Logjam

[snousle]

It's been almost a month since we arrived, and it's gone very, very fast. There is so much to do, and unpacking is such a logjam that it's hard to make any progress. One box will contain things that go to three different places, which are in turn full of boxes. Having the commercial kitchen and associated service patio still unavailable hasn't helped. Since the contractor didn't finish the floor in time for me to get it sealed, I have to move all the appliances, etch each area with acid, neutralize it, dry it, and finally put on the sealant. Otherwise I'd have had to wait another week and a half for delivery. So, because the floor isn't sealed there's no place to put the kitchen stuff, which jams up everything else. You get the idea!

And books! Books are the ultimate white elephant. I might never want to read them again, but throwing them out seems sacreligious. I'm not at all sure how to handle them. I know there's lots of bibliophiles reading this... has anyone succeeded in overcoming the tyranny of paper?

We have carved out a very reasonable living area, though, which makes things fairly pleasant. Here's some pictures...

This is our dining / living area. The finish carpentry is not even started in here - it will eventually have Craftsman-style stained fir trim around the windows. We're copying the finish carpentry in the San Jose house, as it was carefully designed to look good even when it's built by complete doofuses.



This is taken from the dining area, looking the other way into the residential kitchen. Note the little itty-bitty bar sink, which was never intended for washing dishes in - as we've been doing for the past four weeks.



John has set up his shop in the small guest room for now.



Kitsune has proven to be something of a porch dog, which makes her easy to manage out here. She's more interested in bugs and lizards than the larger wildlife. She did go after a small herd of deer but, amazingly, was rebuffed by the head buck. That's probably a good lesson for her to learn. In the meanwhile, she's ridiculously cute when she pounces on lizards in the tall grass.



Stainless fetishists will have to wait a while longer for pictures of the commercial kitchen, at least until it's respectable. Stay tuned.

Comments

[jpeace.livejournal.com]

I mean this seriously: after you burn your first book it gets so much easier. Try it.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that at current energy prices, that is actually their highest value. We're getting a wood stove soon and maybe I'll ask the salesman about burning books. He'll probably give us a better deal since he'll assume we're Christians.

But I was looking at an old electrical engineering text... sorta interesting, unlikely to be useful.... so I turn it over, and it's, like, NINETY DOLLARS!!! And that was in 1992 or something! EEEEK! Of course the textbook publishing bastards change them all the time so old books are no longer useful to today's students.