Reality Sets In

8/9/14



We had a whole weekend planned at the schoolhouse with Alec and Hannah. True to form however, we spent all day packing and loading and the four of us left this morning. Or that was the plan. Jay Richardson left early so that he could meet us at the schoolhouse and take measurements in preparation for a structural analysis. Elizabeth and I still needed to do a Home Depot trip to get ratchet straps to secure the fully constructed outhouse that was sitting in the trailer. Street-worthy, but not freeway-worthy.

We gave Alec and Hannah the key and they went on ahead of us to meet Jay. By the time we arrived the measurements were done, Jay had discovered vent baffles along the roof behind the insulation (yay!), and Alec and Hannah were already working.




Hannah parkouring. 8/9/14




The five of us unloaded the outhouse and Alec and Elizabeth started working on the finishing touches. (It still needs a door and shutters for the windows.) Hannah set about rescuing the flower garden from voracious weeds and I got the pump running so the rescued flowers might have a fighting chance.




Alec working on outhouse roof. 8/9/14




Yesterday a pickup truck with four guys stopped next to us while we were walking on the road. They're all nephews of Tony's.

Ken stopped by on his Honda four-wheeler. His dad (born in 1901) cut some of the lumber that was used to build this place.

Dan saw Ken and Elizabeth and I chatting and stopped by to tell us about the blueberry fields on Dago lake.



9/7/14



Been stuck in Reno for 24 hours now. Actually, I've been stuck inside the Reno airport for 24 hours now. Six more to go. Burning Man is over. Five hundred and some bikes have been cleaned and packed away in four semi trailers. It still blows my mind that I run an operation that requires multiple semi trailers. Last flight to Minneapolis this season left at 1:30pm yesterday and now everybody wants to go to Salt Lake City, the only city that Delta seems to fly to from Reno.

Got some time to reflect.




Stuck in Reno waiting for a flight home from Burning Man. 9/7/14




Last week was crazy. Only three of the days last week were actually spent on the Playa at Burning Man, but in those three days Elizabeth and I dared to try something...well, crazy.

The Wedding Arch



10/2/14



You know it's wonderful to come up here and see what's changed, to see the living grass still growing and the Willow tree doing well. The flower bed is blooming like crazy. The moonscape is completely covered with grasses and flowers and all kinds of green stuff. Dwayne's corn has been harvested.

And the road is paved! No more dust. That is a huge quality of life improvement. I'm a little worried that it will mean an increase in traffic, but the road project has a ways to go yet so we'll see.

Otherwise rain and temperatures in the 40s. Tough to get anything done.




Turning on the heat for the first time. 10/2/14




10/3/14



It's snowing.

Long drive home. Long talk about money and timelines and careers. We've been covering these topics for a while now, but it is pretty certain that we won't have the money to finish the schoolhouse in the next year, let alone get married. At the bike shops, the costs of the first year in a new, bigger space were more than expected and getting through this winter is going to be tough. If we want the company to come into spring healthy we need to put everything we can scrape together into that.




Mom bat-proofing. 10/10/14




10/18/14



Break-in.

Elizabeth and my mom went up last weekend to try and seal some gaps in the eves and such. My mom locked her keys in the car and had to spend the night. Jay drove up the next day with a spare key. But Ken stopped by to chat and he managed to get my mom's phone number. So when the sheriff saw the side door open, it was Ken that was able to tell the sheriff how to get in touch with us.

It hurts to even think about it. Writing it out is worse, but I thought it was important to say that this is now part of this adventure. Elizabeth's drill and batteries were stolen, but nothing else seems amiss. My parents went up last night to board up the ruined door.




Dad securing the broken door. 10/17/14




Now, instead of talking about plumbing and paint and weddings and parties, we're talking about cameras and security systems. Elizabeth is afraid to be there by herself.



12/3/14



Cash crunch.

Without noticing, we turned all of our extra cash into inventory at the bike shops this season. I tried to address the issue in June before it was a problem, but I didn’t keep my finger on the pulse and ordering got out of control.

When we finally had the time to figure out what went wrong, it was too late in the season to sell off the extra inventory. So, we laid off everyone we could. We've reduced staff hours. We’ve closed one of the shops. It’s not enough. Not even close. So no schoolhouse. No wedding.

Ironically, we've been trying to get financing for the Schoolhouse Project since last March. The banks would not give us a mortgage for what was little more than a hunting shack as far as they were concerned. We started working on a home equity line on our house. They didn't say no, but the hoops and paperwork have taken this long to process.

It was only last week that one of the banks finally said that we qualified, but there's still a month of paperwork processing left. Too little too late.

We're a week away and about a thousand dollars short of payroll right now. I don’t know if we're going to make it.

We have the assets, but not the cash. It is so frustrating. I have never looked at money this way before. Elizabeth and I spent $6 to see a movie with her family last week and it hurt to see those dollars go in someone else’s cash register. SIX DOLLARS!

Elizabeth and I have struggled so much with all of this. The schoolhouse was supposed to be her project for the year and we haven't had the money that we thought we would. More frustration. More arguments. I feel like I let her down. I feel like I let everyone down.

I've had to ask my family for help. This is the worst financial situation I've ever gotten myself into.

Elizabeth has been working hard the past couple of weeks putting together a materials list for the schoolhouse. Home Depot is offering up to $6,000 no interest financing for two years. She brought home two truck loads of cork flooring and is having a third load of dry wall delivered to the schoolhouse from Duluth. She found a way to get back to work.

I have two years to sort this out.



12/4/14

This is supposed to be fun. This is supposed to be a bonus. I am trying to remember that problems are not emergencies, they’re just challenges to be solved. Besides, they make for a better story. No one will get hurt if we take our time. We can figure these things out and fix them and enjoy the process. Otherwise, what's the point?





NEXT POST: The Wedding Arch