Pink, Blue, and Green

Once again, your correspondent had to leave town for a while for reasons unrelated to the construction of the house and missed the weekly posting. This time, it was Orlando, Florida for a work-related gathering. One of the stops on the itinerary was the Kennedy space center where the space shuttle Endeavor was sitting on the launch pad and waiting to take off.




When asked very politely to borrow the vessel for a quick trip home to check on the progress of the house, NASA demurred and I had to come back the old-fashioned way.



Fortunately, I had enough miles to upgrade from open tubing to somewhat enclosed fuselage.

But eventually, I made it back to the house to find it festooned with multi-colored tags, signifying milestone inspections.



This colorful Pink tag signifies that the house's gas piping is up to code and we can hook up the house to the SF Gas supply. Shortly afterward getting the tag, PG&E finally showed up and set us up with a new gas meter and hooked up the house.




It's nice to have the gas hooked up, but leave it to PG&E to provide heat just as the winter is coming to an end and spring is right around the corner; great timing as always, guys. Of course, summer or winter, we have to eat and now when you turn on the burners on the range, you are rewarded with beautiful blue flames.



And as the saying goes: Now, we are cooking (or at least reheating) with gas.



Somewhat more subdued than the Pink tag was the Green tag that signified that our electric system was ready to be turned on. Not exactly a newsflash since the house has had electrical power since day 1 and everything appears to be working just fine, but nothing is real until it's tagged and we are now officially ready for electrons to flow through the house.



The glue on the Green tag was still setting when the folks from Borrego Solar showed up and put up the part of the system called the inverter that converts direct current from the solar panels to alternating current that can connect to the grid and help out during peak hours. The whole thing is a bit alarming and looks like a missile launch system, particularly with the two large cutoff switches on either side, but the folks at Borrego assure me the that it is all legit and that we are not violating any arms limitation treaties.



Naturally, since the house was seriously lacking in electrical sub panels, the solar guys threw on another one for good measure, next to the old electrical meter that is, at this point, simply defying gravity since it has no visible connection to anything that could possibly support it.



Each of these colored tags represent a series of inspections and now that we have the tags, we don't want any inspectors to sneak up on us and for that reason we got the entry system working. Now we can actually see who is at door before opening it to anyone.




Another addition to the house is the computer/TV/Radio combination called the ICEBox that is tucked under the cabinet when not in use:



And when the need arises to access the Internet for recipes, cooking tips, or the on-line ordering page of the nearest delivery service, the screen pops down and the data starts flowing.



Finally, we arrive at part III of a continuing saga that neatly encapsulates the madness that is remodeling. The three faithful readers of this blog may recall that the deck surrounding the bathtub in the second bathroom went from this (Blue glass round tiles):




To this (square marble deck):




And now, we have changed the deck once again to arrive at this (curved marble deck following the contour of the tub):




I am not 100% sure about a lot of things -- of this I am absolutely sure: there will NOT be a part IV to this particular saga.

Next week, more details, more cleanup and more inspections.