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Construction & Other Problems
Dec. 1st, 2010 12:40 pmNeighbors. Bit of a problem with the neighbors, yesterday. K. had a car towed a week and a half ago, to make space for our builders. I knew it would cause problems in a way that I suspect K. didn't because she's never owned a car. Yesterday offered up the worst of all possible worlds: it belonged to the one neighbor that we actually talk to and like, and they'd left it parked in front of our house before taking a two-week vacation.
Lucky me, I was out examining the recent work on the garage in the morning, which meant that I got verbally assaulted by a neighbor boiling over with anger. Fortunately his wife dragged him off, almost literally. K. talked to them later, by which time they'd calmed considerably (and were apparently embarrassed by the blow-up). They were apparently much more rational even before she offered to pay half their towing fee. Nonetheless, they're not high on my list of people to talk to at this point.
I really empathize with the neighbors and feel bad for towing their car. However, I've also tried to remind myself that them leaving their car in front of our house for two weeks while they were gone, knowing that we were doing construction work at the time (as we'd chatted with them about it) really wasn't the most neighborly thing to do.
K. conversely stood right up to them, adamant that she was in the right (which legally she was), which was a bit of a surprise. It's been a rare thing in the last ten years when she's been more willing to get into a conflict than I).
The Garage. So the actual work on the garage continues at a glacial rate (in glacial weather, for that matter, though it's supposed to warm up a tad starting today). This week we once more had just a day's worth of work, on Monday, when our builders dug out a hole next to the garage (killing many roots in the process), filled it with rebar, then surrounded it with wood. This is apparently all a structure for a new foundation, as the new wall for the garage is a few feet over from where the old one is. They also did something similar under the corner of our house, where they're going to do a new pylon.
The reason for the delay isn't the builders, but as ever, the city. We have to have an inspection of their foundation contraption before they can continue. We couldn't get an inspection on Tuesday, so K. got one on Wednesday, but our builder was afraid it would rain Wednesday and Thursday, so we pushed it to Friday. Poof! Another week gone. (And sadly our builder's weather report was out of date, as Thursday and Friday were the days where rain was actually predicted, but there you go.)
Of course Berkeley being Berkeley sent an inspector out today even after K. had moved the appointment. She's since made another appointment for Friday.
The Rest. Beyond that, life goes on. I continue working on Michael Schacht's Gold! for Skotos, though I'm now to the AI which I always find dull. Cobweb had another bad night a week or so ago but seems to have recovered. We've started feeding her wet food twice a day again to try and preserve her weight. The holiday season barrels on, and very soon I need to head out into the hell-holes that most retail stores become during the holiday season. And at EndGame last Saturday, I was most disturbed to hear my first holiday music of the year.
Ah, it's the end of the year. Yay!?
Lucky me, I was out examining the recent work on the garage in the morning, which meant that I got verbally assaulted by a neighbor boiling over with anger. Fortunately his wife dragged him off, almost literally. K. talked to them later, by which time they'd calmed considerably (and were apparently embarrassed by the blow-up). They were apparently much more rational even before she offered to pay half their towing fee. Nonetheless, they're not high on my list of people to talk to at this point.
I really empathize with the neighbors and feel bad for towing their car. However, I've also tried to remind myself that them leaving their car in front of our house for two weeks while they were gone, knowing that we were doing construction work at the time (as we'd chatted with them about it) really wasn't the most neighborly thing to do.
K. conversely stood right up to them, adamant that she was in the right (which legally she was), which was a bit of a surprise. It's been a rare thing in the last ten years when she's been more willing to get into a conflict than I).
The Garage. So the actual work on the garage continues at a glacial rate (in glacial weather, for that matter, though it's supposed to warm up a tad starting today). This week we once more had just a day's worth of work, on Monday, when our builders dug out a hole next to the garage (killing many roots in the process), filled it with rebar, then surrounded it with wood. This is apparently all a structure for a new foundation, as the new wall for the garage is a few feet over from where the old one is. They also did something similar under the corner of our house, where they're going to do a new pylon.
The reason for the delay isn't the builders, but as ever, the city. We have to have an inspection of their foundation contraption before they can continue. We couldn't get an inspection on Tuesday, so K. got one on Wednesday, but our builder was afraid it would rain Wednesday and Thursday, so we pushed it to Friday. Poof! Another week gone. (And sadly our builder's weather report was out of date, as Thursday and Friday were the days where rain was actually predicted, but there you go.)
Of course Berkeley being Berkeley sent an inspector out today even after K. had moved the appointment. She's since made another appointment for Friday.
The Rest. Beyond that, life goes on. I continue working on Michael Schacht's Gold! for Skotos, though I'm now to the AI which I always find dull. Cobweb had another bad night a week or so ago but seems to have recovered. We've started feeding her wet food twice a day again to try and preserve her weight. The holiday season barrels on, and very soon I need to head out into the hell-holes that most retail stores become during the holiday season. And at EndGame last Saturday, I was most disturbed to hear my first holiday music of the year.
Ah, it's the end of the year. Yay!?