Paradise ponders: sprinkler project challenges, homecoming, an interesting meeting, finishing touches, and imminent guest arrivals...

Paradise ponders: sprinkler project challenges, homecoming, an interesting meeting, finishing touches, and imminent guest arrivals...  Our sprinkler project is facing some serious challenges, mostly of the running-out-of-time kind.  We are expecting our irrigation water to be shut off in two weeks, and we're not sure we can get the sod down in time.  This is really frustrating for both Debbie and I, as we started this project well over a year ago (with our current contractor) – and we had been promised completion by the end of May.  That was put off until June 15th – and we're still not done.  Worse, if we miss the water deadline, that means we won't have the sod down until next spring (April, most likely).  We've been living with dirt yards now for seven months, and we're kind of tired of it.  Argh!  I haven't given up on getting the sod down this year ... but it's obvious that we're at risk for that...

Our friends Tim and Jeannie D. made it back from their Alaskan cruise on Sunday night, as planned.  Their three dogs were overwhelmed with doggie joy to see them. :)  Tim (who doesn't drink and who is most emphatically not a party guy) reports that despite the crowds and drunks they had a great time.  They had lots of off-ship activities until the last two days, and the food was great.  He actually got tired of eating!  They didn't like the crowds, though, and the last two days were entirely at sea in the fog, so there wasn't much to do.  They felt sawed off from the world, too, as they refused to pay the outrageous fees charged by the cruise line for WiFi and texts.  With their numerous kids and grandkids, they're normally having dozens of interactions every day – but not while on this cruise.  So while they enjoyed it, they were very glad to be home again...

Debbie and I had a very interesting meeting this morning, at our home.  Christine Knapp is a sculptor who specializes in bronze wildlife pieces.  Debbie found her through a dog friend, and she's been talking with Christine for months.  Christine and her husband Bill planned a grand circuit, two weeks long, and this morning they stopped by to see us.  When they drove up, we could tell they were our kind of people: they arrived in a pickup, their two dogs in the back seat.  They've got an FJ Cruiser.  They don't like cities.  We were all chattering like old friends within a few minutes.  Inside the house, Bill started playing with Race right away, tossing a toy for him to retrieve.  Debbie and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting both of them!  Christine brought a small clay “study” of a piece she and Debbie have been talking about for our backyard, on the water feature we're fantasizing about building next year (after our damned sod is down!).  This piece would be a life-sized sculpture of a mother mountain lion with two cubs.  Christine's study shows the pose that she'd like to do, and Debbie and I both loved it.  Because I'm an idiot, I forgot to take a photo of it – so I can't show you here.  The cost is within our reach and substantially less than I had feared.  So we have said “Go!”, and we're expecting the sculpture to be done sometime before next summer.  That, of course, means another project added to the list – the water feature – and that feels like a bit one even before we start it...

Yesterday and today I've been working in our mud room.  Now that the cabinetry is in place, it was time to do the finishing work: caulking and painting, mainly of trim.  I did the caulking yesterday, and it was cured enough by this morning for me to start painting.  I put the first coat on this morning; the second coat will be this afternoon or (worst case) tomorrow morning.  Both the caulking and the paint are modern concoctions that are a joy to work with compared with the materials that existed when I was a kid.  The caulk is siliconized acrylic, with a texture that is absolutely perfect for filling in nail holes, joints between boards, and the like.  It cleans up nicely with soap and warm water, too.  The paint I was using was for our trim: bright, glossy white.  The stuff in the can is very thick – about like whipped cream.  There's so much pigment that only the very darkest backgrounds will actually require multiple coats.  Feathering the paint as I brushed was ridiculously easy, because of the low viscosity.  The self-leveling ability looked like magic to me – I'd brush that thick goop on, which left big brush marks, but then within 5 seconds or so those marks would all completely disappear.  What nice materials we have these days!

Tomorrow afternoon our old friends Jimmy and Michelle B. are arriving for a ten day visit.  We are so looking forward to this!  I'm going to be putting Jimmy to work helping me on our deck.  Debbie and Michelle will, I suspect, be cooking up a storm the entire time.  We'll be playing games in the evening and consuming much wine; the gameplay may not be brilliant. :)  We're going to be picking them up at the airport in our Tesla (which they've not seen yet), and stopping at Red Iguana for dinner on the way home.  Good times!