Takin' down the walls!

Have not done any knuckle-busting at the house for a few days but today, after many early-morning gallery chores I took the paintings back into Taos, stopping in at Pierre Delattre’s new gallery down there. He used to be exactly the next house over from our new place but after 8 years decided to move his gallery down to Taos, near where his wife has hers. We had a pleasant chat and it was good to see him looking so relaxed. After home & lunch I went by the new place for a bit of sledge-hammer action. The task was the wall presently making two unpleasant rooms out of our intended awesome-to-be master suite.

Now taking down a wall made of sheetrock is not too big a deal. It’s dusty, hard work, but one does not require a sledge hammer. Plaster walls, I should say “Quickrete, a form of concrete, because that is what they use here and they call it “plaster” is hella hard, hella heavy, and doesn’t really resemble plaster in any form. I busted through that wall using a 10 or 12 pound sledge hammer that felt like it weighed 40--one little hole at a time. I was going to work on the wall for an hour or so but three and a half hours later I finished up with the help of my husband ‘cause that was a bit much even for Ms. Debbie Does Demolition. We took down the framing with the studs which were actual, full-sized, rough-cut 2” x 4”s. It is now one room. And wow is there a lot more light in there!

We’re considering going with radiant heat in the floors—it comes recommended highly from those folks up here who have it. We could eliminate those ghastly gas heaters, still put a couple of kivas in, more for atmosphere than for heat, reduce our carbon footprint, our heating bill, our wood consumption, and still retain that cozy southwestern charm and sit before the fire on a cold winter’s night.

I gathered up a copy of that 1982 Survey and an advance copy of our Warranty Deed for the septic man. He picked those up today, will be picking up our permit tomorrow. Tomorrow is in-studio day for me—at least until mid afternoon. Leonardo will begin tackling that huge pile out back and making dump/recycle runs. He said one of our neighbors who offered his services at $8 per hour is starting to look like a go!

We had a couple delightful gallery visitors today. A couple white-haired ladies who came knocking during our deluge today—it’s been hot and dry for maybe two weeks now but today we woke up to cool, overcast and cloudy autumn weather, and by early afternoon it looked like we were going to need Noah’s ark. We weren’t open, but they caught me between Taos and the house so of course I invited them in. They loved everything, signed up for the mailing list, and promised to tell their friends in Georgia about the museum show.

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