but it's home

Tobacco Road

new career

I am thinking about going into business with my fabulous plumber. What do you think?

detail

The cornice builder (this is not he) is back in business after a work outage due to bad back of about 10 days. But now we're all leaving for the advent of the guests and Fourth of July weekend. The place is kindasorta buttoned up, in a half-assed kind of way. But we're expecting TWO MORE INCHES of rain. Oh my.

art plumbing

father/son carpenter act

And nevvie really did nail down half the upstairs floor.

insanity

The septic tank. The plumbers. The carpenter down for the count with the bad back. The nonappearance of the manlift. The undocumented immigrant nailing down the floor in the upstairs open to the sky. My world has grown very small. Provide perspective, please, but preferably in writing. No time to talk.

tub with a view

Not to mention: a sound system (CD or radio), light, heater, jets and hand spray.

the bathtub cometh

And next week, the plumbers cometh and septic maestro cometh as well.

feed the beast

You have to provide those carpenters with sustenance, for man and machine. Nevvie and I went off to the mainland on the 8:15 boat to spend some quality time in my second home (Depot) and the grocery store. We shopped until the 5:00 boat, when we had to stop due to lack of space in Wolfen's car.
In other exciting news: There are rocks on the driveway.

meanwhile, back in contractor land. . .

This is where the truck delivering the windows got stuck yesterday. The truck delivering the redwood didn't even try and dropped it at the top of what was once the driveway. And I'm panicking because this all has to be beautified by the time the tenants get here in a couple weeks. Yikes.

a big piece of wode

My brother wanted a big piece of wode. And so, as a detour on his road trip from Santa Fe to the Island, he stopped off in Vermont, where he knew a guy who had some wode. And so he (my brother) strapped it to the top of his car and brought it here, where we await inspiration. Right now we're too buried to be inspired.
Please let it dry up here.

supper

fill in the box

All I need now:

windows
roofing
shingles
walls
septic
plumbing
electricity
doors
appliances
fixtures
furniture
and an end to the rain

workshop

The paneling guys split, and my brother arrived to find a kind of semi- enclosure on the deck he had built. Without sitting down, he began to move his purpose-builts and his toolboxes to the new space. And then, of course, he bought some more wood.

In other exciting news:
Joe promised to bring some rocks for the mudhole/driveway.
Wolfen tried on wedding dresses.
The Artist Known as Chang returned to his native shores.
Bobbilu headed out to Grandkidzland.
Sis got her near-blind eyes lasered.
The House of Hat underwent repairs.
Septic maestro billed me $18,000 for parts.
Dolores planned to get up at (or stay up til) 5:00 ayem.
And, yes folks, it rained again last night.

hooray for the house of hat

Or is that "hi" upside down and backwards?
Or what else could a giant H in the sky mean?

marooned

The top got buttoned up just in time. But now I'm doubly marooned, as the driveway has become unnavigable except by pontoon. And so far the crane and trailer haven't got off the island yet, and the ferry may stop running this afternoon. The driver and I may spend some quality time at the bar tonight.

walls and roses

house of hat

Yes, I am moving to the House of Hat. I have had enough of Claudia's Surf City, what with the mouse, the fact that after two inches of rain yesterday the driveway is a slough, and the hot water heater thermocouple breaking so that there's no hot water for the six carpenters arriving today who only want a bed and a shower. And to be able to drive their crane in without getting stuck.
If you believe in any deity, pray for me.
Well, I found the last bed. At the dump. But no thermocouple so far unless the Gas Guy comes to the rescue. As it looks like he will.

eek!

It was climbing up the wire to the light over the stove. I poked it with the broom, and it crawled back down the wire to hide behind
the refrigerator
which hasn't been moved since it was put there.
Oh dear.

baby got backhoe—again

and the cat from next door wasn't that happy about it

the former driveway

Don't worry, the real estate mogul wound up down in the trenches with the rest of them— the folks with the nice back porch, the next door neighbors, the female ex-Marine, the water witch and his assistant super.