Insurance, molding, and fireplaces: just another day

Today we met the insurance guy, and found the only thing the mansion is insured for is lightning. Imagine, a stone house insured for lightning! Worse, there was a surcharge for having a low deductible! He's going to re-work the numbers and let us know what a real policy will cost.

In yet another reminder of what a small town this is, the contractor was pulling down the exterior molding that was rotten (he calls it "punky" which is actually a word, I looked it up) and commented on how expensive it would be to make a cutter to match. A few phone calls later, Dawn had located a cutter that was made twelve years ago for the mansion. I guess her dad was looking to do some work before he got sick. Well, whatever the reason, he just saved us about $900. Way to go, dad!

Also, I've mentioned Darin, one of Dawn's friends from high school, who happens to live nearby and has been helping her out quite a bit. Well, his father works for a fireplace wholesaler, we need six fireplace sets, and I'm not above exploiting people for my own gain, so we went to his shop today. We were looking at gas logs, but the electric ones were really cool -- seriously, they didn't give off any heat, you could stick your hand in the "flame". Plus they looked great, not like Disneyland's white sheet blown over an orange light bulb. So instead of gas lines and chimney liners, we just need an electric outlet, and we'll save about $10,000. Way to go, Darin's dad!

Mike, using three ladders as "scaffolding"