May 21, 2009
Dear Everyone:
My back, which sort of sprained itself after all
the moving and re-injured itself several times in the past few weeks, is
slowly getting better. The
condo is also, slowly pulling together.
The townhouse has been more taken apart than put
together. We had the
“Paintin’ Party” the weekend of May 9th.
“Frankie” and “Richard” flew out on Wednesday and “Frankie” even
rented a car. One of the
first things “Richard” did was remove the light fixtures from both
bathrooms as “Jeannie” has replacements for them already.
“Jeannie” had a job Thursday afternoon, so
“Richard” and “Frankie” proceeded to paint both of the bedrooms.
Our job was to cover everything with primer, then more
professional painters would do the top coat.
On Friday they painted the insides of the closets.
“Marshall” arrived on Saturday so that was the day that “Richard”
tackled the stairwell walls and ceiling.
Because the stairwell goes all the way up to the
second-floor ceiling, one wall is essentially two stories high (about 20
feet.) “Richard” set up one
ladder on the landing in front of the furnace closet.
Then he set a large board across from one of the steps, about
halfway up the stairs, onto a step on the ladder on the landing.
Then he balanced the really tall ladder on the board so he could
reach the top of the stairwell wall.
“Marshall” held the upper ladder, I held the lower
ladder, and we all held our breath until “Richard” completed his
painting and came down from the upper ladder.
It was definitely not the safest operation, but it was completed
without incident.
I, personally, was not allowed to paint anything.
Instead I was relegated to trips to the big hardware warehouse
store and fetching lunch.
“Richard” and “Marshall” left Sunday evening, with “Marshall” generously
driving “Richard” to the
At one point, “Frankie” and “Jeannie” were trying
to paint the downstairs half-bathroom.
But without the light fixture, they couldn’t see very well (it’s
an internal room under the stairs, with no windows.)
So I went back to the big hardware warehouse store and bought a
work light. (I also found
two new lamps for my new bedroom.)
Finally, on Tuesday, “Frankie” and “Jeannie” decide
that I could paint the wrought-iron banister on the stairs with white
enamel. The idea was that I
could paint it while sitting on the steps.
Actually, I found the most effective technique was to hold the
work light in one hand, while painting the banister with the other, so I
could see where I had painted.
White on white, with scant light is a little difficult to see.
I even used a ladder to work on the “outside” part of the stairs.
“Frankie” also took the opportunity to visit her
daughter, our niece, “Liza”, who is attending
graduate school at
UC
Berkeley, a couple of times.
Everyone got a chance to see my new place and all proclaimed it an
improvement over the old place.
No one, however, wanted to stay with me on an inflated air bed in
the second bedroom.
“Frankie” left on Wednesday.
I had ARMA on Wednesday and my new
Homeowners Association meeting
on Thursday. Hence, no
Letter last week. There’s
only one more ARMA meeting next month.
After that, we can look into changing the meeting date from the
second Wednesday of each month since the HOA meets the second Thursday.
That’s too many late nights in one week.
As for the two new lamps, I set them up last
weekend. On Sunday
afternoon, I took the two old lamps and carefully set them in the
dumpster area, but not in the dumpster itself.
When I checked Monday after work, they were both gone, having
found new homes somewhere in the community.
And the air bed is now deflated, rolled up and
sitting in the closet in the second bedroom.
Any time someone decides to stay at my new place, it only takes
three minutes to inflate.
Really.
Love, as always,
Pete
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