Shed Update Redux

Well, I've been fussing inside some and have some pics to show. Here goes:

 New recliner (couch is gone). New bamboo blinds. Bed moved so I can get at the windows more easily.

 New folding table and folding chairs—pretty spiffy, I think.

 This is just opposite the front door. Eventually, the stepladder and chairs will be hung on the ends on the bookcase/stair.

 New blind on South window (where tv antenna is). Other than that, the fridge and tansu w/tv etc are all in the same places.

This shows the small tansu piece under the window with my oil heater beside it. We had a cold spell a couple of weeks ago and I dragged it out to take the chill off 49 deg. nights.

So far, this arrangement is working well. The blinds really help with making the room really dark so I'm sleeping well. I think moving the bed away from the windows helps with sleeping, too. Plans are to rearrange the dressing area (again) which should cut down on its size somewhat.

And then I'll be done! Right? ahahaha

Holidays RIP etc Update

Brrr. It's 16F outside and my little heaters are doing their best but it's pretty chilly in my shed, so I have a lap blanket and fingerless gloves on. We got about six inches of snow yesterday and it's all nicely frozen (went down to 6F last night).

So it's been a while since I blogged about anything, which means this post will be a hodgepodge.

My brother is safe so far and has moved from Fiji to New Zealand. Future plans are uncertain.

My holidays were nice and quiet. Amy and I joined Mary-Anne and family for Thanksgiving, so there were 12 of us around the table. Somehow, over the years, I've become the designated turkey-carver person. Not sure at all how that happened but I do my best. Xmas was very quiet as Amy was in Dallas for the week and Mateo visited his parents. Also, Tillman was in Florida.

Somewhere along the line, I bought a recliner, a big mother with a side lever, and the footrest is big enough that my heels don't hang off. This was important.

Not much else has happened around here. Last night, we were up till 2am playing Phase 10, and Tillman and Sam stayed over. I can now (11:30am) hear Tillman trying to get his truck out and make it work on the icy road, much cursing and shouting and spinning tires. He keeps trying to gun it. He'd do better to wait a couple of hours.

Well, let's do some RIPs.

Nat Hentoff: jazz writer and critic. When I was in college back in the 60s and had to write a paper on the history of jazz, Hentoff was the authority.

Ron Glass: actor, especially on "Barney Miller" but also as Shepherd Book on "Firefly." He had a fine sarcastic tone.

Richard Adams: writer, best-known for "Watership Down." His death on xmas eve was overshadowed by George Michael the next day and then Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, and the year ended with William Christopher (Fr. Mulcahey of MASH) leaving us.

So far so good with all my friends amongst the living, hale and hearty. I am grateful for them. Considering the impending doom, I'm hoping we all can get through it all with our sanity intact. Best wishes.

RIP

Sheri Tepper has left us. A sadly overlooked writer, much of her writing is out of print, but she will repay hunting for and reading her books. Probably my favorite of hers is The Gate to Women's Country but the one that stuck in my head the most is Grass, which is both creepy and mind-blowing. There's lots more. Check her out.

She also wrote mysteries under two pseudonyms: A.J. Orde, about a rare book dealer (male); and B.J. Oliphant, about a retired FBI analyst (female). I especially like the Oliphant books.

Also:
Edward Albee
Gene Wilder
Pete Fountain
Elie Wiesel
Muhammad Ali

Shed Update

Six, count 'em: six pictures!

 Just added these panels to the front of the deck. Trying to unrustify the shed a bit. I think this works.

 So there's the big piece of the tansu with the TV in it. You can see the small tansu piece is the rear by the window.'

 This is the glass desk you see right as you walk in, but it's so covered in papers that I'm working on getting filed, you can't tell it's glass. Behind it are the bookshelves.

 Just left of the door, and facing the tansu/tv is the blue couch, which now has a twin bed behind it in the corner by the windows. The couch is going to be replaced with a couple of chairs (one a recliner) that will be less visually massive.

 Standing by the couch/door and looking diagonally across, you can see the desk, tansu, cabinet, fridge, small tansu at window.

The "kitchen," which contains a Breville Oven, pots/pans on pegboard, a very small dish drainer (from the RV), shopping totes on pegboard, slop pail. If I get something really messy when cooking or eating, I just haul it over to the big house for serious washing.

So that's the outside with deck and panels. And the inside, which has been newly arranged into the current configuration (who knows how long it'll stay that way). I'll take more pics  when I get everything filed and lots of stuff sorted and put away up in the loft.

End of an Era

My trusty Toyota RV has been sold and is being picked up tomorrow. It'll be very odd not to have it around anymore. We've been though a lot in the past eight years. I'll miss it.

RIP

Morley Safer, last of the larger-than-life journalists. Starting in Vietnam, he helped create the reporting of the 60s 70s 80s, and was a mainstay of 60 Minutes. There won't be any more like him.

Survival of the Brother

I may or may not have mentioned that my brother Harland has set off on a long-term sailing adventure. He bought a 41ft ketch, named it Paladino, and finally set off.

He sailed from San Francisco to Acapulco, mostly in day trips. Starting out he had a crew of two, a couple. However, somewhere in Mexico (maybe Zihuatenejo) they bailed on him and went to crew on a much bigger boat. So he decided to just go on alone. He talked to a lot of solo sailors, one of whom was 10 years older, and they all assured him he could do it. After all, it was only a 35-day crossing. And about 3500 miles.

And he did. He made landfall in Fatu Hiva island in the Marquesas yesterday (29 March). I got a text at 2:30am edt. This is officially the middle of nowhere.

Text at 1:30am edt Wed. -- there's going to be a celebratory roast pig pickin' tomorrow with poisson cru (Tahitian lime-marinated tuna salad), poulet salad (chicken), banana pamplemousse (grapefruit). Sounds good to me.

I'm very proud of him.

RIP

Umberto Eco, writer, semiotician

I first encountered his writing when I attempted to read The Name of the Rose. After reading about ten pages, I got up and retrieved my compact copy of the Oxford English Dictionary and a magnifying glass. I have a very good vocabulary but his level of both thought and expression was above me. What an exhilarating challenge it was. And a fascinating story, too. I liked knowing he was in the world, and now he's not. Sad.

RIP

Harper Lee has finally left us, at age 89. I think she wrote a most powerful book that deserved all the accolades it got, but I never wanted to re-read it. I liked her early stories and essays, and enjoyed reading about her young adventurous self.

RIP

Antonin Scalia has died. ding dong the witch is dead / calloo callay frabjous day

Respect for the office, certainly, but not for the man (you'll notice I didn't use his title). Maybe now we can get someone more in tune with progressive politics/religion/etc.

RIPs & Misc

RIP for Glen Frey of the Eagles; Signe Halvorsen of the Jefferson Airplane; and Abe Vigoda, actor, in my memory on the series "Barney Miller."

Tomorrow I'm having a temporary ceiling installed between the lofts to help with heat retention. I'll be using foam insulation boards (4x8) and will use eye hooks and wire to make a web for them to lie on. They're so light that it'll be easy to move one if I want to get up in a loft, or move them all when summer comes and I want the heat to go out the ridge vent.

Both Mateo's and Amy's cars are in the shop (hers just tomorrow, we think) so there's lots of juggling with my car. I may take Mateo to work tomorrow so I can have the car to do errands. I was going to use Amy's car but now that's not possible. Sigh.

My brother and his crew are wending their way down the Mexican coast and will be provisioning at Acapulco to set off on a 34-day crossing to the Marquesas Islands in the mid-Pacific. Certainly wishing them all the best.

RIP

Alan Rickman, actor

Alan Rickman! He of the fabulous voice, the inimitable sneer, the wit, the enunciation, the range. No more.

First Bowie, now Rickman. Superstition says there'll be three, and odds are there will, just because. And the older I get, the more dying of my favorites there will be.

I'm getting too old for this. (I think that's a joke.)

RIP

David Bowie
I was shocked to open the news and see his death at age 69. He certainly seemed immortal. His gifts were expansive and legendary. I loved his characters and his music and his videos and his movies. He will be greatly missed.

RIPs etc

I know, I know. Sluggish activity here. No new pictures. It is on my mind, however, and one day you'll get a nice surprise. Just don't hold your breath.

RIP Florence King, writer.
One day a while back, I was in the Atlanta airport on layover, browsing the books. I found "Southern Ladies and Gentlemen" by Miss King, of whom I had never heard. I began reading it on the plane back to LA and was soon laughing hysterically. The entire plane turned around to look at me, but I couldn't stop. Ever so often, I'd put the book down to allow me and the rest of the plane time to recover. I've read most of her books and, while I don't agree with everything she says, she makes me laugh anyhow. She was 80.

RIP Meadowlark Lemon, athlete
He was the clown prince in the classic Harlem Globetrotters. I got to see him live once when the team was on tour and he manifested such joy in his play, both basketball and pranks. He was from Wilmington NC, my hometown.

My brother has sailed as far as Puerto Vallarto Mexico and is planning to sail on from there soon. In 30 days, he'll make the long passage to the Marquesa Islands. Wishing him and his crew well.

Happy New Year to all.

RIPs

Adrian Frutiger, type designer.
Warren Murphy, writer, creator of Remo Williams.

Empty RV, Full Shed

This morning I got the last items out of the RV and into the shed. I kept finding things in nooks and crannies, and kept remembering another nook or cranny to check. I left a few things behind for the new owner. And I now have piles of stuff to stash somewhere in the shed.

I had some modifications made on the bookshelf unit and that should be finished up tomorrow (Tue 9/8). Then I'll put all the books on the shelves. And then I'll take a picture of it. Once I get all the piles of stuff put away, I'll take pics of the spiffy neat shed. At the moment, for instance, I can't even see the desktop for all the stuff piled on it, all office-y type things.

So, lot of work ahead but it's coming together. Yay.

My brother is planning to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge no later than 15 Oct. (having just turned 69), planning to join the Baja Hoo-Ha from San Diego. I hope he has great weather and loves it all. Mostly I hope he survives and that I get to see him again.

Shed 2

I see the pic of the couch moved out in the room didn't come through, so I'll try this.

Shed at 95%

Latest set of pictures, very close to final. All in all, I think it's coming along very well. I slept in it last night for the first time, just crashed on the couch. Slept long and hard, didn't wake up till 8:30. I'm almost ready to unplug the RV.

This my latest acquisition, a tansu-style chest with multiple cubbies and drawers. It comes apart (see left end top drawer, booze cubby, and next drawer down) in two pieces, and it makes a room divider with drawers accessible from either side. I love it.

This shows the tansu end next to the door entry, the south window, and the desk/kitchen table.

Here's the other side of the "kitchen" with cabinet and fridge.

This shows the desk on the left side of entry. I've now rotated the desk so the curved corner is in the corner between the two windows. Also, the couch is now moved out into the room (you'll see in next photos).

Shows closet and end of bookcase/stair. We got all the books down from the loft; all I have to do now in put them somewhere.

Shows the couch moved out into the room, angled toward the bookcase. Got my Erte card design print mounted on the picture rail.

Another shot of the bookcase/stair with its stepladder, which becomes my nightstand right behind the couch, when I don't need it to climb up to the loft.

RIP

Oliver Sacks
Eminent neurologist and author, age 82. Wonderful writer about patients and how to treat them and how to be them. Able to inspire others. He'll be missed.

Shed progress

Okay okay, here's some pics of the shed in progress. This first one is the kitchen area. Note the Breville oven on the table, the pegboard on the wall, the 9.2cuft fridge, and the 10-drawer cabinet.

 This next one is the desk. There are two windows to look out of but the west one is covered right now because of the heat. Under the towel on the desk is the TV which will live on the bookcase once it's built.

 This is the closet in progress. I'm going to get some baskets to put folded things in on top of the shelves. And eventually, there will be curtains to soften the look (you can see one at the right end in process).

 And this pile of lumber will be the bookcase. It'll be 8ft long (distance between the lofts), 1 ft deep, and 3ft high. There will be four 2-ft sections for books. I have two really nice 3-step ladders, one will be on the floor to move up to the top of the case and a second one to go from the case to the loft.

When the case is done, there's only minor stuff left to do. I've begun moving backup foodstuffs (soup, boxed mac & cheese, etc) to the big cabinet. 90% of my clothes are hung up. All totes are up from Amy's basement and in one of the lofts. I need to decide where the sleeper sofa will live. Then it's all nitpicky organizing. Fun stuff. It'll be a big day/night the first time I sleep over there, but it's coming pretty soon. Yay.