Coming Along

Things are coming along nicely.  There have been a few additional surprise delays that have the potential to throw off our carefully constructed schedule.  Mainly delays that could cause our inspections to take a day or two longer than expected.  We're trying to get it right the first time now rather than doing what we think will pass and correct it later if asked.

The light fixutres are up and the A/C registers are in and the walls are mostly painted.  It really is starting to look like a bar!  And our LED pool table light looks quite nice!

The insurance adjuster has been out for the vandalism and I believe we're only waiting for a final determination which I expect to be favorable.

This weekend, we have friends coming by to help paint the rest of the place.

Next week, there's more clean up work to do and orders to place and inspectors to call and a bunch of small touches to finish up the job.  And I think you'll find all the diamond plate you see on our sites will begin to make a little more sense.  (It looks pretty darn cool if ya ask me!)

(And, ya know what?  I kinda envy you guys (and gals) who will walk into the bar and get the impact of all these changes all at once.  I've (obviously) been living with it for months and months so I've seen it change over time.  We really think what we've done with the place will impress you.  At least we hope it does.)

The Phoenix: A New Evaporation Pond

Oh, I almost forgot.

Saturday evening, we ended up at the bar to clean up the pond that had formed the day before.  We loaded up a bunch of spare towels, made hydrodynamic drawings of where the water will flow and at what rate, and how much erosion the moving water will create on the concrete floor.

But it was all for naught.  When we opened the door to the bar we saw the water had all but vanished.  Poof!

It's still a problem that we need to correct (where is the water coming from??) but that it vanishes within a day is a good thing.  It also says to me that we do have a water problem in the bar and that those times in the past we've gone down expecting to see large puddles of water but didn't see anything just means that the water that had been there just went somewhere else.

Row, Row, Row Your Bar

Uh, oh.

Seems with yesterday's heavy downpour we have a water problem.  It looks like water came in under the newly-installed side door and is now puddling in the back half of the bar.  I didn't have time to clean it up yesterday so that'll have to be done later today.  Yay.  Cleaning up icy water in 40 degree weather and no electricity available to run any sort of wet-dry vacuum...  My hands are cramping up just thinking about it.

Great! Grafiti, Batman.

I'm so proud!  Our front door has finally grown up and has been welcomed to the community!

It was graffiti'd and before I thought to take a picture of the awesome work (which was one of the things that was marker'd onto the door) I covered it with paint.  We knew the nice clean slate of the front door would be irresistable to thugs and hoodlums with markers and spray paint so this isn't a big surprise.  But I think we have a color for our front door now.

Baby Steps

A guy was supposed to meet me at 3 in the afternoon at the bar to replace my truck's windshield.  (It had been broken for close to 10 years, I think).  Just before three, he called to say he was running late and would be at the bar in about 45 minutes.  He didn't show up until quarter after four.  Yay. 

So while I waited for him to get there and while he was working on the truck I spent some time kinda cleaning up the place.

We wanted to save the drink hangers over the bar and not have them end up with the rest of the roof.  In removing them it turns out that the easiest thing to do was to remove the wood panels and scalloped trim and the associated wires and other....stuff....that was up there.  This is what it looks like after all that was removed.  (Pictures from my crappy cell phone camera.)

I really don't think the tiny bits of work that gets done on days like yesterday really make that much of a difference.  But at least it makes me feel like something is getting done while not actually doing anything.

Karl Dumps on Art

Karl occasionally gets all artsy and stuff.  This is a picture he took while I was tearing out part of the old burned out fence.

Ok, in reality, I think this was trying to show the fire damage to the fence and wasn't intended to be art at all.  But there it is.

Fence Demolition

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sometimes, before you can move on to your new love, you have to break up with the old one.  Here are a couple pictures of us breaking up with our old fence--it was too wrinkled and weak to continue in the relationship.

And one final picture that was taken after the fence was completely taken out.  (Thanks to David for helping finish the demolition.)

Ah!  Whatta lovely picture of our baby!  All naked and fence-less!  (I hope he gets cuter as he gets older...)

Another Month Gone By

When I look at the progress for January, it's not very encouraging.  Basically, it seems the only progress has been having new doors put in, receiving the plans back from The City, my key ring getting larger, and my ass getting a permanent impression of my office chair's sewing patterns.  (It looks a bit like Fidel Castro.)

But, Karl and I are both very, very encouraged by the enthusiasm we hear from nearly everybody we come in contact with.  "When are you going to open?"  "I can't wait for you to open!"  It's awesome to hear from so many different people these and similar comments!

So, we're with y'all here on wanting to open.  We're doing everything we can to speed the process on as best we can.

World's Tiniest Homeless Encampment

I think I'm a nice guy for the most part.  Generally, if I'm not able to use something I'm fine with someone else using it instead.

Which brings me to the bar. I don't mind that a couple of (apparently) homeless folks have taken to sleeping behind the bar.  I'm fine with providing them with a shred of shelter from the cold and rain.

What I'm *not* fine with is the mess these folks are leaving in their wake.  I'm not fine with them apparently destroying one (or more) of the benches that used to be out there.  (If they're using it for firewood, that's a bit different but I see no trace of fire behind the bar.)  I'm not fine with them randomly ripping out water and gas pipes.

These people have begun to cost me money.  And, in this case, that's where my charity ends.

Look, Apparently-Homeless-People, nobody else is using the space so go ahead and use it for shelter. Although I think I should, I have not called the cops on you for trespassing.  And you are probably a liability for my insurance.  But treat the space with some shred of respect.  Clean up after yourselves.  Be a good temporary resident.  Don't rip stuff off the building because you think you need it more than we do.

Since the apparently-homeless-people are unlikely to read this, we're putting in a fence (hopefully within a week) to keep them out.  They've outstayed their unspoken welcome.

Clean up! Aisle, uh, Everywhere!

Man, oh, man.  Have we got our work cut out for us.

These are pictures of the mess the fire left behind that we need to now go and clean up.  Some of these pictures were taken several weeks ago and more recently and some of the clean up has already been done.  But they all show what needs (or needed) to be cleaned up.  Ugh.