so, friday was a good and bad day. good because we got the ovens in place. bad for a number of reasons:
1. the first call i got was the A/C guy who said he couldn’t make it out as planned. so, A/C supposed to happen on friday? NOT HAPPENING.
2. the roofers assured me they would have it roofed during the week but didn’t show as i thought on tuesday, wednesday, or thursday so of course i assumed they would get it done friday… NOT HAPPENING. (big rains too…but only a couple minor leaks…ROOFERS!!!!)
3. i was under the impression that the hoods would be getting finished since there was only just a little to do to finish them. hood guys came in for a minute but said they had to go and were gone by 9. NOT FINISHED.
4. we were supposed to call in for a gas inspection and at the last minute couldn’t find the permit number and ran out of time to call in the inspection.

so, it’s a holiday weekend. the only guy working is my equipment guy who was in every day getting the gas piped to the ovens and some of the equipment cleaned and ready to roll. at least he was in there getting things done. turns out we need some parts for the ovens. they were taken all apart for cleaning and such and they are sensitive parts. we need at least 2, maybe 3 parts. these things take time to get. they must be ordered.

we’re waiting for the gas to be inspected so that GRU will set a gas meter. once we have a meter we can have hot water (gas water heater) and we can wash and put away all the dishes. the dining room is mostly just piles of dishes and while they were all cleaned after the fire, they’ve been sitting for 3 months and need cleaning again. the dining room needs a good cleaning. hot water is essential for cleaning. so, we wait. we wait for oven parts and gas inspections and hot water. we wait for A/C guys and hood guys and roofers. i was definitely optimistic to think all of this would be finished last week and i’ll expect to have it all finished this week too, but it is a short week with monday gone… so i’ll find plenty to keep me busy but just won’t feel the big cleaning and re-opening momentum until the hot water is running.

up until now there hasn’t been a lot of waiting around. sure, there’s a day we wait here and there for something to happen, but for the most part things are flowing day by day, getting done one thing after another. so, being so close to the end and now feeling like we are going to be waiting is hard. but it’ll get done when it gets done. all i can do is tackle it day by day. it’s amazing how much it will take to actually get this up and running again. it’s so hard. it’s so trying. the momentum is not steady. it’s been 3 months.

maybe this time next week i’ll know when we can open. i said the same thing last week. as of yet i still can’t see it. there are final inspections which could bring up delays too. i think it’s wise to wait until the inspections are all through and the equipment all in place, and the sub contractors all done, and then i’ll know when we can open. for now i just wait for others to do their jobs and hope they are efficient and honest.

it’s pouring rain as i write this. sure wish the roof was on there. it’s “dried in” but that’s not enough to make me feel at ease. while i know i have no control over it and while i know that all the worrying in the world won’t get the roof on or change the reality, it still bugs me. still makes me anxious.

it’ll be nice one day. it’ll be nice i’m sure. it’ll take every ounce of energy i have to get it back open. i took the weekend off mostly. just ordered some stuff i need off the internet and made a few calls. now i’m home and stopped in to check it out, and now it’s all weighing on me once again. we need the rain so bad. if it keeps raining then it slows us down even more. we sure need the rain though.

i want to complain but i can’t. i want to tell you a story but i’m too tired. i want to lose weight but i am eating a muffin with milk at bedtime.

i’m tempted to say if i ever get this place open i’ll take up yoga, but i’m afraid it may just happen. both things.

i’m tired. i should not be late night blogging with hander-pants. (available soon at lightnin’ salvage enterprises.)

brent, can you figure out why in the world the first part of the first sentence, I, is located way up to the right of the first photo and i can’t change it?
what is wrong with this blog site? who uses this thing? why is it so hard? brent, are you out there? brent will know what to do. he always knows.

my imac is not yet back but i admit i love this old laptop a hundred times better. computers are like cars i think, some are better than others.

and even though this computer is old it can upload photos from a modern camera. whatdoyaknow?

lex and shawn over at circle square made this table for us. it was delivered today and this strange shot is me standing over it shooting down without a flash at night in the booth. not so good a picture but the table looks nice, you’ll see.

there is another artist, even poirier, who came by to talk about art and i’m bringing him on board to adorn a few spots here and there when he has a day off from his regular job. he’s done a panel on the ceiling of a new outdoor area where our staff will hose down the mats at night. straight ahead is a mop closet being built. better pics of the mop closet proper coming tomorrow….

and he blammed out a couple things after i begged him and i went in and added some stain. this is a new LSE display when you first walk in.

the crazy part is that you are getting all this crazy inside scoop here and i’m not even showing you the half of it….all this up in here is just the tip of the iceburg. we have so much for you to see and experience and i think we are looking at a satchel’s 2.0 situation.

my mother is always super helpful and on the ball. she brought in a grill and some charcoal and grilled burgers for the crew last week. today and tomorrow we’re snacking on her chocolate cake, and she even went on a lowe’s run today and cleaned and painted on the west side of the building.