Zoo Thunder Outages and AC

Summer has arrived, and it's muggy and hot. Luckily, a simple routine keeps the house cool for most of the day: go to bed with all the windows open, then close up the house by 10 a.m. If it's not too muggy, the house stays comfortable until the day cools off, near sunset, then the windows all get opened, the ceiling fans get turned on, and the evening is balmy and pleasant.

Thunderstorms rolled in last night, lightning silently flashing between clouds, illuminating the skies.

When things get muggy, like today, the heat index can add 10 degrees to the real temperature, and 90º feels like 100º. On these days, closing up the house has to be augmented with the air conditioner, keeping the house cool and removing the oppressive humidity. Today was really the first day that we've had those conditions.

But with the weather constantly changing, even the most unpleasant conditions don't last long, unlike Southern California, where heat waves can last for days and days.

June 8 & 9

Butterfly sitting on the back porch screen

These were rumination days. This is walking around, staring at things, grouping framed art (family pictures, Steve & me, small filler pieces, grouped images); moving tchotchkes around, and making lists of things that should be there but aren't (mostly things I don't have). 

By Thursday evening, I had a good list made up, and I had intended on doing a shopping trip on Friday to get stuff at Menard's, but Pam texted me on Wednesday, inviting me along on a Friday trip to the zoo in Madison. It's a two-hour drive, but Pam was in the back seat with Natalie, wrapping piping rope with fabric and glue, so Natalie was distracted for the entire trip.

Giraffes are the biggest
animals in the zoo.

The zoo was free, but I dropped $10 in the donation box. It was probably 80º and muggy, so it felt more like 90º. Luckily, there was a lot of shade available from large mature trees.

The camels don't seem exotic.

It's a small zoo but they made a good effort to have a natural habitat feel to the installations. There was a lion and lioness, a tiger, two giraffes, two camels, pink flamingoes, a smattering of primates and miscellaneous mammals.

More kinds of animals on the carousel than in the zoo.

There was also a play area, complete with a carousel and a kiddie train (which are probably a significant income source for the zoo). Natalie took some time playing in play area, then Pam took her onto the carousel. Afterwards, we quickly ushered her past the train, and we were off to find the otters (Natalie's request) and the aviary (my request).

Natty and Pam go
whizzing by.

The otter installation was small but effective, but the aviary was a real disappointment: three gold and blue macaws and three exotic-looking ducks.

Waiting out front for our ride.

The zoo was unusually crowded, and we had to park about four blocks up the hill in a nice, established residential area. Toward the end of the visit, my left leg started to bug me (remnants of the gimpy condition I suffered all during the move), so I asked Steve if he would retrieve the car and pick me/us up in front of the zoo, which he did. Pam and Natalie and I waited at a picnic table on the lawn outside the zoo, then we loaded up and hit the road.

The real tiger.

We drove into Madison on the freeway, but Steve decided to take the state highway back. It was a great drive because there was very little traffic and we got to see all the small towns as we drove through.

Fundraising tiger statue.

We came up from the south into La Crosse. We stopped at the store so I could pick up stuff to drink, then picked up a take-and-back pizza, which we took back to my house and baked (surprise). This way, Pizza Night was still achieved. As usual, Natalie did not want to leave (it's not just my house; she never wants to leave anywhere if she's having a good time).

On Saturday, I went out to Menard's, which is like Home Depot, only with much more variety and selection. I bought stacked shelves for the kitchen, a conduit kit to accommodate the surround-sound wires going up the walls in the living room and gardening gloves and weed killer to deal with the small weed forests that have emerged in the yard (it seems the yard guy only cuts the lawn and not much else: he hasn't showed up for two weeks, so I'm on the edge of finding someone else).

New kitchen shelves,
assembled and in use.

While I was shopping at Menard's Amanda called; she and Natalie were in town and wanted to stop by. So I finished my shopping and called her back when I was on the way home. I unloaded all the stuff from the car and staged it on the back porch. I went inside and turned on the fans and…nothing.

No power. An outage. So we spent most of the visit out in the yard, and I realized that I probably need to get table and chairs for outside. Katie, my neighbor to the back, come out and asked if she had power. "No," she said. "I called them and they said it wouldn't be back on until late night." Oh, boy. So we went back into the house and looked for the candles. Amanda remembered where I put them before I did.

When they left, Natalie didn't want to leave, of course, but cooperated upon threat of having to donate one of her toys to Good Will. Luckily, the power came back on about 7 p.m., but I already had the candles out and set up, just in case.

Last week, I also sent out e-mails to all the people I've met so far, asking to get together for lunch/drinks/dinner. On Sunday afternoon, I got together with Dan and Mikal at one of the three gay bars here in La Crosse. It's called My Place; a small, divey kind of bar but with a friendly, neighborhood vibe. We had a couple drinks and chatted about La Crosse, moving into new houses and all the rigamarole involved in settling in. We parted and I promised I'd be inviting them to the housewarming, once I got things together. It took me awhile to realize it, but Dan and Mikal remind me of Steve and Roberto, friends back in Claremont.

Seemingly pristine hardwood under my ugly carpet.

I came home and assembled the kitchen shelves and reorganized the pantry and the countertops. Today (Monday) was the first real experiment with the air conditioning, because is was 90º with 90% humidity. It started getting oppressive indoors about 1:30, so the AC went on. It kept the downstairs at about 74º and about 80º upstairs, with the inside humidity at about 60%. But by 5 o'clock, things have cooled off into the low 80s and there's a nice breeze, so the AC is turned off and the windows are wide open.

So it's time to sign off. I have to start boxing up things in the dining room and living room (that I just unpacked), so we can move stuff around easily on Saturday: Jim and Emily are coming over to help me rip up the rugs downstairs to reveal the 1930s hardwood floors hidden underneath.

Independence Day

July 4th

The Fourth of July weekend is here, and small explosions are occurring all across the city, even though it's only an hour into the day. They started sporadically last night and have continued into the wee hours. No big plans for the Fourth. Doing the laundry on the Fourth.

Laundry chute is a quaint convenience that can backfire.

I've been talking about settling into the new house, and the laundry shoot is one of those new things. Like syncing to the refuse and recycling schedule, having a laundry shoot makes things simple. Soiled washables, from clothes to sheets to kitchen towels, simply get popped into the little door in the wall on either floor of the house and disappear: things are tidy once again.

Then a day comes when I realize there are only cold-weather shirts in the closet and two pair of underwear in the drawer. I venture into the basement (which I normally don't do) and there is a pile of laundry the size of Jabba the Hut. And none of it is sorted.

So you dedicate a day to getting all the soiled textiles sparkling clean and back up on hangers or folded and in the drawers.

On this Independence Day, while downstairs pulling wet clothes out of the washer, I noticed that there was a small amount of water pooling on two joints of the main sewer stack for the house. So I immediately see dollar signs, having to install a new sewer line out to the street. And the stack runs under the foundation, which is one solid piece of concrete, so perhaps it means digging up the foundation floor: tens of thousands of dollars, sucking the house contingency dry.

July 6

I purchased a home warranty when I bought this place, so I went online and put in a request for a plumber to come check this out. On Monday, the plumbing company called about 12:30 and sent someone over about 30 minutes later. Dylan, a young man in his 20s, a local who grew up in a small town near here. He thinks La Crosse is the Big City. It's touching.

We went into the basement and the stack was dry. We ran water into the laundry sink and nothing backed up. He checked the kitchen sink, the downstairs half bath and the upstairs bathroom: everything checked out OK. He said the water I saw could have been merely the cold-water pipes sweating in the humidity, running down the stack and collecting in the collars at the joints.

The image of tens of thousands of dollars flowing out for a new sewer line evaporated. What a relief. And it only cost me $75. Once again, I focused again on the upstairs bathroom remodel, since I saved so much on dodging the sewer bullet. The joys of homeownership.

I've contacted a couple of general contractors about remodeling the bathroom. The bathtub is tiny, and even showering in it is cramped.

The first contractor came last Wednesday, one Olsen Construction. I called last Monday to arrange a time for him to drop by. He said he was in the field and would call me back when he got to the office to firm up a time on Wednesday. I didn't hear from him Tuesday, and Wednesday, about 15 minutes before he showed up, he called. I didn't answer in time. He didn't leave a voice mail. And he just showed up. Strike one: unable to make and keep appointments.

The bathroom is 6' x 10'. I want to close off a closet and reclaim that space to put in a soaker tub. Would that require moving the sink and vanity, which would mean opening parts of the floor and also moving the electrical? It's not a huge job, but needs a competent contractor. The other thing that bothered me about this guy was his insistence that they must use Kohler fixtures throughout (there must be a kickback involved there, I'm sure).

Mr. Olsen and his "assistant" couldn't have been more than 23 or 24 years old and just starting out. I took them upstairs to look at the small space. He took some measurements and gave me a ballpark figure of $11- to $12,000. I was thinking more $8- to $10,000 for the job.

Mr. Olsen assured me he would put together a comprehensive estimate with materials and labor breakdown (justifying the $12,000 price, I'm sure). I wanted to take him aside and give him a heart-to-heart talk about how to approach starting up a new business and building customer loyalty. But I'm sure he'll learn, if he's paying attention.

So another contractor showed up this Tuesday. Well, actually a designer showed up, and she started in on finding out what I wanted, what needed to be done. She specializes in bathroom and kitchen remodels. Talking to them on the phone, they seemed much more complete and competent than Mr. Olsen (neither of whom seemed to be shaving yet). And when Felicia showed up (right on time) on Tuesday, I had an immediate affinity with her. Here were to designers talking the same language. I have one other contractor to check out, and I'm hoping that Jim (Emily's boyfriend) can provide me with a few names through the contractor's grapevine to add to the mix. But Felicia has my trust, which is a hard thing to overcome.

Brother Steve (right) tries to make points while waiting for Obama.

On another note, last Thursday we had much excitement here in La Crosse, as the president flew in to make a speech announcing his new policy of requiring overtime for workers making less than $50,000 a year. It was really a campaign speech masquerading as a policy speech, but he flew here just to give the speech and then returned directly to D.C. Everyone in town was extremely excited, and my brother Steve was asked to be guest commentator on the ABC affiliate here in La Crosse, as all the local channels carried the event live.

Amanda's
Grandfather clock.

As we were waiting for the president's plane arrive, I heard it overhead, coming in for a landing. And, sure enough, there on TV the plane was landing a few minutes later. Our fun and fascist governor, Scott Walker, flew into town from Madison just to say hi, then hightailed it back to the Madison (the capital).

Steve's comments on the TV were very good, but, as he said of the anchor, "He wouldn't let me finish making any points." But TV doesn't mind. As long as you look and sound academic and authoritative, the viewer is reassured that he's watching professionals, experts in their fields; don't worry that their sound bites are wrapped in the visual sensationalism of the medium.

The next day (July 3), Jim and Emily came over, bringing Mom's old grandfather clock, which has been sitting in the corner of Steve and Pam's living room, still wrapped in the same bubble wrap as when it was shipped from Arroyo Grande five years ago. It fits very nicely in the living room, and getting the guts put back together and operational shouldn't be too difficult.

New fireplace sconces vs. old POS pseudobrass crap.

Only two downsides with the clock: I have yet to find the handle that winds the weight drums (I texted Kittie and Pam, and neither had seen it). Dave heard from Kittie and called me to say he thinks it's inside the clock, but it wasn't. Second, the weights were packed in a box with foam peanuts, and the mousies at Steve and Pam's had gotten into the box and chewed up the packing stuff, leaving droppings and urine that etched the varnish and brass plating. The effect is an aged patina on the weights, but it's hardly noticeable when everything's in the case.

New dining room chandelier and old POS Mylar plate.

After we got the clock into the living room, they then helped install the front hall light and the "chandelier" in the dining room. Emily and I had put in the sconces over the fireplace the previous Saturday (see previous blog entry), so we had previous experience and were all kind of in the groove. These new fixtures are so much more attractive and aesthetic than the faux brass-faux Victorian lights that were there when I moved in.

Arts & crafts stained glass in the entryway.

I'm still on the fence about pulling up the wall-to-wall carpeting. I know there's original hardwood underneath, but I'm not sure it's in good condition. Part of me wants to live with the carpeting for a year before doing anything, and another part wants to rip it up and take my chances. I'd be putting down area rugs with the hardwoods in any case, and they can cover a multitude of sins. I think perhaps waiting until after the bathroom remodel would be a wise thing.

So, I still have the fan/light for the kitchen and the directional lighting for over the sink and counters, but I didn't want to get into that today, as Jim and Emily had also agreed to shlep my green recliner over to Steve and Pam's as a replacement for Steve's disintegrating easy chair. Like Jim pointed out, installing ceiling fans is much more complex and time consuming than switching out light fixtures. I have two more ceiling fans for the upstairs, but it's not really important to get them up right away, as I already have functioning fans in the bedrooms, they're just really ugly, like the old light fixtures.

The first two pieces to hit the wall.

The recliner went out the front door almost as easily as the clock had come in, and soon Jim and Emily were on their way. By the time I headed out to Ettrick for Friday Pizza Night, they had already delivered the chair. He was harrumphing around the edges (he has always sworn he would never get a recliner), but it looks and feels like a wingback chair, and he technically did not "get" a recliner, but one was given to him. I think in about a week he'll be hooked on it.

Kitchen walls get Ken cake pan and Mexican fruit.

July 7

So, on Tuesday evening, something wonderful happened: I had a couple scotches and started hanging pictures on the walls. It started with the pseudo-Georgia O'Keefe Iris lithograph, then progressed to the lotus litho. I rearranged some of the furniture in the living room. Then I put up the Mexican ceramic fruit braid and the Ken aluminum cake pan on the wall, and things started looking good. I hope it's not just the scotch.

European swivel head means no need for new faucet.

The last thing I did was put the European swivel head on the kitchen faucet, so now I can actually rinse the entire surface of the sinks by reorienting the head. And all I can say is: things are looking up, and I may not have enough artwork to fill all the walls in this place. If that's the case, I will have a really good time going out and finding more. And I already have more furniture arranged for the completion of the living room. Now all I have to do is find appropriate stuff for the master bedroom and the office.