Lord of the Castle

Hard to find time to write these days…

Work…work on the house…sleep…do it all again.

I have even seriously considered ending the blog…and still might…

But…I just had to tell this story.

6-8 months ago, I did, for me, a very responsible thing. I booked a vacation…in advance!

You might scoff at that but the truth is that I have never been very good at that. Usually, we make “our plans” about a month ahead of time…if that!

I figured that since we have to get Big A back to Philadelphia for his second year at school, I would kill two birds with one stone and booked a vacation on the east coast…

Williamsburg, VA to be exact.

I figured that my parents could come down and visit for a few days and then take our son with them when they go home to New Jersey. They would get some time off, we would get time off and he would get back to college.

My plans were to leave at lunch on Friday directly from work and head to Nashville to pick Kimba up. We would then spend Saturday visiting with friends in the area and then leave early Sunday morning and arrive at the resort Sunday evening.

Three days ago, my wife called to verify our check in time…

Saturday afternoon!

Ooops!

After mulling that over for a day, I decided that instead of visiting friends in Nashville, we would pick Kimba up and drive straight through to VA. That means that we will get there right at check in time on Saturday afternoon. We will essentially gain 1 1/2 days at the resort.

That is why they (the family) pays me the big bucks! To figure these things out…

One problem…

After I announced my decision to my wife and our two youngest, called Kimba and also told our Nashville friends, an unforeseen complication has arisen…

His name is Earl. You might have seen pictures of him recently…

It looks like we will get there just a few hours after he leaves.

At least we won’t hit much traffic on the way in!

Our house has three 3′ x 7′ south facing windows in the living room and three more in the master bedroom. I don’t say that because our house is unique. That is the style in our neighborhood.

Those big, beautiful windows look great but they sure do let the heat in! One of our neighbors has actually covered ALL of his front windows with aluminum foil because they face the west. It looks terrible but the alternative is paying to run the air conditioner non-stop.

When I ordered the screen for the master bath, I also opted to replace those six old screens with the solar screen material. After seeing how dramatically the screen reduced the heat in the master bath, I wanted to figure out a way to mount a screen to cover the upper 4′ of those six south facing windows.

But, I had to get hoofing it on the bedroom ceiling. I didn’t have time to figure that problem out.

I made an offhanded remark to my son that that if he could figure out a way to make a frame that would be easy to install and remove, he could possible make some money with many of our neighbors.

This afternoon, as my wife and I pulled into the driveway, Big A walked out the front door with a wood frame that he had designed and built from scratch. As we walked up to the house, he tapped it into place. It fit perfectly.

It is an ingenious design. I mean, it is really good…and I am not one of those fathers who thinks that everything my kids do is fantastic. If anything, I need to be a little bit more complimentary.

First, it will hold a screen that will cover the entire window AND hold it securely in place. Second, it is relatively easy to install and remove. Third, it mounts flush with the existing exterior wood trim and when it is painted white, will look like it came from the factory!

He must get that from his mother’s side of the family!

Having trouble finding time to write these days…

Nights are out of the question. By the time I finish working on the house and taking a shower, Cakes and Big A are just arriving home from the restaurant and want to talk. So, I am going to bed AT LEAST an hour late every night.

Despite the late retirement, I still end up waking up before 5:00. I can’t really control that. My internal clock is set.

So, since I am getting less than six hours of sleep, I have been so tired that I am taking a 15-20 minute nap during my lunch break. So, no posts are getting written.

Besides all that, I don’t think that I have the skill to make construction “entertaining” or “interesting.

The construction on the bedroom ceiling is finished. I have started on the ceiling in the master bathroom.

I am pushing hard to finish because Big A is helping me with the “mudding and taping” of the drywall. I hope that we will have both rooms primed and painted before we leave to take him back to school in two weeks.

Although the summer is almost over, we plan on buying a gas BBQ. Whether we get one this year or next spring is another question.

As with most things in our marriage, this simple object has turned into a point of discussion. Naturally, my wife wants a big one. She said that she would barbecue every night if she could.

I want one that we can use at home and take with us if we go on a trip. I wanted her to see a few of the portable grills that I have looked at.

Then, the  idea of fishing in the lake near our house came up when I stumbled upon a fishing kayak on Craig’s List. I can actually see myself learning to fish that way…stop by the lake on the way home, carry the kayak to the water, get in some exercise by rowing and then see if I can actually catch a fish.

 The idea of getting a small boat, hooking it up to the truck, backing it into the water, parking the truck, etc. just seems like so much work, I know I will never do it.

So, I decided to take the family to visit the local outdoor store, The Bass Pro Shop. If you love the outdoors, this is your place.

Boats from $600 to $30,000. Guns of every size and shape. Fishing poles and gear…each specifically designed to catch nearly every single type of fish that God ever created. Knives, camouflage clothing, etc. etc.

There are more ways to spend your money than you ever thought possible! Good thing that I am not an outdoors-man!

I was going to cheat today…

Today marks the 3 year anniversary that our Midwest adventure began. So, I thought I would just copy and paste my notes from one of my family history files…

Except I couldn’t find any! Anywhere!

So, back to work…

Three years ago today, after 30 hours in our F150 Super Crew truck, we arrived in Overland Park, KS late Tuesday evening. We grabbed some food at Chipotle and then spent the night at a friend’s house.

By noon the next day, I found, rented and moved my family into a 1 BR apartment.

By 3:30, Big A was enrolled in high school and met the football coach.

By 5:30, had seen a doctor for his physical so he could start practice.

As I started settling up the apartment that evening, I realized that my wife had brought a card table and folding chairs to use for their dining room table. I hadn’t even thought about that before we left! I was too busy trying to fix the sprinkler system so our newly planted sod wouldn’t die while I was gone!

I appreciated that she was willing to sacrifice but I could not let that stand. Early Thursday morning, I went to the Salvation Army store and found a bike for Big A and two matching wing-back chairs for the living room.

That afternoon, we watched Big A’s first football practice in humid, 104º weather. That evening, we enrolled Cakes in a private Christian school.

I still wasn’t satisfied with their accommodations so on Friday morning, I visited the local Goodwill and found a couch, a chair for the corner of the bedroom and a 48″ round pine table with chairs for them to use as a dining room table. All three items were in nearly new condition! As an added bonus, when we brought the couch into the living room across from the two wing-back chairs, it looked like a co-ordinated set!

I have to tell you that I felt pretty good (even a little heroic) as I boarded the plane early Saturday morning to fly back to Los Angeles!

Sometime, the middle of the night, my wife accidentally woke me up. I don’t really know what she was doing…reading, doing laundry, something.

As I settled back in to go to sleep, a bug tried to go up my nose. I brushed it away and said, “Whoa…a mosquito is trying to get me.”

“That’s not a mosquito.”

“What is it?”

“A fruit fly.”

“A fruit fly? Why do you say that?”

“They’re breeding in our old refrigerator.”

“W-H-A-A-A-A-T?”

“The guy who serviced our washer looked at it and told me.”

 When we bought the new refrigerator, I didn’t quite know what to do with the old one.

Our neighborhood is too nice to leave it on the curb for a few days. The garage is full of boxes, trucks, lawnmowers and lumber. So, I decided to leave the old one in the house until I sold it or got rid of it.

Guess what I was doing at 5:30 this morning?

Moving my refrigerator out of our kitchen onto our back deck…

Now, that is hard enough to do by yourself. However, if you add the fact that my son just recently cut a 4′ x 3′ foot hole in the floor right at that very spot, the degree of difficulty increases significantly.

Just another day at the castle!

The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry…

I have mentioned frequently on this blog that I worked on our previous house for the entire 19 years that we owned it.

I am not complaining about that but I wasn’t looking forward to a repeat performance. Things were going to be different with this one!

In fact, I was so determined to avoid repeating our previous experience that we went to Home Depot and ordered carpet for the three bedrooms and the basement family room a few days before we even closed on the house (7/1). The carpet supposed to arrive on 7/7.

I figured that would work out perfectly. We would move our stuff in over the July 4th weekend, recover for a few days and then move into the bedrooms.

On 7/6, we were informed that there were delays at the factory. The carpet would not arrive until 7/27!

I was willing to wait a few days…but three weeks? I don’t think so.

We cancelled the order for bedrooms 2 & 3 and went to Lowe’s and ordered carpet. It was installed on the 15th.

I decided to stick with Home Depot for the master bedroom and the basement. I figured that would give me plenty of time to complete the ceiling remodel.

I no sooner got things good and torn up when Home Depot called and informed me that the carpet had come in 10 days early!

I responded, “Well, I’m not ready!”

“That’s fine. You have up to six months.”

That was three weeks ago and I am still not ready. In fact, I HOPE we can install the carpet before we leave for our family vacation in three weeks!

My son didn’t go to work today. So, to his credit, he decided to help me out at home.

He and his mother decided to finish pulling up the old linoleum floor in the kitchen. I thought, “That’s great! I can use all the help I can get!”

As they were nearing the end, they discovered that the sub-floor was rotted through right where it meets the sliding glass door that leads out to the deck.

Big A grabbed the saw and cut out the offending section out. I must admit that he did a pretty good job.

However, the end result is that I have a gaping 4′ x 3′ hole in the kitchen floor and the kitchen wasn’t all that big to begin with!

The problem is complicated enough to where I have to fix it.

But my plate is already full with the master bedroom remodel!

And I have to finish that so my wife and I can finally move into our bedroom! We have been sleeping on mattresses that we put down on the floor of the third bedroom for the past three weeks.

Needless to say, I was frustrated. But, what was I going to say to them? I couldn’t very well chew them out for “helping” me!

No…I just thanked them and and avoided all further discussion by heading straight to the bedroom as soon as I got home from work.

Everyone will just have to learn to avoid the huge hole in the floor until I can get to it.

 Our master bedroom has a nice master bathroom attached to it. As you enter that master bath, you will see a corner jacuzzi tub that looks something like this.

Above that jacuzzi tub is a 4′ square picture window. We’ve always dreamed of having something like this.

But, there is one large problem with that dream come true…

It faces west…

That means that it lets in quite a bit of heat in the afternoon.

My first idea was solar film.

The films at Home Depot didn’t inspire me. Besides, this is one job that I didn’t want to do myself. I have no confidence that I wouldn’t end up with a wrinkle and that wrinkle would never leave me alone.

So, I called the local company that installs solar film made by the 3M…

$375 for one window!

Forget that!

After I recovered from his price bomb, I learned that it will also block the sun’s heat in the winter. Hmmm, I don’t want that…

My next idea was to get a sheet of glass, make a little frame and have him put the film on at his shop. That way I could remove the window in the winter and save money on the film installation!

“$160.”

Are you kidding me?

Maybe I will have to do it myself.

A few days later, I remembered that the contractor who worked on our house before we bought it mentioned the local company where he bought this very bathroom window. I called to see how much they would charge to make the single pane window.

After I explained my idea to them, the guy said,”There is another way to do that.”

“How is that?”

“A screen.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve got screens that will do what you want to do.”

“How much of the sun’s energy will they block out?”

“80%”

“Eighty percent?…How much would a 4′ x 4′ screen cost?”

“Do you have wood trim around the window?”

“Yes.”

“$50 including the metal frame.”

I have to admit that I was skeptical that a screen could do what he said they could but the price was low enough that I decided to take a chance.

As you already know from yesterday’s post, I installed that screen.

Guess what? It actually works!!!

I’m telling you, by the time I finish with the foil, the screen, the ceiling and the insulation, our bedroom will be so cool that I will need to open the windows to keep from shivering!

I couldn’t wait to get home today so I pick up my and install my new solar screens.

My first challenge was to figure out how to get a 4′ x 4′ screen home while driving a Toyota Paseo???

It wouldn’t fit in the trunk.

It was also too big to fit in the front door.

So, I VERY gently (I didn’t want to bend the metal frame!) tied it to the roof of the car and drove home VERY slowly. Fortunately, there was very little traffic on the roads that I chose.

When I got home, I hopped out to check the condition of the screen…Great! Still intact! Part one of the mission was accomplished.

I got out my 16′ extension ladder out and positioned it up against the house.

Oh…the ladder only doesn’t even reach to the bottom of the bathroom window…Ah, I can make it work!”

I grabbed the screen (remember that it is 4 feet square) and headed up the ladder. It didn’t take long before I realized that I was more than a little bit above the ground! I didn’t seem to notice those things when I was younger.

I tried every which way I could but I still couldn’t reach the top of the window!

“Shoot! I need a bigger ladder…I didn’t plan for that!”

Down the ladder, into the house to get the keys to fire up Wild Bill to drive to Lowe’s.

Once inside, it quickly became apparent that this was going to take some time…

They had various length extension ladders, step ladders and multi-position ladders. Then, you have to choose whether you prefer one made of aluminum, fiberglass or wood.

Obviously I did not accomplish all that I had planned for the evening…

But I do have a nice, shiny new ladder!