Tony Zugay let us know that his oldest daughter Dawn and husband Tony Mendoza could probably use our help. So when we coordinated our visit to Lake City, we also contacted Dawn and planned to spend the following week in St. Paul to help them out as well. Unfortunately, our plan didn’t quite unfold as expected.
The ceiling project in Lake City was more difficult than originally thought and went slower than forecasted. There was no way we were leaving town without finishing the project, so we stayed an additional three days. This left us only five days to support Dawn and Tony. Making matters worse, we couldn’t book an acceptable campground anywhere near their house. We ended up staying at a KOA (followers know this is our least preferred option) 32 miles from their house. The result was we not only had fewer days to work but also had a time-consuming daily commute on crowded interstates. Oh well!
After setting up our campsite, Tony and Dawn invited us for dinner at their house. This gave us an opportunity to test out the commute, as well as, walk/talk through the things they wanted done, and decide what was possible. We agreed on two repair projects: the steps to the front entrance and the subsiding walkway to the back patio.
The Mendoza’s have lived in this elegant two flat home for many years. They’ve always rented the upstairs unit. When I was working, I audited a client in Eden Prairie (southwest of the city) and visited them on one occasion. At that time, daughters Lauren and Anna were still living at home. Now they’re grown young women. Lauren’s a college student but was off travelling during our visit. Anna will be entering college in the fall, and while she was home, her job and friends didn’t allow us to see her much. Like so many of our friends’ children though, we’ve watched them grow up through social media and annual Christmas card pictures.
The front stoop to their house was made of brick pavers, and over the years, a number had loosened because of Minnesota’s repeated winter freeze-thaw cycles. Visitors were definitely at risk for a potential slip or fall, so I worked on this project first. I took up the loose pavers, removed all residual mortar and organic material (plants, soil, and miscellaneous wood left from a previous repair), and cleaned the step area. I mixed some high-strength mortar and relaid the pavers. The longevity of this repair was partially dependent on ensuring the mortar filled all gaps to prevent water from infiltrating. I pounded the bricks with a rubber mallet to settle the mortar and level the bricks with existing steps.
There was a similar paver walkway along the east side of their home. The walkway had settled significantly toward the back of the house, primarily around a downspout which was misaligned with the drain. Because of the settlement, the walkway had pulled away from the basement foundation wall and now sloped toward rather than away from the house. The repair was straight forward. We pulled up the pavers, added sand, leveled and compacted the base course, and replaced the pavers so the walkway drained away from the house. We also used a specialized joint sand that hardened after being dampened, and I sealed the seam between the walkway and the foundation wall with an exterior caulk.
MFI helped pull up the pavers and took the time to stack them in a way we’d be able to easily replace them exactly where they belonged.
Once done with these two projects and having time to spare, we agreed to remodel and paint the two bedroom closets. The existing closets each had a single hang-up rod with shelf above. There was wasted space above the shelf and limited space below the hanging clothes. The plan was to raise the shelf and hang-up rod in order to provide a second hang-up rod with shelf below. We also planned to provide a spot for hanging long garments. Dawn and Anna emptied the closets before we arrived in the morning, saving us lots of time. I set up shop in the garage for cutting and painting the wood, while MFI relayed measurements and did the reconstruction.
Pictures of completed reconstruction but before painting was finished.
On every project, downtime occurs while waiting between certain job steps, and there was no exception here. MFI used her spare moments to fix the broken lock on the interior door to the garage. I used mine to modify the downspout at the front of the house so it flowed directly into the flower-bed drain. We like being as efficient as possible with our time.
Tony and Dawn are both lawyers, although they practice in different legal areas. Tony has his own firm, and as such, has season tickets for hosting clients and friends at the Twins MLB games. He asked if we’d like to attend a game using some of those tickets, and we eargerly accepted. We’re not huge baseball fans but do love sharing a ballpark hot dog and beer, in this case both made locally. Kramarczuk’s has been making ballpark dogs since 1954. That evening, the Twins were playing the Chicago White Sox. We were also joined by several of Tony’s friends.
We parked in a city garage four or five blocks away and joined the fans all walking to the stadium. On the way, we saw a spectacular mural on the side of a building celebrating hometown legend, Prince; singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, and actor. We also passed by a great scupture of a larger than life baseball before we entered the stadium. Sometimes I just can’t resist taking what I think are interesting pictures.
I took this video to provide some atmosphere for readers. Baseball fans can fully appreciate the crowd noise.
If the video wasn’t enough to get your juices flowing, I took these pictures from around the stadium.
Tony’s firm also sponsors a company team in a local softball league, and he invited us to a post-work game in which both he and Dawn played. It was a beautiful evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed watching our friends, but this game was weird to the point of laughter. It began with the first baseman for the opposition. His team mates would field the ball and throw to him for the out; however, he consistently caught the throw while standing several feet off the 1st base bag. Safe! Their Captain spoke to him over and over, yet it did no good. We were shocked initially, but then it just became shake-your-head funny. The opposing team also struggled with their batting lineup. There was a consistent and uncomfortable delay before each at bat as their bench buzzed with indecision over who should be at the plate next. Strange! Then we witnessed several league rules, which we frankly had never seen before. The first was when Dawn hit the ball, beat the throw to 1st base, but was immediately called “out” by the umpire. What? Seems runners are also required to touch a second object just beyond the bag in order to be called safe. Again, what? Dawn explained this was implemented for safety reasons. And for the third time, what? The second rule was enforced when Tony rocketed the ball over the left field fence and was promptly called “out” by the umpire. League rules prohibited homeruns in order to prevent teams from filling their rosters with homerun hitters and thereby dominating league standings. The logic beind this was to level the playing field and keep the games fun. Finally, something that made sense.
Our St. Paul visit was short and sweet. We were happy to complete projects and once again help friends, while at the same time get out and enjoy a few extracurricular activities. Lucky for us, Tony and Dawn were both excellent cooks. We not only enjoyed dynamite meals, but benefitted from the fact they eat an extremely healthy diet. Thank you both for being such hospitable hosts, allowing us to catch up on what’s happening in your lives, and letting us be a small part of it.
