Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Morning sunrise: -

Then a trip to Sandusky to Bob and Jamie's for breakfast. Bandon from Thumb Cooling and Heating came to install the generator yesterday but failed. They'll be in touch with a problem solving appointment to fix things.

Brandon pointed out that the back of the house, the west side, was painted a different color from the rest of the house. It's more brown; the rest is more gray. That is not a trick of the lighting. The house painter, Mary Vanerian Ramisch, also failed to finish painting five windows last year. [Coincidence! Almost immediately after I posted this Mary and Shawn showed up and painted the plug plates and windows. They also examined the exterior color and agreed that two sides (the west and north) were more brown-gray than the color Brian and I chose, a green-gray. They should be back tomorrow to finish up.]

Mary's husband Ron Ramisch fixed some rather serious septic field problems for me last year but didn't level the land after the fix. He said he would be happy to rototill the area but that wasn't part of the quote. I declined so the land remains unfinished. It's good enough. The septic field works fine now too.

Notice the two colors and the gap at the bottom.
The house is about six months old.

The base boards have separated and the unpainted part shows.

Several of the battens have pulled away.

A closer look.

Again with the two different shades of gray.

 

I've attached some photos showing some problems that I think K & B carpentry needs to fix. I probably could fix these problems but I don't think I should have to. Do you?

On the one hand after living here for six months, I would like to have things done. It's a toss up; I'm not delighted with the things that aren't finished, on the other hand I'm not sure I want to see them again. Know what I mean? The project went hugely over budget, but, honestly, what construction project doesn't. Mixed feelings, of course, but I'm happy with the results - as you might have noticed from previous postings. It's a great house in a great location.

The view remains great and we're very happy here. One could obsess about "things" and fight or accept things as they are. Now, at my age, I believe it's not worth the stress. I believe this is the first time I've mentioned problems - they are very small ones after all, aren't they. I believe I'll have a cup of cocoa - did you hear? the price of chocolate is going up not because of Ebola but because of speculators creating fear about Ebola. Much of the world's cocoa is grown and harvested in Cote d"Ivoire which is west of the three affected countries - Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone - and has to pass through those countries to get to market. It's simply the "Way We Live Now" - Anthony Trollope. It has ever been thus, I'm afraid.