3/31/08

Ok, so I did get a little information about the shop in Boyd. Here’s how it went down. Mom and I went to that birthday party the other day at my second-cousin’s house. My second-cousin-in-law has already dealt with the city of Boyd when building their home on the property up there so I asked him his thoughts. I told him I wanted to build a large shop with an apartment in the corner, not so much planning to move out there but to have a place to “camp out” while spending weekends working on stuff. He suggested not mentioning the apartment to the city. He went on to say he wouldn’t even call it a shop. “Tell them you’re building a barn,” he said, “and finish out the interior however you want once the main structure is built and approved.” His father chimed in and said, “Make sure to mention you’ll be putting in a bathroom in the barn so the plumbing gets approval.” I nodded and said I'd probably play it that way then. Doug, the second-cousin-in-law, said if I'd call him later this week he’d look into what the city has that area zoned as. We’re hoping it is “agricultural” still and therefore a “barn” wouldn’t be out of place. Of course, if it is “commercial” I'd just build it and call it a “Storage Facility.” “Residential” is the one which would give the most trouble I'd think. Then again, I could build it with the long dimension running east/west, make the end facing FM730 pretty, and call it a house with a fifty car garage. That’s pretty much what it is going to be. Now, you may be asking, “What does this mean for the ‘mistress storage facility’ plan?” Well, if the place is zoned “commercial,” nothing. If the land is zoned “residential” or “agricultural,” then I'd probably have to abandon that idea. I've been thinking about the massive liability I'd have with a place like that and I'm not sure I'd be all that upset if I couldn’t do it. So, there’s the poop. Saturday was almost totally shot with that trip. I didn’t even make it to the shop at all on Saturday. John did and piddled with some stuff but I'm not sure a) what all he did, and 2) if I could tell y'all about it if I did know. I was invited out to “Gallery Night” again by Amy and that gang. I was stuffed to the gills with Genghis Grill so I turned them down. Sunday morning I got up and headed out in Darth Versa. I called Enrique to see if he wanted to move “mom’s” 240Z to the shop. He finally called me back while I was hooning down FM5. He said he was supposed to be, wait a minute. Ok, I'm going to have to admit something because the Mario and Enrique stories are about to overlap. Mario and Enrique are the same dude. He shall henceforth be called Marique. No, we’ll go with Mario from now on. Mario, when he called me back, said he was supposed to do some work on Pat’s house that day. I told him I'd just spoken to Pat, which I had, and that he, Pat, was moving his father all day. Mario said he’d call Pat and let me know if we could move the car. He called back again and we agreed to meet at his place to move the car. I took off across town and pulled up just as he was bringing the trailer out from the backyard. We loaded the car and strapped it down. I followed him to the shop where we unloaded the car and parked it in front of Barbara/Eddie. We stood around and looked at stuff for a while and then headed to Pat’s to map out the electrical for the lights and such. They’re working with live Romex laying around the room and he wanted someone else there to knock him loose if he got bit by one. Well, someone other than Pat’s pregnant wife Nora that is. We looked around and all that construction and stuff got me all excited about the shop in Boyd again. Of course, a small shop next to the house sure would be more convenient. No, I'm already “talked into” a huge shop in Boyd. A “barely adequate” sized shop next to the house won’t be adequate. So, after watching him “work” on Pat’s house, we both headed our separate ways. I went home and wasted the rest of the day. Oh, one more “funny” thing happened at some point. When Mario and I pulled up to Pat’s house, there was a 1971 Corvette parked across the street. He walked over to look at it as I was getting out of Darth Versa. I noticed the “for sale” sign in the rear window as he was coming my way. I said to him, “Dude, you’re barely a big enough douche-bag to own a 240Z. I'm not sure you’re a big enough one to own a ‘Vette.” We looked it over some more and decided that the asking price is probably going to be three times what the car is worth, since it is just a small block automatic but the owner will want big block four speed money. Oh, it was a very nice gold small block automatic 1971 Corvette, either immaculately maintained or well restored, but still it was “just” a gold small block automatic 1971 Corvette to me. Well, I think I've talked enough for today. So…