Is Plaster Faster?

I should be working on my movie treatment (sounds like a joke doesn't it??) but instead I feel like writing about today....a day in our simple retired life. We're in Metaline Falls. The morning was mostly clean up. A normal retired thing to do. Then, we picked up color boards from the plaster guy***. We met him half way, an hour drive and close by western standards as they say. Gary, the closest (only) plaster guy we could find, showed up with his little dog wearing a football jersey that said QUARTER BARK (the dog, not Gary) with a #! between the QUARTER and the BARK. We could tell that Max was jealous of Quarter Bark #1 because he could be carried around. We treated Max to a walk on the way home at some waterfall...he wasn't impressed...in-fact he vomited.

Back home, 31 degrees and feeling like it was about time for something semi-epic, we convinced ourselves there was enough daylight to ride up Hall Mountain (elev. 6400') We rode to the trailhead and hiked to the treeless peak through meadows with clumps of softwoods and rock outcroppings to a 360 degree view of Washington, Canada and Idaho. The late afternoon angle of the sun tinted everything a rich gold. So far so good albeit a little colder on the way down than the way up. Normally I would have looked forward to the all downhill bike ride but as I suspected my summer weight Yoko gloves weren't even close to warm enough. (UNDERSTATEMENT!) Four hours and a movie later, I can type and feed myself again but that's about as interesting as I can make frozen fingers.

Metaline Falls.
Movie. "Nine". It was neither about an aging Bo Derek nor a musical with Penelope Cruz (not sure where I got that idea) but it was animated...and pretty good. I'm glad we went because then there were six of us in the theater.

House. The tent came down and we moved into a corner of the master bedroom this weekend. The photos make us look cold and uncomfortable but our word for cold and uncomfortable is 'cozy'. Will waking up with a coating of sheet-rock dust in my mouth cause any long term damage?

Back to the movie treatment. I've been struggling with ways to decrease my school work-load and finally got up the nerve to request an audit for Film Studies. I picked up the hot pink 'switch to audit' form at the office one day when there was actually someone in there and filled it out. I started to hand the hot pink sheet to Ian, the professor. "Did you enjoy the assignment?" he asked, all excited. I ended up using the back of the audit form for notes on Nanook of the North.

***plaster.
Plaster is good.
1. We don't have to paint because the plaster is tinted with our colors
2. We don't have to tile because the shower will be waterproof plaster
3. We don't have to trim the windows because our window perimeters will be plaster

Plaster is bad.
1. We have to pick the colors we'll have FOREVER, NOW. Would that make you nervous? It makes me nervous.

Waiting for Kathy

"OK. So we're just waiting for Kathy." the instructor said.

I know he wasn't trying to be mean or anything and I doubt anyone even heard him or cared but I felt like I'd just been the last kid picked. When did everyone finish anyway? And how was I supposed to finish now that everyone was maybe staring or pointing? I handed in the test and then he said "Do you want to take a couple minutes and stretch your legs?" How long had everyone been done? I'm in my 50's shouldn't I be smarter and faster than everyone else except Vince?

Vince and I started school a couple weeks ago. We're renting a great little house Nelson, British Columbia Sunday nights through Thursday afternoons.

Joanne is 34. Shannon and Nils are 28 and the other seven are somewhere between that and 18. They're good kids. They offer to help me with new software and I offer them any information they may need on the 70's.

I don't think I'm as smart as I thought I was. These classes are hard. I'm not sure I like it. Actually I'm pretty sure I don't.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm thinking that once we get through editing the Sea World footage and capturing 29.97 fps in DV 720 x 480i (1.33:1) becomes second nature, I'll like it well enough to be inside all day.....when it's 70 degrees and sunny???

Film Studies
Screen-writng
Photoshop
Sound
Final Cut (editing)
Cinematography
Workflow
Directing....they looked interesting and fun on paper to me too....

Meanwhile. I just WALKED to the food co-op for tofu and avocados and tomorrow morning we'll WALK to Oso Negro (coffee) before Cinematography. I think I'm spoiled.

I'll figure it out.

Pictures:
• first day of school
• our Nelson house
• Oso Negro

The House #1

"I'm still not sure what you're really building."
Before I heard that a fourth time, I decided to devote the next couple of posts to THE HOUSE. So, for all of the geeks that would rather read about the house than me, or Max or eagles....this one is for you. : )

Last you knew we had a foundation. Now we have a concrete slab. Covered with cement are layers of pipes, wires, insulation, stones and tubing that looked like a spaceship. Vince got so tired of me asking what layer came next that he quit answering and I had to ask Brett. The slab is concrete color, shiny, and smooth. It's the finished floor and a good home to a Turkish rug.

The pour. If you've ever done a big pour you know that it is sort of a big deal. Up early, we were giddy knowing that by the end of the day we'd have a finished floor so it was sort of embarrassing when the concrete guy didn't show up or call. What do you do? We did the same thing the surgeon did that time I forgot to come in for surgery (true story). Reschedule. We're we mad at him? When he finally did show up a few day later he was a hero. I know, it's not fair.

And there's so much more done....

Rough plumbing.
Radiant tubing.
Radon ventilation.
Electric and water to the house. (during the electrical inspector banter I had to bite my tongue every time he referred to his partner as 'the wife')
Exterior walls framed. (framing is fun)
2 huge beams placed. (that was fun too)
Layers and layers of roof. (I didn't even bother asking Vince about those layers)
Felt on exterior walls becauseTyvek doesn't breathe and Typar isn't available out here.
Windows and doors are in except the wall to wall, window/door combination that showed up here 180 degrees from the way we ordered it. All the doors and windows are very up-scale looking (which is what you want in Metaline Falls) milled-aluminum The color of the inside of an aluminum can.

There is still more but I'll surprise you with all that later because I know you're still not sure what we're building.

Tomorrow...pictures of those big beams I was telling you about.

Gotta run...it's Tuesday. One woman Farmers Market* in the parking lot of the health food store in Ione that also sells bullets.

ps. we've had hot (i.e. 100 degree) dry weather. Good for building if you're not in a shadeless field on a roof covered with (one of the layers) tar paper. btw. tar-paper = black