Taelyn's Fire Truck (Part One)

After finishing the Hitty House (that as pirated by Miranda), my attention was turned to the fire truck that Taelyn had found. It was kind of fun being away from the house building for awhile. We found some ladders and an axe to replace some of the missing equipment. The motor for the water pump was "toast", so we installed a rebuilt motorcycle engine just behind the right front wheel. It seems to work.

Taelyn insisted on doing all the lettering in his unique style. This is truck number 1, in his fleet.

A problem did develop. Due to Taelyns lack of stature, he could not reach the pedals. Some creativity, resulted in the installation of motorcycle handle bars. This put all the brake, throttle and etc. controls within easy reach. Plus Taelyn thinks it looks cool.

We added a seat belt (shown across his lap in the above picture). Taelyn insisted on Naugahyde upolstery , which proved pricy. As the Nauga's are very small this year, and it takes a lot of hides to cover a seat. When Taelyn was discussing what would be going in the bed of his truck, I noticed the lettering he had added to the rear bumper.

Taelyn was quick to point out that this was a multi-purpose vehicle. So far, he has plans to use it as a Fire Truck, Construction Truck and possibly use it in his Snow Removal Business. He asked how difficult it would be to add a snow plow. I wisely developed a hearing problem at this point of the conversation. Taelyn also had an advertisement on the side of the truck, how I had missed it, I don't know.

The truck still needs some items, and it will take a little while to completely finish it to Taelyn's satisfaction.

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The phone lines are still open at the "Lefty Scam Fund". Since there have been zero phone calls and zero pledges, I think Wright is about ready to declare Lefty fit to return to work.

A Change In Plans (Plan B)

The Hitty house is complete and just in time. The Story Teller is due to arrive any day now. The refurnishing was not too complicated.

The addition of electricity, window frame molding, carpet on the second floor, floor molding through out, repainting the kitchen and an overhead light.

Then, came Plan B. The house was commandeered! See Miri's House.

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Lefty is still laid up. Personally, I feel that Wright is taking advantage of Lefty,s situation.

Taelyn went to visit Lefty, the other day.

Lefty seemed very interested in learning about Taelyn's Fire Truck. Everything was going well, until Tarin arrived for a visit.

I understand there was a great deal of screaming, as Lefty drove under the covers.

Lefty hid under the covers until Tarin left. I really think that Lefty is , once again, taking things to seriously. Tarin brought flowers and it looks like he is really trying to make friends with Lefty.

*******

Lefty is having problems paying his medical expences. It seems that Wright has to charge some pretty hefty fees. Being a Quack alumnus, his Mal-Pratice Insurance rates are staggering, thus the high fees. Anyone that wishes to help defray Lefty's bill, might donate to the "Lefty Scam Fund", call 555-5555 (please have your credit card available).

A Change in Plans

(Emi), called, hoping that I would be able to help her with a problem. A new doll was moving into the Tree House. Since this new addition has the reputation as a teller of great stories, it was felt that she should have her own home. The other inmates were excited about the arrival of a Storyteller, and had found a log cabin they thought would suit her. The problem arose in the fact that the new doll was due to arrive very soon, so there was some urgency in completing the refurbish.



Since Taelyn is the "Pseudo-Supervisor" on the Sea View house, I asked him to meet me at the site of the Story Teller's house. Emi had requested the addition on lighting, carpet and a little painting, to dress up the cabin. With Lefty being laid up, (his condition is being greatly exaggerated, by his health care specialist, Wright), this was a good time to tackle a smaller job. Taelyn was in complete agreement, and will tell the "Group" about the delay on the Sea View project.

Taelyn was very helpful with suggestions. I found out that Taelyn has an alternative reason for recommending a delay at the Sea View. He has his own Fire Truck!

According to Taelyn, he found the truck abandoned. It had been stripped of ladders, hoses and all fire fighting tools. He was wondering it I could get it outfitted so that he could start his own Fire Department. The name "Taelyn Independent Fire Department" is sure to send fire insurance rates soaring off the charts.

We'll see what can be done about getting his truck rigged up, If he is playing Fire Frighter, it may keep him out of my hair, once we get back to working on the Sea View.

Sea View 3 (A Day With Surprises)

The "Group" decided that they would like some touch up on the exterior of the Sea View. This involved some sanding, priming and repainting. The colors will be staying close to the same. But because of an "incident", it became necessary for me to call in Tarin. Of course, Lefty was not too happy about this!

Once again Tarin did a great job. I can not say enough about the advantage of eight legs and multiple eyes, when it comes to this kind of work.



The "incident", once again, involved Lefty. That was no surprise. I had put him to work doing the sanding. He was doing a pretty good job, until he slipped, fell, jumped, or whatever.



I'm not sure that he knows exactly what happened, himself. My feeling is that he fell asleep. Never the less, there he was laying on the counter, the sanding block on top of him.



This is were the "SURPRISE" comes in. From the following (overheard) conversation, it became apparent that Wright had had some medical training. He immediately had Lefty in a brace and was counseling him. Who would have guessed that he had access to an Xray machine?

The conversation went sort of like this.

Wright: I see no signs of anything broken inside you.You say that the pain is in the area of your pointing finger and thumb. There may be some damage to the soft tissue, tendons, or nerves, which will not show up on an Xray. Take two aspirins and call me in the morning. I'll mail you the bill. Next!

Later, I questioned Wright about his medical expertise. He told me that he had attended, but not graduated,from Mallard Medical University. MMU (home of the Sun Tanned Ducks) is on some remote island in the Caribbean. Apparently he is not a full fledged Quack Alumnus.

As I said it was a day of surprises.

Sea View 2 (Permit RM 63007)

J.R. Katscan has issued the permit for the remodeling of the Sea View. In case you notice, that is not fur wallpaper inside the house, but is J.R., after he hung up the permit.

I got the Phist Bros. to come by and look at what we would be doing. They were quite surprised by the scope of the project, and frankly not very enthusiastic. They had some real problems with Taelyn being the supervisor. Once I explained that they would really be taking orders from me, they felt a little better. There are some problems with the electrical circuiting in the house also, ("The Group" have some specific ideas about lighting) that will mean doing some minor demolition work. That seemed to put a smile on the Phist Bros.... "knucks"? Lefty was very glad that I will probably not need Tarin (the spider) on this project.

We get started with some of the removal work, and laying out the necessary modifications to the electrical.

J.R. Katscan has taken a real interest in this house and every time I turn around, he appears to be observing what is going on. Hope he isn't planning on being underfoot all the time. If so I may have to get Lefty and Wright to get out that ball of string , again .
See Perfect Home Pt 10

He seems to like lending a hand, now and then. Here he is helping Lefty checking some roofing.



Some of the rooms are going to be more difficult to complete then others, but we are making good progress on the first floor.





We haven't seen Taelyn on the job site yet, which is probably a good thing. When he shows up, I might give the Phist Bros. permission to use the ball of string on him too.

Sea View 1 (Remodeling Contract)

Sooner or later, came sooner then later. The bid on the refurbish came through in a somewhat round about manner. The job had been given to a friend of the clients, Taelyn, by Hera, one of the owners. The other owners Ophelia, Eris and Freya, were not very confident in Taelyn's construction ability. We worked it out so that Taelyn is the main contractor, but only if he uses Pixielated Builders to do the actual work. It boils down to ,I'm doing the work, and we are pretending that Taelyn is in charge. The Phist bros. have been "strongly" advised, that they are not to be pulling any scams on Taelyn.




The Sea view is a larger house than I have been dealing with. You may notice , from the back ground that, it is not in my usual construction area. Mrs. Pender has graciously allowed me to work on it in her kitchen.




Where Eris, Freya, Hera and Ophelia (from now on they will be called the Group) found this house, I'm not sure. I do know how they aquired it. (Pixie Mortgage Payments) The previous owner had done a great deal of work on the interior, and after discussion with the group, we will be making minimal changes to the inside. The members of the "Group" have already staked claims to their favorite rooms. Most of the work will be the addition of lighting, molding, doors and so forth.

The exterior will be repainted, but using the same color scheme. We will need some more windows, doors and be doing some detailing.

Since this is a pre-existing building, it was necessary for me to have it inspected prior to being issued a building permit. The building inspector, J.R. Katscan, gave it a through going over.





J.R. (stands for Just Rotten) pronounce the house to be structurally sound and he will be issuing the permit shortly.

The Purrrfect Home (Part 12)

> Once again there was trouble on the construction site. A lot of the following is just what I have been able to glean from asking a bunch of questions. How much is fact I could not tell you.

Supposedly, Lefty was doing some touch up painting in the kitchen/family room. He said that he had an eerie feeling that he was being watched. When he turned there was a giant monster getting ready to attack him. At that time he claims that he calmly left the house, found a phone and called for assistance.

Wright's version was, he heard a scream, then shortly, something shot past him like a speeding bullet. Since the "rocket" somewhat resembled Lefty, Wright followed him. After Lefty made a phone call, he was too excited to answer any questions. Wright decided that he should call me.

Traffic was a zoo, there were road closures, traffic jams, etc., I did manage to get to the site, and was met with the following.

Lefty had apparently called the National Guard. They had surrounded the house and were trying to get the spider to come out.



Just as I approached the officer in charge, I heard him tell a sergeant, "Get on the bull-horn and tell that spider to come out with it's hands up and it won't be harmed!". To which the sarge said, "Sir, I don't believe spiders have hands, nor arms for that matter". "Sergeant, I've just recalled that spiders don't have hands. Tell it to put half if it's legs up and come out".

I told the Captain, who I was and asked what I could do to help. Before he could tell me to mind my own business and leave, the Spider called out. "Did I hear someone out there is named C. Pender? I need to talk to him, tell him Mr. Thorne sent me over for a job interview".

We finally got things sorted out. The National Guard left, without causing any damage to the Purr-jon house, that could not be easily repaired.

The spider had not meant to scare Lefty, and was sorry because he just has that kind of effect on people. His name was Tarin. He has been a friend of Mr. Thorne for a long time. When he lost his job as a WEB designer, due to down-sizing, Thorne had suggested he come by and see me.

Since we had just installed the roof, I thought that I would give Tarin the job of shingling. This is usually one of the most time consuming and boring jobs in construction.

I love Mr. Thorne! Tarin had the roof shingled in no time. Multiply eyes, eight legs and a great deal of enthusiasm. What a worker! He even made several tours around the roof to make sure everything was correct.

I know you are saying to yourself, "This solves C. Penders problems". Not so! Yes, Tarin is as efficient as two (maybe even three) workers, an answer to C. Pender's prayers. However, a problem has developed with the Phist brothers.


Lefty won't do any work because he is afraid of Tarin, and all he does is carry around a rolled up news paper for protection. Wright on the other hand has formed a group (consisting of only himself) to make sure that Tarin is treated ethically.

The Purr-jon house is now complete and the deed and keys will be turned over to Rose and Lily in the next few days. I'm not sure what my next project will be. I had put in a bid on the refurbishing off a large house, but was informed by the owners that they had found a local contractor (a personal friend) that was going to take on the job. I'm always curious about my competition and inquired who this contractor might be. Taelyn! Sooner or later I may still get that job.