Merlyn's Musings~

Remodeling: "Proving Ohm's Law"

Ok. First problem.

We knew that there was an issue with an overload on the room that we are working on. Figured that now would be the time to check into that, before the paint and while we have the furniture all out of the office.

Harry is an IATSE union electrician. Basically that's a "theatrical electrician". He also has had schooling with 5 years of electrical engineering, electronics technology and chip fabrication.
And honey? he's got his thinking cap on for this next leg of the job here at Squirrel Haven.

After going into the breach, down into the nightmarish basement last night and flipping breakers to check....he has found out some interesting and complicated news:

One breaker feeds THREE rooms of lights and outlets.... and also ALL the outside lights and outlets.

That's a lot of load and muddle...also ...one of the outlets in the office...is coming from the UPSTAIRS instead of being fed from the basement...splices in the wall....and intermittent power...
DANGEROUS.

Lights and outlets should always be separated. Also rooms should be on their own breaker.

And by the looks of it, when the original owners needed an outlet they just tapped wherever they felt like and well... check this out:
the neutral comes from wall switch from outside lights
and the hot lead comes from the upstairs bedroom.

Can you say CLUSTERFUCK?

In the past, when we remodeled our upstairs bedroom, and took out the walls, we discovered burnt insulation around the wires. Oh, did we tell you that that insulation was old newspaper pushed into the wall?

Beauty.

Yes, we've been very lucky....so far. Hopefully our luck will hold some more while we get it figured out....

Lesson to be learned here:
If your house was wired by a weekend warrior...get it checked.

So... it looks like we'll be punching some more holes in the walls and doing some untangling wires... putting in a new panel and sheetrocking before the fun painting and redecorating.

This is gonna take more time than I wished.

But we may also be blessed in the end with a house that isn't gonna burn down some day. (Which has been a backburner flash of thought in my psyche from time to time...)

But first.....

Harry is still in the midst of setting up for Screamer's Hollow in the interim.

Yah, It's a scary season alright.

Remodeling ....patchwork life

Hey Ho~

Just an update.

Our office is "mostly" emptied.
Harry has been doing great, no meltdowns, and has actually been very helpful and has been trying to be organized. Really fabulous. I'm still very proud of him.

But there is disruption in our homelife that's for sure. There is no kitchen table available...it's currently covered with a 3 tower cd collection and odds and ends. There are books in my bedroom, books in the guest room, guitars and uprooted clutter everywhere....we are trying to sort and make sense and still make our living. Business stuff upstairs and down.

I told Harry that the "chi" was stagnant in the office and when we disrupted it from being too "staid" that the energy would flow in a big way and we'd get lots more work. The thought is that the Universe will only send you what you are capable of handling. If you get very efficient, the Universe will send you more...and the quantity will come to you.

Ok, so that is how I "sold the idea" of this remodeling project to "Mr. Business Man Pack Ratty Who Does Not Like Change". That...and the roof leaks and it needs fixing anyways...

HOW'ERE....
This is true magick....and wonderful... as already I've booked 7 Holiday gigs in the last 2 days :)

This "chi" thing WORKS.

I've ordered wallpaper border for the front room to go over the old grapevine ivy border....
I like it. It's not too obnoxious, but kind of lilting and perfect complementary colors for the rooms I've chosen....
It is fertile, growing, flowing, and progresses round the room....

I've bought paint for both rooms, (a sage green for the front room and a light caramel for the office.)
This should be interesting after living with "cream" colored walls for over 20 years. Harry does not really want me to change the color, but I need a change and I think the wall color will be dreamy and relaxing.

Harry has to fix an electrical outlet...hopefully this will not be a can o' worms....nor dangerous.

I'm de-cobwebbing and spackling.
I bought this kewl spackle that is PINK but when it dries, it dries WHITE so you know it's dry.
My rooms were pink polka dotted there for awhile :)
Yah, I had a lot of artwork up....man, that was a lot of nail holes to spackle!

I'm tired. We are almost ready to start the process of windows, roofs and siding.

I really don't want to do the actual painting (it will be my job...) but I just want to get at it and start seeing the changes and what it will look like when done!

I have floor plans of each room....and I'll be changing around the furniture....which will include side by side desks and shared office machines in between the desks.

There will also be a "reading nook" loveseat with good lighting and a set of bookshelves above it with books on the shelf of "to read" choices at the ready.

"Inch by inch anything's a cinch" says Robert Schuler.

Evidently he never lived with a pack rat, ran 2 businesses out of his home, nor dragged garb and gear in and out and over hill and dale, nor lived in said house while remodeling, all during the season of Harry doing setup technical setup for Screamer's Hollow Haunted Event and still working and doing gigs.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers :)

We are getting along remarkably well and are very happy considering! :)

Poem~ Mag 137

(image: "It Must Be Time For Lunch Now", 1979, by Francesca Woodman)

Having the tools to eat, and yet not eating

Having the capacity to live and yet not living

Having the heart to love and yet not loving

Hiding within

Starving long

Putting off till a rainy day that never comes

All the lonely people

They say you can lead a horse to water....

and still he won't drink.

Poor blind horse.

I love you well

and would ride you, feed you, love you.

Would that you would only drink.

If you would like to read more poetry inspired by this same bizzare image, surf here to read some creative words!Magpie Tales told by many Magpies ;)

Renovations....

Ok, so we've decided to do some renovations here at Squirrel Haven....

This of course, was preceded by some sincere thought...and plotting on my part and countered by some mild posturing of my darling pack rat loverman...who knew that his time was overdue for an overhaul.

Let me preface this story by saying a few things...

I love and adore my home.
I've been at this address for 23 years.
That's a long time for a Gemini, so you must know how awesome that statement is.
Yet....
The roof leaks in spots.
It's an old house with problems...and yet...
it's HOME.

I also love and adore my husband.
He is a hard worker.
Harry is a quirky genius, inventor and unconventional...much like that guy who invented "Flubber".
And ....
He is also a self proclaimed pack rat.

Remember Monty Python's movie, "The Meaning of Life"?
Can you envision that that one scene that "every sperm is sacred?"
Well, to a packrat...everyTHING is sacred.
That means...
Every scrap of paper, every paper clip, every thing has more than one useage...and intrinsic value.
It's nearly a moral imperative to not waste anything to him.

Harry is also very busy. He goes from one install to the next event to the next gig without much downtime in between. We drag costuming and gear in and out.

So there you have our life.

Yet....
There are changes I need to have made.
Some are structural...
some are cosmetic....
some are merely just organizational.

Harry says what we are doing are "decorative changes"
I say, "Nay. They are functional changes."

So, being upfront and candid here...like real people....in a reality tv show...
Here is what our office looked like

This blog is not for the faint of heart.
Nor the neat freak.

Note please that our whole house does not look like this...but ...
only portions...
and TWO businesses run out of this space.

Well....that's a relative thing.
Fung Shui it's not.

But I've noted that the space has become stagnant and unloved and I personally don't like the living space that has happened here. This is not how I would live if left to mine own devices.
How'ere, I love a man.....
So....I have adapted over the years....
and shite has piled up.
But not by me not bitching about it....

In the interim...and because of the roof leaking...
and frankly...because Harry wants to get laid.....

He has agreed to help me make some changes for US here at Squirrel Haven.
And so we set off to manage some well timed remodeling.

And as you know (if you've ever done any home remodeling...)while we're at it, "we might as well make some other changes"....like some windows for the weatherproofing, painting a room or two (now that it's disrupted...) and side the back of the house and cover the ugly cinder block that I've lived with for 23 years now.

I can't fucking wait.

But oh...
the nightmare.

There is a cartoon on my bathroom wall. It is a drawing of 2 gates of Hell.
Over one is the sign, "Burn in Hell for all Eternity"
Over the other one is "Live in your home while you remodel it."
The devil looks at the person trying to choose and says: "It's a toss up."

So we've started....

Are you ready?

Are you sitting down?

Here is our office...these are the "BEFORE" pictures"

Note the love seat....

My desk

Harry's desk

This is a job for a stalwart crew.
We hired some help....because frankly....I wasn't gonna kill him over this.

So today, after 2 days of 4 of us working on the assorted projects (friend Joe helped sort stuff outside...friend Christine sorted mountains of Harry's paperwork and saved our marriage by doing what would've made Merlyn ratshite crazy instead.....Harry supervised and worked out his master plan...and I worked around the edges, did errands, went shopping for paint and bookshelves...and well...wine.....and I organized areas and fed everyone...).

Here's some pics from today's big job...

We found the loveseat.
(YAY! :)
We extracted it and put it somewhere dry...for safekeeping out of the rain....

We found lots of things....

Like a floor....

a wall....

a desk....

No...it's not done.
There is a LOT of work yet to do...

But I can't tell you how thoroughly impressed and astounded I am with the progress!!
I am SO PROUD of Harry for letting go...and for him flowing so easily with the changes.

We've picked out and decided on paint colors for the 2 rooms.

I am SO encouraged.
I am happier than I've been in years...
and also more tired than a sore, overworked arthritic witch on a cold night.
Oh wait...

Anyways...
we persevere.

It IS coming along.
It IS daunting.
It IS freeing.

There is so much more to do....
and I will keep you in the loop....
but my dears...

Every great journey begins with a single step.

And sometimes the single step begins with just saying,
"I love you enough to step out of my comfort zone."

This was our front room...but it's going to be painted so we are going to fix this room too while at it...

We are "in transition" .

Stay tuned

Same Squirrel Time...
Same Squirrel Channel....

Poem~ Venus & The Sailor~ Mag 135

Venus & The Sailor

(painting/ Salvador Dali, 1925)

Aye, she were a sight

like a Goddess steppin' lightly upon the earth

me watery feet an' body still swayin' from the waves

she rocked me

rocked me sweet and gentle-like

rocked me wild and hard like the tempest she were

I clung for me life

me heart pitchin' and swirlin'

feet skitterin on the deck

then the wave came o'er the side

and I were done

and she were gone

and it were calm again

A 1000 days at sea

to no avail.....

I search for her still.

would that I had kept her that night

that foamy sea tossed ee'en

when she stepped upon me rails

Surf here lovies for more poems on this paintin' from other fine poets wi' pens.....

StoryBook Club Tall Tales

This month's StoryBook Club dug out some tall tales from the pages of early America's history.
We read many books on the subject including this one!

After the Revolutionary War and when folks started moving out west, the world became a MUCH bigger place. The outback was wild and wooly indeed. The Pacific Northwest was untamed and the desert was more inhospitable than anything that the colonial frontiersmen had ever encountered.

And they were gonna tame it by God!

Stories flourished about real people that became bigger than life!
Like, Johnny Appleseed, who, by himself planted apple trees across the country. Some say it was because "he wanted everyone to have food" (a noble cause!). Yet others would say that because he didn't believe in grafting, the apples he brought were mostly inedible...but made great cider, so he actually singlehandedly brought alcohol to the West (another noble cause!). Yah, they don't call it "Johnny Jump Up" without reason!

Daniel Boone was another real person, who became larger than life. He had little formal education yet served in the Virginia General Assembly for 3 terms. A book about him made his antics famous. There is even a history of "False Boone Relics" out there.

Davy Crockett is another real person who was a wild frontiersman who went into politics and became Representative of Tennessee in the House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution and died in the Battle of the Alamo. He was another person (like Daniel Boone) who became famous in his own lifetime!
While Davy Crockett probably didn't "kill a bear when he was three", he probably DID make himself famous with lines like these: ""I'm that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust tree." Yet he was a man from a rough childhood, was not an educated man and yet became so famous that numerous books and movies were about him.

Here's the song of his life. You know you want to hear it! :)

Some tales were those that may have been of "composite' people, many folks combined into one story.

Much like the tale of Molly Pitcher and her compassionate care of soldiers during the war. The soldiers called out to her for water by saying, "Molly! Pitcher!" soon gave her the moniker she was handed as she doled out drink for thirsty men and gave them water to swab the barrel of the cannon and clean the ramrod. She took her wounded husband's place at the cannon to continue helping with the fight. There are many places of water and springs named after her to this day!

Then there were tall tales about fictional characters made by advertising people to lure folks out to the Wild West and the frontier with a carnival barkers call to "come see all these amazing things!"

Tales such as Paul Bunyan and Babe the Great Blue Ox who felled trees in the Pacific Northwest, survived the "season of two winters" where even the bedbugs huddled together for warmth. Paul Bunyan straightened out a crooked rode by hitching it to Babe and pulled it straight! He made the Mississippi River and accidentally dug the Grand Canyon by dragging his ax!

Pecos Bill grew up with coyotes, rode a tornado, lassoed with a rattlesnake, and when his horse broke his ankle- Bill carried his horse 100 miles through the desert. But let's not stop there, he met his true love, Slue Foot Sue. She whistled up a huge catfish to ride and would do more work in a morning than most folks could do in a month!

We talked about these and so much more at Lynn's house with our delicious supper of Americana perfections! A beautiful table was set with colonial items, a granny square quilt and we supped on Roasted chicken, chili, cornbread, cider and apple crisp and cream!

In chatting about all the many tall tales, it was decided that they existed at the time for people to make sense of their new expanding world, to feel like they could "conquer it" somehow and instead of feeling afraid, they tried to make peace with it and understand it.

This caused me to take it forward to project the same philosophy on today's tall tales of Super Heroes and Super Powers. Isn't this the same thing that we do now to understand our world of technology, chemicals, weapons and warfare. Isn't Iron Man a way for us to feel empowered by technology? Wasn't Godzilla just a way for us to comment on radioactivity and fallout? Isn't Spiderman a way for us to feel useful and effective in a world that is almost unfathonable and unscaleable? Isn't Wonder Woman and Cat Woman a way for females to access their inner power for good and for mischief?

Something to think about! Yes, these are our heroes and legends and tall tales for this fearful age so that we may feel useful, capable, adaptable and effective in the face of an inpersonable and unreasonable war machine and politics and mega population.

So that's all the poop I care to spill on tall tales!

Next month for October we are tracking Goblins!!

Be afraid!
Be very afraid!!