04-JUN-A-4
A RAPID, EFFICIENT AND QUITE MODIFIED MEETING WITH SANDY SHELAR,
IN WHICH THE TWO OF US
REDECORATE DERWOOD, REFURNISH SOME ROOMS, AND GO SHOPPING
FOR EXTRAORDINARY NEW ITEMS TO SUIT MY TASTE WITHOUT ABSENTEE INPUT
I was awake early, for obvious reasons, on Thursday morning, to “see off” the premature departure of Virginia and her niece Margeaux. I am now left with the unenviable task of meeting with a number of people whose schedule of arrivals here was to talk to both of us for input on some further and perhaps final decorating details. The meetings were held, and the perhaps final details were pushed fast forward, perhaps even more efficiently with one less customer to satisfy. The introductory comments were a bit awkward each time, but we made the best use of it—a use that has continued non-stop through a very rainy and cool full time weekend devoted to the house at Derwood.
AND, NOW, FOR BAD NEWS FOLLOWING UPON
BAD NEWS,
WITH THE VISIT BY THE PLUMBER,
AFTER THE WATER HEATER, AND NOW—
MORE BIG INFRASTURCTURE INVESTMENTS!
Dale came at 7:00 AM and shortly Daryl Albright arrived. D G Liu fired Blake and Wilcox the plumbers who held up my project so long by being “short-handed” so they came in very late. When fired, they refused to return to finish any of the jobs, so that Dale has hired a new fellow, and he works as “Serenity Plumbing.” We went downstairs as I apologized for Virginia’s unexpected absence. Mark was still asleep upstairs, presumably dreaming about the hot shower he was going to have after several days without hot water—which I hope was definitively fixed by yesterday’s Petro repair. Daryl and Dale looked at the new pressure tank and said that they would bleed the air out of the system by shutting down the water and blowing it out the line in the downstairs bathroom. After a while it stopped coughing and it seemed like a good result. Not so good, however, when Mark staggered downstairs asking when the water would be turned on since he had to get to work! When the system was pressurized again, he did get his shower and went late to work, calling ahead in annoyance to explain his tardiness on the plumbing.
Daryl then gave the bad news, and said it is likely that the air is not coming in from this tank since so much water has been used before, but it is likely that the pump in the well is going out. He said a new pump would cost $650. We should just go out and look for the pump. I showed him the patch where the sandbox used to be, where there is the underground buried well. Oh, dear, now we would have to find the well before we could fix it, and that may account for the reasons that there is the air coming in from the pump along with some silt and sand—all of it settling in your new plumbing—as I see it layering out on the Britta Water Filter. So, now that raises the ante by $1750. He said to Dale that it has nothing to do with the coincidence of being at the time of the renovation and coming back on line—sometimes they just wear out, and they are good for nine to twelve years.
It is hardly necessary to add, that after this honeymoon period of twelve hours the coughing and sputtering came back intensified, so it looks like I am on the way to having the yard dug up and some well work being done.
SANDY SHELAR’S ARRIVAL
AND OUR SURGE OF FORWARD ACTIVITY IN
DECORATOR PLANNING CULMINATES IN A TRIP
TO THE GREAT INDOORS, WHERE IS SHOP AND DROP
From Dale I got the Viking emergency number and called them about the scramble I had made to repack the refrigerator and freezer contents in the basement standby refrigerator which I had fortunately scrubbed out and re-cooled for the expected arrival of Bill Webster’s kindness in keeping my venison from last fall’s buck in the freezer in his garage. The A-I people said they could not be here until Tuesday, and that I should be here to let them in. I cannot wait that long especially since everyone expects me to miss all the time I had planned to be at work, so I found the emergency numbers from The Great Indoors, and called Sears Repair which will have a crew here on Saturday between 1:00 and 4:00 PM. I then called to cancel the A-I repair. All of this gets more complicated later, as you will read.
Sandy Shelar came over and I apologized, saying the appointment that Virginia had made was in part of her overwhelmed schedule in her “life on a bullet train” and she had found it necessary to leave early this morning. I added that sometimes her job must resemble a part-time psychotherapist in dealing with people’s conflicting wishes, but I thought we could go forward with the schedule that she had made for us. We did—and it worked out far better. Sandy kept saying that she would forward to Virginia for her input the designs she had worked on with respect to horse and hunt prints for the den and the special features of the wall coverings of both foyer and powder room already here. While we were here and going over my list of items for her, the Designer Deliveries came by to carry in the new bookcase for the den, two end tables, and the special mirror for the foyer. Sandy had put together a special window treatment for the powder room window, which had somehow been overlooked in the originals—even though the window opens onto the deck—and no mirror had been planned she had said, so I had to add that. She pointed out again the colors of the dining room table and chairs that Virginia had insisted be matched into the décor, and I said we would keep that in mind as we went later to shop for a rug for the dining room, but that we probably should move forward full speed toward the finishing of the project with or without Virginia and her furniture. As she could see in the master bedroom, it is barren of anything except the bureau and the office kinds of equipment—two file cases and the slide files, which I will move over into the room in which Mark is sleeping now. The love seat to be reupholstered in the hunt them for the den is still with Virginia and, of course, the “entertainment center’ stands vacant—just as well for all the TV I have not been watching.
Sandy then looked over the wall hangings that I had brought down for here perusal, many of which have long and detailed personal stories and meanings for me, but she had focused on a few of them. We distributed pictures that she had liked in places where they would be shown to good effect. She saw some pieces she really liked because of the colors and the themes, which would fit well with the “straw’ color of the living room walls. One piece was the special papyrus I had got from the last time I had given a lecture in Egypt, which could be matted and framed. I could also hang the smaller papyrus I had received from the daughter of the Egyptian Ambassador to the US who had been here as any foreigner with a national health insurance, without insurance when she developed hyperparathyroidism and she needed MY operation—why me? Because I am a freebie! So my tangible reward from that is the small framed papyrus. The identical story came from the wall hanging of the quetzal bird, when Salvadoran Siguenza Luz was a “refugee” in a local church caring for Salvadorans political prisoner’s relatives seeking asylum. She developed abdominal pain and was found to have hypertension, and a sonogram down to diagnose her gall bladder inflammation revealed a large adrenal tumor. So the Pheochromocytoma I removed from Siguenza Luz had come back to me as a weaving which she personally did. Luckily, Sandy likes it since it is colorful and fits well in the Breakfast Room where it is hanging now. Two little woodcuts in mats were probably both purchased for a quarter in Kenya—one a narrow crocodile and the other a narrow giraffe—the former horizontal and the latter vertical. Sandy thought that they should be rematted and perhaps framed and put over the door from the Breakfast Room and alongside the door above the light switch. Yes, we did so—and the cost of the frames of just one is two hundred times the both of the woodcuts original worth. But, wait—there is an additional cost to the prize piece!
Sandy really liked the Batik that Virginia had especially liked when she went for the afternoon to the local shop in Zambia from our Buffalo Chalet—when she was in the happiest moments of her life. She suggested we move the snow sheep from the opposite wall so that the entry into the Game Room does not encounter his upraised rump as the first view. We pulled the ram to two sites in the room, on against the southern window, and that gave room for the west wall to have the batik hung if we could find the right antique brass rod and brackets which we added to our list. This turned out to be a brilliant move.
Sandy emphasized clusters of things, not whole collections, particularly not of little things, that looks like it gets cluttered and junky. She took some of my ducks out of the window sills and put them in mixed groups, saying she likes a group of three, invariably seen as one large, one medium, and one small. This makes for odd parings of non-mated ducks, but it is stylistically better. She likes pictures hung at low levels, and I set these out to comply with her very good suggestions. She added that there were many of these things that we could use with a number of them that had the really good stories associated with them. But, as for the carvings and other souvenirs, I could use some, many even, but not all. They would be preferably larger, rather than smaller to make outlines against the windows. And not all would be placed symmetrically.
She told me to buy the felt or “slider” gliders for the feet of the Ottoman and all other items which will remain on the hardwood floors, and measured both living room and dining room saying I needed two 8 by 10 Oriental rugs, each of a very special kind, and all of the rugs should be on pads. She then distributed the silk and the Kashmiri and Rajasthani wool hand knotted rugs and the few Turkish rugs I still have with a couple of the Guajira Indian rugs, leaving out the Chinese silk rugs which will be wall hangings rather than floor coverings.
Sandy selected some of the wood carvings to be put in the kitchen window ledge and then a number of the exotic souvenirs that she said cold be hung after further consultation with Virginia. I am not certain that Virginia is in a Derwood consultative mood right now or she would have enjoyed this process of home-making which Sandy and I pursued full speed, with her even returning to Derwood after our extensive and expensive travel to the Great Indoors, so that she could see how our purchases fit the need she had put together.
RETURN TO THE GREAT INDOORS:
TO THE HAND-MADE ORIENTAL RUGS WITH SWATCHES OF THE FABRIC FOR
MATCHING,
A SPECIAL LIGHT BULB FLURRY,
AND A BIG TIME FRAMING ORDER
We stopped first at the outdoor Oriental rug tent sale, and I gave them Renee’s card and said I had brought Sandy back to look for the rugs we had spotted as potentials. Those we had spotted were 9 X 11, which Sandy said was too big. So, we went through two stacks of 8X10’s, with Sandy immediately focusing on one rug, which was a rich red Tibetan hand knotted, and marked down “As Is”—because it was older! We looked at three all told, and I immediately bought the special one that Sandy had picked and I approved.
We then went over to the main store and bought dozens of three way light bulbs for each of the reading lamps, and spares as back up for the indirect lighting. We bought dozens of picture hangers and a special solid brass antique custom rod on sale with finials on each end, and the brackets to suspend it that would be the hanging for the Zambian Batik. Virginia would have been especially delighted that we are giving her special purchase such favored treatment and a high quality mounting in a prominent place. I got the felts and other gliders for chair legs of those that will be on hardwood, and then finished up with the notification that the new Viking system is down and pulling the number for the repair.
We spent over an hour in the Custom Framing, with a computer designer giving us the blow by blow as Sandy selected a black mat behind the straw-colored ragged edge papyrus, with a gold border and an antique heavy gold frame, with an air gap before the glass. It is super posh, and would be the first thing seen on entering the front door over the red sofa, with an indirect overhead light focused on it. So, it is balanced on the other side by the smaller framed papyrus, and has a special frame—which costs “around a thousand dollars.” No, that does not include the small woodcut animal prints which are another couple hundred dollars in framing—the total art work investment of the unframed elements are collectively $100—only because the papyrus is a very good one and was given to me as the speaker at the conference as an Egyptian souvenir. Well, there is a coupon for a 50% reduction in price (which must meant heir margin is about 90%!) If I bring in the coupon, or simply call in on Sunday when it will be available to everybody, not just the super preferred customers like me at TGI, (They seem to know me well now after dropping lots of cash on them in short order!) So, as absurd as it seems from the relative merits of the art work, since it fits and is ideal for the kind of special attention it is going to get in the special frame, I approved it. It will surely look good on the formal photo shoot at Derwood when that will be coming around—dining room suite or no!
Sandy could not wait to get back to Derwood, to see the rug in place. I loaded it with difficulty into the Audi, and staggered into the hose with the rug on my shoulder—feeling that someone must have slipped a Cleopatra inside it. We put it down on the dining room floor, turned it, and Sandy is completely satisfied and even excited to have made this special purchase. She gave me the swatches to carry with me as I travel in the event that I turn up against another carpet that has that special something for the living room. The only time I had regretted not getting an item designed for Derwood is the grouping of three giraffes—large medium and small—as Sandy had suggested, with their intertwined necks, which I saw in Zambia but had no good way to carry home to the Game Room. I will be back in such a setting so I will see again. Sandy advised me on the list that now included a lot of carpet mats and extension cords for the lamps which we loaded with all the right wattage bulbs as three ways, and said she looked forward to seeing the product of what I had just picked up and that which is still being delivered. The den and foyer pieces are beautiful and the special lamp for the foyer table is sitting out, all of it awaiting the wall covering application which Sandy will order begun with the materials already delivered here. She is eager to complete the other details and continues to plan on the pieces that Virginia had said will be available for recovering, but I kept referring to that which she and I could determine right now. It had been a busy day with Sandy, and a successful one!
As quickly as possible, I went out for a long and pensive run, after the events of a very extreme day which had me doing what she would have enjoyed, and accomplishing it faster. As I ran along Needwood, I stopped to see two events happening as I might have predicted on this first week of June—I saw fawns—newborn dappled fawns—born this happy day in Deer World!
TWO FULL DAYS “HOUSE
SITTING”
WITH A FULL RUN AT SOLO
DECORATING
June 4--5, 2004
I went to work on Friday at long last, scrambling to catch up on the flood of emails and messages—particularly relating to the two things that will occupy me much of the summer; the ELDP course, and the proposed medical relief mission to the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the worst natural disaster to ever hit the Caribbean. (See the subsequent 04-Jun-A-5)
I was hard at work, when I got a phone call at ten o’clock. “How do I get to your house to meet you there?” I asked “Who is this?” “The fellow trying to get to your Viking refrigerator!” “I thought we were scheduled for Saturday between 1;00 and 4:00 PM.” “Nope; we don’t work Saturday!”
Only later did I figure out that this was the A-I crew that I had pleaded to get there before Tuesday before canceling them after I booked Sears on Saturday. A-I could not come later except at the end of the next week. I hurriedly packed up and drove home to await their arrival.
The workmen were walking around in the yard since they were all excited about seeing two deer, pone a large buck in velvet in front of the house. I asked “Did you see any fawns?” They figure me for a Bambi-type—only after entering the house did they change their minds very dramatically. I told them I had seen the first fawns yesterday—this being the first week of June.
The Viking computer circuit board had been fried—probably by either the storm surge that had suspended Virginia’s flight and knocked down the tire swing, or by a very unlikely scenario—there is a button deep inside behind the grille to push the button so that on the delayer showroom floor the doors open with the lights coming one and everything working except the refrigeration which does not come on. All the resetting was done with two sheets of instructions as well as a call to some switchboard dispatch. The refrigerator is computerized and has a low and high temperature cutoff, with an alarm which is on—but not functioning when the refrigerator door is closed. I got a copy of the reprogramming code and then they could walk around the Game Room and admire the trophies which impressed them more then the new kitchen.
They told me to hold off reloading the refrigerator freezer for twenty four hours and then let them know if the ice-maker was working. I checked to see the refrigerator and freezer were appropriately cold, but no ice was being made and phoned that message to an answering machine. Meanwhile, I transferred all the frozen game from one refrigerator/freezer in the basement to the other which was working well, and will then clean out the defrosted refrigerator freezer and bleach and deodorize it, so that when Bill Webster gets here I can load the Venison from last fall’s deer into this freezer. And here you thought I stayed awake nights writing papers and reports!
Saturday morning early, I go up to run with Rick Byrd down at KenGar where I have not been for over a year with the MCRRC Club. It was raining so hard, I bagged it outright. It has been raining very hard for over thirty six hours. I set to work before dawn, unpacking the toiletries for the Master Bathroom. I then came downstairs, saw the heavy rain, and started forthwith on the list of the projects we had laid out as Sandy had suggested the placement of pictures and I had purchased the hangers. With the measuring tape and hammer from Michael and Judy’s Christmas gift of the home repair kit, I went around with the bubble level and hung each of the downstairs wall hangings. I was especially happy for the opportunity to hang the antique brass rod and brackets for the suspension of the Zambian Batik that Virginia had got in South Luwangwe in its strategic position. I hung the Birds of East Africa in its large frame across the Great Room on the opposite wall, and only then pondered, that I have the two residua of the two serious women well over a decade apart who were in my life on facing walls
When I was about to hang the brass bar brackets, I saw the instruction that advised me to drill a hole before filling it with the plastic sheath into which the screw would be driven. Great? I have the Black and Decker drill Judy and Michael gave me last Christmas, so I plugged it in. Only then did I realize that it comes with a drill bit box, but no drill bits—so I had to get a box of Black and Decker drill bits, and did.
After I had worked hard all morning and the rain persisted, I packed up with the long list of further supplies and went to the Great Indoors, to get the stuff needed—like carpet pads. They were special for a very large price, so I bought only one for the silk rug in the library. I got a handful of other supplies, including more hangers and a toilet bowl brush in a fancy stainless covering, and asked about extension cords for lamps and bulbs for the recessed lighting—and was told to go to Home Depot. This is did.
It is a big change going from the upmarket Great Indoors to the madding throng of the Home Depot.—I had to feel my way along amid crowds and each person I asked for the list of things I needed would be an expert in one half of a shelving row. I wound up buying many more bulbs, gliders for the hardwood floor legs, and spoke with a tall black man about carpet pads. I asked where he from is. He said: “West Africa.” I said “Yes, but where?” When he said “Gambia” I said I knew a special place in Banjul where one can look out over the river at the sunset from the upper level of the deck. His sister runs the place! But, he was very cautious at first saying that after being here for a couple of years, it is dangerous to go back, especially after the coups, since the habit of saying just what you think might get you into big trouble there. After all the other chat, I bought an entire roll of carpet padding for about what one of the 8 X 10 pads would cost at The Great Indoors. Now, how could I get it home? I had to radically tilt and move forward the front seats of the Audi, and then try to slide the large roll in on an angle. As I drove into Derwood, I saw Ed Lubbers at the driveway coming out for the first moments when it was not raining. He asked “What do you have there?” “A queen wrapped up in a rolled carpet.”
Ed and Deb Lubbers came in for their pre-Open House tour, and I showed them everything that had been done so far, even as I was still working on it. They were amazed, saying over and over “Beautiful!” “We could never imagine from what was here before how much of a transformation this has turned out to be!” The votes are usually mixed between the Game Room and the kitchen as the two most “Oooh and Ahhh” Rooms, but the Living Room is getting very high marks, and the Breakfast Room is a favorite too—but I still think the desk in the library is a princely place to sit with the deck at my back and the Game Room in front and the Den with its new furniture pieces now filling up to my right—as I type these lines. But, now, I have to go scrub out a defrosted refrigerator. With all this rainy day Great Indoor activity, my back feels crunchier after an all-day indoor workout than if I had run as planned!
RE-ENFORCING ONE BIT OF BAD NEWS WITH ANOTHER
The pipes are coughing and choking again on air and sediment brought in at the pump level so I can now look forward to the yard being dug up in search of the well and its pump. As I drove out the driveway in going to the second pass at the home repair shops, I made notes on where the special areas of concentration for Monday's delivery of the "Crush and Run." A dreaded and familiar little yellow gleam appeared---yes, you guessed it; the Audi “Check Engine” light is back on after all its repeated repairs. Life is a full time infrastructure struggle!