Saturday, April 29, 2006
Many years ago I had a friend who was particularly fond of pornography. For reasons of discretion I won't be mentioning who it was, and would prefer that the few of you who might have ever known this person refrain from guessing. In any case, once, while discussing this interesting proclivity we came to the topic of growing bored with the same old thing. . . in his case printed magazines he had bought that had once been quite stimulating for him, but over time became rather dull. He observed that all he had to do to refresh his own interest in an image was to rotate it 90 or 180 degrees and it was as if it was a whole new picture. I always thought this was strange, but I believe I have found a corollary in the dog world.
Abner and I went to Biltmore a few days ago on a day that was warm and sunny. Generally, now that the temperature and humidity are up, I try to keep him on walks that are early, shady, or at high enough altitude that there is a decided temperature reduction. On this particular day, we decided to park at the Outdoor Center and walk one of the routes through what is known as the Westover trails. This is a network of trails that follow hills behind the Inn. They are densely wooded and have lots of rise and fall, so we can get good exercise and stay in the shade. There are several places we usually stop so Abner can have some water, and we rarely see others there. The trails seem to be primarily used by mountain bikers who are almost never there when we are.
So off we set, heading up a dirt road that skirts some of the areas in which the Angus heard (400 cattle at last count) graze and usually pay little attention to Abner. The beginning of this walk is pretty exposed, so I usually don't want to dawdle a lot since I want to keep him in the shade as much as possible. Consequently we made pretty good time going up the first hill and turned to head east toward the forest and the building I posted a while back where the egg layers used to be. Abner knows this route very well because we have done it so many times, but there is a very narrow trail that heads off to the right about 150 yards before you get to the hen building, that he has sniffed and shown interest in on previous walks.
Well, on this particular day, he was more than just interested and, for whatever reason, pulled me to that path. I figured, from its orientation, that it probably just headed back toward the Outdoor Center, but I also figured that we could take some alternative trail somewhere along the way, so I humored him and we started up this new unexplored route.
The undergrowth in this area was very dense and the canopy of trees fully leafed out, so it was dark and cool and rather exotic looking. Rabbits scurried across the trail a couple times which certainly amped up Abner's interest. As it turned out, the trail takes several hairpin turns as it ascends the hill and, in fact, took us back to the Westover trails that I knew but at a completely different location than the way we normally approach. We followed the trails through the whole loop we normally do, but in the reverse direction from the customary one and, for Abner, it was just like my old friend's porn experience. Coming from the opposite direction, the trails were fascinating new ground for him. After awhile, I think he figured out what had happened because he would smell shrubs on which he has peed hundreds of times and clearly could recognize his own scent. It was, however, kind of fun watching him get so excited about a "new" route.
The week was a fairly quiet one. It rained a couple times and we had some really sensational thunderstorms that lasted maybe 20 minutes at most. I attended numerous meetings continuing "due diligence" for this condominium project I may get involved in. Thursday night I actually cooked dinner for Eric and Regie Wahlberg (Spencer's parents) and Amy Musser and Matt Vande (Bear's parents). It is kind of pathetic how infrequently I do this. It isn't like I have no time. I guess part of my problem is that it seems like most of the people I know here are either vegetarians or have some other exotic restriction on what they are willing to eat. I have a somewhat limited repertoire in this department so I have mostly been inviting the few people I know who have a wider range of diet.
My new neighbors' house made a little progress this week. A grader came and removed every tree and shrub that wasn't right on the property line, and has largely leveled the lot. Doesn't bode well for a sensitively designed house, but I am still holding out hope. They have pushed dirt onto my side of the property line but thus far the infraction isn't so egregious as to cause a confrontation. If it gets worse I will have to go have a chat with them.
And now I seem to have picked up some crappy cold. I felt pretty crummy yesterday and had to attend three separate meetings about the project, and today I am just exhausted and am blowing my nose almost constantly. I don't think it is flu or anything that heavy duty but it is bad enough to make me feel lousy. Anyway, I think I am going to cut this post short. I am, however, once again, going to attempt to post photos. If one of you uses this blog host I would love some input into why this process fails 95% of the time.
Abner and I went to Biltmore a few days ago on a day that was warm and sunny. Generally, now that the temperature and humidity are up, I try to keep him on walks that are early, shady, or at high enough altitude that there is a decided temperature reduction. On this particular day, we decided to park at the Outdoor Center and walk one of the routes through what is known as the Westover trails. This is a network of trails that follow hills behind the Inn. They are densely wooded and have lots of rise and fall, so we can get good exercise and stay in the shade. There are several places we usually stop so Abner can have some water, and we rarely see others there. The trails seem to be primarily used by mountain bikers who are almost never there when we are.
So off we set, heading up a dirt road that skirts some of the areas in which the Angus heard (400 cattle at last count) graze and usually pay little attention to Abner. The beginning of this walk is pretty exposed, so I usually don't want to dawdle a lot since I want to keep him in the shade as much as possible. Consequently we made pretty good time going up the first hill and turned to head east toward the forest and the building I posted a while back where the egg layers used to be. Abner knows this route very well because we have done it so many times, but there is a very narrow trail that heads off to the right about 150 yards before you get to the hen building, that he has sniffed and shown interest in on previous walks.
Well, on this particular day, he was more than just interested and, for whatever reason, pulled me to that path. I figured, from its orientation, that it probably just headed back toward the Outdoor Center, but I also figured that we could take some alternative trail somewhere along the way, so I humored him and we started up this new unexplored route.
The undergrowth in this area was very dense and the canopy of trees fully leafed out, so it was dark and cool and rather exotic looking. Rabbits scurried across the trail a couple times which certainly amped up Abner's interest. As it turned out, the trail takes several hairpin turns as it ascends the hill and, in fact, took us back to the Westover trails that I knew but at a completely different location than the way we normally approach. We followed the trails through the whole loop we normally do, but in the reverse direction from the customary one and, for Abner, it was just like my old friend's porn experience. Coming from the opposite direction, the trails were fascinating new ground for him. After awhile, I think he figured out what had happened because he would smell shrubs on which he has peed hundreds of times and clearly could recognize his own scent. It was, however, kind of fun watching him get so excited about a "new" route.
The week was a fairly quiet one. It rained a couple times and we had some really sensational thunderstorms that lasted maybe 20 minutes at most. I attended numerous meetings continuing "due diligence" for this condominium project I may get involved in. Thursday night I actually cooked dinner for Eric and Regie Wahlberg (Spencer's parents) and Amy Musser and Matt Vande (Bear's parents). It is kind of pathetic how infrequently I do this. It isn't like I have no time. I guess part of my problem is that it seems like most of the people I know here are either vegetarians or have some other exotic restriction on what they are willing to eat. I have a somewhat limited repertoire in this department so I have mostly been inviting the few people I know who have a wider range of diet.
My new neighbors' house made a little progress this week. A grader came and removed every tree and shrub that wasn't right on the property line, and has largely leveled the lot. Doesn't bode well for a sensitively designed house, but I am still holding out hope. They have pushed dirt onto my side of the property line but thus far the infraction isn't so egregious as to cause a confrontation. If it gets worse I will have to go have a chat with them.
And now I seem to have picked up some crappy cold. I felt pretty crummy yesterday and had to attend three separate meetings about the project, and today I am just exhausted and am blowing my nose almost constantly. I don't think it is flu or anything that heavy duty but it is bad enough to make me feel lousy. Anyway, I think I am going to cut this post short. I am, however, once again, going to attempt to post photos. If one of you uses this blog host I would love some input into why this process fails 95% of the time.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
My previous burst of enthusiasm regarding my lack of allergies here seems to have been a trifle premature. While it is true that last year I sailed through the season with almost no reaction at all, the same cannot be said this year. Make no mistake about it. It is nowhere near as severe as what I used to suffer in Sacramento, but I do awake each morning and almost immediately have an involuntary bout of swallowing because of irritation on the roof of my mouth, followed by about an hour of sneezing. The stock some of you might have in Kimberly-Clark should be going up at this time of year. There are Kleenex boxes everywhere in my house and all wastebaskets show much use.
The view that greets me in the mornings is changing again. In the winter, I get up and sit at my computer looking out a couple of east-facing windows that allow me to watch the sun rise over mountains to the east of us. As spring develops, my view is closing in due to a bunch of dogwoods currently in bloom and the lush leafing out of the trees between my house and Jay and Lori's. In the winter, I can always tell if they are home because I can see their cars parked on this side of the house. Now the cars are still just barely visible and the blinding greenery is filling in, reminding me why I don't live in the desert (I'll leave that to my dear friend Beth who is happily ensconced in Abiquiu NM), but something new was added yesterday. There is a large orange and grey earth moving device with a big front scoop and large grading blade in the back. It isn't exactly an improvement to the view but it does portend of change.
There is a double lot that separates my property from Jay and Lori's house. A couple from down the street, Steve and Karen, bought it about a year ago and have been struggling with getting a house designed for themselves for which the have requested a building permit from the City of Asheville. The permit request went in roughly 2 weeks ago which is the usual turnaround time here for a permit. This is another big difference between Sacramento and Asheville. In Sacramento, if you get your first set of corrections back from plan check in 6 weeks, you consider yourself lucky. Then you have to make the corrections (this is necessary even if nothing was missing or wrong on the plans because otherwise the plan checkers cannot possibly justify having screwed around for 6 weeks with your drawings. . .some of which they have, no doubt, lost), re-submit, wait another two weeks, all the while hoping that there are no additional and even more bogus corrections, and then you have to run around and pay school impact fees and a few other choice details prior to finally getting the permit. I used to advise clients to plan on at least 2 to 3 months to get a permit and they were rarely disappointed.
So the big digger arrived yesterday heralding the start of construction next door which I look upon with a combination of excitement and some trepidation. I don't know Karen and Steve well. When I walk by their house on occasion with Abner they are very friendly and always chat with us for a few minutes before Abner gets antsy and wants to continue on our walk. They have always been very pleasant with me although Steve smokes cigars which usually hastens my urge to keep the visit short. They currently live across the street from Joan and Nathan, who are Jay and Lori's next door neighbors on the other side, and seem to be close friends with them but have a somewhat strained relationship with Jay and Lori. In any case, either due to my friendship with Jay and Lori, or perhaps just out of a fundamental need for privacy, they have been circumspect to the point of secrecy about what they are building. When they were having architect troubles (they fired the first one) and asked me for some advice, I asked to see the drawings of what they were planning on building, but never was afforded a look. In fact, as far as I know, no one but the plan checkers at the City and their general contractor has seen the drawings. The lot is big, and I am not particularly worried about any serious impact on me other than that I will no longer be able to see what is going on at Jay and Lori's house, but it still is a bit unnerving to have a house going in next door and no clue as to what it will look like nor where it will be. I may ask again to see the drawings, now that the permit is a done deal.
Carole and Marc Sussman and their daughter Rachel blew through Asheville for about 2-1/2 days about a week ago toward the end of one of Rachel's college tours. I have known the Sussmans for more than 10 years having done a house for them in Arden Oaks back in the 90s. I have known Rachel since she was a little girl so it is a little strange to see her looking at colleges but nonetheless fun. The whole time they were here we raced around like madmen touring Biltmore, driving some of the residential areas of town, shopping, art gallery hopping, strolling downtown, and of course, eating. The pace was frenetic but that is how it seems to go for short visits. There is simply so much to see and do here you just don't want to waste time being leisurely. We had a great time though. It was really fun to see them.
Easter Sunday is a big deal here for people who go to church, and that is a significant portion of the population. It is, consequently, an excellent time for those of us who don't go to church, to do anything else we might want to do but would normally avoid due to potential crowds. Matt and I took advantage of the day by getting the dogs into Matt's car by 8:30 in the morning and driving up to an area Southwest of here around Looking Glass Falls and Looking Glass Rock. There are probably more than a dozen well established hiking trails around the area and neither of us had done any of them. The day was quite warm (an increasingly important issue for Abner) so we elected to do a hike to John Rock which is mostly through woods and has about a 1,200 foot rise. It is hard to tell what the exact distance is because the middle portion of the route is a loop. You start up a winding Forest Service road that is blocked off to all non FS vehicles. It is a dirt and gravel road and gets so little vehicular use that it really is more of a trail. The area, while being an hour's drive from my house, is still part of what used to be Biltmore Estate. It is actually close to where George Vanderbilt and Frederick Law Olmstead set up the first school of forestry in the United States.
When we arrived at the parking lot, we were a little confused about where the trailhead was and asked a couple of frighteningly hard-bodied middle-aged women who were finishing up a jog in the area. They were very friendly (Abner and Bear have that effect on people) and seemed to know the area well and advised us as to the options for climbing John Rock. We asked about climbing Looking Glass which they said was also worthwhile, but that the view was better from John Rock.
The hike up was very beautiful through dense woods that are just beginning to leaf out. While it is a fairly substantial climb, on the route we took, it was never too steep and the dogs had plenty of places to sniff and pee. Near the top, there is a large granite outcropping that you can walk out on that provides a really breathtaking view of Looking Glass Rock, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and miles of the Pisgah National Forest that surrounds the site. We stopped and took a few pictures, some of which I will attempt to post, and let the dogs have some water, snack and rest in the shade. I gobbled a Cliff bar which, by then, I needed. After maybe a 10 minutes break, we continued along the loop toward something called Cat Gap (a lot of the names around here are quite interesting. . .I am particularly partial to Possum Trot) and were a little surprised that the trail continued to climb. On the trail map it looked like the ridge we were on was pretty level, but I later noticed that the topographic increments on this map were 40 feet. Tends to be a little deceptive as to what is almost level.
Once you do reach the top, the descent is fairly abrupt. Matt and I found ourselves happy that we hadn't gone up in that direction on the loop. I tend to prefer a gradual rise at the beginning of the hike and a coast down for the end. . .and this hike fit the bill perfectly. On the way down we encountered one pair of hikers who were probably around my age or possibly even a little older. They were clearly more serious hikers than Matt or I are, equipped as they were with paired lightweight aluminum composite walking sticks (for the uninitiated, they looke like ski poles without baskets) and serious looking hiking clothes. We chatted about the route they were taking and they told us about this really nice section they had just done. To them, the little day hike they were on was something that wouldn't take too long. . .he said you could run it in about 2-1/2 hours. The hike was more than 12 miles through mountainous terrain with considerably more vertical than Matt and I had done. When we finished our hike, we had spent close to 4 hours doing less than 4 miles and 1,200 vertical feet. To do the loop this guy was suggesting, we would have had to have a tent and sleeping bags, and food for the dogs and ourselves. . .2-1/2 hours is what it would have taken me with a helicopter.
I am continuing to look into getting involved in a development project here. It will be different from the last 15 months of being free from any serious responsibility other than keeping Abner entertained, but it kind of excites me and I could use the cash. Tax day brought the unpleasant realities of paying capital gains tax on my Sacramento house into full glory. I am over the depression that set in when I had to write the checks to the IRS, and both North Carolina and California for the tax (don't get me started on why I had to pay both states) but feel like it wouldn't kill me to do a little work and replenish my investment account. As it becomes clearer whether or not this is going to happen, I will post more details.
It is now Saturday the 22nd and I spent most of yesterday and part of today in computer panic mode. I was talking to Roberta Rakela about plans she and Bob are making to come for a visit in October when my computer froze. When I got it to reboot I was greeted with the disturbing flashing message that said WARNING: HARD DRIVE FAILURE IMMINENT. BACK UP DATA IMMEDIATELY AND REPLACE HARD DRIVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Having never had a message like this before I had no choice but to take it seriously so I spent hours burning CDs of old photos that I wouldn't want to lose, backing up Quicken, my correspondence and other business data, and any other files I could find on the computer that I would be very unhappy about losing. I then did a quick internet search to find a deal on a new hard drive and drove to Best Buy to purchase it. As those of you who know me well realize, installing the new drive and migrating software and data files would not be something I know how to do without thinking about it. Fortunately, Jay is very good with this stuff (he is still in his 30s) and was willing to take responsibility for getting me back up and running.
This morning at around 10:00, he and his son Ashton came over and set about the task of rebuilding my computer and Lori and I had latttes. Lori did her toenails. . .I didn't do mine. The final stage of the process is for Jay to come over and reconnect the drives so the new one becomes the primary drive and what's left of the old one is for backup only. I think I will reformat it and see if it will work as a backup disk for awhile but now I have a 320 gig primary drive that ought to last me for awhile.
Abner and I did a short walk at Biltmore today while I was waiting for the file migration to finish doing its thing. While we were there, we met the smallest dog I have ever seen. It was pretty funny to watch these two check each other out. The dog we met, whose name, we discovered, is Stuart is one of the terrier breeds and, according to his owner, weighs less than a pound. By contrast, Abner weighed 15 pounds the day he arrived at my house and is up to 98.5 pounds as of our visit to the vet last week. Stuart seemed unfazed by the difference in size and I'm sure Abner had no idea what he could do with this little thing, but it certainly entertained the people standing around watching the encounter. And, by the way, for you flower lovers, the azaleas are in full bloom now. It looks like the tulips will last at most another week but the rhododendrons are just starting so the flower obsessed who flock to the estate at this time of year are still wandering around agog over what they are seeing.
I am going to, once again, attempt to post photos. I'll try to explain what each is with notes, but this is the one portion of this blog system that doesn't seem to work very well.
The view that greets me in the mornings is changing again. In the winter, I get up and sit at my computer looking out a couple of east-facing windows that allow me to watch the sun rise over mountains to the east of us. As spring develops, my view is closing in due to a bunch of dogwoods currently in bloom and the lush leafing out of the trees between my house and Jay and Lori's. In the winter, I can always tell if they are home because I can see their cars parked on this side of the house. Now the cars are still just barely visible and the blinding greenery is filling in, reminding me why I don't live in the desert (I'll leave that to my dear friend Beth who is happily ensconced in Abiquiu NM), but something new was added yesterday. There is a large orange and grey earth moving device with a big front scoop and large grading blade in the back. It isn't exactly an improvement to the view but it does portend of change.
There is a double lot that separates my property from Jay and Lori's house. A couple from down the street, Steve and Karen, bought it about a year ago and have been struggling with getting a house designed for themselves for which the have requested a building permit from the City of Asheville. The permit request went in roughly 2 weeks ago which is the usual turnaround time here for a permit. This is another big difference between Sacramento and Asheville. In Sacramento, if you get your first set of corrections back from plan check in 6 weeks, you consider yourself lucky. Then you have to make the corrections (this is necessary even if nothing was missing or wrong on the plans because otherwise the plan checkers cannot possibly justify having screwed around for 6 weeks with your drawings. . .some of which they have, no doubt, lost), re-submit, wait another two weeks, all the while hoping that there are no additional and even more bogus corrections, and then you have to run around and pay school impact fees and a few other choice details prior to finally getting the permit. I used to advise clients to plan on at least 2 to 3 months to get a permit and they were rarely disappointed.
So the big digger arrived yesterday heralding the start of construction next door which I look upon with a combination of excitement and some trepidation. I don't know Karen and Steve well. When I walk by their house on occasion with Abner they are very friendly and always chat with us for a few minutes before Abner gets antsy and wants to continue on our walk. They have always been very pleasant with me although Steve smokes cigars which usually hastens my urge to keep the visit short. They currently live across the street from Joan and Nathan, who are Jay and Lori's next door neighbors on the other side, and seem to be close friends with them but have a somewhat strained relationship with Jay and Lori. In any case, either due to my friendship with Jay and Lori, or perhaps just out of a fundamental need for privacy, they have been circumspect to the point of secrecy about what they are building. When they were having architect troubles (they fired the first one) and asked me for some advice, I asked to see the drawings of what they were planning on building, but never was afforded a look. In fact, as far as I know, no one but the plan checkers at the City and their general contractor has seen the drawings. The lot is big, and I am not particularly worried about any serious impact on me other than that I will no longer be able to see what is going on at Jay and Lori's house, but it still is a bit unnerving to have a house going in next door and no clue as to what it will look like nor where it will be. I may ask again to see the drawings, now that the permit is a done deal.
Carole and Marc Sussman and their daughter Rachel blew through Asheville for about 2-1/2 days about a week ago toward the end of one of Rachel's college tours. I have known the Sussmans for more than 10 years having done a house for them in Arden Oaks back in the 90s. I have known Rachel since she was a little girl so it is a little strange to see her looking at colleges but nonetheless fun. The whole time they were here we raced around like madmen touring Biltmore, driving some of the residential areas of town, shopping, art gallery hopping, strolling downtown, and of course, eating. The pace was frenetic but that is how it seems to go for short visits. There is simply so much to see and do here you just don't want to waste time being leisurely. We had a great time though. It was really fun to see them.
Easter Sunday is a big deal here for people who go to church, and that is a significant portion of the population. It is, consequently, an excellent time for those of us who don't go to church, to do anything else we might want to do but would normally avoid due to potential crowds. Matt and I took advantage of the day by getting the dogs into Matt's car by 8:30 in the morning and driving up to an area Southwest of here around Looking Glass Falls and Looking Glass Rock. There are probably more than a dozen well established hiking trails around the area and neither of us had done any of them. The day was quite warm (an increasingly important issue for Abner) so we elected to do a hike to John Rock which is mostly through woods and has about a 1,200 foot rise. It is hard to tell what the exact distance is because the middle portion of the route is a loop. You start up a winding Forest Service road that is blocked off to all non FS vehicles. It is a dirt and gravel road and gets so little vehicular use that it really is more of a trail. The area, while being an hour's drive from my house, is still part of what used to be Biltmore Estate. It is actually close to where George Vanderbilt and Frederick Law Olmstead set up the first school of forestry in the United States.
When we arrived at the parking lot, we were a little confused about where the trailhead was and asked a couple of frighteningly hard-bodied middle-aged women who were finishing up a jog in the area. They were very friendly (Abner and Bear have that effect on people) and seemed to know the area well and advised us as to the options for climbing John Rock. We asked about climbing Looking Glass which they said was also worthwhile, but that the view was better from John Rock.
The hike up was very beautiful through dense woods that are just beginning to leaf out. While it is a fairly substantial climb, on the route we took, it was never too steep and the dogs had plenty of places to sniff and pee. Near the top, there is a large granite outcropping that you can walk out on that provides a really breathtaking view of Looking Glass Rock, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and miles of the Pisgah National Forest that surrounds the site. We stopped and took a few pictures, some of which I will attempt to post, and let the dogs have some water, snack and rest in the shade. I gobbled a Cliff bar which, by then, I needed. After maybe a 10 minutes break, we continued along the loop toward something called Cat Gap (a lot of the names around here are quite interesting. . .I am particularly partial to Possum Trot) and were a little surprised that the trail continued to climb. On the trail map it looked like the ridge we were on was pretty level, but I later noticed that the topographic increments on this map were 40 feet. Tends to be a little deceptive as to what is almost level.
Once you do reach the top, the descent is fairly abrupt. Matt and I found ourselves happy that we hadn't gone up in that direction on the loop. I tend to prefer a gradual rise at the beginning of the hike and a coast down for the end. . .and this hike fit the bill perfectly. On the way down we encountered one pair of hikers who were probably around my age or possibly even a little older. They were clearly more serious hikers than Matt or I are, equipped as they were with paired lightweight aluminum composite walking sticks (for the uninitiated, they looke like ski poles without baskets) and serious looking hiking clothes. We chatted about the route they were taking and they told us about this really nice section they had just done. To them, the little day hike they were on was something that wouldn't take too long. . .he said you could run it in about 2-1/2 hours. The hike was more than 12 miles through mountainous terrain with considerably more vertical than Matt and I had done. When we finished our hike, we had spent close to 4 hours doing less than 4 miles and 1,200 vertical feet. To do the loop this guy was suggesting, we would have had to have a tent and sleeping bags, and food for the dogs and ourselves. . .2-1/2 hours is what it would have taken me with a helicopter.
I am continuing to look into getting involved in a development project here. It will be different from the last 15 months of being free from any serious responsibility other than keeping Abner entertained, but it kind of excites me and I could use the cash. Tax day brought the unpleasant realities of paying capital gains tax on my Sacramento house into full glory. I am over the depression that set in when I had to write the checks to the IRS, and both North Carolina and California for the tax (don't get me started on why I had to pay both states) but feel like it wouldn't kill me to do a little work and replenish my investment account. As it becomes clearer whether or not this is going to happen, I will post more details.
It is now Saturday the 22nd and I spent most of yesterday and part of today in computer panic mode. I was talking to Roberta Rakela about plans she and Bob are making to come for a visit in October when my computer froze. When I got it to reboot I was greeted with the disturbing flashing message that said WARNING: HARD DRIVE FAILURE IMMINENT. BACK UP DATA IMMEDIATELY AND REPLACE HARD DRIVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Having never had a message like this before I had no choice but to take it seriously so I spent hours burning CDs of old photos that I wouldn't want to lose, backing up Quicken, my correspondence and other business data, and any other files I could find on the computer that I would be very unhappy about losing. I then did a quick internet search to find a deal on a new hard drive and drove to Best Buy to purchase it. As those of you who know me well realize, installing the new drive and migrating software and data files would not be something I know how to do without thinking about it. Fortunately, Jay is very good with this stuff (he is still in his 30s) and was willing to take responsibility for getting me back up and running.
This morning at around 10:00, he and his son Ashton came over and set about the task of rebuilding my computer and Lori and I had latttes. Lori did her toenails. . .I didn't do mine. The final stage of the process is for Jay to come over and reconnect the drives so the new one becomes the primary drive and what's left of the old one is for backup only. I think I will reformat it and see if it will work as a backup disk for awhile but now I have a 320 gig primary drive that ought to last me for awhile.
Abner and I did a short walk at Biltmore today while I was waiting for the file migration to finish doing its thing. While we were there, we met the smallest dog I have ever seen. It was pretty funny to watch these two check each other out. The dog we met, whose name, we discovered, is Stuart is one of the terrier breeds and, according to his owner, weighs less than a pound. By contrast, Abner weighed 15 pounds the day he arrived at my house and is up to 98.5 pounds as of our visit to the vet last week. Stuart seemed unfazed by the difference in size and I'm sure Abner had no idea what he could do with this little thing, but it certainly entertained the people standing around watching the encounter. And, by the way, for you flower lovers, the azaleas are in full bloom now. It looks like the tulips will last at most another week but the rhododendrons are just starting so the flower obsessed who flock to the estate at this time of year are still wandering around agog over what they are seeing.
I am going to, once again, attempt to post photos. I'll try to explain what each is with notes, but this is the one portion of this blog system that doesn't seem to work very well.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
As I recall, Blanche Dubois always depended on the kindness of strangers. While I can't say I have always depended upon it, I have always been quietly delighted when it occurs and reinforces a sometimes fragile faith in the decency of human beings. As any of you who has ever traveled with me in the last 8 years knows, I suffer from sleep apnea and have a bipap machine which forces me to breathe properly while I sleep and, in doing so, allows me to sleep through the night peacefully without being starved for oxygen and waking up every 90 minutes or so. I have been using this device (which Jonathan Boynton rather uncharitably refers to as the Darth Vader Unit) for about the last 8 years and about two months ago was concerned over some odd whirring noises it was producing.
I called the local outpost of the company that sold it to me and serviced it in Sacramento, and they were very nice but of very little help. They said I would have to get all kinds of information from my doctor (much of which I would not be able to produce since I don't even know where the doc who put me on this thing in the first place has hidden himself) rather than their simply getting it from their Sacramento counterpart. I had noticed, though, that there is a home medical supply place next door to the frame shop I use here and just popped in on them hoping they could help.
They were quite helpful and told me that they would lend me a brand new machine (at $60/month) to use while mine was sent off to the manufacturer for repair and would call me within 3 days with a quote for the cost of repair. This transaction took place a little more than a week before I left for my Mexico trip last month. I had hoped to hear from them before I left but, alas, it was not to be. I took the rented bipap with me and came back a week later, and now a full 16 days after having dropped off my machine for the repair estimate, and still there was no message from them.
The Monday after my return, I called to see what they had found out, and they still didn't have a price to quote me, but by now, half of my first month with the rented unit had elapsed. I expressed my concern about the delay and Denise, the respiratory therapist with whom I was working, assured me she would get right on it. By that Thursday, I had a quote for $260 to repair the machine and I authorized them to go ahead. At that point, the company said that they would repair it and have it back within about 5 or 6 days. Another two weeks passed and I hadn't heard anything from Denise saying my trusty bipap was back so I dropped in one afternoon last week to inquire. Much to my surprise, they had my machine, but had neglected to call and tell me it was back. Considering I was, by then, into my second month with the rented unit, I was prepared to have a little chat about this delay, but things were so discombobulated there that they couldn't find my paperwork and besides, I would have to bring back the rental later anyway, so we put off settling up.
I used my machine the first night and realized the settings were all wrong when it came back and I felt like there was a windstorm blowing up my nose and I couldn't exhale very easily either. I called Denise back and told her what had happened but hit a snag in that she had not written down the settings the machine had been on. It now became my task to obtain them from Apria Healthcare in Sacramento. Having been told earlier by the Apria people here that they had tried to get info from their Sacramento office and couldn't even get a phone call returned, I wasn't optimistic, but I called just the same and got my first kindness from a stranger (I knew you were all wondering if I would get back to that). The woman there spent about 20 minutes digging through files to find a prescription from 5 years ago that had the settings on it and she dictated them to me over the phone.
She was curious about why I hadn't had Apria in Asheville take care of the repair and associated hassle, and I related the story I had gotten from them. She then said that my insurance probably would pay to have me get all my parts and service done by Apria in Sacto if I had problems here. The difficulty there is that in order to get insurance at all in North Carolina, I ended up with a policy that excludes pre-existing conditions. The three called out specifically were Allergies, Sleep Apnea, and my back problems that came from my auto accident three years ago. Consequently, all costs related to the bipap are my responsibility.
At this point she started whispering. "Don't tell anyone I told you this" she said, "but there is a website called cpapman.com that will sell all this stuff to you directly at a substantial savings. You don't need us at all. We are just an expensive middle man paid for by health insurers". I was stunned. Not only had this woman spent a long time digging through files to find what I needed but she then offered me advice on how to avoid dealing with her company or any other.
So I called Denise, and she said that armed with the pressure settings, I could bring the machine back in and she could reset it. No problem. Abner and I had errands to run that afternoon (Friday of last week) so I dropped off the machine as well as the rental and said I'd be back before they close at 5:00.
We ran all our errands and went for a nice hike at the Arboretum and when I returned to pick up my machine, things were disorganized, as usual. Denise, though, is always cheery and helpful and eventually found my machine. At this point I asked her if she had found the paperwork yet for our transaction and she said no but not to worry about it. They would just take care of the whole thing. I was stunned. Two months of rental and a $260 repair, that I think actually ended up costing considerably more than that, were all dismissed because she felt bad that they had dropped the ball on so many things.
So twice in one day, I was treated to remarkable kindness and generosity from people I didn't know. Amazing.
I called the local outpost of the company that sold it to me and serviced it in Sacramento, and they were very nice but of very little help. They said I would have to get all kinds of information from my doctor (much of which I would not be able to produce since I don't even know where the doc who put me on this thing in the first place has hidden himself) rather than their simply getting it from their Sacramento counterpart. I had noticed, though, that there is a home medical supply place next door to the frame shop I use here and just popped in on them hoping they could help.
They were quite helpful and told me that they would lend me a brand new machine (at $60/month) to use while mine was sent off to the manufacturer for repair and would call me within 3 days with a quote for the cost of repair. This transaction took place a little more than a week before I left for my Mexico trip last month. I had hoped to hear from them before I left but, alas, it was not to be. I took the rented bipap with me and came back a week later, and now a full 16 days after having dropped off my machine for the repair estimate, and still there was no message from them.
The Monday after my return, I called to see what they had found out, and they still didn't have a price to quote me, but by now, half of my first month with the rented unit had elapsed. I expressed my concern about the delay and Denise, the respiratory therapist with whom I was working, assured me she would get right on it. By that Thursday, I had a quote for $260 to repair the machine and I authorized them to go ahead. At that point, the company said that they would repair it and have it back within about 5 or 6 days. Another two weeks passed and I hadn't heard anything from Denise saying my trusty bipap was back so I dropped in one afternoon last week to inquire. Much to my surprise, they had my machine, but had neglected to call and tell me it was back. Considering I was, by then, into my second month with the rented unit, I was prepared to have a little chat about this delay, but things were so discombobulated there that they couldn't find my paperwork and besides, I would have to bring back the rental later anyway, so we put off settling up.
I used my machine the first night and realized the settings were all wrong when it came back and I felt like there was a windstorm blowing up my nose and I couldn't exhale very easily either. I called Denise back and told her what had happened but hit a snag in that she had not written down the settings the machine had been on. It now became my task to obtain them from Apria Healthcare in Sacramento. Having been told earlier by the Apria people here that they had tried to get info from their Sacramento office and couldn't even get a phone call returned, I wasn't optimistic, but I called just the same and got my first kindness from a stranger (I knew you were all wondering if I would get back to that). The woman there spent about 20 minutes digging through files to find a prescription from 5 years ago that had the settings on it and she dictated them to me over the phone.
She was curious about why I hadn't had Apria in Asheville take care of the repair and associated hassle, and I related the story I had gotten from them. She then said that my insurance probably would pay to have me get all my parts and service done by Apria in Sacto if I had problems here. The difficulty there is that in order to get insurance at all in North Carolina, I ended up with a policy that excludes pre-existing conditions. The three called out specifically were Allergies, Sleep Apnea, and my back problems that came from my auto accident three years ago. Consequently, all costs related to the bipap are my responsibility.
At this point she started whispering. "Don't tell anyone I told you this" she said, "but there is a website called cpapman.com that will sell all this stuff to you directly at a substantial savings. You don't need us at all. We are just an expensive middle man paid for by health insurers". I was stunned. Not only had this woman spent a long time digging through files to find what I needed but she then offered me advice on how to avoid dealing with her company or any other.
So I called Denise, and she said that armed with the pressure settings, I could bring the machine back in and she could reset it. No problem. Abner and I had errands to run that afternoon (Friday of last week) so I dropped off the machine as well as the rental and said I'd be back before they close at 5:00.
We ran all our errands and went for a nice hike at the Arboretum and when I returned to pick up my machine, things were disorganized, as usual. Denise, though, is always cheery and helpful and eventually found my machine. At this point I asked her if she had found the paperwork yet for our transaction and she said no but not to worry about it. They would just take care of the whole thing. I was stunned. Two months of rental and a $260 repair, that I think actually ended up costing considerably more than that, were all dismissed because she felt bad that they had dropped the ball on so many things.
So twice in one day, I was treated to remarkable kindness and generosity from people I didn't know. Amazing.
Tulips have completely exploded at Biltmore. Spring seems to have come at least a month earlier this year than last. I have been trying to notice things like this so I can advise potential visitors of good times to come to see whatever specific foliage they want to see, but it is becoming increasingly clearer that in this neck of the woods, consistancy is missing. Last year there were barely any azaleas open by mid May and this year quite a few are already blooming. The butterfly invasion of the forests has returned as well. On Sunday, I took Abner for a hike of almost 3 hours in the National Forest and we saw the return of the butterfles that so fascinated me last spring. They are just a hell of a lot earlier.
At a point on this hike where we were in fairly deep woods and hadn't seen any humans (lots of rabbits though) in awhile, one of the yellow and black butterflies that look like Monarchs only smaller, landed on Abner's back and stayed there for almost 10 minutes. It never occurred to me that other animals would be hitchhikers, but it sure looked like that was what this beautiful butterfly did.
I am going to attempt to post a few more pictures of the emergence of spring here. I am having fun with my mini-digital camera. It is so easy to carry with me regardless of what the activity is, that I have started shooting a lot more. I still don't know what I'm doing with it, but it's fun just the same.
I hope Sacramento dries out pretty soon. I almost feel guilty that it continues to be so gorgeous here and my old friends in CA are still sopping wet. Oh well. At least you can still go skiing.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
These didn't show up either. Geese nesting; Matt Vande, Amy Musser, Abner and Bear on our hike in the Laurel Creek Gorge last weekend; and a whitewater stretch of the gorge itself. Since I have babbled for 14 months about a bunch of people here, I will begin to post photos of some of them so you can put faces with names.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
First of all, these goddamned flies are going to be the death of me. They still are appearing in the usual parts of the house although perhaps not in quite the numbers that I was enduring a few days ago, but today I was doing laundry and had a rude awakening. Decie had warned me about encountering a number of them in the laundry room on Tuesday when she was cleaning but she sprayed and vacuumed up the dead. Today, when I went down to transfer the first of four loads from the washer to the dryer, I was horrified to open the dryer door and find probably 10 or 15 dead ones in lying in a pile in the bottom of the drum and a live one that flew out when I opened the door. This is really getting disgusting.
Today there was a sale at a furniture store that I frequent and I scored a much needed storage piece for my office, but had been unable to get it out of my car and into the house without some help. Jay had two photo shoots today (the second one being a high school belly dancer who wanted pictures of herself doing her hobby) and got home around 8:00ish. After starting a dinner for himself, he and Lori walked over to help me unload my new piece and get it into my office. Once this was accomplished we sat down and had a cocktail while Lori perused my copy of "How to Speak Southern" which Beth Kiyosaki had thoughtfully given me as a going away present when I left Sacramento. The two of them didn't know whether to hoot and holler or be upset because in it were expressions they had heard their entire lives and up until now, had believed to be universally spoken English.
This entertaining conversation led into some pretty funny stuff about the speach patterns of childhood friends. One guy named Roger apparently had a particularly colorful way of expressing himself. Not only did he speak pure redneck Southern, but his sentences were peppered with such malapropisms as "my parents are traveling in Morronaco" and "He is planning to attend an Ivory League school". I gathered from what they told me that there is an entire lexicon of Rogerisms that merit publication. I sense a book in all this.
As if there were any question about Abner being a local celebrity, that was scotched today. I got a forwarded email from Jay Coble this morning that actually makes me a little nervous. He has donated a photographic session to a Cancer Survivor's organization fundraiser that is going to be a fawncy garden party at the home of a local philanthropist and got an email this morning telling him that he was entitled to a free ticket to the event in exchange for his donation and also asking him to bring the man photographed with the Great Pyrenees whose photo appears on his website. The woman who sent the email indicated that my presence was specifically requested but she refused to say by whom or for what purpose. I suspect it may be the philanthropist in question whom I have met twice in civil but somewhat adversarial situations at planning entitlement hearings. Who knows though? It is a strange feeling to not only be identified by my dog but now to get mysterious invitations based upon his celebrity.
It is now Thursday the 6th and aside from my emerging depression over having to pay the capital gains tax on the sale of my house in Sacramento, things are fine here. I have been walking Abner a lot at Biltmore lately because the springtime explosion of flowers has started and it looks different literally every day. I hope to attach a few pictures from our recent walks. You can see that the tulips are starting to really show themselves off in the walled garden and elsewhere and trees and shrubs are starting to leaf out for the season. I included a shot of a pair of nesting geese who have staked out a little peninsula (formerly and island) protruding into the Bass Pond at a particularly attractive spot. The mother goose (who knew I would ever use that term?) seems quite serene and secure in her spot. Even with Abner and me only 30 or 40 feet away she didn't feel compelled to move or honk. Neither did her husband whom you can see a few feet behind her in the water. Other geese around this place raise a huge stink when we get within a couple hundred feet of them. Maybe these two remember us from last year.
I have also attached photos of the building I have mentioned several months ago that I had stumbled across and think is ripe for rehab. I still haven't called Chuck Pickering (whose house is very close to Biltmore house and is shown in another of the intended posted shots) to talk about the potential of this wonderful old structure that is partially in ruins. It needs to be protected and put back into use before it really starts to deteriorate structurally. Apparently its original use was for the egg layers and the workers who tended them. It sits on a wonderful plateau with phenomenal west facing views. Anyone who comes here can walk there with Abner and me to see it in the flesh.
Today there was a sale at a furniture store that I frequent and I scored a much needed storage piece for my office, but had been unable to get it out of my car and into the house without some help. Jay had two photo shoots today (the second one being a high school belly dancer who wanted pictures of herself doing her hobby) and got home around 8:00ish. After starting a dinner for himself, he and Lori walked over to help me unload my new piece and get it into my office. Once this was accomplished we sat down and had a cocktail while Lori perused my copy of "How to Speak Southern" which Beth Kiyosaki had thoughtfully given me as a going away present when I left Sacramento. The two of them didn't know whether to hoot and holler or be upset because in it were expressions they had heard their entire lives and up until now, had believed to be universally spoken English.
This entertaining conversation led into some pretty funny stuff about the speach patterns of childhood friends. One guy named Roger apparently had a particularly colorful way of expressing himself. Not only did he speak pure redneck Southern, but his sentences were peppered with such malapropisms as "my parents are traveling in Morronaco" and "He is planning to attend an Ivory League school". I gathered from what they told me that there is an entire lexicon of Rogerisms that merit publication. I sense a book in all this.
As if there were any question about Abner being a local celebrity, that was scotched today. I got a forwarded email from Jay Coble this morning that actually makes me a little nervous. He has donated a photographic session to a Cancer Survivor's organization fundraiser that is going to be a fawncy garden party at the home of a local philanthropist and got an email this morning telling him that he was entitled to a free ticket to the event in exchange for his donation and also asking him to bring the man photographed with the Great Pyrenees whose photo appears on his website. The woman who sent the email indicated that my presence was specifically requested but she refused to say by whom or for what purpose. I suspect it may be the philanthropist in question whom I have met twice in civil but somewhat adversarial situations at planning entitlement hearings. Who knows though? It is a strange feeling to not only be identified by my dog but now to get mysterious invitations based upon his celebrity.
It is now Thursday the 6th and aside from my emerging depression over having to pay the capital gains tax on the sale of my house in Sacramento, things are fine here. I have been walking Abner a lot at Biltmore lately because the springtime explosion of flowers has started and it looks different literally every day. I hope to attach a few pictures from our recent walks. You can see that the tulips are starting to really show themselves off in the walled garden and elsewhere and trees and shrubs are starting to leaf out for the season. I included a shot of a pair of nesting geese who have staked out a little peninsula (formerly and island) protruding into the Bass Pond at a particularly attractive spot. The mother goose (who knew I would ever use that term?) seems quite serene and secure in her spot. Even with Abner and me only 30 or 40 feet away she didn't feel compelled to move or honk. Neither did her husband whom you can see a few feet behind her in the water. Other geese around this place raise a huge stink when we get within a couple hundred feet of them. Maybe these two remember us from last year.
I have also attached photos of the building I have mentioned several months ago that I had stumbled across and think is ripe for rehab. I still haven't called Chuck Pickering (whose house is very close to Biltmore house and is shown in another of the intended posted shots) to talk about the potential of this wonderful old structure that is partially in ruins. It needs to be protected and put back into use before it really starts to deteriorate structurally. Apparently its original use was for the egg layers and the workers who tended them. It sits on a wonderful plateau with phenomenal west facing views. Anyone who comes here can walk there with Abner and me to see it in the flesh.
I had another meeting today with the Marshall brothers to talk about a condo project here. While I really don't feel like getting into practicing architecture here, the idea of doing one project, only through schematics, and participating in material selections and finishes but having no drafting responsibilities, no liability and no participation in the generation of working drawings or engineering, seems like it might be fun and could pay well enough that the trauma of my tax bill would be greatly diminished. It almost doesn't feel like it would be work. I know it sounds like I am trying to talk myself into it, but I seriously think this might be OK. I have also started working on preliminary designs for a house for myself on my extra lot. I still would love to find property with a killer view, but I think, in the meantime, I will probably build something on my lot so I have a new modern house to live in with all my stuff and concrete or stone floors on which Abner can spread his belly during the summer months. The idea of a well insulated, well lit house that is conducive to the display of my art and other collections really appeals to me. Actually, I miss having a house in which I was pretty convinced that everything would work or be under warranty if it didn't. So maybe in 2007 I'll build, sell the charming old Tudor I am in, and continue to look for a great piece of land on which to eventually build the house of my dreams.
Well, I'm getting hungry and need to cook dinner. Besides, this is getting a little long. Hope the pictures work and however many readers there are of this thing, you are all well.
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