Ready

Today, the day before the beginning of the 2023 Chinese New Year of the Water Hare (Rabbit), all is ready at PageRefuge. This week, Wednesday through Friday, Travis Hatton sent 3 skilled painters to paint the outside of my house. 

The front extremely small porch looks more attractive! It now boasts a white ceiling, green door trim and post as well as rain spout.  

The back Northwest corner of PageRefuge
including a very convenient shed,
fencing along the West side  
and an exit from the back addition to the original house.

Once all these wooden structures, including the screen door on the front door, have completely dried out Travis will have his employees treat the wood. This will extend the life of the wood. He cautioned me that this was probably not going to be until some time in midSummer. Hopefully not since we certainly need an extension of our rainy season.

Travis has an outstanding eye for taking in the whole picture. He is also a stickler for detail in both paint color and overall ascetics of the entire project. He had the person who mixes his paint come by and match exactly the green paint on the medal framed living room windows. I LOVE the color which I find richer and more eye popping with its contrast to the white stucco.

One can barely tell
where the metal ends
and the wood begins.

He orchestrated the painting of the inside of my house when Dwight, Shasta and I moved in. After that was completed, he talked to both Dwight and I about the need for painting the exterior. So many other projects took precedent.

Several week ago when I got up (early like 4 a.m.) I discovered the oak flooring beneath the two kitchen windows was flooded. I asked my neighbor to take a look but he could not see where the water was coming from the outside to the inside. The following morning I found a repeat of the water issue. I called Travis who came over and caulked around both of the front kitchen windows. No rain came inside the kitchen after that. When he was here, he reiterated the need to paint the outside of the house. Soon thereafter we picked out time that worked for all of us. 

Today the sky is a vivid blue just like in the first picture. With no cloud cover overnight the temperature dropped into the mid 30's which was not nearly as cold as to what my friends in the Santa Fe area awoke to though. The frigid temperatures there are in the teens at night and only warming the low morning temperatures at PageRefuge. I remember Shasta and I taking our morning walk in those temperatures! No worries for Shasta, she still wanted extended playing time with Hobbes at Lopez Park. 

Lopez Park in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
No snow but it was cold I remember.
Shasta has not found another
beloved playmate like Hobbes.

All in all I am fully prepared for the beginning of the Chinese New Year.

Unfortunately I have not found a great Chinese restaurant in the area of PageRefuge. Dwight and I use to go to San Francisco but alas when the pandemic shuttered businesses this restaurant closed it doors permanently.

I will, and invite each and every one of you also, partake in a hearty belly