Let There Be Light

Today (in theory) is Inspection Day for electricity and the mechanisms that convey it at the Some Day Ranch. Our electrician, Shawn, has been putting in long days to get here, while Dusty keeps warning that we could fail the inspection. Lynn wanted to know if that was likely, because Shawn seems to know what he’s doing; Dusty keeps saying, “It could happen.”

My new work electrician, Peter (since David Neff retired and moved to Maine to get away from my emergency calls), who apprenticed under Shawn, last year hooked up my replacement solar array and got flunked by the inspector. As he was reconfiguring to please the inspector, Peter said, “He’s wrong, but we have to do it his way.”

Fingers crossed that Shawn gets his work done to the inspector’s satisfaction, even if there are other ways that are correct.

[Here’s an aside: when Lynn opened her bakery in the alley behind Pat’s, the city didn’t notice until her sign permit request that the north wall of her building — which she was renting — was not up to code. The building inspector at the time was a very literal, rigid man who previously decided that another business’ sign was “projecting” because it didn’t lie again the slanted roof but stood vertical in line with the edge of the roof. No one would have been able to see the sign at the angle he wanted. I’m sure inspectors are necessary, but it can be really aggravating when they spend too much time with their rule books and not enough in real life. Lynn got her sign, somehow, even though the north window was never replaced with glass brick like the guy wanted.]

Dusty was shooting for electrical approval on the garage and the bedrooms; Shawn was hoping to get final approval on the entire house, and he was working fiendishly with an assistant that I’m guessing is his son — or the world’s youngest apprentice.

This is not the plumbing inspection, nor the building inspection, but if we get a passing grade on electrical we can start moving stuff into the house. Other inspections come along Some Other Day.

Our traveling plumber may still not be in town. From skipping out in the middle of work mid-winter to go to Colombia to taking off for North Carolina a week or two ago, he hasn’t struck me as the most reliable guy, and now he’s in California, and Dusty can’t remember if he returns today or a week from today. He just took over his boss’ plumbing business at the start of the year, and seven months later is in California getting his wife set up at her “dream job.” He will join her there next year. I have no idea how transferrable a plumbing business is to another state and it’s not really my problem, but I would like his state of mind to be with my house, and it rarely seems like it is.

Dusty said once Ben returns, whenever that might be, he will “focus completely” on getting us plumbed. I wish I felt better about that assurance.

We can already find things for him to do: there’s always the boiler, long on promise but so far short on delivery. Lynn’s bathroom countertop has gone off to get holes cut in the stone, and Steve the stonecutter has made his template for the kitchen counters.

My bathroom vanity — Project of the Year in our house, who would have thought? — started at Home Depot, moved to Custom Home Accents, then Dusty’s cabinet line, then custom-made by Dusty, finally to True Value, where the owner’s promise of “three weeks” seems to have stretched to four, and may or may not arrive in Gunnison on time. Dusty has separately sourced the countertop, which will be butcher-block maple, and it’s here, along with the sink, so I may have a temporary “vanity” of 2 x 4s.

But the laundry room is starting to take shape, and for my mis-measuring my cabinets, it’s all coming together like a happy accident. Check this out:

The countertop isn’t my idea of attractive, but that’s what came with my heck-of-a-deal cabinets, so we’re going with it for now. Dusty kind of wilts when I keep referring to our “remodel,” but it could happen.

If we go back to the kitchen, I forgot to point out Lynn’s drawer pulls:

Outside, the stucco guys were hoping to finish by Wednesday, but Mother Nature had other plans for them, so they’ll have to come back next week. I tried for an action shot, but somehow managed to capture inaction:

They are working, honest, and on the other side of the house it looks like this:

Isn’t that nice? Lynn and I are very pleased with the way it’s turning out.

In the meantime, we are piling boxes upon boxes and still have a houseful of stuff. We can’t tell if we’re on target or not. Much like the subcontractors working on our house. Maybe we’ll make it on time; maybe we won’t.

For today, though (one day at a time, right?), we will hope the electrical passes inspection, so that there may be some light in our lives. Or our house. Whichever is easiest.