Before we moved in and while we were back in New Jersey we had a line up of contractors doing work before we moved in. We had an electrician, a painter, floor guys, and stone workers putting in a new countertop. All went as planned, except the countertops when a little sideways.
The gist of it was they chipped away the ceramic tile backsplash that we planned on keeping. They owned it and agreed to have a new one installed after we picked out the tile.
One things for sure, you gotta be there when the work is being done. Most "places" have a list of subcontractors they use and the checks and balances aren't checked and balanced. So for this round of work we made sure we were back from Florida to supervise. Around 9 am Juan showed up and I showed him around. He needed to cal his boss so she could translate what I was saying. When we opened the boxes we noticed the tiles were of varying shades of the color then the ones we picked out. Not a big deal, if you lay them out right, and have the colors kind of complement each other.
So the guy started the demo and I went outside to tidy up the plants around the house and check in with our neighbor. On Friday, as we were on our way down to Florida, their house caught fire. They had just moved in and renovated it and their new stove had an electrical malfunction and that was it. Of course the fire department had to rip out the kitchen and use water to extinguish it, so it's a complete mess over there.
When Theresa arrived back home I wanted to accompany her inside to show her how nice it looked.... crash, boom, bang. WTF? Well, the installer thought it wouldn't be a big deal to just run
the tiles as they came out of the box. Needless to say it was a shit show dealing with the tile supplier (never told us about color variations), the tile contractor (who couldn't understand me), and the countertop company ( "Yes, I see what you mean"). As we were on the phone the guy who they sent basically surrendered and said he was going to lunch. So we had two options, tear it out and get different tile, or see if we could salvage what we had there and make it right.
So while he was away I pulled the tiles and had to take the mastic off the wall and back of the tiles before it dried. I them opened the boxes, laid out all the tile, and arranged them in a better color flow. Now I just needed him to return so we could get this done, correctly.
I basically laid out the entire job and handed him each tile. In the end I think it looks better, and more importantly Theresa was happy. There was only a couple of rows remaining and I told Theresa I wanted to catch the outgoing tide. It's been a few days since I checked out the water so off I went.
The water looked good in height and color, but there was no one home, or no one to be seen. I walked about a mile through the grass just waiting for a tail to pop up. One thing, senses wise, is what I hear when I walk. It's the sound of an army of fiddler crabs trying to avoid getting stepped on and munitions going off from Parris Island, the training grounds of the United States Marine Corp.
I had a good time although the real feel temperature was about 190 degrees. We're coming off the New Moon which was on Friday so fishing should be kinda good, somewhere. I'm not worried, I'll get em', but it is getting a little frustrating not even seeing anything.
And then on my way home I stopped by a used car lot that's within a solid golf drive from my house. I wanted to see how much a Chevrolet Silverado in the front row was going for. 2018...$22,000. Okay, never mind. But then she caught my eye. A beauty located in the woods behind the lot.
"What's the story with this one?". "Not for sale. Blown tranny". "Okay, tell me about it". "2010- 218,000 miles, basically perfect condition and purrs like a kitten". Mmmm. So there might be a chance with this one. They guy loved, just loved, the Suburban. "Never saw one that old and so clean". He added, "That's worth some money". And that's when I said "I'm planning on leaving that here and driving that Silverado out". So we'll see what happens. He's talking about bringing it to a transmission place and having one put in with a warranty on it. Might be a good thing in the making.
And then I got back home. As soon as I turned the corner into the kitchen I dam near shit myself. "You had one job to do...." And he blew it. I explained it all to him but the language barrier must have had his wires crossed. Are you kidding me?
If you didn't know it's the one in the upper right hand corner. I took my time and got it out and he can replace it when he comes back to grout it tomorrow. I always question whether I can do these things myself, and then I say, let me stop being cheap and just have the professionals do it.