28 February 2014
Sean
arrived again at 0800 to continue our house specifications review. More really fruitful discussions. After Perry demonstrated (once again) his
culinary skills (five-star tuna melt sandwiches for lunch), Sean and I went up
to Vergennes to meet with Dennis Senesac, Project Manager at Ryan Plumbing and
Heating and a fount of knowledge about all things plumbing and HVAC
related. After lengthy discussion,
Dennis recommended (and Sean eventually concurred) that we should stay with a
forced hot / cold air HVAC system powered by the geothermal energy recovery
system we want to install. The bad news:
such a system may require drilling up to 1,000 vertical feet of wells at
mega-bucks per foot. Maybe we can name
one well “Tasi”, another one “Alex”, and the third one “Katy”, then wish the kids
a happy inheritance. Took Lynne and
Perry out for dinner and a surfeit of calories at the Waybury Inn in East
Middlebury.
27 February 2014
Over
to Fern Lake late morning to get some measurements of the woodshed siding trim
to add to the house specifications.
Again stopped down to see Marty & Merry, but no signs of life in
their house. Then up to Pete’s RV in
South Burlington where, miracle of miracles, the correct generator
battery was awaiting collection, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Devra Metevier. Visited and had lunch with Alverta at her
apartment in Shelburne, then headed back to Salisbury for more fattening-up á la
chez Pirkkanen.
26 February 2014
Sean
LaFlam (owner of Goose Creek Builders, our general contractor) arrived at 0800
to begin going over the details of what we think we want in building our house.
A great meeting, with Sean and Perry offering innumerable suggestions about how
to make things better. Sean recommended strongly that we consider an in-floor
radiant heating system throughout the house vice the forced hot air and air
conditioning system that we had been planning. Treated Sean and Perry to lunch
at Cattails Restaurant in Brandon. Lynne
& Perry stuffed me to the gills with more delicious victuals that evening.
25 February 2014
Left
Springfield at the crack of dawn and was just congratulating myself on making
excellent time to Philadelphia (and grooving away to the 70’s on 7) when I
suddenly found myself no longer on I-95 but in downtown Philly. Ooops!
Negotiated the maze of one-way streets thereabouts (all of which seemed
to be going the wrong way) and returned to the interstate. Still made it to the Hannaford in Brandon (needed
ice cream, of course!) in 8½ hours, close to record time. Went from there up to Fern Lake, where I
discovered that the garage door to the shed lower level was frozen to the
ground. Took a lot longer than I had expected to gain entry… and wrenched my
lower back in the process. Made a few
swaps (things no longer needed in Virginia this winter for things that should
have been taken to Virginia last fall), stopped down to say hello to the
Lapidii (no answer to my knock on their door), then headed for Lynne &
Perry’s, where warm accommodations and an elegant repast awaited.
12 January 2014
After MUCH discussion, selected Goose Creek Builders to be our general contractor for the house construction.
4 January 2014
Chree
and I returned to Virginia in mostly light traffic. Temperature finally got above zero when we
left Vermont, got above freezing when we were in New Jersey, and was a balmy 40
degrees when we got home.
3 January 2014
Snowed
6 inches overnight and the temperature dropped to minus 8. Kinda brisk!
Chree and I went into Middlebury to interview John Tenny, owner of Mill
Bridge Construction. Then we went over
to look at a house in town that his company was just finishing renovating after
a catastrophic fire. From there we shivered
our way down to Fern Lake for the obligatory tour, then went back to Lynne
& Perry’s for lunch and heat. Jed
Malcolm, owner of Salamander Construction, arrived promptly at 1 o’clock for
his interview. For some reason Chree
elected to remain at Lynne & Perry’s when Jed and I went down to Fern Lake
for his tour. Upon return to Pomainville Drive, Perry and I had a great time
sliding, made all the sweeter by Lynne driving to the bottom ahead of us
each time to block any cars from coming up while we were totally out of control
on the way down… and then giving us a lift back to the top for the next
run. We were well chilled (and one of us
was covered in snow from crashing) after only six trips. In the evening Chree and I took Lynne and
Perry out for a delicious dinner at Café Provence in Brandon. On the way back to their place the truck
thermometer registered minus 16.
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