Getting ready for the summer

Spring 2007 pool opening
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

We tried to get as many chores done as possible on Saturday. These included: cleaning out the pond, power washing the patios, checking the filters on the pool, killing the carpenter bees that are eating the redwood above verity's bedroom window, putting out the garden furniture and planting annuals in the tubs.
We got off to a flying start when Jerry the pool guy turned up unexpectedly to check on the work his guys had done opening the pool earlier in the week. I mentioned the problem we have had filling the pool (it was pumping out faster than we could fill it) and he was able to tighten things around the pump so that it filled in an hour. That was one job off the list.
Then we decided to divide the workload. I went to procure provisions and plants while Steven power washed the brick patio. I came back a couple of hours later with a baguette, prosciutto, mozzarella and peppers. I'd also identified the plants I wanted but I couldn't lift them into Steven's car, which was now full of shopping and dry cleaning.
Steven had productively spent the time cleaning out the pond rather than washing the green stuff off the bricks, so that we could have lunch outside with the water flowing under the bridge. And it was very relaxing sitting outside with a bottle of wine and the NY Times. So relaxing in fact that we didn't get anymore chores done that day. Oh well, there's always next weekend. Sometimes you just have to stop and drink it all in.

Good news, bad news, and a mystery.

The good news is that it rained really badly this morning so the handyman couldn't work on his other, outside, job. Actually, that's probably not such good news for his other client but great news for me because last night he phoned to say I would have to wait for another 10 days to get the hardware installed and this morning he decided he's rather be dry working on my baths.
He installed the Motiv towel bar, robe hook and toilet roll holder in the boys' bath. That means we can officially call that bathroom the winner in the first to be finished stakes as the girls' bath still needs a piece of trim and he didn't have the correct saw to do that today.
Then he filled a hole in the back door lintel that had rotted away and patched the ceiling in the downstairs bath. It was when he moved on to patch the wall in the laundry room that we realised we had a problem. The wall was more than stained, it was damp if not actually wet. After staring at it for a while and running upstairs to see if we could see a cause we decided the best option was to cut a hole and try and discover the source. I was imagining water pouring through the walls when he opened it but behind was bone dry. Huh.
There is a wastepipe there but it doesn't appear to be damaged: it's not green or damp, there are no beads of humidity anywhere but the sheetrock had just about dissolved and was definitely goopy to the touch. So we are leaving the nice hole in the wall until he can get back to us again (the week before Memorial Day, he promises) and I'll run the toilets, showers, baths and sinks upstairs to see if anything causes a leak. Otherwise when he shows up next time, he'll put in a piece of sheetrock and we'll pretend the whole thing never happened.

Bunny murderer

Jefke
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Jefke looks so sweet and innocent this morning, but yesterday evening he was anything but.
I'd just come inside from watering the herbs I'd planted: coriander, oregano, basil and chives, when Polly the dog started her carzy bark. This is different from the "there's someone at the door" or "come and see, someone is jogging past the house". This bark means she is distressed, usually because the cats are play-fighting or a child is crying.
I looked out across the lawn to see what the problem was and there was Jefke carrying a baby bunny by the back of its neck, just like a mother cat carries a kitten. Then he set the rabbit down and it scampered away, only to be chased down and caught by the relentless Jefke.
I know I should have left it alone but Polly was so upset I thought I could get Jefke back in the house and give the bunny time to get away. I tried calling the cat but he just looked at me as if to say "Can't you see I'm busy here?". So I grabbed the hosepipe and turned it on just behind him.
Jefke let go off the rabbit, the bunny hopped off, rapidly pursued by the cat and me until I got halfway across the lawn and realised my neighbour was outside watering his lawn and watching this performance. At that moment the rabbit shot into the neighbour's garage, followed by the cat and my lawn sprinklers came on, soaking me from head to toe.
I have no idea what happened to the rabbit but I gave it up and went home to dry off. Jefke turned up a couple of hours later sans bunny and as of yet my neighbor hasn't mentioned any corpses under his car.

Girls' Bath done, tick

new vanity in use
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

One more thing ticked off the "To Do" list. The Kohler Stillness faucet was installed this morning. I cannot tell you how much this faucet sucks in comparison to the Grohe Tenso in the boys' bath.
First there's the weight issue. You pick up the Grohe and it weighs a ton, it feels substantial. The Kohler feels lightweight, like it would buckle if you squeezed the faucet really hard. Then there's the finish. We went with the Kohler because we needed a brushed nickel finish to match the other fixtures (lights, hardware) in this bath. But the finish feels cheap, I think it'll chip if I breathe too heavily on it. The Grohe is smooth and I'm sure will resist every bang and knock for years to come.
Then there's the design issue. The Tenso is simplicity itself: push back, turn, push forward - each movement is straightforward , smooth and seamless. The Stillness faucet is rough, hard-edged and the pop-up drain is resting on the spout so it is impossible for anyone with limited mobility (or small children) to pull up the rod that controls the drain cover. I'm sure it will scratch the back of the spout too, but you won't be able to see that.
If we had purchased these faucets in chrome, they would have been the same price, but the quality? World's apart. That said, the Stillness is a pretty faucet and, as I knew I would, I made the plumber happy by choosing Kohler. After all that's what he has in his house.

Teardown

new house
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This is the new house being built further down the road, close to Nathan Hale Beach. This time last year there was an ordinary 1970s cedar clad detached home here with a definite beach feel to it - blue-grey clapboards, deck overlooking the pond and waterfront, picture windows to take advantage of the view.

Then we heard it had been sold and the new owners wanted to bump it out a little. Turns out the "bump" was more like total demolition. For a few months we had an uninterrupted view from Vineyard to Lloyd Neck when we walked the dogs. Then the big plant arrived and dug the foundations and the view disappeared under a wall of earth. Now framing is underway and we are waiting to see what the new house will look like.

Although it hasn't happened as much as in neighbouring villages I guess we will see more houses bought for their land value, torn down and replaced with larger newer models. I only hope they don't all look like post-modern "Victorian" McMansions. I like a little individuality in architecture, especially when it references the surrounding landscape.

Girls' Bath Vanity

vanity with ivory coast
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Well one big improvement today. The Silestone Ivory Coast vanity top arrived with the Toto basin, all in one piece. That means we are one step further to another fully functioning bathroom. we still need to get the faucet in and hooked up and there is a piece of trim that has to go back on the right hand side of the vanity to hide the tile edge but we are almost there. And the good news is that the colour of the countertop (difficult to tell in this photo!) is the same as the sample from e-counters.com, so I'm very happy.

Vanity countertop #2

The furniture maker had pre-selected another quartz sample for me, it's pretty close to the Caesarstone Copper Canyon: Camarthen Brown by Cambria but they don't have any in stock and it might take three weeks to get a piece unless they can find an offcut from somewhere. Choice #3 would be Silestone Mahogany, which is a little too terracotta or Kona Beige, which would mean going in a totally different direction. I've ordered the Cambria and asked them to rush it. Fingers crossed.
And on another tack, the landscaper informs me I have a break on the sprinkler line just where he's planting. That's the sprinkler line the guys fixed two weeks ago. It seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong this week. I don't think I'm going to answer the phone or pick up anymore emails today because I can't cope with any more bad news at the moment.

New border and shower base

new border

We weren't the only ones working hard this weekend. The landscaper came with vibernum, hostas and day lilies to beautify the entrance to the cul-de-sac. Then he edged the bed with 2' rocks and mulched the yard thoroughly, it already looks great and it smells wonderful. I love the smell of mulch. It's a huge improvement on the overgrown ivy bed that was here before.

old border
I did some spring pruning of the deadwood on the hydrangeas, and moved 10 buckets of river rock to make a dry river bed in the dell, while Steven pumped out the water on the pool cover ready to open it this week. We also got the teak base for the boys' bath .

Copper Canyon Shortage

Copper Canyon
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Apparently there has been a run on this particular Caesarstone in New york and the 3/4" is unavailable. I got a message on the answerphone to that effect on Friday. This is the top for the floating vanity that will go in the downstairs bath, As I had picked the mosaic tiles to match I am a little tigged, especially as they were supposed to install the vanity today.
I have a choice: go with 1.1/4" or choose something else. The deeper top will make the vessel sink too high, so I guess I'm off to choose something else. Rats.

Where were we?

downstarirs bath plumbing
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This has been a really busy weekend house-wise. We got back lunchtime Friday and spent the afternoon cleaning up cat poop, I have never seen so much shit in my life - and it was all confined to the master bathroom. Poop in the bath, in the shower, all around the loo. Horrible. There was also sick in the living room but that was minor. And evidence that the cat sitter had cleaned up in the kitchen. I don't know what went on while we were away, they were fine before we left and have been fine since we got back. I can only think they were locked in and got scared. They are used to running in and out of the house all day. I won't leave them again, they can suck it up and join the dogs in kennels.
Steven got rid of his frustration on the remains of the old vanity unit, it's amazing that what is essentially sawdust can stand up to nearly forty years of wear and tear and still put up a good fight but the sledgehammer won in the end.
After that, and a trip to t-mobile to get the replacement phone, we pretty much succumbed to jet-lag.

Culture, cafes and work

Fine Arts Museum
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This is Steven on vacation in unbelievably sunny Brussels (no rain for a month and temps in the high 70s and 80s) enjoying a drink on the terrace of the Fine Arts Museum cafe.
Minutes later his Treo crashed and died and he was phoneless for 24 hours until we got back to cold New York. The Treo was pronounced DOA by t-mobile so they lent him a regular phone until they can ship a new one from head office. The man is completely lost without continuous email access!

One last chore before vacation time

old floating vanity
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Time is going to be short when we get back from vacation so we decided at 7 pm last night to take out the floating vanity. It should have been easy because the water lines weren't corroded, but the P-trap was shut fast and we didn't have a 2" wrench. A quick trip to Home Depot and $10 later we had the p-trap undone. Unfortunately, the faux marble countertop was so heavy, and we didn't want to damage the tiles taking it off, that we couldn't shift it in one piece. A couple of bangs with Big Bessie the sledgehammer and the top was in three smaller pieces and on its way to the garbage.
We knocked off only three tiny triangular pieces of tiles and they came off intact so we can thinset them back on when we get back from our holiday.
Then we realised that our decent flat-bladed screwdriver was missing and the other ones were to big or to small to unscrew the vanity from the wall. Hey, ho, back to Home Depot we go.

Magnolias

magnolia
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

We have three magnolia trees in the yard, one white, one pink and this scrappy little bush that mostly hangs over the neighbour's yard. This is my favourite because you can get up close and really smell the blossom.
Magnolias are at best a fleeting joy, but this year, with the frigid temperatures that never seemed to end, followed by an immediate rise into the eighties, they are already going over.
More photos of the trees in blossom on flickr.

Bathroom prog... -oh, who am I kidding?

It can't be said we are making progress, not even slow progress with the bathroom renovations. Although we are both using the boys' bath to shower in we can't hang a towel anywhere but the floor at the moment because the contractor is too busy to pop in and drill holes for the hardware. We did screw in the robe hook* in the girls' bath on Saturday so you have a choice of places to put your wet towel in that room but no-one wants to get it dirty before Verity has a chance to use it. And we're still waiting for the countertop for the vanity. The installers are going to pick up it up from the fabricators today but can't install it until we get back from vacation.
I'm freaking ever so slightly because I've heard that Silestone may have changed the composition of Ivory Coast making it more brown than green. I hope not because that was about the only thing Steven and I agreed on without discussion, disagreement or second guessing. And I ordered samples to be 100% positive of the color, so a change would be a major issue. We'll see on May 7th.


The glass mosaic tiles for the downstairs bath backsplash came in early (actually less than two weeks) and they look gorgeous against the beige hexagon ones so I'm hoping that they will go in without a problem. I'm also wondering whether I can tile over the exposed side of the terrazzo shower base to add an accent. The inside will be covered by a teak base insert from Teak Works 4u. I've placed the mesh against it and it looks doable and I'm pretty sure flexible thinset will stick glass tiles to anything. Can anyone think of a reason why not? You have until May 5th to come up with comments/suggestions/arguments.

*You may ask why we don't just screw in the hardware in the boys' bath ourselves and call it done. In the girls' bath we are screwing into sheertrock, if we make a boo-boo we patch and sand. In the boys' bath it's expensive porcelain tiles, if we screw up someone could get hurt, badly hurt.....

Earth Day II

Or the day we got lots of earth delivered. We are patching the lawn and extending the lawn strip between the rhododendron bed and the conifers to the left bordering the drive. Trimming the edges every time it was mowed had shrunk the lawn to 12" here and that's a tad narrow to mow. Now we're back to 4' so the grass should stand a chance.
All the leaves on the deciduous trees are opening now, I guess they needed the warm weather before they could unfurl, so the yard is looking better. Tomorrow the environmentally friendly hot oil guy will come and spray the trees and then we are going to plant the bed on the corner of the cul-de-sac with viburnums, day lilies and later some annuals. Got to have some more pretty in the garden.

Earth Day 2007

070422
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The sun is shining, it's 70+ and the forsythia and magnolia are in bloom.
Earth Day started badly as we drove to the drop off with Ruby Red and a load of old cell phones, telephones and other non-functioning e-paraphanalia, only to find that the Town of Huntington held it'd recycling day yesterday! A waste of time and gas driving there and we'll have to recycle this stuff another day in another way.
Worse, I found three perfectly drilled holes on the garage siding, which means the Carpenter Bees are back, so we'll have to get out there with something unecologically friendly before they make swiss cheese out of the redwood.
But on the upside we saw three red-tailed hawks circling the house this afternoon, we've turned the heating off but haven't yet turned the fans or the airco on, I gathered a bucketful of the most enormous pinecones from the huge fir tree and the cherry trees are about to blossom.
On balance, a beautiful Earth Day,

Celebrations

Lots of things to celebrate this week in addition to finishing the first bathroom remodel. I got my Social Security number at long last and that means I am a certified, numbered real person and with that and my Dept of Homeland Security photo id I was able to renew my NY state driving license, which expired in November. (Living in NY and being dependent on your husband's visa is both demeaning and frustrating; I've been a kept woman and felt like chattel. It does little for one's self-esteem, especially when they take away your driving privileges because your visa has less than six months to run, even though you've been granted an extension for three years). And the number of places I'm asked to show my driving license here? Banks, stores, airports..... it's impossible to exist without one. But enough of the Kafkaesque nightmare that is USCIS, Department of Homeland Security and NYS DMV. I am now legitimate again.

Sadie
The biggest celebration though is that after an entire month Sadie the dog has decided that the Fatboy dog bed isn't so scary and she's taken to sleeping on it at night (after Cassis the cat has made it cosy and warm. I'm still waiting for Polly to pluck up the courage to try her bed out.

Polly
Ooh, and one more huge celebration. I did not know this until two minutes ago but today is NATIONAL GARLIC DAY. I love garlic: roasted, fried, preserved in oil, in Rogan Josh, leg of lamb, sliced in poached sea bass, Skordalia it's all good. I think I will keep the celebration going all weekend long.

Finally, one working bathroom

It's taken months - more than six, in fact since we began the renovation of the boy's bath; it's been even longer since we stopped using this bath because of the leaks through the ceiling below, and in fact, I've probably only showered in there twice in all the time we've lived here because the decor scared me so much. But today I took my first shower in there in at least a year and I have to tell you that it was the best shower I have ever taken.
The previous best shower was at the Manchester Airport Marriott in February, a Hansgrohe with enough water pressure to knock you off your feet (and a Toto toilet, Duravit sinks and faucets, if my memory serves me, very modern) but the Grohe Freelander is fantastic. I emerged not simply clean but revitalised, and that's without trying out the "massage" spray. I cannot wait to get back in there tomorrow morning.
One thing I know I'll do differently in the master remodel, though, is to spring for the thermostatic shower valve. Fiddling around with the temperature while huge jets of icy water shoot at you can be a little strenuous first thing in the morning. Tomorrow, I'll put the shower on, then clean my teeth while it warms up. I know, wasting the earth's resources, but what's a girl to do?

Shower Doors Installed

boys' bath frameless shower doors
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

They look much better in real life, the photos are a tad dark and of course, reflect the flash. The only downside is that I have to wait 24 hours after the installation to use the shower.
Twenty-three hours, thirty minutes and counting.
And just in case anyone has forgotten the horror that was there before:


Smaller, darker and scary...........

Original Style

Saturday was action-packed. We have a lot to do to finish off the bathrooms before we head abroad for a week at the end of the month. I'd planned a day that started with giving an extra coat of paint to the boy's bath ceiling. That has to be done this weekend as the guys are ready to install the frameless shower doors and I don't want anyone wielding a roller in there once those babies go in. Then we have to take the hard top off my Jeep, go pick up the teak shower base and then put the soft top on before it starts raining. We needed to go pick the tiles for the backsplash in the downstairs bathroom and make sure they were in stock or available within four weeks so that bath gets finished before the visitors arrive in late May. Once they start arriving there'll be no more construction, or demolition for that matter, until September.
Then Steven came home last night and broke it to me at dinner (his motto is: always break the bad news to your wife in a public place, and preferably when she's had a drink, that way she won't shout) that he'd invited a colleague over to solve a work problem. That threw the scheduling out a little, especially when I invited colleague and husband to dinner afterwards. And the house was covered in dust and dog hair as usual.
Basically we just hit the ground running this morning. Steven walked the dogs while I showered. We were at the tile store at 9am. and out by 9:50, which was pretty good as they didn't have the tile I'd chosen (discontinued), the second choice was paper backed and I wanted mesh, and the third choice we decided just didn't look right. Finally we settled on this coppery metallic glass mosaic by Original Style. I had to buy a box, but because it was my lucky day I got a huge discount and it wound up being cheaper than the stuff on ebay. Only drawback is that it's shipped from the UK so it'll be "two weeks" before we get it.
After that a quick run to the supermarket and the fishmonger, a dash aound with Glassex and the Dyson and we took the top off the car without damaging ourselves. All done by 1:30. Then some devil made me check out the teak base and despite the large "FRAGILE" label someone had dropped it and scuffed one end pretty badly. So that had to go back, and it will be "two weeks" before the replacement arrives.
Never mind, I got the glue of the shower base with Goo Gone, picked up the dry cleaning, walked and fed the dogs and I still have time to blog before dinner.
The boys' bath ceiling though, that will have to wait until tomorrow.