NOV-B-2

 

THANKSGIVING—THE TRADITION CONTINUES, TRADITIONALLY, WITH THE EARLY MORNING TURKEY CHASE 10K WITH JOE AND THE AFTERNOON DRIVE—

THIS TIME WITH NEW SPORTY WHEELS—

TO TRAPPE AND THE EASTERN SHORE OF MD

FOR THE OPENING DAY OF DEER SEASON

 

November 26, 2003

 

 There is s forest of cables strung everywhere in Derwood and holes drilled in the ceilings and floors everywhere to pass them through to a tangle of vine-like lianas strung through the Dark Room toward the site of a new circuit breaker box soon to be installed.  One lone roofer was shingling the Breakfast Room when I went there today with the thought of packing away things out of the Bronco, retrieving its title, tires and various warranties, like the lifetime guarantees on the transmission and the next two years guarantee on the battery and tires.  I also need to pick up all my hunting gear and get ready for the trek out to the Eastern Shore after the morning run with Joe in the Turkey Chase.  Right!  First, everything is so tightly packed in boxes that once were stacked but are now pushed around in all cases and pushed over in some cases, that everything that I had stored away is now trash.  This is particularly true in the attic, where things got most jumbled, where my hunting clothes should be.  It is also true in the basement where I plowed through plastic wrap to see the edge of my gun safe, but could not get to it.

 

 In both places there is a further complicating feature---there is no light!  I cannot see anything at all, and had to go to the Bronco to get a light to even find my way to where each of these items is blocked.  So, I will have to borrow a shootin’ iron or two from Craig for the waterfowling on Friday and the rifle for deer hunting on Saturday’s opening day.  The only rifle I have accessible is the 340 Weatherby Magnum that I could not put away for the same reasons that I cannot get anything out now, on return from Alaska.  If I take this heavy moose weapon to hunt an Eastern Shore deer, I might cut one in half, so I would prefer something more suitable to the game being pursued.

 

RETURN OF THE NATIVE, AS I READY THE BRONCO FOR ITS LAST LONG HAUL NEXT MONTH FROM MD THRU NY TO IL AND MI

 

            I took the Metro in to GW to retrieve the Bronco from the garage.  I had to do some rapid business, which included the application for the mortgage I had been considering doing as the expansion of the Derwood project has added new dimensions to the undertaking.  I also had to insure both vehicles and will re-license the Audi when the title arrives.  I am also getting the title for the Bronco and every gallon of gas it has ever consumed and each serving in a packet to be brought up to Michigan, where it can negotiate the heavier snows of the Midwest.  I will inure the both of them through December 31, and had written a note to Tom with my plans for the travels of December, leading up to the first trip of the New Year to Cumberland at which time some of the items can be retrieved by road if I return by air from Michigan. (See Nov-B-3)  When I pick up Joe tomorrow, he had his choice as to whether he would rather get a ride in the new luxury wheels (now that I have tried to wash off the evidence of the bombardier birds off the hood which attracted their attention when they had congregated in a tree over the vehicle) of for sentiment’s sake, get one more ride in the trusty Bronco that he can get in and out of so easily and which is the only vehicle he has ever known me too drive.  I have packed the Audi with what I can find to carry out to Trappe MD for our Thanksgiving Day celebration.

 

ANOTHER YEAR-END TRADITION

THAT HAS BLOSSOMED INTO A TECHNOLOGIC AND LABOR-

INTENSIVE COLOSSUS:

THE CHRONICLE-03 WILL BE READY FOR MAILING

 

            Each of the component parts of the massive undertaking of the year-long effort in getting the 03-Letter underway involves a lot of working out the logistics of repairing faulty machines—especially copiers—and the glitches that can come up in computers (at present the professionally done CD cover pages cannot be opened from the CD which is in a “format invalid or unsupported.”)  This is what computers say when they cannot understand the four-color scheme in which it was done and it has to be re-done in three-color scheme before I can either print it or transmit it to you electronically.  But, do not worry.  I had been working day and night to get it ready for a pre-Christmas mailing, along with the pictures that enhance its value.

 

MEETING WITH KEITH CARR,

WHO MAKES SOME SUGGESTIONS ON THE WEEKEND

PRE-HUNT HOLIDAY IN CUMBERLAND,

AT BOTH NANCY’S FANCY AND AT GREYFIELD

 

            I  met with Keith Carr (after a delay in which he was very patient—based in the unusual problem of asking directions first, and being sent toward the wrong Legal Seafood) and went over many items in the plans and suggestions for further Derwood and later arrangements.  His special advice was for a very special introductory vist to Cumberland—an experience that worked for him after a four-year pursuit!  In the locked back closet he has a VCR and the special PBS introductory video of Cumberland Island, and I will try to get that out for the Friday night arrival of a special first-timer.  Then, for a further memorable moment, I will reserve another good experience—requiring a coat that is not blaze orange!

 

            I showed him the album of Derwood pictures as it is being transformed, and he will call me to make an appointment to come out later and to look it over.  I am also arranging a visit by the appraisers for the mortgage company FSM  that Bill Morgan had recommended, and the agent Wendy Steinberg, whom I specially mailed a large packet of information showing the plans and progress.  She had called Dan Kennedy at my suggestion who may act as my settlement attorney.

 

WALK-THROUGHS AT DERWOOD:

DECEMBER 9 WITH THE WHOLE MANAGEMENT TEAM

AT D. G. LIU AND THEN THE FURTHER PRE-MOVING BACK

WALK-THROUGH ON JANUARY 8, PRECEDING DEPARTURE FOR CUMBERLAND ISLAND AND A WEEKEND ON THE

WILDERNESS BEACH OF A DESERTED ISLAND,

PRIOR TO THE ANNUAL HOG HUNT

 

            In addition to some of the plans which you can see outlined in the four venue stops of the Nov-B-3 contents, Dale Kramer had called this morning to set up a breakfast meeting with Jerry Liu and Project Manger Tim after they bowhunt early in the day, then we go for a walk through in which they can see the progress on this project of the scope it has become.  It will be my first time to meet the other managers and we will all get a chance to talk and compare notes on what is seen so far.  The quality of this construction work is amazing, especially when even a casual nonexpert can glance at one addition being tacked on a house up Kipling Road and I had seen the evident low-cost (but, high price) construction in King Farm’s cloned developments.  It is good to see the whole team taking pride in the quality of the project, and it certainly shows.  The change orders I will initial are going through and the large number of purchases selected with Sandy Shelor are going in as orders for the interior designers’ purchases now.  The deliveries of all this new and high quality coordinated design may mean that I should reserve the dumpster to remain as the attic is emptied out after the interior work is continuing.  In the dumpster now, one peek will show the couch and its extensions, garbage disposal, stove top and every remaining kitchen item before the walls themselves have been peeled away to bare studs festooned with new electric cables and outlets.

 

            The only specialty I have not seen represented at Derwood so far is the plumbing subcontractor, now several weeks going on months late.  This has been a source of consternation to Glenn Murrell and many of the other subcontractors who are having to stall and modify their own projects now as the crescendo of the “closing in” has pushed the work inside.

 

THE BETHESDA-CHEVY CHASE YMCA BENEFIT

10K TURKEY CHASE

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