frames and dirt

he oughta know

You can see this intention to go toward the right wing in politics that’s taking place. But it will only bring us to a darker place, and a rainier season. Whenever humans lose their courage, it’s always followed by all kinds of tragedies.

     -Ai Weiwei

paint colors

I walked to the farmers market this morning, and on the way ran into neighbors. First Steve and Jen, who invited me in and gave me a tour of their house. They live on the corner of Palou and Lane, which is good -- they get a lot of light -- and bad -- people dump trash in the side yard. It's a boxy midcentury house with the garage/basement underneath. Probably 1.5 times the size of my house. You can see that it was flipped without bells and whistles. They are having the back and side yards overhauled -- that will be nice for those of us who pass by.

On the next block, I saw Wedrell coming out of his parents' house. He always recognizes me but doesn't remember my name. Who knows how he's doing, really -- he told me that his grandmother died about a week ago, and I would imagine that he knew her well, since it seems like everyone in his family lives within a half mile of everyone else.

On the way home I said hello to Marlon, who was out doing yard work. This morning he was tap-tapping at something in his back yard and I wasn't sure where the noise was coming from -- I hate not being able to see out back! But I saw him when I went out and around the side of my house to make sure the gate was locked.

Yesterday morning Gene's car was parked in the contractors' spot when Abel arrived, a little after 8:00. I went next door to warn him to move the car -- didn't want him to get a ticket. I knocked and two little girls looked out the window at me, and then one started turning the door knob, very slowly, without actually opening the door. They may have been wondering what the old white lady was doing standing on their porch. Finally I got one of them to go alert an adult, and Barbara came to the door. Barbara was barefoot, and her toenails were painted bright red. There were toys scattered all over the living room floor, but Barbara didn't mind.

A shady lane -- everybody wants one.

I took photos of house color schemes while I was walking up the hill from the farmers market to the Good Life Grocery.  (The last pic is from North Beach.) I seem to be fixated on gray and blue and green. The cladding on the windows and the door at the back of the house will be dark gray; the sun room windows will be unframed. I'm not sure about the kitchen windows -- the old windows have simple frames, but the windows at the front of the house are unframed. I love the color of the green pipes against the cement on the Embarcadero, but of course my house is wood and I'm not sure if any color will look saturated enough to please me.

Ariel called yesterday to tell me that the concrete has been removed from the back yard. He also said that Joe Born came over to talk about the rafter supports and that they came up with an acceptable plan. The roof will go on next week, and after that I will be able to access the sun room -- but it'll be boarded up at night, of course, until the windows and the door are installed. He set up another check-in with Ryan and me on Tuesday afternoon, so we can look at the back yard and figure out what to do next.

checking in

I left work early yesterday to meet with Ariel and Ryan. I was thrilled to see a new wall! I was also very happy to learn that Abel has been watering my peach tree -- apparently, he has a green thumb.

Turns out that Ariel and I misunderstood one another in our conversation about the concrete in the back yard. He thought I was saying that I didn't want to get rid of the concrete over the back part of the yard, and he didn't understand that we were talking about smoothing/leveling the dirt so that we only need one step. I think we are in sync now, thanks in part to Ryan. I guess that's why it's good to check in!

A and R had discussions that I didn't fully understand -- about the laundry closet doors and the exposed rafters. Since both discussions were focused on how to make things structurally sound without sacrificing aesthetics, I sided with Ryan. BTW, this is not a good photo of Ariel -- he was in the process of standing up when I took it.

After the check-in I quickly got some dinner together and then drove downtown to meet Nanci and Gina at the opera house. We saw (and heard) Jenufa, which featured two wonderful Scandinavian sopranos and a great orchestral score. Aside from some questionable fake rocks, it was a beautiful production. We could just barely see Chris playing his horn in the pit. It was good to chat a bit with Gina -- I see her maybe once every other year.

framing for windows

The side-facing sunroom window has been framed. I think they also hammered on a steel joint today, to link the sunroom to the rest of the house. Part of me wonders why we're bothering to make this little tiny house solid enough to survive an earthquake -- is it really worth it? But the rest of me is happy to do it.

I realized that I hadn't inspected the windows from the outside so I did that this evening. I like the color of the replacement siding -- a nice shade of gray.

Tomorrow afternoon I have to come home early to check in with Ariel and Ryan. I think the second concrete pouring will happen on Friday, and Ariel wants to show me what is going to be covered.

monday framing photo

Framing on the gate side. I can still stand in the gap between the foundation and the fence and peek around the corner. It is surprising to see how little there is to the yard -- in the brief amount of time since the old laundry room disappeared I forgot that I have a small backyard.

It was not a great day at the office. I'm glad to be home. Also glad that when I got home there was no car in my driveway. Unlike last night, which was doubly annoying because when I came home from Nanci's place I had to sit in the street and wait for the guy who was using my driveway as a parking place to drive away -- and instead of apologizing he said "give us a minute, we're getting our kid in the car" in an aggrieved tone, as if I was the one who was being rude. Guh.

Shake it off, Mary! I don't want to waste my time being mad about neighborly peccadillos. I'm getting ready to have mint rosemary tea with a little bit of chocolate, and I'm hoping to sleep well tonight.

PG

Last Sunday I drove to Pacific Grove to see A+B and their house. It's on a narrow street, very close to the main drag, but not too close. It needs some TLC but has a lot of interesting angles and a good dose of sweetness. Most of their neighbors are full-time residents (as opposed to vacationers).

A has already put the garden in order, bought and painted some vintage furniture, and rigged up shelving and other storage. Now she's working on resurfacing the kitchen.

We had lunch, took the doggies for a walk on the beach, and then sat around the small living room talking and drinking. Oh, and I did two loads of laundry. Eventually, after dinner, I walked the six blocks or so to their little AirBnB house and went to bed.

On Monday they took me to the aquarium. I had never been there, for some reason. I felt the usual mix of fascination and apprehension -- the octopi, in particular, seemed a bit constrained to me. But what do I know -- perhaps they are having a great time in those tanks.

I got home sometime after 4:00 and nobody was working -- Ariel decided to wait another day for the concrete to set. It was a little disappointing to have missed the opportunity to be home alone in the morning.

They seem energized and relaxed. I don't know how it's all going to feel once they've finished with the moving in and fixing up. If they get bored, I guess they can start traveling again.

As for me, I am continually worrying while trying not to worry about money. If only I were ten years younger, I sometimes think. If only I had someone to help pay for the renovations. But I'm not and I don't.

end of week eight

The BRITE meeting was pretty much OK, about 20 people showed up. Afterward, A and I went to help out with the cleanup at Adam Rodgers Park. But we didn't stay very long -- it seemed like they had more than enough people and not quite enough for us to do. I came back here to clean up a bit and nurse a bruise/scrape on my lower shin that I got when I rammed into an irrigation spout while we were nailing boards onto the bottoms of the garden beds.

I am getting myself mentally prepared to drive to LEN's and then to D+T's for the evening. It is a lovely afternoon, bright and slightly breezy. I slept well last night, after lying awake on Thursday worrying pointlessly about money.

Next week they will probably break up the rest of the concrete in the back and then pour new concrete near the gate and right in front of the sun room. That's a change order and will cost me about $4,000. So far I think I'm $10,000 over the original estimate -- concrete plus plumbing plus additional work on the window framing. From what I've heard about cost overruns, that's now bad. Then again, we are only a little more than halfway through the tunnel!

new fence

The past few days I've been able to crawl out the bedroom window and scootch between the new foundation and the fence to get a look at the back yard. Yesterday I came home and found a new fence mostly finished, and a little bit of framing. Progress.

I keep worrying, pointlessly, about the money. It will disappear, and I will tap into the line of credit, and then, job willing, I will pay it off. So why am I worrying? It's in the genes, I guess.

new foundation

friday/saturday, week seven

The concrete was poured yesterday. I saw nothing -- a guy from the concrete company showed up before I left for work, to check out the site, but the truck didn't arrive until later. I know they used a sump pump to get the goods up and around the back of the house. I left work early, but didn't get home in time to see anything except a clump of sandy cement near the curb. Not sure if anyone is planning to clean that up. If it's dry enough by Monday they will work on the fence and retaining wall across the light well.

Anyway, now it's Saturday morning. I'm finished with breakfast, and almost finished with my coffee -- I'm only having coffee at home on the weekends because it's too much bother to grind the beans and wash out the pot every day. I'm getting used being uncaffeinated until I get to work. If my math is correct, I am halfway through this three-month tunnel. Part of me thinks that's crazy -- how could that much time have passed? The other part of me wonders how I could have signed on for such a long haul.

I haven't had to tap into the line of credit but I know that will happen. I owe the structural engineer about $600, the extra plumbing work is going to cost about $5,000, and the extra concrete work will probably cost about that much. I have to pay for paint and three more appliances. I'll get a raise of some kind next month -- it'll probably cover the cost of the oven and the washer/dryer pair.

The dust shield is now taped over the doorway to/from the living room -- they moved it when they started to frame the pantry. So now I shuffle through construction dust and pass by the dark, chilly, cavernous kitchen every time I go to the bathroom.

I went with Michael, John, and Emily to the Philosopher's Club on Wednesday, to meet up with her father, Otto, and watch part of the Warriors/Cavs game. While we chatted and paid some attention to the first quarter, I drank two martinis, and then Michael drove me to the BRITE board meeting.

Last night, while I was making pesto, I listened to a conversation about the relationship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. I had forgotten that they were close, and I don't think I ever realized that Ali turned against Malcolm. It makes sense, of course, that Ali would have to choose between the Nation of Islam and Malcolm, but I can't imagine having to make such consequential choices, or having to live with the consequences.

sunday, week seven

And now for a non-reno-related post. I went to the symphony last night. Got a ticket from Nanci and met up with J+K, who already had tickets. K took this shot from their seats. It was a short concert, just two pieces: Shostakovich cello concerto no. 1 (with an encore -- a movement from one of the Bach cello suites) and Tchaikovsky symphony no. 4, with Ashkenazy conducting. It was wonderful. The cellist was a bit cautious -- he's very young, under 25, and Russian. Ashkenazy scampered out like a Charlie Chaplin character, but once he was on the podium he was more or less in command. Nanci said later that the Tchaikovsky was a big mess in rehearsal but it didn't seem that way last night -- the third movement in particular was incredible, the pizzicato lush and modulated.

While I was listening, images from my day in the neighborhood kept popping up. I got on the bus to come back from Bernal Heights, and sat next to an old hippie guy who was talking us through all the stops ("Folsom" . . . "Prentiss" . . . "Bronte") and commenting on the appearance of the sun. He wished us all a wonderful day as he got off. An old Chinese man with a bowed head got off at Bayshore with an enormous bag of cans. He went down the back steps and tried to drag the bag after him, but it got stuck in the doorway. A woman got up to help but he assumed she was trying to take his bag from him and began to shout at her. Another woman, who was sitting at the back of the bus with her dog, started yelling at the man to stop fighting the woman who was trying to help him. She said a lot of other things while she was at it. He must have heard at least some of what she was shouting, because he started thanking the first woman. While all this was happening, a large family boarded at the front of the bus. A half dozen kids and one mom -- I wasn't sure if all of the kids were hers but most of them certainly were. One of the older daughters was looking out for the younger kids, telling one brother to sit down, even though he was worried about not being old or disabled, and warning the boy next to me not to talk to strangers -- he was saying hi to other passengers and repeating all of the bus announcements with great relish, just like the old hippie. I wondered where they were all going, where they live, and how they get by.  

end of week six

It was a long short week. I caught a cold toward the end of the long weekend and began to feel discouraged about spending another two months or so without a kitchen. Fortunately, KW came to my rescue by offering up her apartment in Oakland while she was away. I was grateful to be able to work from "home" on Wednesday -- and very happy to have access to a kitchen. For a little while I wondered if maybe I should return to apartment living (aka renting) -- it was such a relief not to feel responsible for anything around me. I envied the relatively clean streets and the stores (and movie theater) within walking distance. I was planning to stay there last night, but the delivery of the dishwasher and the exhaust fan for the stove was scheduled for sometime between 7 and 11 this morning, so I had to come back to my house. I found it just as I left it -- and I was glad to be here.

Today there were inspections. Joe Born the structural engineer approved the linkage of the sun room foundation to the house foundation, and the city inspector approved the foundation framing. Next week, after yet another inspection (electrical), the concrete will be poured.

Because I stayed home later than usual this morning (in case the dishwasher and fan showed up between 7:00 and 8:00), I took some shots of the foundation framing after Abel removed the plywood from the doorway. Also delivered today: the tankless water heater, which I ordered only a few days ago. I waited almost a month for the dishwasher and fan to be delivered, and I wasn't very happy with the trucking company because they gave me very little advance notice.

That is all, for now.