March 1, 2007
Dear Everyone:
Whatever plans I had for last weekend dropped off the priority list at about 8:30 Saturday morning, when “Jeannie” called me with a problem. She had taken a deposition that week at a law office in San Francisco which was situated on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator. She had to drag her case, complete with laptop and steno writer, up three flights of stairs.
If you’ve ever had trouble lifting your full suitcase into the trunk of your car, imagine lifting it up three flights. I had to pull my computer case up two flights the last time I was in downtown “Hobby” and it’s not easy.
(Downtown “Hobby” is honeycombed with tunnels that connect buildings under the streets and skyways over the streets. To get from the hotel to our office building, you take the skyway from the second floor to the building across the street. Then take the escalator down to the first floor. Follow a walkway past some sandwich shops and restaurants to an elevator that only takes you down into the tunnels. A sign directs you to a door that you need your Smart Badge (security badge) to open. Go up an incline until you reach the basement of our office building. There’s an elevator to take you up to the first floor. The elevator never works. Drag yourself and your “luggage” up two flights of stairs to the ground floor. This is why I never plan to use this route again, even if it’s pouring rain in “Hobby”.)
Hauling her case had taken a toll on “Jeannie”’s back. She could not look up or to the right without searing pain. She planned to take medication for the pain, but she needed someone to “supervise” her while she painted the kitchen, to make sure she didn’t fall off a ladder or something. I would be the “supervisor”.
I took a quick shower and headed up to “Jeannie”’s place. Why did the kitchen have to be painted that weekend? Couldn’t it wait until the pain subsided? Well, no. The cabinet makers were scheduled to arrive the following Monday morning to install the new cabinets and the walls and ceiling had to be ready.
When I arrived at “Jeannie”’s place, I found that even the kitchen sink was gone. Only the refrigerator and range remained in the kitchen and they were covered with plastic drop cloths. The overhead (fluorescent) light fixture had also been removed. And “Jeannie” had already done one coat of “stain sealer” on the walls and ceiling. This is what convinced her that she needed help to finish the job.
We did a second coat of what I called “the white glop”; it’s much thicker than regular paint, but hides a multitude of sins. And, of course, I did more than “supervise”. I could paint the ceiling with a long handled roller relatively without pain and much more quickly than “Jeannie” could by herself.
The only problem was her cats. The activity in the kitchen was a source of great curiosity on their part (you know what they say about cats.) We tried locking them in the garage. They love the garage (it has so many interesting nooks and crannies.) The garage door has a cat door, from “Jeannie’s” previous cat. If you lifted the flap for them, the cats would go right through. But they had not as yet conquered the concept of going through on their own.
Until last Saturday. When it really mattered, Lucy, the Maine Coon, figured it out. We settled for locking them both in the bedroom. We also realized that the cats could not be in the house when the cabinets were being installed; so “Jeannie’s” cats are currently living with me.
We painted the ceiling white (Ralph Lauren has 32 shades of “white”) and the walls cream. By 4:00 that afternoon, it was getting hard to see. Remember the light had been removed and the only natural light was coming in the kitchen window. “Jeannie” had a couple of lamps that we kept moving from one spot to another, but that was about it.
Sunday morning, I packed a medium-size step ladder and a goose-neck table lamp in my car and headed back up to “Jeannie’s” place. By the morning light, we could see that a second coat of paint was necessary. However, the parts of the walls that would be covered with cabinets didn’t need to be painted all that well.
The goose-neck lamp could sit on top of the refrigerator or the range and point light in whichever direction we needed. And the medium step ladder would be easier to maneuver when “Jeannie” paints the bathrooms, which are tighter quarters than the kitchen. We finished the kitchen around 1:00 that afternoon.
I went home to start cleaning, set up the litter boxes (each cat requires her own box) and generally prepare for the Academy Awards. “Jeannie” brought the cats with her later on Sunday and they’ve been here ever since.
The cabinets were installed on Monday, with the granite countertops going in afterwards. “Jeannie” says every surface in her house is covered in sawdust. The people who will tear up the carpet will come next week. “Jeannie” will be moving in with me (and the cats) while the new floor tile is laid and “seasoned” throughout the downstairs part of the house.
I plan on taking some vacation time while all this is going on. I can handle the house guests as long as I don’t have to follow the rather strict schedule that I have when working.
The cats already don’t like the fact that I won’t feed them as soon as I get out of bed in the morning. Each time I come out of the bedroom, they head downstairs, expecting me to follow them. Each time, they’re disappointed, until it’s time for me to actually go to work. Life is hard sometimes.
Love, as always,
Pete
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