Archive for April, 2008
This Old House Part Deuce
Posted by: | CommentsThis saga of the Old House that would be renewed will continue for several months and will occupy my attention for a while. Rebuilding an old house, taking care of the tolls of time and fashion is an operation that requires patience. Its like doing a bypass operation on an old ailing heart, no I take that back, this is more like a heart transplant without the steroids! When we are done you will remember that this is an older house but see it running alongside of the youngest athletes in the race. Thats what I’m talking about. Here is an example. Water I mean lots of it!
As you may recall when Jennifer and I first purchased this Old House in Arcadia California the home of the Apaches, we replaced all of the plumbing from the street with copper piping. What I did at that time was to run a full inch and a half pipe directly to the back yard in future hope that we would be able to do something with the back yard space that was filled with a swimming pool at the time. That is an older story that was never told. Hmmmmm.
OK, so now we have our project going and today the plumbers came to “sweat” up some new copper outlets for the back yard and future sprinkler system. The picture above shows you the manly copper tubing poking out the the future master bedroom addition. I do not think that any new project will have any more water than is shown have. As a matter of fact none will except those that builders build for themselves. When the copper was sweated up we tested the line and filled up a bucket so fast everybody was laughing. These are the areas where skimping comes in big time for builders but not at this Old House project. We will have abundant water availability so long as the city and county allows us water use.
This Old House
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Maybe you have seen the movie or heard the quip from some friend about the nuts across town who bought the old ‘Mason place’ and have moved in. No we are not those people. But we did buy an old house here in Arcadia that has been in need of some serious remolding.
Jennifer and I have now been here in our “California Ranch house” built somewhere back in the stone ages of the 1950’s. Before we moved in we had all of the plumbing redone in copper. You have to love copper. Remember the line in the movie “Moonstruck” where the old man plummer is trying to impress his girl friend: shaking his hands in front of his face in that Italian way he says, “And then there is copper!” Great line from a great movie. The sentiment holds at least for me. Copper is the god of plumbing material. So we had all the plumbing replaced in copper before we moved in so we don’t die from poisoning in the first month in the house.
I get a tip from my friend “Wolfie” about an electrician guy that is from the Midwest and really does a good job with wires. We get him out to the house and 14 thousand dollars later we have new electrical service throughout the house and a bunch of new recessed lighting fixtures. The old electrical system was freekin scary – no grounding at any socket in the house and buried lighting ceiling fixtures under new popcorn. We got rid of all of the popcorn on the ceilings as well.
We had all of the wood floors resurfaced and a new kitchen put in with new appliances. Now we are comfortable. At least I am. Jennifer had other ideas. So now the real work begins with a designer and finding contractors and the like not to mention saying up all of our pennies for the new addition to the house.
This last week we finally got all of the plans approved by our conservative Arcadia City Hall inspectors. The demolition of the back of the house is done now and the foundation for the two new rooms are poured. Today we wait for the concrete to dry. Next week I think the framing starts. I am going to get into that a bit myself. All of this is really good stuff I think?
One of the things you discover in old houses when you tear down a couple of walls are all of the secret problems hidden in the walls. We have two that I can see now. One is termites that were not discovered
during the inspection when we bought the house. The other is mold in the guest bath room wall behind the tile. Both of these problems will be solved. The termites damaged wood will be replace and eventually we will have to tent the house when the construction is completed. My real estate lady is working on this for us. The moldy wall will be torn down and the guest bathroom will be completely gutted. The only way to get rid of mold is to tear the wall away. The idiots that put the tile up in that bathroom did not install any barrier between the wall and the tile. Well of course the moister is going to seep through and mold will flurish. So This Old House project is in full tilt. You can see photos at flickr here.
Lost or Stolen Wallet?
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I Just received a great note from a Karen a friend of mine from school and thought I would pass it alone.
Have you ever had your wallet stolen or lost. Ever wonder about credit card thief or worse yet identity theft.
Well this may help you out if the worst happens so here goes:
Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate Attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.
1.. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’
2.. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card Accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.
3.. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home Phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
4.. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Copy both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call to cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
5.. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
6.. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one)
But here’s what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)
7.. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.
Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., has been stolen:
1.) Equifax: 800-525-6285
2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 888-397-3742
3.) TransUnion : 800-680 – 7289
4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 800-269-0271
So there you have it. Keep a copy somewhere saft so that if the day ever comes that you need this information it is handy. Thanks Karen.
Mists Of Avalon
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Recently I picked up a book that has really held my attention. “The Mists Of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley is a recreation of the King Arthur saga told from the point of view of the women that surrounded his noble life. This is the first in a three part series where the conflict between the Old Religion of the Druids which has held sway in the Island Kingdom of the Britons and the newly imported religion from the Roman occupancy – Christianity – are competing for centrality in the minds and hearts of the Britons. This story depicts the struggle of cultures at odds with each other. The point of view of this retelling of the Arthurian tale highlights the struggle through the eyes of two women; Morgaine, the half sister to Arthur and a high priestess of Avalon and the lovely Queen Gwenhwyfar wife of Arthur who is torn between her duty to her king and her Christian God. Her passion for the dashing Lancelet eventually leads her into her famous adultery. For Morgaine, there is only one quest- to keep Christianity out of Britain, and return it to worship of the Mother Goddess of the Druids. This conflict sets up the tension in this great new look at this famous tale. So why all the interest. This clash of cultures in legend is as timely to day as its roots thousands years ago.
In the words of Gloria Bauermeister in 500 Great Books by Women
It’s the legendary saga of King Arthur and his companions at Camelot, their battles, love, and devotion, told this time from the perspective of the women involved. Viviane is “The Lady of the Lake,” the magical priestess of the Isle of Avalon, a special mist-shrouded place which becomes more difficult to reach as people turn away from its nature- and Goddess-oriented religion. Viviane’s quest is to find a king who will be loyal to Avalon as well as to Christianity. This king will be Arthur. Gwenhwyfar, Arthur’s Queen, is an overly pious, fearful woman who successfully sways her husband into betraying his allegiance to Avalon. Set against her is Morgaine of the Fairies, Arthur’s sister, love, and enemy – and the most powerfully believable person in the book – who manipulates the characters like threads in a tapestry to achieve her tragic and heroic goals.
All in all I am finding the book tremendously readable and spiking my interest in the Druid world of the early British Middle Ages. I highly recommend this book for reading now. This is especially true for those that want a peak into what I have been thinking about and mediating on. Please enjoy it throughly. Let me know what your experiences are reading this book. I can not help but feeling that you will be as touched as I have been by the tenderness and raw power of the prose.
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