Maya appears to be on top of a mountain. The mountain could be in New Hampshire. It is possible she is on a camping trip with friends from work. This photo may have actually been taken tomorrow. All of these details are unclear to her father who has had to rely on second hand information and photos obtained by her mother.
This morning, work with a client led me to downtown Boston for a meeting. I arrived early having learned that parking in this part of town can be a very challenging and time consuming exercise. With a half hour on my hands, I spent most of it at the Boston Irish Famine Memorial. I have passed by and admired the statutes many times but have never had time to dwell and read all of the plaques detailing the Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger which took the lives of over 1 million people, 15% of the country’s population at the time.
Later in the day, I met with our builder, architect, and foundation sub-contractor in preparation for the next phase of the project. Weather permitting we are on track for concrete pouring next week.
We call the house we are living in now the “Road House” because it is located near the intersection of Route 2 and Route 62. The location is ultra convenient but the immediate surroundings are far from the natural setting we are looking forward to at the River House, now under construction. Even so, on an evening walk with Jeanine, it did not take long before we found ourselves wrapped in nature, one of the things I love about living in Concord.
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.
I decided to process an image I took while visiting Rockport earlier this week in black and white and rather like the way it turned out.
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 weekend, several members of the US National Amputee Soccer Team were in town for a training camp. Nicolai had the group climb 3,165-ft Mount Monadnock on their crutches for a strength and endurance workout. This during a heat wave with temperatures in the high 90s.
Mayela, Stephen and I decided to visit Rockport today. The small town on the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula is a perennial favorite for its classic New England charm. Although it was still pretty hot outside, overcast skies and an off shore wind made our walking tour much more enjoyable. We drove a little further north for lunch at the Lobster Pool in Folly Cove. On the way home, we stopped at Loblolly Cove where I dispatched my drone for a one mile excursion to photograph the Thacher Island lighthouses, each 124 feet tall and located 900 feet apart. Illuminated for the first time on December 21, 1771 these lights provided valuable assistance for the fishermen and sailors of the sea. Even so, there was a strong feeling among the townspeople that the lighthouses were helping the British fleet more than they were helping the Patriot cause. In July 1775, Dr. Samuel Rogers of Gloucester led his company of minutemen to the island and destroyed the lighthouses. Both lights were rebuilt and lit in 1861.
We finally had an opportunity to celebrate Nicolai’s 28th birthday (July 8th actual) with the entire family. Even better, we were joined by my sister Mayela, her husband Stephen, and three members of Nicolai’s amputee soccer community. Jeanine prepared his favorite meal (Chinese chicken salad) and a chocolate cheesecake that he requested. Not surprisingly, it was unbelievably good.
A small bocce tournament and tours of Maya’s tiny house entertained our guests between rounds of food.
Earlier in the day, Mayela, Stephen, Jeanine and I visited the International Sand Sculpture competition on Revere beach. Between the heat, on-going Covid concerns, and being the last day of the event, we encountered an unusually small crowd which greatly facilitated parking and viewing of the sand sculptures. The event typically draws 1 million visitors over a three day period.
Visiting from North Carolina are my sister Mayela, her husband Stephen, and their two dogs, Banjo and Moo. Banjo is rambunctious and super friendly. Moo takes a little longer to warm up to new people but was cuddled in my lap happily accepting a head massage by the end of the evening. Both are cute as buttons, very well behaved and a joy to have in the house.
As is the case in much of the rest of the country, not to mention the rest of the world, we are experiencing a heat wave and drought in Massachusetts. Temperatures here have been and are expected to remain in the mid to high 90s which is not as bad as many other places but still quite oppressive. Ten years ago, Jeanine and I were more concerned with the cold than the heat while vacationing in Alaska. I thought it would be fun to post this photo to help think cool thoughts.
Apple TV+ just announce a new series called Best Foot Forward. It is loosely based on a memoir by Josh Sundquist, a former amputee soccer teammate of Nicolai’s. The two have the same size foot and are missing opposite legs. They shared new pairs of shoes for many years. We are thrilled for Josh who is an Executive Director on the series and look forward to watching this weekend.
Boston’s Old City Hall was home to the city council from 1865 to 1969. It was one of the first buildings in the French Second Empire style to be built in the United States. It is now privately owned and houses a number of businesses, organizations, and restaurants. I passed it while en route to a client’s HQ for all day meetings.
Work with one of my clients today included a field trip to a building under construction that will be our new headquarters. We are hoping to move into the new lab and office space by the end of the summer, construction delays not withstanding. The lab will require minor modifications to accommodate the instruments we are building and we want to ensure that these changes can be made before our move in date.
Over the past weekend, Jeanine and I found ourselves grabbing lunch at a restaurant featuring a Fenway Park theme. Even though we opted to eat outdoors on the lovely day, there was no resisting a photo with the green wall.
Jeanine and I enjoyed a long walk this morning. We were checking out exterior house colors and masonry types for consideration on the River House. At one point, we encountered this butterfly and I asked to borrow Jeanine’s phone to take a photo (it was the only camera available). I was able to get close enough for a reasonably nice image.
On our walk, I had an “ah ha” moment regarding backup power for the all-electric new house we are building. It is imperative for any house built in a cold climate to have some means of keeping the heat going in the event of a power outage to prevent water pipes from freezing. Since moving to Concord some 18 years ago we have experienced 4 long-duration blackouts. This suggests we will likely see future outages every 4 years or so, possibly more, given the increased severity of weather events due to climate change. I learned important lessons from our last backup generator. (1) Power outages happen during extreme weather conditions; blizzards, extreme cold, thunderstorms, and high winds). (2) Generators don’t like to start during these conditions. With this knowledge, I specified the following accessories for the generator I am considering; oil pan heater, carburetor heater, battery heater, air intake heater, and fuel regulator heater. After completing the list it occurred to me that generators are intrinsically not well suited to starting/running in very cold conditions. My break through idea was to install the generator in our basement where it will live in human comfort conditions and need none of the cold weather adaptations which waste energy needlessly whenever it is cold. Furthermore, I will not have to worry about high snow blocking vents or critters taking up residence inside. The price for all this goodness is that I will have to engineer a leak-free exhaust extension to carry the carbon monoxide produced during combustion outside of the house. I found a high temperature flexible hose that should do the trick. It is rated for operation up to 1200F and will accommodate the considerable vibration of the generator while starting and running. The other issue will be the very loud noise during operation. To address this I will build a sound dampening enclosure inspired by one my brother built in his wood shop for his very noisy air compressor.
While on a stroll with Jeanine, we came across a house under construction and noticed they were installing a Tesla solar roof. This is the first one I have seen in person and it has reignited my investigation into solar. Because we have heavy tree cover the ROI for solar is not very attractive. That assumes that we would add solar panels to an existing roof. However, if we installed a solar roof instead of a regular roof, the economics improve dramatically.
The official poster for the 2022 World Amputee Football World Cup was published today. Front and center is the star of Turkey’s team (the home country). Featured prominently is Nicolai from a photograph I took of him. We are all getting very excited as the tournament draws closer. The whole family will be traveling to Istanbul to watch the US play. Jeanine and I for 16 days and Kyle and Maya for 9 days.
This morning, Jeanine asked me to help out with a few projects at Open Table. First, I met with the contractor who will be making improvements to Open Table’s new warehouse (I recommended changing the location of their loading dock which proved to be an almost immediately embraced idea). Second, I used my drone to check the gutters on their main and office buildings (they were clean as a whistle). And finally, I hung four large paintings in their office (which apparently went unnoticed by employees the following day). In exchange, she treated me to breakfast at nearby Babico’s Grill and Cafe which is like stepping into a time machine.
I was at Formlabs today working on a special assignment and had a chance to have lunch with Maya. She also gave me a quick tour of her workstation, lab area, and the project she is currently working on. What a treat.