The Door to the Castle
I got a call today from my colleague Damiano from his home in Palermo, Sicily. He called to congratulate me on the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamal Harris today and said that he and his family had watched the whole inauguration on live TV from their home overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea that lies between their home and the mainland of Southern Italy. I am very lucky to have hooked up with a partner who lives in Italy because it gives me the opportunity to think back to all my wonderful memories living in and visiting Italy over the years. There is so much about the country that is hard-wired into my soul from the days of 60 years ago. For Christmas, Damiano sent me a little Italian CARE package with a pistachio panettone and various other Italian delicacies that bring back many fond memories of my youth. If there is one place that could blast me out of my COVID-induced non-traveling stupor, it is planning a visit to lovely Italy. That all ran through my mind as Damiano and I caught up about our expert witness caseload and what 2021 held for us. But the thing about the expert witness business is that you have to patiently wait for appropriate cases that need you specific expertise, and of course that is all paced by the environment. Who has gotten burned lately and why? What sort of litigation has been promulgated and why? So I wait and pretend to be indifferent about the next assignment when in actuality I am chomping at the bit to have another case to dig into.
I find myself spacing out my project work, but feel that now that I have pretty much finished tweaking my Bison Boulder sculpture (a.k.a. My Buffalo) with more fur (outdoor shag carpeting that I paint in distressed shades of chestnut, dark brown and espresso spray paint), more painting of the rock with shaded versions of those same paint colors, grasses in the foreground and outdoor landscape lighting, I’m wonder what’s next. There is a part of me that feels that after this deck extravaganza has been completed, I need a long break from the daily and weekly funding grind. I should note that after spending big money on the front landscape lighting and comparing that cost to the DIY approach, I have decided that low voltage landscape lighting is simply not complicated enough to warrant the premium pricing that gets charged by a professional. The materials are literally 15% of the installed cost of having the pro do it and the number of elements involved is amazingly simple. There is the fixture (most often integrated LED so that there isn’t even a bulb-changing requirement), the transformer (if you can add you can figure out the size you need), the cable (wattage and distance to cover are the only determinants of the cable gauge calculations), silicone-filled connectors (a little gooey, but as easy as it comes otherwise) and a control system (which I learned about by paying attention to the installer of the front system). If you can handle a spade to cut a narrow trench and you don’t mind pushing a wire into a trench with your fingers, you have pretty much figured out how to install outdoor lighting.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have still made a few mistakes. Just yesterday I was cutting off a piece of a box and managed to slice the wire coming from a sealed integrated fixture such that I couldn’t fix it and had to order a new one. That cable burying technique is almost as easy as it sounds, but you can do stupid things like not leave enough slack cable and find yourself short. And then figuring out the whole series/parallel thing when it comes to the electronics is something I always have to stop and think about so as not to mess it up. I’m always thrilled when everything works and I’m clear to move to the next step. Right now I have five spotlights on Senor Buffalo and two on my mural rock wall. If I like the way those look tonight I will move to the next step of burying the cable and building a stone wall to define the Buffalo space for added planting of fountain grass. I have two extra lights that I can then run at my leisure to the Joshua Tree sculpture (I think I have just enough extra cabling and I have plenty of transformer capacity) and I can put those lousy solar spotlights out of their misery. I have gone full circle on solar lighting and now think it is all useless. I have purchased twenty-two additional matching brass deck fixtures and am all set to put them up on the deck when we are at the right point in the build-out (which is getting close). Those will hook into the transformer as well and, as I like to say, Bob’s your uncle on the outdoor lighting program.
With the garden ship shape (the trellis is up and new bark has been spread), the owl box flying high in the air over the garage, the rose garden planted and its accompanying stone wall painted with an agave in moonlight, the patio done to the nines and the Buffalo well under control, I think when the deck is done, I too may also be close to done for a while. There is one other project hanging out there that Kim and I have discussed and in my tired moments I set it aside, but in my more bored moments my mind goes towards the front door as an area of logical improvement.
When this house was built, the original owners had a penchant for modernism. They put some nice angular and geometrical etched glass doors on the kitchen door and the patio door. We like both just fine. But the front door got the extra special treatment with inlaid stainless steel in a sort of K pattern with a one foot lintel and jam surrounding it (also emblazoned with machined stainless steel to give it a quasi-urban-chic look in periwinkle blue and steel. Objectively speaking, it is a nice choice for the house and we might have liked it except that it has not aged well over its twenty-two years, it is not ragged from a distance, but it is delaminating in places and is close to being in need of replacement. In addition, Kim says she feels a draft from under the door, which furthermore means that varmints (field mice, lizards, scorpions and other creepy-crawlers can perhaps find their way in around the door. Exterminator spray is one thing, but an open door policy is quite another. the current door is perhaps 3’ x 8’ with four hinges, two latches a big stainless steel handle and a measly-looking deadbolt. There is no window in the door and no side lights, but with a Ring door bell gives us the visibility we need. We have decided that replacing this door is our next project.
We have a noteworthy main entry with sconces and a carved stone plaque with out name and the name of the house, Casa Moonstruck, adorning it. It falls short of being regal, but as the primary portcullis to the castle, it deserves some special attention. We are inclined to leave the beveled glass kitchen and patio door, but think this front door deserves a more Hispanic look in keeping with the local and family heritage, which is not something we dwell on, but we feel we nod to by calling our home Casa. As I have started to look at purchasing doors, the first decision is whether to go for a true antique door or a reproduction that is more pragmatic and secure by virtue of sturdy construction. At this stage of life, I am less inclined to try to impress people with some imported antique door from Sevilla than I am to have a perfectly sealed and fitting door that has the look we want but the structure and modern comforts we require. I’m not sure what’s direction I will finally take on this door to the castle project, but I know it will keep me busy until the next expert witness case hits my inbox and I can return to projects being an avocation rather than the main event they enjoy at the moment.