Just Pat

"...all language about everything is analogical; we think in a series of metaphors. We can explain nothing in terms of itself, but only in terms of other things." (Dorothy Sayers, Mind of the Maker, 1941)

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Location: West Michigan

Monday, May 30, 2005

The Construction Chronicles, Part 17

...Or leave a kiss between my toes, and I'll not look for pergo...

It...brings...sniff...tears...to...my...sniff...eyes...

It looks different. It feels different. It smells different.
It is different.

Now that the carpet is in, there's about one full day left of work to do before the attic is habitable. What the heck will I do with myself?

Ah, yes. The second floor.

Of necessity, I've already begun, because the attic door needs to be finished in order for the apartment to be truly finished. So, this weekend I heat stripped all the door jambs, and chemical stripped three of the five off the second floor hallway. I've also sanded the door, which
Amazing Grace Elephant Company dip-stripped last fall.

Which brings me to this.

Whenever we buy houses, we tend to demonize the former owner. Or owners past. It's part of the initiation of the home to hold previous care and decorating of the house in disdain. I've been on both sides of the sale. I know it's part of home ownership.

But I have to ask: What the frickin heck were they thinking??


Why would anyone pop one thousand four hundred twenty seven tack holes in a one hundred year old door?

Okay, that's an estimate. But I bet if this was a church bazaar contest I'd win the door prize.

So, the next step is to carefully fill all of the tiny holes with stainable wood filler. That won't take a long time. But will it look okay when I'm done? The only alternative is to replace the door altogether, and that's not an option, financially speaking. So, it will look as good as it can, or rather as good as I can make it.

I spent most of today outside. I mowed, I trimmed, I swept. I had AAA roadservice come jumpstart the Jag so I could pull her out of the garage and give her a bath. She's so purrty. Unfortunately, her battery didn't hold the charge so I'll have to have her jumped again. But getting her clean brought me one step closer to summer.


This evening , I'll try my hand at shaving Babbette for the first time. She's overdue for her summer coif. My groomer closed shop, and I was left with the dilemma of finding another groomer, or purchasing a grooming kit for the same price as one visit. I may regret my decision after tonight, but it will only cost me one groom, so what's to lose? Other than my blood...

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Sunday, May 22, 2005

The Construction Chronicles, Part 16

Sidebar.

My friends are the best. Have I told you my friends are the best? I mentioned I turned 43 on 5/14. Well, I was attacked by love last Thursday night by Captain Wow, Amazing Man, Headless, the PickleO's, St. Doppleganger and his bride, the Tree Climbing Dutch Girl from Minnesota, and other super secret underworld masterminds. Total surprise. As evidenced by my reaction, digitally captured:

Bad closeup of surprised

I was spoiled beyond belief. The night was marked by a last supper reenactment, a thong joke, two provocative scoops of rice, a flying turtle, and communal ice cream. If I told you more, I'd have to kill you.

Thanks, friends. Your presence was the greatest gift.

Okay - on to the chronicle:

About two hours of work left, and I'm ready for carpet. All of the baseboard is installed - yes! Just a little more filling, a little more painting, and there's nothing to prevent the carpet installation. So, tomorrow I'll make the appointment - in faith - for the end of this week.
And the sink that I meant to buy too small so that we could build a ledge for it? It needs the prime and finish coats, but I think it turned out great.

The kitchen sink has running water. It took me about two minutes to take running water up there for granted.

It feels good to be so close to finishing - and also a little sad. It's been a great year. Dick and Grace have been so wonderful and so fun. We've had our tense moments, but they don't last long. They're already talking about working on the second floor. When I think of it, it sounds like a sequel to a hit movie. Timing is everything.

Next chronicle:
Drink to me only with thy fibers...and I will pledge thee with my feet...

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Rain



Why is it when we walk through the rain that we sometimes shudder and stomp and run and curse and flail, and other times we savor its touch on our skin and breathe deeply the scent of wet earth and gaze in wonder as the world turns green?

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Sunday, May 15, 2005

The Construction Chronicles, Part 15



This weekend was a painting extravaganza. I painted pretty trim and ugly wasn't-trim-but-is-trim-now trim. I poly'd the kitchen cabinets where they still needed it. I filled the nailholes in the baseboard and added the final coat. The most obvious project: the stairwell.

It was an ugly stairwell. Even after the dangerous steps were replaced with reliable OSB, and the gappy wood planking on the walls was replaced with drywall - still it was grim. But after a couple hours of sanding, filling, washing, priming, countersinking, filling, sanding, priming and painting...it's as done as it's gonna get. Those that know me well will notice that I broke my own rule on this one - I used painting tape. Yes, I had to break down. The boards along the stairs were never meant to be trim; they're 100 years old and chunked up all to heck. So, we'll see if I made the right decision when I pull off the tape. Don't worry; I still believe there's no substitute for a good paint brush.

I also applied five coats of white rustoleum to the gray breaker box, to make it a little more cheery. We must have cheery electricity; utility is just not good enough now that the stairwell isn't ugly.



I also mudded and sanded the wall behind the kitchen sink. I must have inhaled some of the dust because I have a splitting headache.

Yesterday was my birthday - 43. Yippee!! Four and three equals seven, the number of perfection. Four minus three equals one - I'm number one!!! I received cards from my family, a call from Captain Wow, a philosphical mind-bending visit with Headless, and Cheryl Meryl put flowers in my porch pots. All day I had constant little reminders that I'm loved.

Next post, I hope I'm telling you a story about carpet installation. Yes, I'm that close...

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Sunday, May 08, 2005

The Construction Chronicles, Part 14



This weekend, more progress.

  • The toilet flushes, AND the tank refills with water.
  • The baseboard was routed, primed, filled, painted, and the installation began this morning.
  • More painting of trim accomplished.

It's altogether possible that by the end of the month, the apartment will be finished. I'm trying not to get my head set on that timeline as a goal, because stuff happens. But, it's possible. Altogether.

The picture above is the sample of carpet I chose against the newly applied baseboard and corners. You can't really tell from the photo, but the tones of green have just enough yellow and brown in them to coordinate well with the yellow walls and the copper/terra cotta accent in the kitchen.

Today, we were graced by a visit from Captain Wow and Amazing Man on their way to celebrate their first anniversary. It was happiness abundant at Just Pat's house today!

More updates next weekend.

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Friday, May 06, 2005

Grace Revisited

I've been at a conference for the last three days. Most of the workshops I signed up for were on school security.

Yesterday's afternoon sessions were led by a speaker that was at Beslan after the school siege in September 2004. He shared stories about the hours during the siege. His stories were filled with cruelty, murder, rape, and mental and physical torture inflicted on the hostages by the attackers. He showed photos that were taken during and after the siege, and told of the hostages that were brutalized - some that made it out, some that did not. The attack was related to a centuries-long dispute between Chechnya and Russia. I've heard arguments that the Chechens were justified in their aggression because they were pushed by the Russians. But, this was not a chess game. People were not peacefully held as pawns. They were brutalized. Teachers. Parents. Children.

At the end of the second session, he took us away from the Beslan incident, and showed a video containing a conglomeration of executions filmed by terrorists. He gave us the opportunity to leave before he played it, but I chose to stay.

Last night I thought about why I chose to stay. I think I stayed because I didn't want to walk away from what others had suffered. I know that it's too late, that the damage is done. But somehow, it seemed wrong not to see it, not to allow myself to be part of it, to be wounded by it.

Now, I'm dumbfounded by how a man or a woman - a human being - can possibly be so brutal, so cold, so nonchalant toward another human. I watched as a terrorist engaged his bound prisoner in what appeared to be casual conversation before slaughtering him.

This was different than the 9/11 attack. That attack was not as close up. Granted, the suicide pilots were within feet of the people they were taking to their deaths. But, most of our warfare isn't close up. We use rifles, grenades, bombs. We situate ourselves at a distance from our victim, because really, we hate death and we wish we didn't have to be about this business of defense and offense. What I saw yesterday was different; it was up close, personal, and flippant. When I say flippant, I mean that it was not inflicted out of presenting anger or rage or hysteria that I would expect to precipitate such acts.

Since I saw all of this yesterday, I keep coming back to it in my mind, randomly and without warning. I'm having to process what I saw, to apply it to what I know of the world and of people. It's like my brain has been jostled and is in a pack and reindex mode.

I am rethinking forgiveness, and mercy, and fairness, and the death penalty, and warfare, and most of all, I'm rethinking grace. I don't know what causes a man or woman to be so blithely brutal. Even if I did, it wouldn't change things. But, yesterday morning I thought I understood the depths of God's grace to forgive sin. Yesterday afternoon, those depths grew far deeper than I can fathom.

I'm kind of sitting here with my jaws loose and my mind loose, feeling utterly spent and useless, but also in awe and wonder at the marvelous love of God for his creation, his power to forgive, his longsuffering toward the world. Am I glad I stayed to watch the video? I guess glad really isn't the word. I think it was important for me to stay.

I bought flowers with my groceries after work tonight.

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Monday, May 02, 2005

The Construction Chronicles, Part 13


So much was done this weekend.

  • The kitchen sink is now in the counter. And, the hole for the sink is NOT wider than the sink rim.
  • The backsplash is on the wall behind the sink counter, and the cabinets are screwed to the wall.
  • The baseboard corner pieces are primed.
  • The bathroom floor took some more leveling cement and two more sheets of lauan, and is now solid.
  • The toilet is in. It flushes.
  • Most of the windows have their first coat of paint.
  • The bathroom sink basin is in place.




One surprise. I got a wonderful deal a few months ago on a marble sink top for the bathroom. Dick and I brought it up from the garage yesterday to set it on his freshly painted base. Oops. Turns out the base is 24" deep, and the sink is 19" deep. Then Grace came up with the idea to build a shelf behind the backsplash. This solves the problem of space for toothbrush, soap, etc. Serendipity! So instead of taking the hit that I didn't measure, my story is, "Yeah - I meant to do that."

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