Normally, I return home from working with a client or on the River House looking forward to some peace and tranquility. This afternoon, however, I was greeted by the sound of no less than 9, count them 9, smoke detector sirens blaring and an urgent voice warning me of fire. I immediately checked all parts of the house for any signs of combustion and quickly determined that this was a false alarm. While in the basement, I grabbed my hearing protectors to keep my head from exploding. All attempts to silence the system proved futile. I then decided I would use a step ladder to climb up and remove each detector from its mount until I located the source of the problem. By the grace of God, the very first unit I chose to remove was the guilty party. I knew this would be the case when water started dousing my head as I removed the detector from its ceiling fixture. I took the detector apart but was not able to repair the water damage which was causing the unit to permanently signal a fire alert to all the other units in the house. I ordered a new unit and moved onto the next problem; where was the water coming from. I determined that our guest bathroom shower was the source. The main control valve and shower head wand penetrations had not been properly sealed allowing a very tiny amount of water to seep down the back of the wall and collect in the mounting box for the fire detector on the floor below. Over time, enough water trickled into the detector to cause the damage.
Our Road House is situated less than 600 feet, as the crow flys, from Emerson Hospital. Having just started to pass another kidney stone, I take some solace knowing that help is nearby should I need it. I now consider myself an expert on passing stones, having gone past the several dozen mark. At some point over the next 2 weeks or so, I am going to experience intense pain for several hours up to a few days as the stone makes its way from my kidney to my bladder. There, the stone will vacation for several weeks or months until it finally decides it is time to move on. I have now proven beyond any statistical improbability that the final journey will be triggered during my next airplane flight suggesting I will greet this stone in early October after arriving in Istanbul.
Last night Jeanine and I joined Kyle and Maya (Nico is in Texas training for the World Cup) at Gustavo, a Cuban restaurant in Cambridge to celebrate his birthday. The food was exceptional, as was the ambiance. I liked the way the light reflected off our water bottle and decided it would make a nice photo.
It seems impossible to me that our first born has reached the age of thirty. I am very proud of Kyle for all that he has accomplished and of the man he has become. Seemingly, in the blink of an eye he has grown from the cutest baby into a bonafide adult. I feel fortunate that I was there for all of it. Every soccer game, chess tournament, piano recital, trip to the ER, camping excursion, prom, graduation, and all the rest. I am very happy that we still spend time together, working side-by-side on his house and discussing our work lives. My hope is that he will one day share the indescribable joy I have experienced of being a father to a child like him.
Completed in just two days, excavation for the River House foundation is now done. The time lapse video above compresses the entire process into just over a minute. The perimeter of the excavated area is four feet outside of where the foundation walls will be poured. This is to allow space for workers to place forms, install drainage tile, and waterproof the outside of the walls. The depth is set to reach virgin (undisturbed) soil and to accommodate roughly 20 inches of insulating substrate.
The day has finally arrived where work on the River House can be categorized as construction rather than demolition. Specifically, excavation for the east wing footings has commenced. With any luck, the west wing excavation will be completed tomorrow and weather permitting we will be pouring concrete footings next week.
Between work meetings with clients, I found time to read the entire 59 page Installation Manual for the geothermal heat pump we are planning to use in the River House. This particular model from Water Furnace features a variable speed compressor, variable speed, fan, and variable speed circulation pump. What this means is that the entire system can operate at the exact rate to provide the heating or cooling needs of the house at any given time. Most systems have one or two speeds and maintain temperature by cycling on and off. In addition to the significant energy savings, this variable speed capability leads to very consistent temperatures, quieter operation, and lower air speed coming out of the vents.
The scene above reminded me of the time I spent living in Indiana where corn crops cover more than 5 million acres. This field, about a mile from our house, is a meager 8 acres but that is more than enough to feed all the residents of Concord for the summer. With nothing to provide a sense of scale, it is hard to tell that these stalks stand a good seven feet tall.
The World Amputee Football Federation has announced the group draws for the upcoming Amputee Soccer World Cup. The USA will be in Group C along with England, Argentina and Indonesia. England finished second in the recent European championship and will be a tough side for sure. Everyone will be competing for the World Cup Trophy pictured below. Just two months away, I know the USA National Team is training hard . Our whole family is looking forward to traveling to Turkey to watch Nico compete and to enjoy the beautiful country.
Despite a case of laryngitis, my sister Alissa took to her first official dance competition this morning at the Boston Park Plaza hotel securing a second place finish. She and her partner Florin, danced the Waltz, Tango, Venetian Waltz, Foxtrot and Quickstep in a number of divisions performing each a total of four times. I was exhausted just following the action with my camera (a full set of photos can be found here). My niece Rachel, a terrific dancer in her own right, was also there to support her mother. In my unsanctioned judging event, Alissa took first place in the hottest babe category.
Kyle and I have been making steady progress on his basement renovation project, working together most Saturdays for the last several months. Today we made a big push and relocated the water heater from its temporary position to its final location in the new mechanical room next to the heat pump that replaced the old gas-fired furnace. That was the easy part. Much more time consuming was installing the hot and cold water pipes connecting the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and outside water spigots to the water heater and tying these into the pipes delivering water to the first floor. All of this work required us to turn off water to the house and we were under serious time pressure to get it restored for Kyle’s tenant by 5pm when she had planned to shower and start laundry. It took a total of ten hours to complete the work and unfortunately we did not finish until 8pm.
Tess, one of Jeanine’s closest friends, arrived on the red-eye from Seattle this morning. The two are heading to Acadia National Park for some glamping, kayaking, and hiking this weekend. Tess is an interior designer, among many other things, and even in her sleep deprived state was quick to spot an opportunity to improve the design of the River House when we showed her a model. I have been so focused on the river-side elevations where 80% of the windows are concentrated that I failed to give as much attention to the other side of the house where there are very few. When Tess suggested making the separation of the pairs of vertical windows on the northern elevation symmetrical, it took me all of 2 seconds to fall in love with the idea (top rendering). The timing could not have been more fortuitous as the irrevocable order for the windows is being placed today. I was able to submit the changes just in time and am very appreciative of the fresh perspective that Tess provided.
With lead times for some kitchen appliances of up to a year, it is important that we finalize our appliance selections and get our orders placed for the new house. We have pretty much settled on everything except the refrigerator. Although much of the kitchen floor plan is now fixed, we still have some flexibility to accept a refrigerator of either 36″, 42″ or 48″ in width. To help illustrate the different possibilities for Jeanine, I made some crude scale models for the cabinetry and appliances, allowing us to swap different variations in and out quickly.
Of great value to me, a visual learner and three dimensional thinker, this exercise proved entirely unhelpful for Jeanine who expressed her unambiguous wishes in very clear terms. “I want a refrigerator just like the one we have now (36″ wide x 72″ tall, French doors, counter depth) plus a separate standing freezer with shelves wide enough for a turkey.” I approach decisions like this one from a dimensional perspective (cubic feet of capacity, height, width and depth) while Jeanine thinks in terms of lived experience. Since I am something of a tourist in the kitchen, I thought it best to go with the advice of the full-time resident.
This website is dedicated to sharing, with family and friends, the day-to-day adventures of the Calabria family.
