Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Needles and Dimwits

For putting in only four days at the factory last week, I sure felt exhausted. Then again, there was no shortage of drama. And with little down time in the evenings, I could see things slipping further and further behind at the lodge. I made the decision then Wednesday to take a little catch-up day Friday. Catch-up, I did.

Thursday night was a grand time at Steve's with delicious brats and tasty dogs, potato salad and corn on the cob; plus all the interesting conversation one can handle. It was nice to have that little voice in my head silenced, you know, the one that says, "it's a school night". Maybe I don't hear the voice, just the guilt. That's a real problem- when I play by others' rules, I commit, and end up limiting any fun to a Friday or Saturday night. Anyhow, a good time.

Woke up Friday morning and got down to it. Cleared the kitchen counter and sanded the filler around the glass block window where we had had a leak; then a couple coats of paint. While that was drying, got out the stain and sandpaper and went about touching up the leading edge of the pocket doors upstairs that were unstained. Next- the bathroom was initially designed for baseboard trim but I'm finding I prefer it without- that means any excess caulk and grout has to be cleaned up and new caulking done. So, got out the razor blades, vacuum, and caulk gun and went to town. Done. Cleared the side decks, scrubbed, and waited for the sun to dry off any moisture from the previous night. Meanwhile, sat outside with the Blazer counting rotations of the rear axle and crankshaft. 3.42 rear end. Time for some online gear shopping. With the deck dry enough I got out the porch and floor paint and masking and went to town giving it a nice even coat of red; really makes a difference. With paint and stain drying, now mid-afternoon, I loaded the STS with my heavy jack and tools, washed up, hopped in the car and headed for Waverly. Found a decent 1 1/2" socket and 3/4 slide bar along with gear oil at the fleet store. Then T&T for a few choice finds (vintage heater, desklamp, and tumblers). Next, downtown Waterloo.

Dropped by Laidigs to find the place open and the much-needed glass medicine cabinet shelves cut and ready. Bid adieu to the busy man and continued on to Menards to arrange delivery of the drive-in bill of materials. Got things setup for Saturday, then sweated my arse off sorting through 14' 2x6's to be added to the order. For what I wanted to do…purchase additional lumber, select it myself, and have it added to the delivery slip, I was surprised how 1) easy it was at the lumber desk, and 2) how it depended on high school fork truck operators to put my stack of boards with the correct tag in the correct place at their leisure half way 'round the outlot..if they had heard a word I said.

Turned up the A/C and pointed the car towards the parents', where I discovered the '76 was blocked-in by a neighbor's Buick inhabiting the driveway. With the neighbor gone, I could only roll the '76 out halfway. Spent a half hour squeezing between the sides of the car, breaking lose the axle shaft nuts on the front wheels with the new tools. With the heat, humidity and gusto, I pushed the car back in, collected my things and returned to the lodge for a much-needed shower. With evening closing in I returned to meet Ben and Cam at the PL to cap off a day of constant motion, where we cornered the marked on the jukebox and had a grand time.

Slept like the dead and accepted the fact that there was more work to be done with Saturday's morning light. Got up glumly and looked at my phone- Hmmm, a message from the Menards delivery fellow concerned about traversing the farm lane. There was no time stamp. I stepped onto the deck, and whoa, here was the delivery sitting in the side yard! Well, that'll have to be dealt with since the "delivery flags" were over in the DI area. Cleaned up, fueled up the Farmall and worked on a good sunburn. The tall, wet grass was a bit much and the soft ground made navigating tricky. I did what I could from the tractor seat before pushing the gas mower around for another hour or so and getting the bags of cement, now stacked in the sideyard, covered with a tarp. Came in for an afternoon reprieve, got laundry going and ordered up the gearset needed for the Blazer. Hung the laundry out to dry and noticed an email from Cara at work…Big Sale at Hancock's! Well then, only an hour left open. Hancock's…they know how to disappoint. That's a rant for another time. I accepted the situation and bought 5 yards of a deckstripe pattern for west window curtains, then made my way back via Greenhill to 218, whereupon I took a tour of the dilapitated housing down by the river and did a little snooping in the evening sun.

Home, peanuts on the deck with Cara (where we noticed those huge dragonflies were frolicking enmass), then a final MadMen and sack time.


Sunday, supposedly a day of rest. But hard work begets satisfaction. After whipping up a pepperoni and egg breakfast burrito, I took to dismantling the Fleetwood in the yard. Cara mowed in the hot sun. I got door panels pulled, trim pieces yanked, fought wasps and disassembled the dash. Opened the glovebox door to discover it was packed full of insulation…then a mouse stuck his head out to greet me. Well hello. I relatched the door.

Cara ran off for groceries, I had the car pretty well stripped. Next, shoveling heavy dirt and sand. Basically, re-excavating both horseshoe pits. I had pulled all the weeds the day prior, and was surprised to fill my big wheelbarrow with the material from a single pit. Cut and placed weed blocking fabric in the bottoms of each and carefully packed the material back in, adding sand where necessary. Can't say I enjoyed that work much but it should provide many happy games of 'shoes. Got the weedwhip out of the shed and went about the great whipping of the weeds, which at this point is more like the cutting of the stalks. Grass and crap all over the place. Also told Cara I'd look at her car, which is now showing an ABS light. Well, removed both front wheels and had a look about. All ship-shape. Got on the net to find failing ABS modules for her car all the rage. Crap.

Cara returned and we cleaned up and headed out the door for the evening showing of "Inception". A fine flick! Even with the power going off halfway through the movie and the emergency lights coming on. At least the audience was used to sitting the dark.

And their you have it, another weekend in excruciating detail!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Hillbilly Harbinger

Last week…. A real killer without much downtime. Long days at work, errands every evening and then things that always seem to need doing out at the lodge. Somehow, made it through.
Friday night we ate at My Verona. Pricey, but worth every penny. The service and attention to detail was topnotch, more so than any other restaurant I can recall. The dishes: unique, unpronounceable, and delicious.
http://www.cedarfallstimes.com/assets/pagePDFs/pdf200916-43105.pdf Makes the Brown Bottle look like Burger King.

I took a bullet and supervised an 8 hour shift Saturday morning. Meanwhile, things were heating up outside. I swung by the parents around 2 for an old bottle of Disc Quiet, then to the lodge where the sun was out in full force. Cara ran errands while I hauled brush, shoveled dirt, painted the side deck and hauled the jack out front and changed the brake pads on the Blazer. Whew. Then… crack open a bottle of wine and take in a few MadMen as the sun set. Completely exhausted after 6 days of work and other sundry toil, I bedded down like the dead.

At 3:30AM Cara made several attempts to wake me, and finally, after the howling got too much to handle, I got up and scrambled. The lodge was fit to blow away in one of the most bizarre wind storms I can recall. Instead of a quick, violent downburst, the winds circled and changed directions north/south, then east/west, all pretty much simultaneously.

First, I closed all north facing windows and laid back down. (closing the north windows cuts the exit path for the south blowing winds and thus the wind goes around the building and not through it). No change. This was odd, I thought. Then, set up the ladder and closed all but one clerestory. Still, the wind was cutting parallel to the open window screen, whistling with ever changing pitch. I closed up all windows, trekked to the upper deck door and stepped outside. Trees were bending, the wind was forcing its way up inside the soffits and screaming as it cut across the edges of the fascia boards. I looked out in the side yard and one of the heavy wire chairs that had been on the balcony was now laying in the side yard…somehow it made its way through the steel railing uprights on the west end of the deck and launched itself down onto the grass….without leaving a paint mark or scratch on any of the railing. And still, no rain. With all windows closed and everything outside locked down, we went back to bed. So much for a good night's sleep.

Sunday, sun shining in our faces, guess we better get up. After breakfast and tidying, we took my spreadsheets and lists over to menards and, in one swoop, hauled, ordered, arranged delivery and purchased 95% of the materials needed to build the drive-in screen, fence, and concession and projection buildings along with the viewing deck. Can't say my wallet has screamed like that in a very long time. 10-day lead time on the special order, so I guess we'll see if official groundbreaking is the 24th, or the 31st.

And what better way to celebrate the accomplishment of getting out of Menards with souls intact than a trip to Hardee's. Actually, the good was great as usual. Angus thickburgers, onion rings and hand breaded chicken strips.

We decided to press our luck, and went to Lowes to try to order corrugated fiberglass panels that Menards did sell when I planned the DI, but no longer offers. Finding that Lowes had some of these on their website, same brand and all, gave me a glimmer of hope. But as is Lowe's wont, their staff consists of Home Depot castoffs that wouldn't know a truss from a joist. Much hand holding and photocopying of a brochure I brought in ensued. Will I get a call from them today? How have they managed to stay in business? These are the questions.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Uncle Frank and Bladder Lake

A refreshing vacation, as always, though this year's "relief" was less intense than years' past when my days were dictated by late nights, schedules and punch lists lodge work demanded. Not that I’m slacking in the sense that I'd like to be, but that the day job pretty much occupies my waking hours. With that in mind, the Minnesota trip was bliss. With bags packed we started with our traditional route up old 218 to Owatanna, then to 35 to make up some time for our late start. The state highways were smooth and open for business and the weather, perfect. All we needed now were detailed maps of the state, something not readily available in paper form. But what was this? The iPad to the rescue.

To say it was useful would be an understatement. Not only were we tracking our movement in real time on the google-based map application but streets right down to residential were right there at a "pinch and zoom" while our location dot tracked nearby. Knowing there once was a DI in St. Ansgar, I pulled up safari, found an article released in 2008 about a vinyard on the old DI property, pulled up an address, loaded the maps and directed a change of course as we entered town. This was not just any drive-in, but a fly-in drive-in. The grounds had all been turned to vinyard but the concession stand remained as an outbuilding and the owners have taken to showing DVD movies on a 16x16 screen of their construction, even going so far as to create a retro-themed sign at the road with marquee of what's playing. A chat with a family member there filled us in on the details. From there, back on the road, but again, a problem. Entering Austin the 90 west ramp was closed. There was road in front of us but not on the paper maps. A quick check of the map app and it turns out it was a shortcut over 90 that we've always taken. Nice.

We soon found the backroads were a better choice than 35, which reached a standstill as we neared Burnsville. We could see the next exit from our position in gridlock and bailed when we got the chance. As Cara drove, I plotted through side streets and rural drives with an eye on a new route. We worked our way through Shakopee, Hutchison and various townships west of the cities, then up 22 through Litchfield, and eventually 71 north. All the while, never back-tracking or losing ground thanks to our new navigating device. It came in equally handy on our return trip thanks to its real time traffic mapping (green, yel and red on major interstates) and once again paid for its self when we hit a standstill heading south just north of the cities near Brooklyn Park. A quick exit and reroute to Ikea, Macy's and Harbor Freight was pie.

But what of the north?

Gorgeous weather, not a worry in the world. Stuffing ourselves silly with all the home cooking. Boating on the lake. Piloting the Suburban. One of the longest and most well-done fireworks shows I've seen in person. Shopping...in town, at the transfer station, and of course MN liquor stores. While the Stroh's and Grain Belt Light in bottles was tempting, it was the Hamm's and Special Export that made the cut. "Special Export, just like Old Style, but in a green can!" In retrospect, I should've picked up a case of Hamm's Special Light, but the couple cans I brought home will have to do. A couple drive-ins were photographed and will make it to the archive list. Some plumbing work completed, too.

As always, too short. Each night testing Cara and my will to make it past midnight with aggressive games of dominoes with the fam. We spent the final afternoon at the parents' place on Leech Lake where Brittni and the brother in law had been staying. An excellent boating venture out, followed by bocce ball and lasagna.

This could quite possibly be the last visit to the grandparents given their house is on the market and things are being sold off. Kodachrome was shot and Cara gave her new birthday camera a good break-in. And so another 4th passes, and I suppose it's downhill from here. On the way home I caught the tail end (okay, 10 seconds) of a Buffet song, Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude, and was reminded, as I had been a couple times earlier in the week, of two things. 1) It was as if it had been literal years since I had worked my day job. 2) Being so far removed from my routine allowed me to see outside my created reality. Of course, now the window begins to close.