Kendall Dunkelberg

Welty Week

Every October, the week I look forward to most is this one. Each year Mississippi University for Women brings a dozen writers to campus to read from their fiction, poetry, and essays at the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium. It’s an intense three days (and intense preparation beforehand). Everything is lining up fairly well. So far, no crises, and only a few last-minute details to wrap up (have to save a few of those!). On Wednesday, the first couple of authors will arrive, and Thursday, everyone will descend. I’ve been doing interviews to try to encourage folks to come out to the W to hear free readings. And of course, we sell books.

For the past 5 years, I’ve been the director. Before that, I helped out any way I could, including running the book table for a couple of years. It’s a great chance to meet new writers and connect with people I’ve known for awhile. I’m always amazed at how gracious everyone is, and what a great time we all have.

If you’re anywhere near Columbus, Mississippi, you should stop by and check it out.

High Gear with Bright Spots

Have you noticed it’s that time of the semester again? It’s been a month since my last blog post, and that’s because I’ve been busy! It happens every semester that school takes over, but this time it seems to have happened earlier than most. I’ll blame it on SACS. For those not in education (in the South), that’s the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and it’s time they evaluate Mississippi University for Women for accreditation. That means lots of people on campus have to scramble to tell them who we are and what we do (and to get our ducks in a row before we have to do that!), and I’m one of those scrambling, since I head one subcommittee and serve on another. A few more committees have cropped up, and then there are the usual classes — it’s midterm time and grading is in full swing.

But there are brighter moments, even if they’ve added to the stress. For one, the family all gathered in Albuquerque last month to celebrate my niece’s wedding with a lovely ceremony out in the desert with a view of the Sandia Mountains behind. Great food and even dancing were enjoyed by all. Aidan proved he has rhythm, and his parents even took a step or two on the dance floor. And we got to spend a few days with Rudy, Michael, Elizabeth and the whole Lucero clan, which is always great fun. Aidan, Rudy, and I took a hike one day up a trail into the mountains a ways. On that hike we even saw a tarantula cross our path. That weekend was a much appreciated break from the daily routine of school.

Another Bright Spot in the fall is always the Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium. It keeps me hopping, organizing authors (every plane ticket has been reserved and I have al their other travel plans), buying books (making my last orders for the book table this week), planning food and beverages for our lunches, dinners, and receptions (have met with food services once, more meetings to follow, I’m sure), writing publicity (our press release is out, the poster is printed, and the program is almost ready to go press). Things are looking pretty good, though there’s always the nagging feeling that I’m forgetting something (usually true, though usually I remember in time). It’ll be a great group and a wonderful weekend when it arrives in just over two weeks. I hope to make a few posts on this year’s authors before the time comes!

So my apologies to my blog readers that my attention has been elsewhere. It’s part of the cycle, maybe a bit more intense this time around, but I hope to be able to post more frequently again soon!

Luddite or Geek?

Here’s a question: if you spend the occasional Saturday morning, or even all day, messing with old technology to keep it working, are you a luddite or a geek?

That’s what I’m wondering about myself after spending the morning in our attic, adding one more piece of equipment (a small RadioShack pre-amp) to try to get the antenna setup in the attic to pull in a distant station. (The what? You might ask.)

Yes, we still pull our TV in over the airwaves (or I might say, we do again). We cut our cable long before the switch to digital over-the-air TV signals (did you miss that, oh cable and satellite users?) The expense of cable wasn’t justified by the lack of time and lack of interest we had for its programming, though we will admit to watching some cable series after the fact from Netflix.

We live in (or actually near) a historic district, so the idea of putting an antenna on the roof wasn’t in the mix. We could, but we’d rather not. However, we learned that a good antenna in your attic can work — and it does well enough to pull in our closest stations. There have always been some that are a bit of a challenge, though. PBS (one of our favorites) is one. So awhile back, I added a second antenna in the attic, connected with a Join-Tenna from Channelmaster that separates the signals so one antenna only receives our PBS station, and the other one receives everything else. (I see a lot of these are now on clearance for about $4, so I don’t know how long they’ll last.)

Everything was fine until our local ABC station went off the air suddenly. I don’t mean we stopped receiving them, but that they stopped broadcasting. With a week’s notice, we realized we’d need to do something, especially since it is one station that broadcasts Alabama football and since we’ve started watching Once. Other than that, we could probably live without the channel — we don’t watch a lot of TV. Fortunately, we could sometimes pick up Birmingham/Tuscaloosa station (33).

That’s where RadioShack came in. I knew I could get a pre-amp there and get it right away, not next week. So to give it a try, I bought one for less than a month of cable would cost, and hooked it up. First I connected it to our main antenna, leaving out the Join-Tenna setup. It worked well, and seems to bring in ABC better than it had (we tested right before I made the change, and it was breaking up (pixelating) before, but not after, though the signal is only marginally better). Of course, the fear is that tonight, during the game, the signal won’t be quite good enough, but we’ll see!

Once I knew that was working, I changed the connection in the house so the preamp was connected to our distribution amp (this sends the signal to two rooms and boosts it slightly again). It still worked, but both ways PBS wasn’t getting a very good signal. Finally, I put the Join-Tenna back in the mix. All is well, though PBS still ain’t the best. Here’s the setup:

Antenna-Main and Antenna-PBS both connect to Join-Tenna. The Join-Tenna connects to the prep-amp close to Join-Tenna, from there coax cable goes to the power supply for the preamp, which then connects to the distribution amp, which send the signal to 2 (up to 4) TVs. Our antennas are boom antennas that are about as big as our attic will hold. Once, I even took a TV into the attic to adjust the main antenna to the absolute best position without having to shout down to someone in the house. I may have to do that (or shout) with the PBS antenna if I want to get a better signal there.

If the RadioShack preamp doesn’t work or doesn’t last, I’ll probably look for ChannelMaster or Winegard, since they get better reviews. But in a pinch, RadioShack had something I didn’t need to ship. I could get a more powerful preamp or one with less noise (though that doesn’t seem to be a problem).

The only other improvement I could make is to put the antenna outside, attached to the house or up higher on a boom. As long as I can avoid that, I will. And for now, everything seems to be working. So am I a geek because I spend time wiring, reading about equipment, etc., or am I a luddite for trying to keep old over-the-air broadcasting working for as long as it’s still available? If it’s any consolation, we also have a Mac mini hooked to our TV, and we get a lot of our entertainment streaming online. And then there’s that other technology that our whole family (besides the dog) loves: books. Maybe I am a luddite after all.

More Okrafusion

This afternoon I found another good recipe for okra. Searching online for recipes, I came across what appears to be a Malaysian recipe for okra and fried egg. After reading a couple of variations, I decided it would be fun to try, though of course, I lacked a few ingredients so had to make do. And I thought I’d add a few other vegetables. Here’s what I did:

In olive oil, I sautéed onion and garlic, plus some fresh fennel seed (from a plant that’s gone to seed). I then added the okra, cut into 1-2 inch pieces (I cut most pods in half). I also added some red bell pepper, and a small tomato. Finally, I added some more spices: cumin, turmeric, pepper, and basil. After this had all sautéed for awhile, I mixed up 4 eggs and scrambled them into the pan.

That was all pretty close to the recipes I had found. Here comes the fusion part, though. Those recipes called for white rice, but we were out. So I cooked up some grits to have on the side. And since we love cheese grits anyway, I added some grated cheddar cheese. I served the grits on one side of the plate and the okra on the other, overlapping a little, so you could see both individually. Serve with sriracha if you want to spice it up a bit.

Another okra recipe we have been enjoying this summer, I like to call barbecued okra. Yes, I’ve heard you can cook okra on the grill, but we rarely grill, so we don’t bother with that much. My barbecued okra is just pan fried with onion and garlic plus spices like cumin and cayenne, maybe some cardamom or coriander, then near the end, just add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and let it coat the okra. I wouldn’t call this a main dish (like the fried okra with egg), but it’s a good side with other vegetables.

Okra Fusion

If you live in the South and have a garden, know someone who has a garden, or visit your local farmer’s market regularly (as we do), then chances are you are awash in okra this time of year. We love this slimy little vegetable, but even so, the steady supply can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and challenging to find new ways to cook it.

Of course, we know and enjoy the traditional way to fry okra, though usually we opt for something a little less greasy. When we have fried it recently, we take some corn meal, some flour, some Cajun seasoning (Zatarin’s if we have it, cayenne pepper and cumin, if we don’t), and salt and pepper to taste. Lately we’ve been combining okra and yellow squash in the same pan. Take equal amounts of okra and squash cut in 1/2″ lengths (either cut the squash in rounds, if it’s small or quarter round, if it’s bigger — huge squash probably shouldn’t be used, look for medium to small squash for this recipe). Dust in the flour/corn meal/spice mixture and let sit. Sauté onion and garlic in some olive oil (or if you want to be really traditional, use corn oil or canola oil). Fry, stirring occasionally. Yes some of the coating falls off (or most of it does), but it keeps the okra dry and adds seasoning to the mixture. Serve with field peas and a tomato for a fine Southern-style vegetarian meal. Don’t forget salsa or a nice chou-chou (a sweet, spicy relish) to on your peas. Potatoes or corn on the cob go well with this meal, too. Especially if your appetite is big…

But you can’t cook like this every night. So we mix it up with some bhindi, Indian-style okra. Essentially it’s a lot like Southern fried okra without the breading and with a little different spices. We usually use lots of garlic, cumin, maybe some cardamom or curry, and quite a bit of red pepper. There are good recipes online, if you want something more specific than this. Serve with lentils and rice, or eggplant and rice, or another Indian-style vegetable.

One way to vary the experience of okra is to change the way you cut it. In typical Southern okra, they are sliced in 1/4 to 1/2″ slices. For bhindi,we like to pick out the smaller okra pods or choose a small, thin variety and just cut off the caps (if they’re tender, you might even leave some of the cap on), then fry the okra whole. Sometimes with larger okra pods, I’ve cut them in quarters or halves lengthwise for a change of pace. This affects the texture and the taste (and if cut lengthwise, more of the seeds fall out, especially with the larger varieties).

When we want to go back to Southern cooking, we often stew okra with onion, garlic, and tomatoes (fresh are best, but canned crushed or diced tomatoes will do in a pinch). And of course, we sometimes cook up some vegetarian gumbo or jambalaya.

But my favorite way to cook okra (at least before I married into a Souther family) is in a stir-fry. There the okra doesn’t overwhelm, but adds texture and flavor. There are many ways to do it, spiced with curry or (as last night) with lemon grass and chiles to make a Thai influenced dish. I ground fresh lemon grass, lime peel, cayenne pepper, and garlic in a stone mortar to make the main spices, added a little curry powder, then stir-fried with eggplant, mushroom, carrot, onion, and green pepper.

The Fusion recipe that led to the title of this post, though, was a combination of all of the above — well almost. It was a stir-fry served over soba noodles (though any asian noodle would do). The recipe was born out ofone of those “what can make with what we have left in the fridge” moments. We had made field peas earlier in week, and I had saved the left-over broth, since I’d used vegetable bouillon when I made them and didn’t want to throw it out. The stir-fry itself included okra, eggplant, yellow squash (small ones that I quartered and then cut into okra-sized lengths — I often like to match shapes in a stir-fry), and purple beans (that turn green when you cook them). I began by frying some onion, garlic, curry powder, and okra in the wok. Since we had no tofu, which I usually use in a vegetarian stir-fry, I added an egg and let it fry, coating the okra a little. Then I added the other vegetables, saving the beans for last so they would remain fresh.

Next came the field pea broth, which was pretty much a gel when I added it. It always stiffens up in the refrigerator, but usually gets more liquid when heated, so I figured this would make a slightly thick sauce. To this I added a little soy sauce and a tablespoon of tahini to help thicken it up and add flavor (you could use peanut butter, if you don’t have tahini on hand). To this I added a few quartered grape-sized (or slightly larger) tomatoes from our garden and let them cook just long enough to warm through but keep their shape.

Served over noodles, this recipe went over very well. Though it was done on the spur of the moment, I might have to try to repeat it sometime. Often I ask Kim and Aidan if they can guess the secret ingredient. This time, I didn’t bother. On the one hand, I thought they might guess tahini, but I didn’t think they’d ever guess field pea broth, the ingredient that really makes it a fusion dish in my mind. I also didn’t know if they would both appreciate it as much if they knew what it was. I guess I’ll find out, if they read the blog, anyway…

Brussels’ Hidden Gems 2

After food, beer, and chocolate (see Hidden Gems 1), what more do you need? Well, Brussels has a lot more to offer, and a lot more than I can summarize here. These are just a few of the delightful spots in the city you might miss, if you just rush through the typical tourist spots.

Museums

Brussels is filled with all kinds of museums. Of course, we went to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts to see the Flemish Masters, though unfortunately, this year my favorite part, the Museum of Modern Art was closed for renovations, so only a limited collection was on view. We also visited the Antoine Wiertz and Constantin Meunier museums, and the newest of the Royal Museums dedicated to René Magritte. Also in Elsene (Ixelles), where we were staying, is the Victor Horta Museum dedicated to one of the founders of Art Nouveau. But of all the museums we went to, one of the biggest surprises was the Military History Museum in the Park du Cinquantenaire. Much of it held the old moldy uniforms and sabers one might imagine, but the medieval armor exhibit was quite extensive and informative. And for fans of aviation, there is a whole wing with airplanes from the First and Second World Wars on display. Well worth the price of admission (which is free), and a good place to go on a rainy day.

While you’re in the neighborhood, you might stop over at the auto museum or at the Royal Museum of Art and History. Though not as extensive as the Louvre, the collections here are quite impressive and well laid out. Don’t go looking for fine art (at least not from Belgium), but you will find everything from ancient Babylonian artifacts (some are castings of 19th Century finds that are housed elsewhere, but were made at the time for Belgian scholars to study and translate; others are original artifacts), Greek and Roman statues, pottery, etc. (including an impressive audio/visual model of the Roman forum area), Egyptian tombs, statues, and complete mummies, Native American and Pacific Island artifacts, archeological finds from prehistoric Belgium, 19th Century astrological instruments, and the list goes on and on. We spent all morning in the museum and could barely tear ourselves away for lunch at 2:00 p.m. There was still much more to be seen.

Another surprise was the Brussels Tram Museum, that Kim and Aidan went to see. We love riding trams in the city (and metro and busses), so we knew Aidan would love this museum, but the extent and pristine condition of the collection was amazing. And Kim and Aidan were able to take a ride on a historic tram through the beautiful park Woluwé. Aidan even got to steer (on a tram that wasn’t moving, of course). With one of the oldest tram systems in the world, Brussels is a fitting place to see some of the history of this delightful mode of transportation. Tourists can even take guided tram tours of the city, and trams can be rented for parties and special events. Needless to say, we didn’t have that experience, but it sounds unique.

Parks

Brussels is one of the greenest of capital cities with thousands of acres of parks. You don’t have to go too far to find a city square with trees, grass, flowers (the roses were gorgeous in June while we were there), and a few benches. We loved the Petite Sablon, Park Leopold, Cinquantenaire Park, among many others, but our favorite spot in all of Brussels may well have been the Forest of Soignies. It was a good hike or an easy tram ride from Place Flagey near our apartments, and it is a vast forest surrounded by the city. I only got to go there once, but Kim and Aidan went to several different parts of the forest, where there are walking paths, semi-wild animals (not at all afraid of humans), ponds, birds, trees (obviously), and best of all quiet. At least in the area near the old hippodrome, we were able to get far enough away from the streets and highways that you could completely forget you were in a city. Even if you can’t make it down to the forest, there are often little walled-in parks and gardens like the Jardin Jean-Félix Hap that we discovered not far from Place Jourdan. Consult your map for a patch of green or keep your eyes open for a gate in a wall that might just lead to a quiet public space.

Street Art

As I mentioned above, we visited the Victor Horta Museum and learned more about the Art Nouveau architects of Brussels. One of the joys of living in the city was walking around and discovering beautiful buildings. Near the museum is a walking tour that can get you started. Keep your eyes open for the gorgeous ironwork and fascinating painted or mosaic façades, and you will find more examples of this style as you walk around the city, especially in the European District and other neighborhoods a little beyond the city center.

While you’re walking, you’ll also notice some of the many comic book murals that are scattered throughout the city. A trip to the Belgian Comic Strip Center might be worth your while. To be honest, we didn’t make it this trip. Instead, we took a short train ride down to Louvain-la-Neuve to visit the Hergé Museum and learn more about the creator of Tintin.

And if you wander down the right street, you just might encounter this competitor to the Manneke Pis, the Zinneke statue. The mongrel dogs that roamed by the Senne river that once flowed through the center of Brussels (until it was covered over, though it still flows beneath the city) were given this name, and the dog has become a mascot for Brussels multiculturalism. Every other year (on even numbered years) there is a Zinneke Parade, celebrating Brussels’ multi-lingual and multicultural communities. If you happen to be in Brussels in mid-May, you might even run into it. If not, see if you can find this slightly disrespectful dog making his mark on the city.

Brussels’ Hidden Gems 1

Everyone knows that in Brussels you visit the Grote Markt (Grand Place), look for the Manneke Pis, and maybe stop by the Atomium, but if you have more than a day, here are a few things you really should try. First and foremost, enjoy the food! Belgium is well-known for chocolates (believe me, the more expensive ones are usually worth it; we loved some of the artisanal chocolateries in the center of town, but we also liked to get pralines and truffles from our local bakery–and don’t miss the pastries, cakes, pies, and other delicacies).

Fresh bread, rolls called ‘pistolets,’ and chocoladebroodjes (pain au chocolat) can be found at any corner bakery, and there are usually several to choose from within walking distance. We bought ours at Allemeersch a little boulangerie off the Place Jourdan, since that was near our apartments. There was also an open air market on the weekends, where we could get good cheese, butter, strawberries, etc. And of course, the grocery store supplied us with strong coffee, jam, and Nutella. Breakfasts on our little veranda were a joy when the weather was nice, which we were lucky to have for the first week or so before it turned cold and rainy again for awhile. You never know in Belgium! But most of our time in June was warm and nice, and we were glad to have jackets and umbrellas for the other days.

Of course, the other food you must try in Brussels are the frites. Fries eaten from a paper cone on the street (or take them home) with spicy mayonnaise sauce are hard to beat, especially while they’re hot. And the food is cheap, even at restaurants, if you get away from the touristy areas. We loved the fries on Place Flagey, though Antoine’s on Place Jourdan was also excellent and may have a little more old-fashioned ambiance, especially if you take your fries and sit at one of the many cafes that allow you to bring them in and buy a drink.

Once you’ve had your breakfast or lunch, though, you may be hankering for some Belgian beer. In Brussels, the traditional brew is Lambiek, a beer that is traditionally brewed using a natural fermentation process. We took our group of students to the Cantillon Brewery, which is operated as a museum. There we could see the shallow vats, where the beer is exposed to the bacteria in the air (found only in this valley of Brabant) that causes the fermentation to start, giving this beer a sour taste like sourdough bread.

We also learned how they age the beer in oak barrels and then mix differently aged lambieks to make Geuze or mix lambiek with whole fruit to create Kriek (cherry), Frambois (raspberry), Pêche (peach), or other flavored beers that are quite tart, yet very refreshing. Lambieks are an acquired taste, and not all of our students liked them, but some who weren’t beer drinkers normally found they liked these flavors more than other beers they had sampled. If you don’t have time for a brewery tour, you can still get traditional lambiek beers at several cafés in the city center, including brown cafés like Toon, A la Becasse, and Au Bon Vieux Temps. You might walk right by these, since they are literally a hole in the wall that leads down a narrow alleyway to the bar behind a store front.

Brussels Study Trip

This summer we had the good fortune to return to Belgium for 33 days, as I organized a study abroad trip with the MUW Honors College. For Kim, Aidan, and I, it was a chance to relive some of our experiences from 2006, when we lived in Leuven for a semester. This time, our apartment was in Brussels, and the experience was a little different. As a Fulbright Scholar in 2006, I taught classes at the Catholic University in Leuven (and Lessius Institute in Antwerp). This time, I was also teaching classes, and leading the group of 16 students and one other professor on excursions. The complexities of traveling with a group made me admire tour guides much, much more! But we had a good time visiting Bruges, Amsterdam, The Hague, Ypres, and Ghent with the group.

Belgium is a great place to travel. We were able to get very affordable group rates on the trains — it did help to be able to communicate in Dutch or French, since group reservations can’t be made in English. Since we had a big enough group, we got 70% off on most of our train rides, and sometimes a ticket to a museum could be included. Most cities have guide associations that offer guided walking tours in English (or any number of languages). In Ypres, we found a great mini-van tour of the WWI battlefields of the Ypres Salient. Flanders Battlefield Tours took us to sites associated with some of the war poets, and they showed us British, French, German, and American graveyards as well as a private museum at the Hoog Crater, where soldiers tunneled under the trenches and then exploded dynamite to drive a wedge in the lines.

Besides introducing students to the history and culture of Belgium, I taught a class on Modernist European Poetry and Art. We studied primarily Belgian poets (French- and Dutch-language) and went to several museums in Brussels and on our travels. We had a lot of fun, and students were introduced to movements in art that most hadn’t seen before (though a few had seen them in art appreciation or history classes). The students also tried their hands at translating, and though they made some translation errors (none had studied either French or Dutch), they learned a lot about the process of translation and came away with a better appreciation for the poems.

My colleague taught a Political Science class on the European Union. Since our apartments were in the heart of the European district, students had ready access to the EU library and institutions for research. They also learned a lot by living in a multi-cultural neighborhood, going to street markets, eating fries from stands on the street, and walking around the city full of great architecture, from Art Nouveau to the contemporary EU buildings. All in all, it was a great experience.

New Life for 1946 Motorette

A few months ago, I wrote a post about my dad’s 1946 Motorette motor scooter. I’ll admit, we had talked about trying to sell it, and I did have that on my mind. I had promised my mom I would look into it, yet in a couple of years, I hadn’t done much. It’s the kind of odd item for which you need to find just the right buyer, and we weren’t hooked into the right community to do that. So, I thought I’d write a blog post and see what happened, never expecting much, but hoping I might generate some interest and maybe a lead. Little did I know how fruitful that post would be.

A few days after I posted it on this blog, Larry Fisher wrote a comment, and I replied, telling him we’d be interested in selling. A few emails later, we reached an agreement. Larry collects and restores autoettes, the class of vehicle the Motorette is in. He’d even tried to purchase one a few years back. And it turned out that Larry’s wife and my mother share the same name, and they had even been in Osage, my home town, a few years back on a trip down Highway 9. They remembered stopping at Stan’s Drive-In. It seemed too good to be true.

I will say that we weren’t looking for a lot of money from this sale. We asked him to name a price, and we offered to help some with shipping. Our main goal was to find the Motorette a good home, where it might be restored to running condition (we had no idea how much work this would be — as it turns out not that much, since it’s been running already this summer, but still much more than I could imagine doing myself). The Motorette had been stored in my parents’ garden shed for over twenty years, and was in decent shape, though it needs some care to really restore it. Field mice had nested under the seat and eaten through some of the wiring. Larry flushed and lubricated the engine, transmission, and bearings and rewired the electrical system to bring the scooter back to life.

Though we were glad to get a little money out of the deal, and glad to know that the Motorette was still valuable, the best part of the deal has been getting to know Larry and finding out more about the scooter. My mom found a newspaper clipping that talked about how my dad bought the Motorette and had it delivered by my (soon-to be) uncle Frank Mulvihille. Frank was a pilot, and his airline flew the Motorette from Chicago to Des Moines for free. It made the news, since my Dad was a WWII veteran who suffered from polio, and that kind of public interest story was popular in the months after the war. Larry even did some research and found some newspaper archives with other references to my dad’s military service. We found multiple license plates and old registration papers. This allowed my mom to renew the registration and then transfer the title to Larry, making the whole process much simpler. I now have a license plate and photos from 1976 when I rode the Motorette in the Bicentennial Fourth of July Parade in Osage, one of the last times we got it running.

The only hassle was with shipping the Motorette across the country to its new home. There were many delays and we were nearly afraid it wouldn’t happen, but finally in late May, the shipping company came through, and the Motorette was on its way to its new home. Since then, we’ve maintained contact with Larry, who has sent some video of the first time the Motorette was running, the engine, and a visit with my brother Kermit and his wife Kim when he was in Boston for a gathering and showed the Motorette for the first time. It sounds like Larry has plans to continue restoring it to get it closer to its original state (with the modifications my Dad made for using hand controls). We’re glad that Larry is so interested in the history of the vehicle and so willing to share what he learns. Maybe one day we’ll all get a chance to meet him and thank him in person. We’re glad Dad’s Motorette has a new life in a new home, and we’re thrilled to have made friends with Larry and Leone, all through a simple blog post.

Porch Saga

After over a year of trying to get someone to redo our front porch flooring, we finally have carpenters banging on the front of our house. It’s a happy sound, even early in the morning. Finding good workers is a challenge, so we were glad to get our roofer to work on the porch, after one contractor disappeared on us last fall (after stringing us along for a couple of months) and a couple of others came in with quotes that were higher than we thought it ought to be. We try not to take the absolute lowest quote for house repairs, but we also don’t want to throw more money than needed into a job, especially if we don’t know what kind of work we’ll get. So we were thrilled when our roofer, who rebuilt the top of the porch when we had a metal roof put on it, was able to come and gave us a quote that was more within our budget.

Of course, they ran into some wood underneath that needed replacing — we were expecting that — but it turned out not to be as bad as we had feared. They’re using kiln dried treated pine flooring, so we’re confident it will last. We have our painter lined up to paint it when it’s ready, and will follow the manufacturer’s instructions to prime with oil-based primer and paint with a latest porch paint. Then we’ll have a porch that isn’t falling in and hasn’t been patched. It’s the (near) final stage in the painting project that we started last summer, and it will be great when it’s really finalized.

In the meantime, I’m still on the MUW webmaster search committee, still working on our line-up for the Welty Symposium, and still getting ready for our trip to Belgium, which will likely consume this blog in the coming weeks. Though the semester is officially over, it’s still a busy time!