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Knock-DownNo money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction. |
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Sunday, October 18, 1998
Jack and his daughters have been doing a lot of work at his place. They've rearranged the living room completely, and it's much more usable now. He has a large sectional sofa, the high-backed kind, which really does limit the possibilities of furniture layout, in combination with the TV stuff and stereo stuff, book cases, and fireplace. They've also given the kitchen and bathroom a good scrubbing and clearout.
This afternoon, with his daughters away, I had volunteered [!] to help with a further project or two. (Shh! don't say anything about all the little projects I should be taking care of at my own place!) Jack had bought a good-sized knock-down cabinet that he wanted to put at the foot of the stairs, beside his front door, to put coats and stuff in. He rents the top floor of a split-level house, and it is a bit short on closet space. He'd had the cabinet for months, and hadn't gotten around to putting it together.
First on his agenda was to clean up the kitchen a bit (though it wasn't in terrible shape) and do the dishes. I merely observed for this part of the proceedings. Then we took the cabinet out of its box and carried the parts up the stairs to the kitchen. After studying the instructions for a short while, we began the assembly process. There were a few moments of confusion, since some of the panels were almost identical, but with slight differences, but we made steady progress. Lots of screws to turn, cams to lock down, little nails to drive home, and hinges to adjust. We got it done in about an hour and a half, then went out on the back deck and ate sandwiches (good crusty bread, pepperoni, salami, provelone, sundried tomato and balsamic vinegar -- these were my choice from QFC) and progresso chicken soup. We need to take advantage of these last sunny afternoons before the rains set in constantly.
Next step: Jack went out to do a bit of rearranging in the shed attached to the carport, so he could fit some of the junk, I mean stuff, that was presently in the spot where the beautiful new cabinet was to go. To spare his back, I thought it better if I did most of the carrying out to the carport; indeed, I'd tried to do most of the bending and lifting during the assembly process, but Jack tended to just go ahead, and not make best use of the fact that he was working with an assistant here. So we moved an old printer and an old computer, and I carried a full case of copy paper out to the garage, then back inside and up the stairs to Jack's office. We swept the floor by the front door, then used the hand truck to jockey the large cabinet (about six feet tall) down the full flight of stairs and into place. It looked great! Raised-panel style doors and brass knobs on white. Jack immediately put two pairs of shoes belonging to his older daughter into one of the cubbyholes.
We rested on the couch for a while. I teased him that the process of working together had been a test, but I was partly serious, too. If we had gotten on each other's nerves during this project, or if there had been a lot of yelling and screaming, that would have been a bad thing.
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It was getting towards the end of the afternoon, and nearly time to go pick up Jack's older daughter A----, who'd been at her mother's for the weekend, near Olympia. We almost fell asleep on the couch, but dragged ourselves out to the car and started off. Since it was still early, we drove straight on into Olympia and Jack pointed out some of the places he used to hang out in. It's probably the town where he had spent the longest part of his adult life, about twelve years!
It being Sunday afternoon edging into evening, most things downtown were already closed. We did park and walk a bit. The guitar store was just closing, but Jack's eye was caught by one very fancy instument, all white and gold, that apparently had some very special features. He talked for some minutes with the store owner, and got his card in case Jack decides to sell one of his own instruments on consignment.
We walked down the block to the Spar, a coffee shop and tobacconist that's been under one ownership since 1935! It's a really nice place, with great old decor. I think Jack just had a snack in mind, but I was hungry for dinner, so he had a burger, I had pan-fried Olympia oysters, and we split a piece of pecan pie. He also bought a couple of cigars (yuck!) but he says he only smokes them outside his house.
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IIt was time to pick up A-----, so we drove a few miles outside of town, where she'd spent the weekend at her mom's trailer. The dog (a small, lively pomeranian) had also spent the weekend here. We experienced a minor upset shortly after pulling out of the trailer park, when the dog started whining and crying. Too bad she isn't Lassie, so we weren't able to understand the cause of the problem (and we knew that Timmie hadn't fallen down a well!). But Jack pulled off the road and let the dog out, she piddled (why didn't she do that during the ten minutes she'd been running around the parking lot like a whirlwind?) and there were no further problems.
A----- zonked out and slept most of the way home, and Jack and I enjoyed the drive.
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