The day after Valentines, we took the Dusting Kit, along with a full SUGRMTN truckload of stuff, up to the house. Big saw for doing manly wood things. Books, lots of them. A few bags of kitchen and bath creature comforts. The old Fisherman painting. Two coolers of food and drink.
The big event was the unveiling of the new hardwood floors that had been built by David Durr and his crew from his company, Victorian Hardwood floors. He's a fellow Bobwhite. If you know what I'm talking about... if not, ignore that part. We were not disappointed. The floors were beautiful, just the right balance of rustic and refined. Replacing the carpet, even though it was in decent shape, changes the feel of the main floor so much. In a good way.
Trip number one for the weekend to B & C Hardware. Just over the hill, barely into Grass Valley, it's a pretty big establishment, providing just the right level of goods and assistance that we need for the small things we are doing. Much less daunting the Home Depot, and larger than our neighborhood Pini Hardware at home. I can tell they will be seeing lot of us in the coming months.
Back at the house, the cobwebs were being tended to. Nails in the walls removed and covered with spackle and paint. Pictures and lamp hung.
Saturday, we had our next big update -- a refrigerator. No more living out of coolers when we come to La Casita. We had very carefully measured the dimensions of the space that was waiting to house the new appliance, but the challenge for the delivery folks was getting the thing through the doorways and into the kitchen. The refrigerator doors and even the hinges had to be removed, and still only less than a half inch of space separated installation success from failure. But, we are now living like civilized humans, with a beautiful new GE cooling device keeping our perishables cold and building ice cubes for us.
Just like the last time we were up here, we had a lunch visit from the Thomas', my Mom bringing a great chili rellano casserole. And some crab. And an inflatable bed. This is becoming a nice tradition.
As if on cue, mid afternoon we got a visit from Brad and Lisa Wells, scouting colleagues of David Durr, who had arranged for them to come up and give us an estimate on doing some tile work. We could certainly live with what we have, but have decided that it will be easier to do this work when we are not living here full time, and that it's best to just keep spending the time and money now to put things into place the way we really want them. Brad and Lisa own their own business, Classic Tile, in Petaluma, and seemed both knowledgeable and very nice, professional, but friendly. We spent a half hour or so with them, talking business, scouting, tile and retirement. They are putting together a proposal for us, but at the end of the conversation, we realize the hardest part will be doing the prep work to get the floors down to the bare subfloor and getting the appliances out of the kitchen and the desk out of the office. Something to ponder.....
Barry got a new showerhead installed in the upstairs bathroom. I determined I had built enough of a list to go back to B & C, and to stock up on some food for the fridge and the pantry. The balance of the day was spent putting things away, cleaning, organizing, and eventually cooking dinner and enjoying some drinks and the fire.
Sunday, the day of rest, meant we slept in and regrouped over coffee and French Toast, tended to some more chores -- well, mostly Barry re-locating the wood pile and installing outside lighting-- then taking a drive in the warm spring-like afternoon to some local historic spots and ending the afternoon at a local saloon Neil had identified as the "local" hangout. True to that reputation, we got three tap beers for $10.50, and found that to be such a deal we stayed for a second round. One more night to enjoy being in our second home, as it's a holiday weekend, and we can return to the flatlands on Monday.
