“For the Blog People”

The following is a letter from Ken to give you all an inside perspective on what it’s like to be working on the no more mauve project. It was written last weekend while he took a much deserved Sunday off :

Every time Jenika calls me or comes over she always asks me if I’m ok, or if I need anything, and I always give the same answer, “Yes, I am fine and no, I don’t ned anything.”

It was an extremely beautiful day yesterday, not a cloud in the sky, and about 80 degrees. We worked our butts off patching plaster around the new windows and finished around 5:30 in the afternoon. Danny and I flipped a couple of five gallon pales upside down and sat back, leaned against the garage and relaxed, enjoying an ice cold bottle of Corona. With his little bit of English and my little bit of Spanish we some how always manage to communicate pretty well. What a wonderful guy to work with. I’ve grown to like him a lot and when this job is done and we go our own ways I’ll always think of him when I think back to the times I spent remodeling the Meebhouse.

I decided to take a day off today by myself and just sit at the beach and relax. I’v been down here living in the spider shack since August 7th…oops! Not supposed to call it the spider shack anymore, I’ve heard rumors via phone conversations that one of Jenika’s friends doesn’t like it to be called that because when she comes to visit she’ll have nightmares about spiders. Anyway, it’s not really a spider shack anymore. I’ve managed to completely kick them out and take over. Now I can officially say it’s “The Man Shack”.

Sometimes when I talk to people on the phone they ask, “So what do you do everyday in LA and what’s it like living in the Man Shack?” Well, this morning was my house cleaning day and while cleaning and washing clothes (which by the way sure is nice now that I have a new washer and dryer to use instead of having to go to the laundromat) I was thinking to myself about living here for the past 2-1/2 months and I thought I’d go to the beach, relax and tell you about it.

First off, other than missing my beautiful wife, it’s not that bad. I’m alone every night but I’m not lonely. When you think about it it’s pretty amazing how little a person needs to get along in life. We all have so much stuff. Granted, I wouldn’t want to live like this for the rest of my life but I certainly am comfortable for the time being. I get up in the morning and walk 25 feet to work, not so bad.

Thought I’d take a few pictures and explain the basics of “the shack”.

First off, the closet. A few work clothes hanging and a few pants and shirts for when Becky comes to visit and we go out for dinner. Below it my ten minute whipped together dresser for bedding, towels, jeans, underwear, socks, shoes and shorts. To the right and on the floor, the throw away cardboard box hamper. Above it, the piece of junk curtain that I tore out of the house and nailed to the wall over the broken window behind it. Jenika asked me to stop screwing things to the walls. Gee, I can tear her entire house apart from top to bottom, inside and out but for some reason she doesn’t think I’m capable of patching a few screw holes in the wall. What can I say? Above the curtain is the masking-taped paper to block the hot afternoon sun from shining through the windows because the curtain is too short. Jenika simply said, “Nice valance dad.” Hey, it works. It’s getting a little chilly at night so I also stapled plastic up on the outside of the windows to keep the wind from blowing through the broken glass. They will all be replaced soon enough. 

See: the fireplace. What more do I need? I’ve got my Bose system for music, the tv and a cable box with plenty of channels. The stuff on the right is Robert’s modem and junk, I have no clue what it does. It’s all computer crap, a foreign language to me.

Speaking of the Bose and music, I have completely lost track of what’s going on in the world. I don’t watch the news at all no matter what station is on. I hate the sound of the  reporter’s voice and the constant talking. It reminds me of when I was a kid and would go in the house after playing outside all day. When my dad had the little time off that he got he loved to watch baseball on our old black and white tv. We always had to be quiet so he could listen to the announcers. I hated it it and think of it to this day which is why I never watch sports specifically. The repetitious sound of that voice still sounds the same as it did 45 years ago. Ironically, I married a girl who loves the news and world affairs. She walks in the door, the music goes off and the news goes on; I walk in the door, the news goes off and the music goes on. I guess there’s some truth to the saying, “opposites attract”.

Moving on to the desk area. Pretty self explanatory. I used an old door for my desk top thinking I’d sit there and do my paperwork but in all honesty I haven’t sat there once. I’m too busy working on the house. However, it is a good place to pile all of the warranty booklets, receipts and other paper related stuff that pertains to the remodel. The only thing I like about that corner of the shack is my leg lamp. Don’t know why but my boss and my wife just do not appreciate it as much as I do, maybe it’s a guy thing. To the right of the desk is what I call the end of the day seat. A place to sit after a long, hard day of work to take my boots off and throw my dusty jeans on. 

The other corner of the shack is piled with all of the Kohler fixtures and stuff that we’ll be installing in the house shortly.  The flag on the window was there when I took up residency. I thought it would make a nice curtain. I have no idea what country it represents, maybe Columbia. It must have been left behind by one of the seven guys that lived in this place before I did. Lisa, the neighbor, told me that they were the reason she had the six foot high block wall built between her property and this one.

The table and chairs, ahhh. Hand-crafted in exactly four minutes out of authentic 2×4′s and a half a sheet of OSB. It’s covered with a very special plastic Target picnic table cloth. The reason it’s special is because on my birthday a month ago Jenika stopped by for her usual inspections but forgot something. Like a lot of times, we were having a disagreement about moving walls, pipes or whatever. It had been more than an hour since she arrived and she still hadn’t mentioned anything about my birthday. She was too excited and distracted by what was going on with the house so in the course over battling about whatever I decided to remind her what day it was. I said to her, “I think I know a lot more about remodeling houses than you do young lady. After all, I’m quite a bit older than you. As a matter of fact I am exactly 29 years older than you TODAY.” Wrong thing to say! She paused for a minute and then burst into tears. I felt horrible realizing I made her feel bad for forgetting my birthday. That was the first time ever. It took tons of hugs to calm her down but eventually she did. I explained that it was no big deal, when you get to this age it’s just another day. After a while she left and then called to tell me not to go anywhere and that she’d be back at the house by 6pm.

To my surprise at 6pm she pulled up in the driveway and told me to go into the house and not to come out or look out the window until she came to get me. I did as I was told. Ten minutes later she came into the house and told me I could go back into the man shack. When I opened the door and stepped in this time I cried. To my surprise the table was set with the cheap little Target table cloth, a vase of sunflowers, two ceramic plates, real silverware (not plastic), a birthday card and a wonderful dinner of potato salad, baked beans and ham that she had run all the way home to make that afternoon and bring back. I sat and enjoyed a very special birthday evening with her. When I’m done with this job that table cloth is going in my keep sake trunk.

Last, but most important, the kitchen. On the left is the chuck wagon. The boys (Ruben and Ramon) and I hall it to remodel jobs if we’re going to be there for a while. It comes in handy for lunches rather than eating at restaurants or out of a cooler everyday. It’s got a built-in light above, a microwave, a warming oven, silverware trays, spice racks and shelves to store food, cups, plates and other miscellaneous items. Hey, you have to remember that I’m on the job 15 hours a day so this baby comes in handy. Then there are the basic needs to the right of the chuck wagon, electric frying pan, crock pot, coffee pot, toaster, refrigerator and other breakfast and lunch stuff. I’m getting pretty damn good at cooking meals in the electric frying pan. Last night, for example, halibut with lemon pepper, string beans and sliced potatoes with a touch of seasoning salt, oregano and black pepper. Paired with a glass of red wine and followed by an ice cream sandwich for dessert. 

So…that’s the life of living in the man shack seven days a week. Up in the morning around 5:30, a few cups of coffee and a smoke or two, a couple steps to the job. Quit at 7:00 at night, shower, shave, make dinner, clean up the dishes and in bed by 10pm. It’s not bad but I am looking forward to finishing and heading back to the desert. LA is a little too big for this guy.