Notes from Maine - 2024/08/10
I’m in the airport parking garage right now, trying to be inconspicuous. In a few minutes, my cousin is supposed to arrive so he can return his rental car and then catch a ride back to my house. I’m hoping I don’t get kicked out of my parking spot before he arrives. About fifty yards (about 50m) away one of the guards is eyeballing me. I feel like a criminal.
Back at home, the roofing materials arrived. That means I owe them another check for all the metal they dropped in my driveway. I suppose it also means that I’ll be getting a new roof soon, but I’m less confident about that. It seems like I’ve been less than lucky with contractors lately. The counter installers haven’t been returning my messages. I touched back in with them after a week of silence and they said they never got the attachment I sent on Monday. Who wants to deal with a company that doesn’t even bother to tell the customer that they didn’t receive an attachment? And why didn’t they get the attachment? I can see it on the reply they sent me back. Feels like they’re making excuses for being disorganized. I suppose I have to break up with them. I’ve already reached out to another company—maybe they know how to receive attachments.
Another car just pulled past me—not my cousin. Maybe that driver will absorb the attention of the guard who is giving me the hairy eyeball.
The other day my brother said, “I forgot to look at your printing press the last time I was over.”
I cocked my head. “Printing press?”
“I figure you must be printing money, the way you’re spending it.”
It does feel that way right now. I’m getting a new roof, kitchen counters, and I’m scheduled to have my electrical panel upgraded in October. There are very few things that I will contract someone else to do. I have my septic pumped and my furnace serviced. Aside from those things, I usually do everything else myself. The idea of having people come in and do work is very odd. Maybe I’m getting too old. I’m having a hard enough time just doing the kitchen right now. I don’t want to take on anything more than that. In anticipation of the roofers, I had to replace a bunch of fascia boards over the deck. That was a harrowing experience. It was all ladder work. Mom pre-painted the boards, but then I had to take these twelve-foot-long boards (4 meters) up a ladder and hold them in place with temporary braces until I could secure them with screws. It’s done now. I don’t have a single broken bone to show for it, but I did have some close calls. The level of difficulty was compounded on the last few boards by the nonstop rain. If I can splash some touchup paint in a few places, I will call the project 100% complete. Otherwise I’ll just have to paint around the drip edge that the roofers will put in place.
I can’t wait for the first hard rain. The roof has been problematic for so long. It will be a relief to have everything buttoned up so I don’t have to check the attic every time we get a storm.
Mom has been painting every day since she came up, but she put everything away for the weekend. We have my cousin from Seattle here and more cousins from Massachusetts on the way. The cousin from Seattle just drove by. I’ll follow him to where he parks the rental and then give him a ride back to the house.
* * *
A big storm blew through last night. I haven’t checked the attic yet. All the roofing materials stacked in the driveway got soaked. I guess it’s no big deal—they are roofing materials—but they’re stacked in the wrong order. The metal is on the bottom and the wood is on the top. Usually, the metal would shield the wood from the elements. I’m sure it will be fine.
I haven’t caught up with my cousin in years and years. Mom said to him, “Everything you tell him will go into one of his books.” It’s true. Most of what I hear ends up in a book eventually. It’s mostly disconnected from the real people though. You might have already read about my cousins in one book or another and never knew it. With stories from my own life, I don’t tend to write any of the happy ones into books. They don’t need further examination. It’s only the dark stuff that gets fictionalized. Taking characters and making them relive the bleak moments of my life helps me see everything from a different perspective. I can understand the sticking points better when someone else has to deal with them.
It’s a beautiful day today. I’ve spent weeks prioritizing every moment, trying to get the roof ready for the roofers and the kitchen semi-functional for guests. It’s difficult to not dive into the next project, but I need a couple of days off. Next week I’ll pull the lists back out and shuffle the items. The island is planned, but not yet constructed. I have to establish a relationship with a new countertop installer. But today is just for enjoying the weather and catching up with cousins.
