Advice to the two boys on Bayview who yesterday offered me “Crystal Light for five dollars”: (a) there are almost certainly better times to operate a lemonade stand than when the temperature is in the 50s and better places than a lightly traveled residential street, and (b) you may want to rethink your pricing structure. In a bar, some people are willing to pay $5 for a beer, but I can’t imagine that anyone, no matter how charitable, would pay $5 for a glass even of real lemonade, homemade from fresh-squeezed lemons and cane sugar, much less an artificially sweetened, artificially flavored, and probably artificially colored powdered beverage. Certainly I wouldn’t have, even if I’d had any cash on me!
I kept replaying this conversation in my head as I continued walking, thinking surely I must have heard wrong, but two elements, “Crystal Light” and “five dollars,” were very clear in my mind. I almost wished I’d stopped to investigate further—and perhaps taken a photo of this ill-considered enterprise.
But back to our topic.
252 N. Bayview Street
It’s now obvious that a second story is being added to the house.
This interior view shows that the building has been completely gutted.
351 N. Summit Street
This dumpster in front is evidence of progress inside, filling up with scraps and broken pieces of wallboard.
Sure enough, on the first floor, the ceilings and parts of the walls in the great room and kitchen have been covered, showing how the natural beams will appear.
I almost didn’t go upstairs, not expecting to find further progress there, but I was surprised. The walls and ceiling of the master bedroom are nearly complete.
In the master bath, as expected, a spa tub has appeared in the window alcove.
The vanity/lavatory wall outside of one the walk-in closets shows how the dormer window will provide light to the central passage (though not to the closet itself).
The biggest surprise, though, was that the bridge to the room over the garage has, as predicted, been opened.
Since the garage ceiling is lower than the first-floor ceiling of the house, the bridge is two steps down from the upstairs landing, with another three steps down from the bridge to the room.
This photo shows the view from the back of the room. Presumably some of the space under the eaves will be accessible for storage.
The front portion is devoted to a full bath (shower only). The space under the dormer window has an opening for a furnace/AC register. Perhaps a small dressing table will be placed there.
111 Magnolia Avenue
Although some masonry work and waste removal remains to be done, this house is finished, and I even saw some of the children of the family outside today.
160 Fels Avenue
The roof trusses have been added during the past week.
The sturdy posts make it clear that this rear area will in fact be a porch and not a garage.
Given the springlike weather we’re having, I’m not sure why a fire pit was brought in, but it was in the middle of the back yard.
WalkThoughts 