Mark's computer arrived this morning (on his birthday - how appropriate is THAT!) and it's VERY cool. It is soooo much lighter than his earlier laptops, probably because it has a lithium ion battery instead of, well . . . whatever those heavy ones were called. Later, when I get tired of cleaning house, I'll sit down and get it set up for him - install all the good software, set up IE the way he likes it and all that. (Happy birthday, dear!)
I tried to head over to the barn this morning before 7 AM so I could get the horses' feed measured out for the next two weeks before the thermometer hit 100 again today, but a train about a mile long stopped right across our road and I ended up just sitting there listening to my book on cd for almost an hour! So by the time I got over there and got done feeding the horses and filling all those feed containers I was dripping wet and it was after 9:30 - less than half an hour before time for the window guy to come by to give us a price on the windows for the barn. Took the fastest shower I've ever taken but I was clean and dry by the time he got here! Of course running around out there at the barn while we talked about the window installation had me soaking wet again by the time he left, but I was so pleased with the results that I didn't really mind at all. He said that when he installs the windows I bought for the barn porch (that we're going to use as a tack room extension) he will go ahead and frame in the whole rest of the porch for us for just a couple hundred more dollars. He's ON!
Then both he and the other carpenter I called to come out this week are going to give me prices to install the hurricane shutters on the front windows. Sure hope one of them gives me a good price because Mark wants nothing to do with putting them up. I have no choice but to hire someone.
My money is on the window guy. He was a carpenter out in Los Angeles, then came to New Orleans after Katrina to help to rebuild. Now he and his wife (who's from Ohio, as I am) both live near us here in Baton Rouge. He was installing windows until a couple weeks ago when he was promoted to sales instead of installation. But he apparently LIKES carpentry because he said he would personally do the installation of the windows he sold me and volunteered to do the rest of the framing out there as well. So I'm thinking he'll probably give me a good price on the shutter installation.
What I ended up doing was getting a narrow 30-inch wide by 52" high double hung window to go about 2 feet away from each side of the front door, then a 36-inch wide by 52" high window for the side toward the house. Then the rest of the porch will be closed in and sided. Below is a not-very-good illustration of how the windows will fit in. Closing the place in and adding just those few windows will be one more step toward real security in that barn -- those windows are quaranteed to withstand winds up to 150 mph. Excellent.
We'll plant another small tree - a crape myrtle or a ligustrum or something - over there on the right side where there will be no window, along with some azaleas or something. Then that will be a fine place for the outside A/C unit. I've been wondering where we could put that thing. This way it will drip onto the plants - that should make them happy. And with a small tree there, it won't be visible from the road. Nice!
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