Much Lamaze breathing (and two generous tumblers of Charlie’s Scotch) later, I finally felt capable of trying to formulate an emergency plan.
He assures me that the remaining exposed wall of my house has been sealed against the elements and his friend has been enlisted to reattach the roof panels until he is well enough to work on the roof again.
In the meantime, while he is doing R&R, his friend is being assigned to do the remaining framing work inside so I can get the house to the point where I can draft other people to work on it. The main work will be doing is shifting the center wall of the house back 2-3 feet so it falls almost directly under the ridgeline. This will significantly open up both the kitchen and bathroom. The only thing I lose is ratty cupboards in both rooms, which I wasn’t keen on in the first place.
Once that is done, I can get the electrician in to finish installing the two new heaters, a few additional outlets, and the recessed ceiling lights in the new back room.
After that, it’s time to tackle updates to the bathroom. Oh, and pray that he’s is right about my place, in fact, being water-proof.
As bad news has followed bad news, and delay followed delay, my friend has grown increasingly, quietly gleeful. From the very beginning, he wasn’t happy with the news that I had bought a home in OR when he lives in NM. He’s grown increasingly un-enamored with the idea since I arrived in NM.
I suppose in some ways that’s good news for me. Considering I was only supposed to be staying at his place for a month or possibly two while the work on my house was completed, I could easily understand if I had overstayed my welcome. As it is, I’ve been feeling pretty guilty at how over-schedule things are running. Fortunately, Charlie not only doesn’t mind but finds my predicament humorous.
At this point, I’m starting to tease him that he has hired a small crew of covert operatives to sabotage the project, including, possibly, my contractor in the conspiracy.
(I swear, being able to see the humor in the situation is the only thing keeping me going at this point.)