Uncategorized – Page 10

23 04, 2009

A hundred and sixty years in Benicia

By Steve McKee|2009-04-23T06:26:11+00:00April 23rd, 2009|Benicia, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A hundred and sixty years in Benicia

While at City Hall on some random piece of business I came across a pamphlet about a downtown historical walking tour of Benicia so I took a copy and shared it with my wife. I had a plan. We could do the walking tour. And since this year marks our twentieth year of living in Benicia, it would be a perfect way to give the town its due. Luckily my wife is willing to go along with most of my schemes. The tour turned out to be entertaining with many new insights gained and our sense of pride as Benicians [...]

12 03, 2009

On dream houses in Mexico and life lessons – PART 2

By Steve McKee|2009-03-12T06:28:02+00:00March 12th, 2009|The Mexico house, Uncategorized|Comments Off on On dream houses in Mexico and life lessons – PART 2

Six months in Mexico wasn’t all just carefree fun, though the bodysurfing and inviting friends to come visit for a week sure helped. I was in charge of building a second beach house on the vacant parcel that my dad just bought next to our first house, so there were building chores to occupy me on a regular basis. Meanwhile, Melody passed the time creating several stained glass windows for the new house and baking bread. It was 1988, and my dad and I were at the height of our developer thinking ways, so our plan was to build this [...]

15 02, 2009

Building a house in Mexico – the reality – PART 1

By Steve McKee|2009-02-15T06:29:00+00:00February 15th, 2009|The Mexico house, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Building a house in Mexico – the reality – PART 1

Sometimes I think I could become a guy who spends his days building houses by the beach in Mexico. It’s not that life in Benicia isn’t working. I’m just fantasizing about a parallel universe where I took a different path. (Like you don’t do this sort of thing?) It’s actually pretty easy for me to entertain this idea, because twenty years ago I actually was that guy. For six months (until my tourist card ran out) in my pre-kids, pre-house payments phase. It came about when my parents became deeply enamored of Mexico and bought some beach property in La [...]

15 01, 2009

Phil Joy’s house move enters the home stretch – PART 4

By Steve McKee|2009-01-15T06:30:43+00:00January 15th, 2009|Phil Joy's big house move, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Phil Joy’s house move enters the home stretch – PART 4

The house already felt strange enough with its tilt, not to mention the way my son Wesley and I had needed a ladder to climb onto the levitating back porch in order to enter. Then it all swayed just slightly, forward motion was sensed, and our short and gentle ride began. The motion was slow enough that I needed to look out one of the oversized wood windows to be sure we were moving. On the one side, just a couple of feet away, was the metal roof of the Von Pfister enclosure; on the other side was the expanse [...]

26 12, 2008

Fireplaces: New rules

By Steve McKee|2008-12-26T22:14:07+00:00December 26th, 2008|Elements of Design, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Fireplaces: New rules

It seems everybody has heard that the rules for fireplaces have changed. They have. The new regs go something like this: If you already have a wood burning fireplace you will get to keep using it, except on “spare the air days” as declared by the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board. Benicia gets its mandates for fireplace rules from this agency. For new construction you can still install wood burning devices (it’s true, at least for now) but they will have to be environmentally friendly “EPA certified” models. These EPA models can be decked out with all the trappings [...]

27 11, 2008

A Benician in L.A.

By Steve McKee|2008-11-27T22:15:39+00:00November 27th, 2008|Travel Tales, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A Benician in L.A.

It was while soaking in my aunt’s bath-like pool admiring a particularly handsome grouping of palm trees that I realized what most people don’t “get” about Los Angeles. It’s the micro, not the macro. The long drives to get everywhere can sure suck, but the buildings and spaces that await you at the end of your drive can be pretty sweet. Little paradises within the landscape of sprawl. The moment came last July when Melody and I and daughter Gwenna had just traversed the entire L.A. basin by freeway to get to my aunt and uncle’s house in Murrieta, and [...]