Bucky

Before taking off for San Francisco, on New Year's Day, I took pictures of Bucky, obviously freshly cleaned and waxed.

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A note says that I remember these as being taken on NYD, which is possible although the area around the party tent looks rather clean.   The pictures in this roll (R03) show that, Christmas over and Marguerite gone, I cleaned up the apartment and the truck and took pictures of the year's accomplishments.

Farm House Christmas 85

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"Sunday, 22 Dec 85 :  ... it looks as if XMAS will come & go with a minimum of fuss and folly from Marguerite.  She comes on Christmas Eve day (early to decorate the apt as a surprise) and leaves on XMAS day (or if she protracts  it, on Friday.) ..."

The shot of the fireplace at the end of the previous roll has a red-gift package on the stereo console and a fireplace devoid of decorations.   These pictures evidently after Marguerite  had finished her surprise and opened her gift. 

The console which I built was designed with a diagonal space for a television at a viewing angle from the (eventual) couch. 

Farm House Finished (Almost)

The Farm House Flat was finished about mid November and in time for Christmas.  Once the walls had been stripped and painted, it took ongoing designing and work to get it done.  I opted for a warm Shakeresque design for the main room.    I could have bought or built a wood frame couch in keeping with the tables and chairs, but I wanted a plushier  "L" shaped ensemble that would define a sort of sitting enclosure together with the angled stereo-television console.  Layout taping can be seen in foto number 3.   

The stands for the speakers were assembled and painted by me from junk store basis and square metal tubing.  The speakers rested on an not-seen swivel base made (cheaply enough) from bolt and thread.

  

The kitchen was laid out and had a semi-temporary shelf-counter along the "back wall".  Not quite seen was a "recessed/shaded" flourescent light along the top.  I planned for bracketed shelving above the bottom shelf-counter.

The sleeping alcove was done in barracks motif.   After much pondering, a queen or a double sized bed was not practical in the space, so the only alternative was a "dorm-sized twin"   I had the metal folding bunks I had got in San Francisco but they were only 30" wide, so I looked for and found a US Navy 36" in twin.  It was a good deal, actually.  

 

I wanted an office space that would not make for permanent clutter in main room.  That meant  converting the closet into a desk space, which in turn meant finding an armoir for daily work and casual wear.   (The closet off the main room was used for suits and other storage.)   San Diego abounded in surplus and salvage stores.  I bought the locker at one of them and spent about a week sanding, priming and repainting.  

I never got around to surfacing the alcove desk.  I spent most of the ensuing time trying to work up a design for the fold out queen size couch in the main room or (in the alternative) a "pull out" twin-to-queen bed for the alcove (the designs for which can be seen in Kieran's Art.)

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These pictures were taken after Christmas and after Marguerite left, probably on the 29th or the last day of the year. 

Housework

Immediately on actually plopping-down into my new place, i set about  fixing  it up, starting with paint.   At first I was just going to re-paint the walls but noticed that the moldings had been repainted so many times they had become a blur.  So I undertook to strip the paint from the window frames.  A note on July 26 says, "still stripping." A note for July 28 says "Standard Brands and hardwood for couches."  A note for August 1 says "am moved in, major painting finished." 

But that was only the beginning of what would be an ongoing building and decorating project.  The Farm House apartment was advertised as a "one bedroom."  It was really a studio with alcoves, including bathroom and kitchenette.   My basic idea was to build a fold-out bed arrangement in the main room and use the entire alcove bedroom for an office.  But as I could never quite finish my own designs for a pull out couch/bed, i mostly ended up turning the alcove into a bunk-and-desk quarters.

A More Pedestian View

View from the Farm House Porch

A Pre-Google Earth View

 

JP was keeping his distance but he invited me for a fly-over on July 25th and we met at his hangar up by Miramar

After Jim meticulously primed the pumps, we took off in his tin can

landed

 took off again

(i think he needed to log hours)

and then cut his engine just to terrify me

before flying all over the greater San Diego

this was in pre-Google Earth days and was the only way to get terrain over-view

I was glad to put feet to ground though.

Disengagement

A week later, everything was wrapped up.  I dropped boxes of books and papers at the UPS station at the base of Portrero Hill and, in the evening, had dinner with Charles at “Rings”  The following morning, I irrevocably handed the apartment over to Grant (who was glad to finally see me go) and took the train down to San Diego.

As the train slowly pulled out of the station, I at last began to feel truly disengaged ...

Perhaps life would be sunnier