West Coast Vacation: The Secret Garden

One of the decisions we made as we planned this trip was to stay almost exclusively in properties listed on AirBnB (airbnb.com).  This site allows individuals to rent out extra rooms to entire apartments or homes for travelers. 

Properties get rated by the people who stay there, and we, as renters, get rated by the property owners.  This check-and-balance helps deter dishonest listings and vandalism of the accommodations.  You generally request a lodging and get a confirmation from the owner, presumably after they have checked your online reputation.

We have used it frequently over the past few years and have found the lodgings to be economical (usually cheaper than a hotel, particularly in metropolitan areas), well maintained and having much greater personality than your typical hotel room. 

The Secret Garden in Carmel, California was one of the best experiences we've had using AirBnB.  In addition to being positively reviewed, the owners, Jill and Michael, were on site and welcomed us when we arrived at their home. 

Their house sits just off California Highway 1 - the scenic Pacific Coast Highway we traveled part way from Santa Monica to Carmel.  It's one of those places that's easy to find - once you've been there.  It took a cell phone call to Michael to confirm the location.  After that, we found our way easily. 

The gate shown above is the entrance to their courtyard.  Inside, a brick path winds around the house, through a beautiful small garden, to their extra room.  It had an outside entrance, ensuring privacy for guests.

A small sitting area is nestled in the corner of the garden, just outside the room.

Inside, we found a room that had been recently remodeled by Michael and Jill, with wooden plank walls stained a light gray.  We were tickled to see the bird motif bedspread (we have an identical spread in one of our guest rooms.)  Jill had continued the bird theme in the decorative plates hanging on the wall and others in the cupboard for our use. 

In addition to creating a warm and inviting guest room, Jill and Michael also provided a variety of amenities for their guests.  These included freshly ground organic coffee, maps and guidebooks, and passes to local parks and the Monterrey Aquarium.

We stayed two nights in The Secret Garden while we explored Carmel and Monterrey.  The small table in the corner was a perfect place to eat take out food (which we did the first night after a long day on the road), and to plan our activities for the day.

This was exactly the kind of place we wanted to stay in on this trip.  If we have reason to go back to Carmel in the future, our first choice for lodging will be the Secret Garden.

West Coast Vacation: Santa Monica to Carmel

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

This morning we were up and out by 6:30am.  California Highway 1, aka The Pacific Coast Highway, was accessible a few blocks from our apartment, and that's where we went.  It was a gray and overcast morning - not very "scenic".  We moved with traffic north from Santa Monica and into Malibu.  We could see the ocean much of the time, but there wasn't much to see - gray water, gray sky.  It didn't matter though - we were up and moving.  It would get better. 

After Malibu, the scenery became more sparse - fewer people and developments, more open space.  The ground around us looked alternately like the surface of the moon, the landscape in Afghanistan (based on what we've seen in the news), or some other barren landscape. 

We made it to Oxnard and began to see a difference.  We were now in commercial agriculture territory.  We saw acres of fields neatly plowed into raised beds with taut plastic covers over them.  We saw row after row of plants on trellises under white covers.  After a few miles we figured out these were grapes.  We saw fields with many different kinds of produce being grown - tomatoes in one area.  Row after row of lime trees in another.  Long, multiple hooped covers with shrubbery - probably destined for back yards in the east and Midwest.  Everywhere we looked the ground seemed brown and dry - reflecting the drought that has affected California for several years.  Many of the farms had irrigation systems in place - long slender pipes running parallel to the beds, with an occasional upright leading to a spigot.  Many farms appeared to be using drip irrigation - a method that uses tubing with small holes that lay on the ground throughout the bed.  It drips water into the soil - a more efficient method than spraying water into the air.

We saw lots of equipment - tractors, trucks, pumps, generators - all the tools of modern, large-scale agriculture production.  But we also saw people - small groups in the fields, many wearing broad-brimmed hats, bent over, picking the produce that will end up on our grocery store shelves for our consumption.  We guessed that most of the people doing this work had brown skin.  We saw the rough houses they lived in along side the fields.  We saw them walking to the fields.  We knew they live a hard life and hope they find some sense of satisfaction and reward in what they do, for we are dependent on them for our food.

And we made a wrong turn somewhere along the way.  We naively thought that Highway 1 would be clearly signposted, but apparently it was not.  We stopped for coffee in the town of Moorpark and realized we were off course.  Cursing, we asked Siri for redirection and spent an hour or more on Highway 101 getting back on track.  We looked at our road atlas and decided to stay on 101 for a while to make up lost time.  It didn't seem to matter much, since the morning was so gray.

We passed Santa Barbara on the 101.  We had stayed there are few years ago and enjoyed the town.  Today, we couldn't tell it from any other place that an interstate highway bypasses.

After awhile we stopped at a rest area outside Govita.  When we got out of the car, we were surprised by how windy it was.  The terrain looked like much of what we had seen all morning - dry, brown, windswept.

Then the first amazing thing of the day happened - we drove through the tunnel, around a corner and BANG! - we went from gray, overcast skies to clear, blue skies with the sun shining!

Within a few miles we were in the Los Alamos area and saw acres of vineyards.

We stayed on Hwy 101 to San Luis Obispo, then reconnected with Hwy 1 to proceed up the coast.  The scenery got progressively better as we continued north.

We stopped often.  ...to see the sea lions lounging on the beach.

...to look at the road ahead.

We began noting a change in vegetation - seeing the Cypress trees that are a prominent symbol of the central California coast.

The coast changed - becoming more rocky, and more colorful.

And when we looked back, we could see how the ribbon of road paralleled the ocean.

We stopped to appreciate the small details which were easily overlooked in the context of the grand landscapes we saw.  (We learned later that this flower is Anise.)

As we proceeded north, the landscape became rockier, sharper, more well defined.

And then, at the end of a long day of driving, we arrived at The Secret Garden.

More to come!

 

West Coast Vacation: Staging in Santa Monica

Our first few days were spent in Santa Monica, California, visiting with our daughter Sarah and getting ready for the road trip.

We flew to Santa Monica from Indy on Saturday morning.  It was a 7:15am flight, which meant getting up way early to do the hour drive to the airport.  This meant disturbing the routines of our two Boston Terriers, Beans and Sox. 

If you live with dogs, you know that they develop a sixth sense about your activities.  Beans, our older BT, gets nervous whenever we get out the suitcases.  She starts to shiver and will hardly get out from underfoot until we drive away.  Mary got smart this time and put both dogs in a back bedroom while she got the suitcases out and set them on our bed.  While Beans' radar was twitching while we packed, she didn't get alarmed like usual.  On Saturday morning, Mary took them into the back room while I loaded the suitcases into the car.  That diversion, along with a couple dog biscuits, allowed us to slip away without a lot of drama.  (Don't worry...we didn't leave them alone for two weeks!  Our other daughter, Katie, is house sitting.  She and fiancé Adam came out later in the morning.)

We were on the road by 4:30.  It was a dark drive to Indy, compounded by construction - concrete barriers crowding the shoulders, dim lines, lanes rerouted - and rain.  We white-knuckled it through to the airport.  Not a great start for a driving vacation.

Running the gauntlet through airport security is always a hassle.  Nine times out of ten, my bag gets pulled to the side and the TSA agents have to inspect it.  This morning, though, it was Mary's turn to win the lottery.  Her bag ended up in the bad suitcase lane, and a terse agent (remember -  it's 6:00am and his job is to rustle through peoples' personal belongings) asked permission to search it.  Mary said "Sure, go ahead.  I don't know what you're going to find, though."  As the agent opened her bag, she muttered "Oh, shit.  I forgot!" 

"Forgot what?", I asked.

"My shampoo and conditioner.  I forgot to put them in the bag we checked.  Damn it!"

At about that point, the TSA agent pulled three plastic bottles from her suitcase - shampoo, conditioner and eyeglass cleaner.  "Sorry, ma'am, these are larger than 3 ounces.  You can't take them on board."

Now I'm standing there thinking how much can this cost, five or six bucks?, when Mary says to the guy, "I hope you can take that stuff home to your wife.  It's fifty bucks worth of product!"  (This is why I don't enquire about what a trip to the stylist costs, nor am I ever told.)

"No, ma'am.  We can't keep it.  You can go back out to the lobby and check your bag, if you like."

Mary muttered something, and I stepped in.  "Just let it go", I said, and guided her to the end of the line and on towards our gate.

Thankfully, the flight was uneventful.  I took a nap while Mary read a magazine.  She doesn't sleep on a plane.  Her explanation:  "I can't sleep.  I have to be ready in case the pilot needs me to fly the plane." 

After a couple hours in the air, the pilot announced that we should look out the left side of the plane.  It was a beautiful clear morning and we were flying over the Grand Canyon.  We had a great view.

Sarah and Pearl, her French Bulldog, met us at LAX and drove us back to their apartment.  Along the way we passed what, to us, was a typical crazy California sight - a CVS drug store that had a two story high, three-dimensional figure of an evil looking cross-dressing clown on its façade.  I didn't get a picture because we were anxious to get to the apartment.  "We'll come back later for a photo", I said.  That statement became the basis for our first new rule of the vacation:  If you see something photo-worthy, take the picture now!  Don't plan on coming back to get it later.  You won't...especially if you have to contend with LA traffic.



 

Mary's brother, Eddie, drove up from Carlsbad and met us for brunch.  We don't get to see him very often, so it was a fun way to start our time in California.

 

We checked in at the AirBnB apartment mid afternoon.  It was in an apartment building in downtown Santa Monica, about 7 blocks from the beach.  Nothing special, in fact it was smaller and not as well equipped as the online description had led us to believe.  We quickly discovered that the internet and cable TV did not work.  Yep, we wanted to get away and disconnect.  Be careful what you ask for!

However, the temperature in Santa Monica was in the mid-90's, much higher than normal for them.  Many places, including Sarah's apartment, didn't have air conditioning.  We stocked up with wine and snacks from a nearby grocery store and happily spent the late afternoon and evening sitting and talking.  Yes...talking.  Remember that?

On Sunday I bought an LA Times and enjoyed sitting on the patiodrinking coffee and reading a real newspaper.  (The Columbus Gazette lasts me about 5 minutes on a typical Sunday!)  While I read the book review section, Mary read the real estate ads aloud:  So-and-so director's estate is up for sale for $55M.  Marginally known actress selling her big house for $12M.  She bought it 3 years ago for $9M.  Wish I could get that type of appreciation!

Later in the morning, we walked to the beach and along the walking / skating / biking path for a mile or so til we got to Sarah's side of town. 

 

There was a lot of activity on the beach that morning.  In addition to the joggers and bike riders, there were local surfing schools holding classes near the water's edge and some aerobics classes being held in the sand.  Of course, there was also beach volleyball.  We saw three teenagers doing acrobatics off the concrete curb.  They took turns running across the sidewalk, leaping up onto the curb and doing flips in the air.  Mary asked if they could do it together, and they obliged.

 

Away from the beach, we wandered through the local Farmer's Market.  It occupied almost a full city block and was open all day on Sunday - imagine that!  We sat on the sidewalk and ate delicious burritos stuffed with organic vegetables, rice and feta cheese while we listened to a quartet mangle some otherwise good songs.  You gotta take the good with the bad.

 

 

On Sunday evening, Sarah recommend that we have dinner at Seasons 52  ( https://www.seasons52.com/ ).  It was our first great meal of the trip.  Our waitress, Stacy, had a great sense of humor and was very knowledgeable about everything on the menu.

We began with appetizers.  We had an Ahi Tuna Tartare that was fabulous.  It was layered with wasabi-avocado mousse and a tropical salsa and was served with Hawaiian sea-salt crisps.  (I could have ordered a second one and stopped there.  OK...who am I kidding!) 

 

 

Along with it we had a flatbread with a trio of roasted mushrooms, garlic confit, spinach, green onions, goat cheese and truffle oil.  Also delicious.

 

 

As an entree, I had Asian-glazed Chilean Sea Bass with organic black rice, snow peas, shitake mushrooms and a micro wasabi.

 

 

Mary had a wood-grilled pork tenderloin with sweet potato mash, saute of bacon, French green beans and Brussels sprout leaves and a zesty jus.

 

Sarah had a filet, which looked delicious, but I didn't get a picture.

All of it accompanied by a chilled Viognier - a crisp white wine we've come to enjoy, but don't find on many menus.

On Monday we got serious about the rest of the trip.  Mary and I started by walking several miles to  to Sarah's place and back.  (We'd left something in her car the day before!)  We then had a nice al fresco breakfast at the Blue Daisy Café (http://www.bluedaisycafe.com/), a block from our rental.  Mary's was the best - a bagel with salmon, cream cheese, capers, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers.  I was tempted by big breakfast sandwiches and benedicts, but opted for some oatmeal with strawberries, bananas, honey and cinnamon.  (Something about the healthy southern California scene must be rubbing off.)

In the early afternoon we took an Uber to LAX and picked up our rental car.  A few minutes of stress as they had difficulty preparing the rental agreement to match the cost we had booked. 

Problem solved, we asked Siri to get us to In and Out Burger for a late lunch.  Mary had been on a previous trip and we said we'd go once on this trip.  We arrived at about 2pm to find the parking lot full and the drive thru backed up 10 cars deeps.  After circling the lot a couple times we found a spot and went inside.  There had to be 12 - 15 people working in the kitchen and front counter.  The place was running full bore and everyone working there was smiling!  (I'd like to know their secret...and share it with employees and servers everywhere!)  Our burgers came out hot and delicious.

On the way back to the apartment, we made a couple stops to pick up a cooler, some ice and a variety of supplies for the trip. 

We had one last dinner with Sarah on Monday night at a local tapas restaurant - Manchego (http://www.manchegosm.com/).  It was a warm night and the place was not air conditioned, but we had a great time trying a variety of the small plate dishes.  (It was also dark - no pictures.) 

We really enjoyed getting to spend some time with Sarah, to talk at length about her work in the law firm, and to see the area where she lives.  We'll have to make it back to Santa Monica again soon. 

We took an Uber back to the apartment and packed our bags, ready to set out on the road trip the next morning.

West Coast Vacation - The Big Build Up

Vacations are to working adults as Christmas is to small kids.  Sometimes it’s more about the anticipation than the event.  And the realization can be a letdown after the visualization.  Let’s hope not in this case.  We’ve certainly loaded this vacation with significance….

I haven’t taken a vacation all year.  I need to get away and unplug.

Mary has been stuck on the farm for three years without a lengthy trip away.  She really needs to get away and see something different.

We’ve started calling this vacation the “trip of a lifetime”.  Sounds like a setup for disappointment, doesn't it?

But we have as much fun, or more, planning trips as we do planning what we’d do with our lottery winnings.  This one got some extra attention.  The conversation went something like this: 

      “Let’s plan a driving trip up the west coast.” 

      "OK.  I think we can make it from LA to Vancouver in two weeks, don't you?" 

      “And let’s plan to stay in AirBnB’s all the way.  The quirkier the better!”

So that's what we're doing.  We started in Los Angeles and in two weeks will end in Vancouver.  We're going to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway in California and enjoy the scenery.  We're going to tour some wineries in Napa on bicycles.  We're going to visit Crater Lake in Oregon.  We're going to explore a bit of Portland, Seattle and Vancouver.  We’re going to stay in some city apartments (probably not that quirky), but also in some places with intriguing names, like “The Secret Garden” and “The Writer’s Retreat”.  Also in a BlueBird bus that’s been converted to overnight lodging in, where else, Portland. 

And of course we're going to eat some great food and drink some great wine.

We busted our asses getting ready to leave.  I've said before that I wish I could maintain the level of activity I achieve in the week before a vacation.  I'm like a mad man, crossing stuff off my “to-do” list every day.  I surprisingly become a much better delegator.  (My staff may wish I'd just stay home!) 

 

Mary had a poster-sized calendar with a list of 20 things that needed done every day of the two weeks before we left.  Most of it got done.  (The other dynamic of getting ready for vacations is that you become crystal clear about your priorities.  Some stuff on the to-do list get reprioritized to be done after the vacation, meaning it may never get done at all if you shred the list before you leave.)

I talked to my staff, peers, and boss:  “I’m going away for two weeks.  I’m not going to read email.  I’m not going to call you.  I trust that you will make good decisions while I’m gone, and I won’t second-guess you when I return.”  Everyone said some variation of “Wow, I wish I could do that!”

Let’s see how it goes. 

 

 

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Place holder page to put some more pictures of the farm house remodel.

The Farm House Remodel - Week 2

Let's see if we can catch up on the action.  Here's a week's worth of updates...


Day 5 - Monday, May 27, 2013

Monday was Memorial Day, which was not a work day for the crew, but was one for us.  More to do in advance of the demolition.  I picked up the river rocks that border all the flower and shrubbery beds around the house and hauled them to the back of the property.  I also spent time salvaging lumber from the demo pile, ending up with a good load in the back of the pickup.  No, it's not new wood.  Yes, it has a lot of nails sticking out of it that I'll have to pull out.  But when it's time to build a new shelf in the barn or another nest box in the hen house, it will be just fine.


Day 6 - Tuesday, May 28, 2013

On Tuesday, the crew started sometime after 1:00pm.  They built the temporary wall inside that will provide privacy and security for us when they remove the front of the house.  Everything beyond the wall will be gone.

Day 7 - Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Today the power was out from around 9:00am until 3:30 while the temporary service was installed.    We'll be living on 60amps for the next few months.  That's the temporary pole at the right edge of the photo below.

You can also see the other noticeable development - the windows were all removed.  Not as noticeable from outside was the removal of most of the ductwork - the furnace and central air are now out of commission.  

We had dinner tonight with a group at the Pine Room Tavern in Nashville, Indiana.  No cooking in the FEMA trailer today!  

When we got home, we discovered that the power to the window air conditioner in our bedroom was not working.  Something got disconnected during the demo today.  Luckily, an adjacent outlet is still live, so an extension cord is enough to keep us cool.  I'll report this to Greg, the contractor, tomorrow.  

Day 8 - Thursday, May 30, 2013

The good news:  The electrician was on site today and fixed the problem with the bedroom air conditioner.

The bad news:  He cut power to the barn.  Not a major problem, but one we'll have to get corrected later this week.

No picture tonight.  We took off early and went to Indianapolis to join our friends Ann and Alan at the Indiana Historical Society Concert on the Canal.  We enjoyed these open air concerts regularly when we lived in downtown Indy, and it was fun to go back again.  We sit on the grass bank across the canal from the stage and enjoy the show for free.  It was a beautiful evening -  perfect weather to sit outdoors, sip wine, enjoy a picnic dinner and listen to the Tad Robinson band play Motown hits.  If you're looking for a fun outing on a Thursday night, let us know - we're up to go again.  (I'm marking August 1 on the calendar.)

Day 9 - Friday, May 31, 2013

Nothing happened today - all activity was rained out.  We'll hope for more production next week.

The Farm House Remodel - Days 4 & 5

Day 4 - May 23, 2013

Today most of the crew did not work.  Mary worked with Jeff, the electrician, to get the FEMA trailer powered up.  By the end of the day, all the extension cords in the trailer were gone and an new 30 amp circuit was feeding power to the trailer.  This means we can use the toaster,  and the coffee pot at the same time, with lights, and might be able to cook a meal that doesn't involve a crock pot in the dark.

This will be our "summer kitchen" until the new kitchen is completed, sometime in the fall.


Day 5 - May 24, 2013

Today the tree guys came to cut down four large trees around the perimeter of the house.  We hated to see these trees removed - some of them were probably 50 to 60 years old.  But they had not been adequately maintained or ever trimmed.  There was no way to build the new floorplan with these trees in place.

They took out the two large trees to the left of the outhouse.  Better pictures will follow on a later day.

Today is our 37th wedding anniversary and we celebrated by leaving town for Bloomington.  We had a great dinner at Restaurant Tallent - one of our favorite places for special occaisions.  The chef agreed to do his five course tasting menu - normally only available on week nights - for us, because the restaurant was slow this Friday night.  It was one of the top 2 or 3 meals we've ever had!  A great way to end the week.

The Farm House Remodel - Days 2 & 3

Day 2 - May 21, 2013

If our neighbors had not already concluded that we were white trash by now, today's demolition might lead them to that conclusion.  The view when I got home from work today included a toilet in the front yard.

I haven't asked any questions, nor am I drawing conclusions, but the toilet was gone the next morning.  I had already sifted through the debris pile to the right and salvaged about $100 worth of 2 x 4's.  Hey, we're always building something on the farm.  Might as well reuse whatever we can.

Lots of activity indoors today.  Sheetrock from the interior walls and ceilings was torn out.

Ray the plumber did some rework on the septic and water lines to ensure that we still had service from the master suite.  (Thanks, Ray!)  

And after all the work was through, we sat on the back patio and enjoyed a cocktail, followed by a dinner from the crock pot.  It was a beautiful evening, and we expect to enjoy many more as the project continues.

Day 3 - May 22, 2013

Today we were surprised when the crew started cutting the house in two.  This happened earlier than we expected - probably something we'll need to get used to.  

Mary shot a video of a definitive moment.

Inside the house, the crew removed a section of floor across the width of the house - in line with the cuts in the walls - sort of a large perforation through the building.  We could begin to see where the house would come apart, but couldn't yet imagine how it would be done.

All of this work took a toll on the Boston Terriers.  After a full day of supervising the work from the back yard, barking at the contractors and generally missing their naps, they were exhausted!

Stay tuned.  More to follow.

The Farm House Remodel - Day 1

Monday, May 20, 2013

We had spent the weekend clearing out the front of the house - moving furniture back to our master suite, packing boxes of stuff to be stored in the garage, removing doors and wood trim that might be salvageable for later use.  By Sunday night we were as ready as we could be (and worn out!)  There were a couple big pieces of furniture left - a sofa and a dresser - but we figured the crew could work around them until we got them moved later in the week.

Here's the view from the outside at the end of Day #1.  I'll take a picture from the same spot every day.  From the outside, there's not much visible difference.  Everything happened indoors today.

The crew arrived at 10:30am on Monday morning.  This was later than we anticipated - we would have figured on 7am - so we'll have to understand their schedule and approach. This week and next are designated on the schedule as "demo" - as in "demolition" - so we expected sledge hammers to be flying.  They were, and the crew made short work of the interior of the house.

Everyone we've talked to about remodeling had war stories to tell about things they discovered once they started tearing out the old parts of their house.  Our experience was no different.  We had a couple of surprises in our first day.

Day 1 - No kitchen left!

Surprise #1 - The crew discovered that the original part of the house extended further back than we had thought.  In the photo above you can see an old window that was uncovered as the sheetrock was removed.  So the kitchen section probably dates to the 1930's, not the 1980's.  This may or may not prove to be a problem later.  

Day 1 - Kitchen and Dining Room are gone!

I don't have a good "before" picture of the rooms shown in the photos.  Trust me, though, they were not remarkable.

Surprise #2 - Within the first hour, another problem surfaced.  One crew member had started pulling up the floor in the current laundry room.  This is part of the middle of the house that will be gutted and reconfigured, so we were anticipating that there was a good foundation underneath.  The crew member reported that he found four different layers of floor in the laundry room - tile, linoleum, etc. - and that underneath all those layers the wood was rotten.

They stopped work in this room - not sure why, but we'll come back to it later.  I'm sure there are more surprises ahead.

Overall, we were impressed by the amount of progress made on this first day.  We're off to a good start!

Another Crazy Adventure - The Farm House Remodel - Part 1

I started this blog almost 9 years to the day ago - May 25, 2004.  If you look through the list of posts, one conclusion you could reach is that I have been neither prolific nor committed.  You'd be right about that.  Spoiler alert:  That's probably not going to change, despite my good intentions.

I reread the original post tonight and was surprised by how many other things have remained the same.  I still think I'm living the good life in paradise.  Mary still hasn't figured out she got the short end of the deal.  (Though it's been 37 years now, so it's possible she's figured it out and is simply not going to admit it.)  And we're still pursuing crazy adventures together.  Since I published that first post we've put our last kid through college, lived in at least three different homes, toured Europe and moved to a farm.

Which brings me to the latest adventure - the subject of this series of posts.  We moved to Second Act Farm in the spring of 2012.  The house was livable, but we knew it would require some major work.  I could see a major renovation in our future, but we agreed up front that we'd live in it for a year before we attempted any substantial changes.  We wanted to experience the place through four seasons and give some thought to what changes were really necessary.

That was a good plan for a reason we didn't anticipate up front - starting the farm would completely consume all of our spare time and energy.  Stripping wallpaper and picking paint colors never made it to the middle of the priority list, much less the top.  We had our hands full making all the mistakes that new farmers make.  (Some of those are documented at the farm blog, http://secondactfarm.blogspot.com/ .  Same spoiler alert - posts are few and far between.  See a pattern emerging?)

But over the winter we found some time and a good architect, Louis, who helped us refine our ideas into a buildable design.  The plan in a nutshell is this:  We would demolish the front third of the house (everything forward of the dashed line in the photo below).  It contains two small front rooms, and a half story above - ceiling is at 6' - 2".

In its place, we would have a new, larger two story addition, like shown in the architect's drawing below.  It will have a new living room and master suite downstairs and two guest rooms upstairs.  A wall of windows on the first floor will look out over the adjacent farm land, and a wraparound porch will give us extra space to entertain.

The middle third of the house will be gutted and reconfigured to contain a new kitchen, pantry and laundry room.  The rear of the house will remain unchanged.  It's currently the master suite - where we'll be living during the remodel - but in the future will become a combination office and exercise room.

Through the early spring, we talked to several local builders and negotiated price and specifications.  We ultimately selected Greg and his company to do the work.  

They started the demolition one week ago.  Two thirds of the house is now gutted.  There are large saw kerfs in the side walls that mark where the front of the house will be separated.  We're currently living in the master suite (along with half of our furniture) and using a borrowed FEMA trailer parked in the back yard as our kitchen and dining room.  (Yes, that's FEMA trailer, as in one of the thousands that was deployed in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.  But that's a story for another day.)

Lots of our friends and family members have asked us about the project, so we have decided to document our experiences here.  It's not likely we'll post every day, but we will document the entire project from now through completion - currently scheduled for the first week of October.  We hope you'll find it entertaining.  Mary and I went into this with an agreement that neither one of us would complain about the noise, dirt or general inconvenience involved in this project.  So far, we've held up our ends of the bargain, but there's a long, hot summer ahead.  We know that some of our friends have started a pool, betting on which one of us caves in first, and when.  You might want a piece of that action.  

Stay tuned.  Lots more to come!

Dad's new novel - "Sunrise in the Cloud Forest" - launches on August 19

Looking for a great, late summer read? How's this for a teaser:

Dr. Matthew X Landry, organizer and senior pastor of Mobile's Harmony Temple, wants nothing more than to make the Temple the largest Protestant church along the Gulf Coast, counting on the help of his wife and co-pastor, Georgia Landry . . . until that goal and his marriage are threatened by the public confession of a woman who claims to be the pastor's lover. While Private Investigator Lettie Fortenot labors to prove the pastor's innocence, a wounded Georgia Landry flees to Costa Rica in an attempt to carve out a new life for herself.

Is Dr. Matt guilty or innocent?

The couple's own sons, who are themselves conflicted in their religious loyalties, are not the only ones divided on this question. Exploring the depths of ambition, trust and forgiveness, the future of a family, as well as the future of a great church, is at stake in this compelling new novel by Bert Johnston.

I'll admit to a bit of bias here - Bert happens to be my father.  He is a retired Presbyterian minister living in Spanish Fort, Alabama, just east of Mobile.  

This is Bert's second novel.  He has been on an interesting journey for the past five or six years.  His first novel, "Parson Campbell's Breakthrough" was published in 2009, several years after he entered the "National Novel Writing Month" and wrote the first draft.  ("NaNoWriMo" is a worldwide event that encourages would-be authors to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.  I've done it for a couple of years. Bert and I did it together one year.  He kicked my ass in word count.)

"Sunrise in the Cloud Forest" is available as a paperback or a Kindle book.  For a brief moment a few weeks ago, it was in the top 30 bestsellers on the Amazon.com UK site for Kindle books.  You can help influence its ranking in the US by buying your copy on the official launch day, tomorrow - August 19.  

More information about the author and sample chapters from "Sunrise" can be found on Bert's web site - www.bertjohnston.com .

Let me know what you think of the book.  I'll pass any comments along to Bert.

Successful surgery on the MacBook in 94 steps!

Two things I haven't done much of in the last few years are:

1. Publish anything on this blog.  The last post was in October, 2009.  (There was actually one in November, an embarrasing rant about reality TV - the only post I've ever deleted from the blog.)  Lots has happened since then, but most of it will have to wait for another post.
   
   
2. Repair a computer.  We haven't had a desktop computer in the house for at least 5 years, and my primary platforms have been a laptop issued by work and most recently, an iPad - neither of which I can tinker with.  

But today I spent about 3 hours doing a repair on Mary's MacBook.  Here's the story:

Mary has had her MacBook for about 5 years.  Several months ago the display started going black when she moved it.  In order to use the laptop, she would have to pivot the display slowly, sometimes getting it to 90 degrees, sometimes not.  After a couple of months, it got to the point where she could only raise the screen about 45 degrees.

I did some research on the Internet and found a description of a likely cause and a procedure for repairing it at ifixit.com.  The procedure had 47 steps, and that was just to get to the point where the old part was taken out.  You had to repeat the same steps, in reverse, to put the machine back together - a total of 94 steps.

It was rated "difficult" - not a surprise.

I passed on the chance to repair it myself.

Another month passed, and the problem got worse.  I called a repair shop in Indy and was told they would gladly diagnose the problem for $90 and then would give me a quote me on the repair.  It seemed silly to drive to Indy for the chance to pay several hundred dollars on a 5 year old computer.  I went to the Geek Squad counter at the local Best Buy, but was told their company policy prohibited them from opening the case on a Mac.

I went back to the ifixit site for another look.  The 47 steps didn't look so daunting this time.  Plus, the site suggested the tools I needed, including a coin which had a face value of 25 cents that they would sell me for $2.95.  There was a button to add all the tools to my cart.  Easy.

After a few minutes review, I figured "What the hell, how hard can it really be?" and sent in the order.  To their credit, they didn't add the coin to my cart.  With an online coupon code, I got the part and the necessary tools, including something called a "spudger" that I thought might be a British screwdriver...I was wrong, for $30.

I reserved a Saturday afternoon for the repair.  I printed out the 47 step procedure, cleared off a work space, readied the spudger and took a deep breath.

Over the years I've disassembled and updated a lot of Windows / Intel desktops.  I've added memory to a Dell laptop.  But I've never cracked a Macanything.  The ifixit instructions proved invaluable.  It took about an hour and 45 minutes to go through the 47 steps, with only a few minutes set aside for head scratching.



The thing that amazed me the most was the tiny size of most of the hardware components.  To keep things orderly, I took the screws from each step and taped them to a piece of paper.  These were some of the tiniest screws I've ever seen.  Here they are, next to my 25 cent tool.
















Not surprising - the interior of the MacBook is tight and tidy.  There were some of the smallest connectors I've ever seen.  I needed a magnifying glass to see some of them.

I got a kick out of seeing the speakers...smaller than my 25 cent tool!

After an hour and 45 minutes, I had done all the disassembly and had installed the replacement part - a 3 inch long cable.

Working backwards through the 47 steps took another 55 minutes.  Surprising that it went back together faster than it came apart.  When the case was all back together and the battery was reinstalled, we held our breath and pushed the power button.  

After a few seconds we heard the familiar sounds of the MacBook booting up.   A minute or so later, the desktop appeared.  I pivoted the display, hoping it wouldn't black out.  

It didn't. Success.  Woo hoo!  Probably should have cleaned the screen before we took the last photo, but who really cares if there are a few fingerprints?  

If you've got something at home that needs fixed, I highly recommend ifixit.com.  Their website is easy to use, they bundle the tools you need, and most importantly, they give you the step-by-step instructions.  Yes, this one probably was "difficult", but it worked!  Thanks, ifixit.com !