Jim Bierly: A giant moves on

We lost a good one. Jim Bierly, a giant in my life and a friend of my family’s from before the time I was born, died yesterday at 87.

Jim fought in World War II, came home to Ohio and ran a manufacturing business. His daughter will carry on as head of the business. He had four kids.

For twenty years, on every single trip I’ve made to my hometown in Ohio, I’ve seen Jim and his wife Karen. Every trip.

He was one of those guys that you just liked. Solid, good-hearted, dependable. He was always there. He lived in an old Ohio farmhouse that he remodeled 10-15 years ago. I remember going there in the early seventies as a small kid for parties. In particular I remember going sledding there with at least a dozen other kids, I was one of the youngest at that scene.

Four or five years ago, when I went home for Christmas, my mom and I spent Christmas Eve with Jim and Karen and a couple of other people. It was a cold night, but nice out. We all headed outside with our drinks and had a huge bonfire. It was one of my best Christmas Eve’s ever. I can still smell the smoke.

How do you describe a person in a few words?

It was his time to go, but it’s so hard to believe. He was just always there. For years.

I can hear his voice in my head, but I can’t find words to describe it.

Tonight my mom described him as one of her favorite men. 

His first wife, Helen, died of cancer when I was young. She and I share the same birthday. This may have been before or after my dad died, I don’t remember, it was around the same time--probably after, circa 1972. She was the first person I knew who knew that she was dying. She was an amazing woman too. I remember her strong spirit and her positive energy. Jim also had that positive energy. He wasn’t a pushover kind of a guy, but his kindness is what I’ll remember the most.

Jim's body started to give out on him a few years ago, but his mind and spirit remained strong until the end.

Jim’s wife Karen is also a great friend and is an equally large presence in my life. My heart breaks for her.

Jim was a giant.

Goodbye my friend.

Fall in Utah's Wasatch Range, 2012.

En route to Desolation Lake from Big Cottonwood Canyon. 

Briefly a tourist in New York.

Yesterday I got to see some of my favorite people from my meteorite dealing/Airstreaming days. They're doing a show in Brimfield, Massachusetts.

This morning I left Windrock Farm (seeing the new foal before leaving), took the train into New York City (which took 3 hours instead of 2 due to "signaling problems at Grand Central). I made a pilgrimage to One World Trade Center, which officially passed the height of the Empire State Building a few days earlier. I walked around for a few hours, saw my friend Kim, then took a series of trains to JFK.

I didn't get on any flights so had to get a hotel room (I could have gone back into the city and stayed with friends, but it seemed like too far to go).

Here I am, watching Mad Men, and hoping to get on the first flight to Salt Lake in the morning.

A few photos from today:

Windrock Farm welcomes a new filly!

Out of RJ, here she is, less than 10 hours old and born in the nick of time for me to see her prior to heading home. 

She was born under the full moon. Her name: Lunar Lilly. 

Windrock Farm is my sister's farm in New York. 

Images from opening day, City Creek Center, Salt Lake City, by Jim Breitinger.

These are images from the new City Creek Center, which opened yesterday in Salt Lake. I am not a big shopper, but I am thrilled with this addition to our city. It's beautifully done. Over 90 shops and restaurants, including Tiffany and Nordstrom. Over 1.5 billion dollars spent. New residential towers. Stunning views of the LDS Temple and Temple Square (I am not LDS, but appreciate what the Mormon church has done to establish SLC as a cultural center--even if the culture is a little vanilla). 

It's spectacular and only a ten minute walk from my new house. 

iPhone images by Jim Breitinger/Utahredrock. 

Woman and LDS Temple:

Crowds along the revived City Creek:

Boy and fountain:

Night scene, City Creek, spring 2012:

View just to the south from new condo at City Creek Center:

One of the fountains at night:

Lights at Nordstrom:

Painting of NYC at Tiffany's:

Street performer:

Couple and friends in front of Tiffany's:

Water dancing:

The old ZCMI facade revived as part of Macy's:

Jake today in Utah.

The kitchen is complete!

At least mostly complete . . . here's a partial view:

I wish I'd picked a darker gray for the walls. Coming sometime in the future: stainless steel between the oven and the microwave, and tile backsplash between lower and upper cabinets.

Design decision: Leave adobe bricks exposed?

The entire house, both interior and exterior walls, is built from double-wide large adobe bricks.

An adobe brick is simply dried mud. If you drop it from as low as two or three feet to a solid surface, chances are good the brick will shatter into dust and smaller chunks of dried mud. It's shocking that these old houses are made from this material, yet this house has been standing for over 150 years.

As I gutted the place during the remodel I uncovered many brick walls. Initially I thought I'd leave a few exposed, but since adobe bricks are so fragile (and dirty) I covered them all back up except for a section of wall in the kitchen. I like the different look, texture, and feel of the exposed brick versus just more drywall or plaster. Yet the wall needs work--part of it needs to be rebuilt and mortar repairs are needed throughout. Also, if you leave adobe exposed it must be treated with a chemical or resin to create a harder surface and prevent deterioration of the exposed mud bricks.

Another reason I have for leaning toward leaving the wall exposed is it serves as a "truth wall." In straw-bale constructed homes (straw is a highly energy efficient material for construction) it's a common practice to leave a truth window so people can see the material inside of a wall. Since my whole house is built from these adobe bricks it's cool to actually see some of them.

The end of the exposed brick wall in the kitchen has looked like it was about to collapse for the past six weeks or so. I was afraid to touch it. It's a load bearing wall and I didn't want to create some sort of collapse, even though the section of concern was clearly bearing no weight.

Last night my friend Bob suggested wood shims and an extra brick where one was missing. Like magic the wall looked a little more complete and stable. More work needs to be done and in the end I may just skim the wall with plaster since these bricks are so unstable, but with this temporary fix I feel comfortable leaving it alone for a while.

After the shim repair:

Before:

Granite countertops installed!

Today provided one of those extremely rewarding moments of a home renovation. The cabinets, finally secure, level, and attached to the walls, were ready. The free granite my friend Leon found for me in November had been cut and prepared. The installers arrived and in about an hour they had the new counters installed. The cost was the cost of the prep and installation ($600) which seems pretty inexpensive for solid granite counters. They mounted the sink under the counter, which I didn't even think of asking for but love.

I can't stop staring at these new counters! It's the kind of finishing material that really makes a place.

If you live near Salt Lake City and have a need for granite (they also do window sills, table tops, etc.) call Harry of Distinctive Marble and Granite at 801.750.5720. These guys are great.

Next to refrigerator:

Close-up of sink:

During install:

Prepped for install:

A windowsill transformed (for surprisingly little money).

These aren't the best photos, but the guys from Distinctive Marble and Granite did a great job of adding a classy windowsill to my kitchen window. Love it!

Before:

After:

Close-up (truer to actual colors, the wall is a light grey, not pink, red, or green as it appears in any of these photos):

About that Ikea kitchen . . .

Last Saturday I had three generous and talented friends help me begin the installation of my Ikea kitchen. We made a lot of progress.

Much remains to be done.

On Sunday, two other friends helped me raise the upper cabinets. Since then, despite significant effort, I've felt over my head and have accomplished little. I have a new helper arriving tomorrow to see if we can move this project forward.

Here's what it looked like at the end of last Saturday, and what it still looks like now. There are MANY hundreds of parts remaining to put together to finish this job.

The whole process is overwhelming and I am beyond my skill zone and stretching point. Hopefully there will be some progress tomorrow.

Kitchen.

January 10:

January 23:

The new laundry takes shape.

This laundry room was nothing more than a porch that was dark and cold and barely used by the previous owners. They had the laundry in the kitchen and used this room for storage. I finished installing the insulation this morning:

Drywall hung by late afternoon:

January 25 update:

This 150+ year house never had any insulation in the walls. Most of what we added was the fancy blow-in type. The only regular fiberglass insulation used is in this room.

The part of the job I really, really didn't want to have to do . . .

but you have to fix a leaky roof. My patch didn't work so the whole section of roof was replaced.

Job almost finished by end of day . . . did it really cost THAT much for this one day job?

On the left is the old "back porch" and new laundry room. Also in this photo, the old roofing material on the ground . . .

A new opening!

It was Saturday November 5, the first weekend after buying my new house. I was tearing out the old kitchen and pantry. My friend Phil came by and pointed out that I should open up the space, including losing a bedroom and moving a planned second bathroom.

The design change was a great idea and once that idea was planted I wanted to do it. Little did I know, little did any of us know, that that change would set off a chain of events that would prolong the renovation and change my planned November 30 move-in date by almost 40 days and counting.

IPS, my contractor, has been doing outstanding work. We are, I hope, in the final stretch. As of today, the rough carpentry and plumbing are finished. The rough electrical work is also almost finished--and hopefully will be by the scheduled inspection this coming Monday.

Today we removed the final two by fours, old enough that they are actually two inches by four inches. This created an opening between the enlarged kitchen and the former bedroom which will become a dining room/living area off of the kitchen--a great room.

A lot's happened in the past two months. The removal of the final two by fours today almost felt like a revelation. It was amazing what had to happen prior to taking them out.

Here's the new opening, Phil's design change:

A new floor in the hall and kitchen!

Jake on New Year's Day in Salt Lake City.