How to get a building permit in Monterey

Today's lesson in Monterey government: Building Permits.

If you're doing any sort of renovation project, or replacing any major systems like the furnace or roof, you're going to need a building permit. A permit is required for pretty much anything you might need to do, which I suppose is the same everywhere. You can have your contractor pull the permit for you, or, as the homeowner, you can do it yourself.

I'm in need of a furnace replacement permit, and my contractor wants $90 per hour for his time to pull the permit, so I decided it might be interesting to do it myself. Here's what I learned.

Tiles going up

The backsplash tiles have started going up. I'm learning as I go. The internet is full of instructions on how to install glass mosaic tiles. Of course, it's always some smiling person standing in front of a wall to be tiled -- swoop the trowel across this way, now hold at an angle and notch the mortar, now smooth it out -- their arm sweeping across the wall in easy, practiced movements. They don't show the reality of bending across the counter trying to reach the far corner while also trying not to hit your head on the cabinets above, or tiling the little 5-inch gap between the top of the counter and the bar. With the first strip, I learned how much mortar NOT to put on. I did way too much, and when I pressed the strip of tiles against the wall as you're supposed to, mortar came squirting out between the tiles. I spent the next 40 minutes picking it out of the spaces with a toothpick. So I didn't get much done the first day. Here's what I've got so far.

Next project

Everyone is just so much more laid back here--it's part of what makes living here fun.  I was reminded it of this again because I needed to get some tiles to finish our kitchen remodeling project.  The kitchen was seriously outdated and not in great shape when we bought the house, so fixing it up was one of our first projects, and we finished the bulk of it straightaway. But with all the decisions about cabinet styles, colors, hardware, floor tiles, countertops, paint, etc., we procrastinated on choosing a backsplash. And then with other priorities, and it kept getting pushed back. (We lived for months with masking tape covering the gap between the countertop and wall--sheesh!)

Anyway, I finally got back to it, so we headed over to Monterey Tile and Marble to look at tile samples. (We were turned on to this place when shopping for floor tiles by a fellow customer in the Home Depot tile section. He saw us looking at tiles and suggested looking at MT&M as well. ) It's smallish, family-run place with zillions of samples and friendly, helpful staff. We found a few samples that we liked and asked how to check them out so we could try them in the kitchen. No problem. He wrote down my name and that was it. I kept waiting for me to ask for something else. When we did this years ago in Seattle, we always had to show ID, and sometimes even leave some sort of security like a credit card number or even a small deposit. But here, "just take 'em...bring them back in a week or so".

We picked one we liked, and went back to place the order. They gave me a great price and within a few days I had my tiles. These are the ones we picked....aren't they pretty with the granite?

Sweater weather

Seriously. The rest of the country is sweltering through a heat wave, but it's relatively chilly here. A light sweater was definitely in order today. The fog rolled in and never left today. Sitting at a stop light at Carpenter Street in Carmel, I could see wisps of fog wafting across Highway 1. I got ahead of it a bit when the road dropped into the valley, but by the time I came out of Safeway I could see it catching up. On the way home, fog all the way. Not bad fog, you understand, just a chilly misty day. Kind of moody and pretty though, driving along through the trees.

  

These little guys sure can eat!

Most of the guests at our bird feeder are finches, probably 90-95% of them, with the occasional woodpecker or oak titmouse stopping by. I refill the thing every few days now, and it takes about 3-4 cups to fill -- that's a lot of seed.  How do these little guys eat so much?

Finches tend to dominate the feeder, but I happened to be looking out when a family of woodpeckers came a-calling. Two remained on the tree branch, while the third got some food, which he then seemed to feed to one of the waiting birds. On his second visit to the feeder though, he didn't share.  Eventually the two slightly larger birds set about pushing and pecking at the one who had been fed. I can only surmise that these two, like most parents of adolescents, had decided to tell the youngster it's time to get off his lazy behind and get his own food.

Safeway Rewards

Safeway is offering 70 cents per gallon in its gas rewards program this week if you spend $100 in one shopping trip(not hard to do). Definitely worth taking advantage of. I've used the gas rewards discount at the Chevron right across from Crossroads, and at the one in Morgan Hill just off the highway. The machine at the pump is never able to read my Rewards card when I swipe it though, I always have to enter my phone number. On the way to Safeway, at the Hwy 1/Rio Road intersection by Crossroads Mall, there was a panhandler with a cardboard sign at the side of the road. Instead of the usual request for money, his sign read...."Bet you can't hit me with a quarter". A novel approach, I'll give him that. Though if he really is homeless and hungry, it's more than a bit sad that he would be willing to have people throw quarters at him and then scramble around looking for them in the dirt just to get food.

Lunch with a View

Jack's in the Portola Hotel is a nice place to sit outside, have lunch and a glass of wine, and watch the goings on in Custom House Plaza. You might get seated next to a party of seagulls. This guy wasn't too picky about the menu...whatever's left over is fine.