Books

For the better part of the past year, people have been bugging me for information about how to purchase my novels. It's taken a while (I've had a buncha other shit to do - heh ...) but I finally set up a site to make ordering easy.

Remodel ... thanks

Now that this endeavor is mostly over, there are a number of establishments I'd like to thank for their help, in many different ways.

Home Depot - I did it, they helped. A good 80% of the lumber, building materials, and supplies came from the local H/D.

Interior Express.com - they supplied the barstools

Creative Wallcovering - the two great wall murals came from them

Home Goods - the game table and some of the art

Kohls and Kohls.com - the dining room rug, salon rug, artwork, picture frames, and stands

AC Electric - most of the lighting

Pat's Carpet Outlet - the wall-to-wall carpeting in the entry and hallway

Sears and Sears.com - tools and appliances

Michaels - many of the detail pieces and artwork

Sharp Electronics - Flat screen TV and Blu-ray player

Also, my buddy "English Pete" the Carpenter, without whose advice I would have never attempted the major structural rework that I did. Thanks, mate.

Mostly though, I'd like to thank my lovely wife. She always had confidence in my getting this done right, though I'd never attempted anything this grandiose before. She was involved in the design, planning, and execution from beginning to end and, while I did the work, her signature is on every part of this project. As she and I learned many years ago, we make a great team and together there's nothing we can't accomplish.

Nor can I forget Princess Shayna Mädel, our Australian Cattle Dog, who put up with being full of dust, having things dropped on her, and getting stepped on without making too much of a fuss.

Lastly, I'd like to thank all of my friends, family, and blog readers who've shown so much interest in an amateur architect/carpenter and his house. Thanks for joining us.

Remodel ... fucking done!

Well, mostly. Lotta little detail work left, lotta unpacking and cleaning. The guys are coming to measure for the carpet on the stairs and down the hallway on Friday, and we still have to pick out a rug for under the dining room table. Lotta progress in the past couple weeks though. (Click on the pics to make 'em big)

I got the gate done at the bottom of the stairs, so the entry only lacks carpet.



Finally got the floor and the radiators done in the dining room. Then I had to move the furniture back in. Oy, my fucking back. A note: The table isn't staying; I just need it there to measure the length of the lights in the camp (you'll see). It only seats six (8 in a pinch) and will be replaced with one that seats 18 (22 if ya push it) once I get it from dad-in-law's house with a couple other things. Another reason we switched the living room and dining room; Mrs. F loves to entertain.





The fun house antique mirror weighs about 50 lbs. That was a fun trick hanging it up there. The china cabinet below it weighs about 10 times that. My mother's aunt had it built in the 20s and shipped over here when she emigrated before WW2. When she went back home to Germany to die in the late 60s, she gave it to my mother. I wanted to sell it but Mrs. F fell in love with it when we were dating. It's the reason we remodeled in the style we did.



This is the companion piece to the china cabinet.



I put 3 barstools at the "sideboard" too. It's a wild spot, with the mural across from it, it looks like you're sitting at a 2nd floor window or balcony.



An antique chair Mrs. F's grandfather brought back from Africa about 60 years ago. You'll notice a few books from my favorite author (me) and my favorite maritime artists, Stephen Card and Robert Lloyd.



The wind-up clock in the corner is a WW2 British Royal Air Force squadron clock. The outer housing is homemade (probably by a Brit aircraft mechanic) and the face has the RAF crest on it. I found it in an antique shop in West Point, NY.



And our ceramic kittens we bought in Betschdorf, France when we were visiting my family for Christmas 2 years ago.



I'll give ya a complete tour once the carpet and the rugs are in and everything's where it's supposed to be. Thanks for hanging out with me while I did this.

And if you're interested, the "before" pictures are here.

Remodel ... short strokes

It's all stupid little detail shit now.

I got the footboard and guard done on the bar.



Almost finished with the gate at the bottom of the stairs.



Got the radiators built in the new dining room and I'm in the process of test fitting before detailing, sanding, staining, and urethane.

I built this for the china cabinet. It's 8 feet long and I didn't want to make such a big section of radiator inoperable. It allows the radiator to work while still letting the cabinet sit as close to the wall as possible.



The rest of the radiators that won't be blocked look like this.



And I built the shelf in the arch over the stairs for Mrs. F's gardenias.



Still more little shit to do before I get to the floor and have the carpet installed. I figure another month before I can say it's done.

Next up ...

In September, we'll be heading to London to meet up with our old friend Queen Mary 2 for 12 days on the Med:



1 Southampton 05:00 PM
2 At Sea
3 Lisbon 09:00 AM 05:30 PM
4 Gibraltar 08:00 AM 01:30 PM
5 At Sea
6 Civitavecchia 07:00 AM 07:00 PM
7 Livorno 08:00 AM 06:30 PM
8 Monte Carlo 08:00 AM 06:00 PM
9 Barcelona 08:00 AM 06:00 PM
10 At Sea
11 At Sea
12 At Sea
13 Southampton 06:30 AM

And then we'll stay aboard for a transatlantic crossing to Red Hook, Brooklyn.

I realize it's 4 months away, but the reason I bring it up now is that we're booking our 20th anniversary cruise for August next year (2010).

As I've been saying, it's gonna be a shindig. We'll be flying to Amsterdam to stay a couple days on the front end and then meeting another of our friends, Holland America Line's Prinsendam for 14 days in northern Europe:



0 Amsterdam, Netherlands 05:00 PM
1 Enter Kiel Canal Brunsbõttel CO 10:00 AM
1 Enter Kiel Canal Holtenau CO 07:00 PM
2 At Sea
3 Tallinn, Estonia 10:00 AM 05:00 PM
4 St. Petersburg, Russia ON VX 07:00 AM
5 St. Petersburg, Russia VX 06:00 PM
6 Helsinki, Finland 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
7 Stockholm, Sweden 08:00 AM 05:00 PM
8 At Sea
9 Warnemunde (Berlin) Germany 06:00 AM 11:00 PM
10 Copenhagen, Denmark 07:00 AM 05:00 PM
11 Oslo, Norway 11:00 AM 08:00 PM
12 At Sea
13 Greenwich, London, England ON 03:30 PM
14 Greenwich, London, England 05:00 AM

And then we'll disembark, catch a cab from Greenwich to Southampton to board Queen Mary 2 for a ride home to Brooklyn.

Heads up to Ann Hayward: The Mrs. will be calling tomorrow.

Don't let this happen to you ...

From I Can Has Cheezburger

Do your research and use a good travel agent - like ours for instance..

Remodel ... entree vous

Got most of the work done on the entry over the past few weeks. The detail work is excruciating but I wanted to get the right look.





The mural and Tiffany lamp were the biggest pain in the ass because of the height here. I made up a scaffold (2 - 2" x 6" from the top step to the ladder) and groveled back and forth, much to the Mrs.' consternation. She's always afraid I'll fall and break my neck.



I also built a new door/gate to our bedroom and my office. The chrome railings I built from clothes rod. I just drilled and tapped threads (#10 x 32) and mounted them to off-the-shelf brackets.



I'm looking to be done (finally) by June.

Remodel ... coming together

Blogging has played second fiddle to the house project lately. I've been pushing because shit's coming together and I'd like to be completely done by the time we leave for London in September. Demo started a year ago this past week and I'd like to, eventually, do something else with every spare minute.

First off, I finished the hallway (the only thing left is carpet, which will be the absolute last thing to get done).



I left the original drywall past the arch for several reasons, namely the doors have metal casings (original - 50 years old) and I'd have to destroy them to remove them. I didn't want to hang 5 new doors so I sanded everything, scraped off the old paint as best I could, spooged a coat of plaster over and resanded, before painting. The ceiling was pretty ate up so I made the faux 'skylights' to hide most of it. I painted the doors to hide 50 years of abuse as well.



We've also started hanging the artwork and the sconces we ordered came in, so I put them up too. An antique mirror is going in that big blank white space on the wall.





Amazingly, finishing off the front window was easier than I thought. As I did on the bar ... saloon ... salon furniture, 3 coats of Minwax Polyshades 'Walnut' under a coat of Minwax clear poly.



And this weekend, I finally got to work on the railing separating the new dining room from the entry staircase. I wanted it to be minimal (there's gonna be another mural on the wall in the background and I didn't want to obstruct it) but I didn't want to just do a rail-and-post setup. Functionality played a part and the Mrs. and I came up with this design (I have a good feeling it doesn't comply with safety code, but we don't have kids), giving it a 'sideboard' function. It'll be finished like the window.





I still haven't finished the cabinet doors and drawer fronts in the Salon, which I'll do when I finish the railing, and then I have to do the dining room floor. Once that's done, I can turn my attention to the entry and finish up. Finally. I hope.

Previews ...

Since we're regulars on Cunard Line, we get the heads-up when good stuff is about to happen. This qualifies:



My mother came to the U.S. aboard the first Queen Elizabeth in 1951. Can't wait to cruise aboard her.

Um, no ...

As you know, the Mrs. and I travel all over the place. This ain't on the itinerary in the near future:

...

The first officially sanctioned Western tour group since 2003 is visiting Iraq in the latest sign of improved security.

...

The tour was arranged by a British organization and included stops in the semiautonomous Kurdish region and the ancient ruins of Babylon and Ur.

...

If I wanna go to Iraq, I'll reenlist.

I'll go to Egypt and Saudi before I drag the Mrs. through a war zone.

Cross-posted at the Brain.

Remodel ... stuff

I got the cabinet doors and drawers done today and fitted. Now I gotta take them all apart, finish-sand, and spooge a couple coats of polyurethane on them. They'll look like the counter tops.



We also got the barstools in (assembly required but that was 20 minutes). We got them online from Interior Express and we'd buy from them again.



I'm also in the middle of making a foot board for the bar and a guard so folks don't clear off the first row of bottles with their feet when they sit there.

Remodel ... Salon, again

As I told my readers over at the Brain, I spent the weekend stimulating the economy on Long Island, picking up lights, setting up the entertainment center (thanks to the folks at Sharp Electronics for the corporate discount - they're Mrs. F's clients - on the 42" Aquos flatscreen TV and the free Blu-ray player), and hanging the artwork (Mrs. F and I are suckers for black and white photography of Paris).



I also got 4 bar stools coming via UPS in a couple weeks.





The Mrs. also has a thing for chefs and she has all these tchotchkes she can finally hang up.



The Mrs. wanted a little piece of furniture for the top of the stairs which I lugged home (the plate is a gift from my cousin Birgit, bought in the French town of Soufflenheim) ...



And I got a small game table for the Salon.



On one of our trips to Soufflenhiem, we also found these cool little signs.







I'm finally getting around to building the drawers and fronts, and the doors for the cabinets. I hate building drawers because I hate setting up the dado blade in the table saw. Hopefully I'll have 'em done by the end of the week.

Westie to the rescue ...

This trip has turned out to be an eventful one. As I told you the other day, we had to divert to meet a Coast Guard helicopter in order to airlift a sick passenger to Florida.

Well this morning, a bunch of us noticed we were stopped dead in the water. No sooner did we begin to wonder what was up and Captain Keijer came on the public address system to advise we'd be involved in rescue operations.

Seems some genius captain of a 660' freighter decided he could make better time taking his vessel on a course through a very poorly marked coral reef near Hispaniola. Our captain advised that his charts warn large ships away from this area because depths are not accurate.

The freighter struck the reef, tearing open the hull. Westie received the mayday and, closest to the scene, came under U.S. Coast Guard control. The crew prepared boats while standing off 4 miles, the captain refusing to bring Westerdam any closer for fear the same fate might befall us.

The crew of the freighter reported the ship listing 10 degrees as they began repair operations, running pumps to keep up with the influx. We stood by, awaiting their decision to abandon ship or determine if they could press on. After two hours of anxiety, the freighter reported they managed to reduce the rate and right the list to 2 degrees.

We continued to maintain position until Coast Guard air assets arrived. They also sent out shallow-draft cutters. The Coast Guard also reported the freighter was leaking fuel but able to make 2 kts to the Dominican Republic. With the freighter underway, the Coast Guard released us to continue on our journey to Half Moon Cay.

The freighter captain's ordeal is just beginning, probably losing his job when they make land for hazarding his vessel needlessly, in addition to being arrested by the Coast Guard for the environmental nightmare he caused, leaking hundreds, maybe thousands of gallons of diesel fuel over a coral reef. It's gonna suck to be him. Good.

If anything it's been an eventful trip. Wonder what else is gonna happen before we make Port Everglades on Sunday. Heh ...

Diversions ...

As I've noted all week, we've been the victim of bad weather. Ah, the vagaries of cruising. We were supposed to be in St. Maarten today but the weather was so bad, Captain Keijer didn't even want to attempt a port call. Instead, he called ahead and got us a berth in St. Thomas.

While there was a lot of grumbling among some passengers, we thought it a great thing. As you know, the Mrs. and I love St. Thomas. It's one of the Mrs.' favorite shopping spots and I get to have lunch in Gladys' Cafe. After a tough morning of stimulating the economy, we met Annie and Joe at Gladys' for drinks and lunch.

Madame Gladys is just as beautiful as ever and she serenaded us with Etta James tunes as I enjoyed my fish sandwich, the best in the world. We're at sea tomorrow and then to Half Moon Cay again on Saturday before ending up in Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday morning.

While it hasn't gone strictly to plan, we did achieve our goals of serious rest and relaxation.

Grand Turk

Not ...

As was the situation when we arrived at Dover, England last September aboard Prinsendam, the weather was our enemy. While it was beautiful when we left Ft. Lauderdale, it quickly turned to shit, becoming a Force 6 gale within hours.





Due to the layout of the narrow deep water channel at Grand Turk, Captain Keijer couldn't take the chance of having Westie blown into shallow water or into the pier, so we blew off Grand Turk. Though, not to disappoint, I'm linking to my post 2 years ago when the weather was beautiful.