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short flight of steps
Monday, December 23 2002
In the afternoon a friendly guy showed up in a huge semi truck to deliver a king-sized sleigh bed for our king-sized mattress in the master bedroom. Despite his bad back, the guy helped me bring it up the stairs. As usual with such guys, he raved about how great this house is looking. Perhaps he also noted the complete absence of any sort of Christmas decorations (or else he saw the yarmulka casually tossed onto the marble table in the entryway) because when he left he said, "If you celebrate Christmas, merry Christmas." I said "Thank you, and the same to you." As we did last year, Gretchen and I will be celebrating a traditional Jewish Christmas this year.
Gretchen and I bought a whole shitload of stuff at Lowes for the upstairs bathroom today, including an American Standard toilet (made in Mexico), a pedestal sink, and a Pfister Pfaucet (so we can pfreshen-up our pfaces and pflush pfecal material pfrom our pfingers). The plumbing expert in Lowes, the guy with the two missing middle fingers on his right hand (giving him an indelible heavy metal salute) recommended the American Standard over the cheapest toilet, saying it was less likely to get stopped up. I'll gladly fork over a little extra cash if it means keeping my hand out of the poo poo water.
The big achievement of the evening was the completion of a short flight of steps for the change of level between my studio and the rec room. This level change is 25.5 inches, so I made my flight three feet long and sloped at a 45 degree angle, with each step being 8.5 inches high. I used native oak beams as the diagonal struts, with shorter, mitered cuts of that same oak beam as risers, and two by ten planks as steps. It turned out surprisingly well.
Yesterday I added a second eight foot radiator to my studio so that its heating system will be more responsive and my space will be a little less austere. The least-austere aspect of the place is the flooring, which is still just barren particle board, though I've put down carpet fragments in some places. I'd like to keep the floor raw for occasions when I need to make terrific messes.
I've still not yet "moved in" to the studio in any meaningful way; I continue doing my computer work in the house's common office on the main floor.
New steps down into my studio. Note the copper heating pipe running behind it; this is the return hydronic line from the master bedroom suite.
Far wall of my still-unused studio. Note the green Molson Ice bottles.
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