A long, eventful day. First off, I almost never remember my dreams. But at 4:30 this morning I awoke from a nightmare. The creature’s name was Alp (don’t ask me why, I didn’t name it). Think a pure white, hairless Abominable Snowman with deep set eyes. When it went for my throat, that started my day. Finally gave up on the idea of further slumber at 5:30, which meant I was easily at the Hannaford’s in Brandon just as they opened at 7. (It’s been so cold that the ice cream just seems to disappear!) On the way back through Ferndale, stopped at Mallory’s garage to inquire about repairs to Dolores’ front brakes. Eric (who claims no relation to my cousin’s husband, Leigh Mallory) said he wasn’t equipped to do that work, but referred me to Green Mountain Garage, a mile from where I’d just been in Brandon. They can do the work on Friday. Turns out that Green Mountain Garage is owned by Chuck Munger, my neighbor two places to the north on Fern Lake (next door to Marty and Merry). Back at Fern Lake by 8:30, whereupon I baked a pan of raspberry cream cheese no-calories-whatsoever bars, suitable for bribery in all the right places. Installed the longitudinals for the next 16 feet of walkway and ran the electrical forward. After lunch took a plate of gooey delights over to Lynne & Perry’s, returning all the clothes I’d had to borrow from Perry in order to look semi-decent for Dan Wheeless’ funeral. Unfortunately the weatherman was all too accurate, for when I returned to Fern Lake the forecast rain showers began in earnest. Didn’t stop me from putting on the next stretch of deck boards, however. That work complete and just as I finished securing the worksite for rain, Tammy Walsh arrived, for once beating Bob LaPorte to an appointment. When Bob arrived, we went down to the waterfront to scope out the excavation and retaining wall building project that is on the agenda for later this summer. You’ll note the consulting “aids” in each of their hands… The good news is that I may be able to forego renting a track dump (a dump truck that has bulldozer tracks instead of tires) from G. Stone (at $2,000 / week), potentially using Bob’s 1-ton 4WD dump truck instead. Though he did say that his truck’s rental would be $3,000 / week, I’m sure he was joking! The bad news is that Bob is booked solid until early September, so my idea of getting the waterfront leveled out in late July is out the window. They both thought the work I want done could be accomplished in 6 or 7 days, about what I also had estimated / budgeted. Also, Tammy and Bob didn’t think a cement truck could handle the slope where the old stairs once were. So just how crazy are those Carrara drivers???? I’ve been at Fern Lake this construction season for one month as of today. In that time, have completed 127 feet of the wooden walkway and two landings. Mind you, most of that construction doesn’t have railings or toe caps yet, but I won’t tell OHSA if you don’t. There are 76 feet of walkway plus one landing (#7) still to be built.
