-orkers, for the Art & Logic Annual Conference. This is the only chance that most of us have to see each other in person during the year.
UCLA Conference Center Continue reading “Renovation Week 13: The Courier’s Tragedy”
(Previously.)
In English, ‘twelve‘ is the largest number that’s said with a single syllable.
Much visible progress since the frustrating relative lull of week 11, starting with a much too brief visit from my parents as they drove past on their trip to a permanent residency in Florida.
An hour or so was about all they could take of being cramped into the single usable room downstairs. Continue reading “Renovation Week 12: Resume”
(Previously.)
Not a ton of visible work this week. Some outside stuff getting the windows ready to be trimmed.
New windows at the bottom of the stairs are in, so now all the new windows are in place.
More work getting the family room ready for insulation and sheetrock, including new recessed fixtures and a fan box so we can put a ceiling fan in someday if we like.
Also, work in the kids’ bathroom getting things ready to tile. Keenan comes home from school in three weeks; it would be great to have our full complement of facilities in place before he gets back.
This week? Not sure. Hoping that we can get progress in the family room and get the kitchen floor stained. Our original schedule put this at a 12-16 weeks, and we’re obviously bumping heads against the bottom end of that range.
(Next.)
When we last left you, dear reader, we were suddenly replacing a wall after discovering a hidden civilization of carpenter ants where we intended to put the new sliding glass door. After stewing on that situation all weekend, they were able to reframe that entire northern wall quickly and finally get the new door in place:
Monday night, I went into Manhattan for a “benefit/funkraiser” for P-Funk/Talking Heads/Praxis/etc. keyboardist Bernie Worrell.
An article in Rolling Stone last week gave a pretty solid overview of what was planned: “To date, the still-evolving lineup includes Worrell with P-Funk colleagues George Clinton and Bootsy Collins; Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads; Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash of LaBelle; Living Colour; Questlove; Buckethead; the Meters’ Leo Nocentelli; the B-52’s’ Fred Schneider; Paul Shaffer; Meryl Streep (who fronted a band featuring Worrell in her recent Ricki and the Flash); director Jonathan Demme; and the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, the night’s presenters.” An earlier lineup listing included producer/bassist Bill Laswell, who I was sad ended up not being part of the show.
OLD LADY
Thank you, thank you, Mr Bradlaugh. Now, Mr Bysshe.
SHELLEY
Shelley.
OLD LADY
Oh...
THE DWARF REFILLS HER GLASS
OLD LADY (cont'd)
is going to read one of his latest psalms, entitled 'Ode to a crab'.
SHELLEY
Well, it's not about crabs actually, it's called 'Ozymandias'.
It's not an ode.
I met a traveller in an antique land
Who said 'Six vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert
And on the pedestal these words appear
My name is Ozymandias, King of Ants
(OOHS FROM HIS AUDIENCE)
Look on my feelers, termites, and despair
I am the biggest ant you'll ever see
The ants of old weren't half as bold and big
And fierce as me'.
ENORMOUS APPLAUSE.
— Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Ep. 41: “Michael Ellis”
This was supposed to be an easy week. Continue reading “Renovation Week 9: Them!”
This week: Some more rough plumbing and finally some new windows.
Now that the kitchen floor is in place, the plumber was able to come in and get rough work in place for the second sink in the island, and also run the gas line for the stove.
An abbreviated update from my hotel room in Austin, Texas.
Six weeks in, and hoping that we’re about half way done. Expecting electrical inspection to happen this week, and it sounds like once that’s in place, a lot of other things can start to happen in fairly rapid sequence.
Big things that were done this week: Continue reading “Renovation Week 6: The Middle of the Film”
The first big change this week — a new plywood subfloor went down.
The only downside to this is that if a robber walks across the kitchen floor in the middle of the night, the squeaks and creaks are all gone, so the entire house won’t wake up any more. I looked for every single squeak that we’ve gotten used to and can’t find any of them. Continue reading “Renovation Week 5: Build a Great, Great Wall”
New This Week:
Lots of bathroom/plumbing work. All of the rough plumbing is in place, ready for inspection:
I’d never seen this kind of piping before. Continue reading “Renovation Week 4: In the Mushroom Kingdom”