WEEKLY WHINE

45 Ricketts Refurbishment Project

Last Sunday, loud noises echoed through LD. Alex, my next door neighbour, had dismantled his bed frame. As he escorted it down the hallway, he passed me. Naturally, I was led to ask a question, namely, "What's this?" He told me what he'd done and explained that he wanted his desk at a normal height again. So he removed his bed frame and put his mattress on the floor. I asked him where he would put the frame, and he told me he didn't know. Then, suddenly, I was struck by a momentary flash of either ingenuity or idiocy. I said, "Can I have it?"

So with a bit of trouble, we did manage to get it into my room with a bit of help from Liz, across the alley. We stood it upright toward the back of my room, near the sink. Then one of them asked the all important question, "What are you going to do with it?"

I had absolutely no idea. I told them, "I don't know, I'll figure something out." Sunday Night Cookies came next, so I had no more time on that. But on Monday, I set to work on that problem. What would I do with a bed frame? First thought was that I could put it atop my existing bed frame to form a canopy. This probably would have made it extremely difficult to get into and out of my bed, but that was not an important consideration. Moreover, the ceiling was exactly ¼" too low to permit this. That was an important consideration. It was time for the next idea.

By Tuesday, I started to think that maybe it was just fine where it was. I'd already moved it a bit, so that it wouldn't block my sink or the drawers. Couldn't I just leave it where it was? That would be rather unsightly. Think of it: a big vertical bed frame. However, I had been thinking of it as a sort of doorway in the middle of my room. That was the trick. At that moment, my destiny was set: I would transform my room into a suite. I formulated the plan: A wall between the original bed frame and the new one so that the room would be divided in two. Going through the front door would take you into the foyér/living room. Then, you'd go through the doorway to the office/guest room. From there, you could ascend to the upper bunk, also known as my bedroom. By then, I could see what the room would look like. The bed frame would be graced with a curtain to provide a true separation between the two rooms. At the same time, though, there would be open space between them. The far end of the computer desk would still be open to the other desk, so there would be a kind of "window" between the rooms.

From that point on, I began telling people about my endeavour. They generally agreed that it would be a good idea, but didn't seem to recognise the magnitude of this process. That's probably due to the fact that everyone talks about things like this and never does it. For example, we have yet to repaint LD. But this would be different. I would make sure of that.

So the project started out on Wednesday. I found some surplus wood from various sources, measured it out, found the appropriate parts, and picked up some screws. I borrowed a drill and got to work. One board went up, followed by another. Five boards were secured that day to their rightful positions. Two more were attached to one another, and two more were placed in their proper locations. I put in some more screws yesterday. Still to be done in Stage One of the 45 Ricketts Refurbishment Project: I must drill holes in those last four boards and screw them into place. Nonetheless, the unsecured boards are holding down very well. All of these boards functioned rather well in tests, but in truth, it was in fact necessary to secure them down.

Thus, the engineering done here will become an example for all others. Quite a bit of contracting could be done here. This is the kind of place where resourceful people are able to find many, many ways to do things like this for a low cost. For example, by scavenging wood and borrowing tools, I've had to pay only for the screws, which, as it turned out, weren't all that good anyway. When I finish this, it will be time to progress to Stage Two: Curtains and other separations amongst the rooms. Ishy just walked past my room, saw the new construct, and said, "Hmm!" Clearly, we're making rapid progress here. Cheers.