All fired up for 2022

But we haven’t gotten any younger in the intervening years, and suffice it to say that our bodies chill more readily these days than when we were in our thirties, so the thought of lounging in front of a warm fire on a chilly night has become more appealing. But with climate change on everyone’s mind here in the Golden State, the disincentives for carbon-based emissions are growing ever greater. There is something called “Spare the Air” days on which lighting fires is prohibited along with other formerly normal activities such as barbecuing or using gas-powered equipment — like cars. And inevitably those days occur on exactly the day you wish you had a warm fire.

So it wasn’t long after we bought our house that the fireplace that came with it went into a sort of extended hibernation. Sure, we’d haul out some pillar candles during the holidays to add some ambience to the otherwise empty hole in our living room wall, but it wasn’t the same. We got bored with the traditional antiqued red bricks of the surround and tried painting them — first all white and later in alternating shades of brown and beige. But even prettied up, the unused fireplace remained an unused fireplace, occupying a prominent space in our living room that we desperately wanted to find a use for but never knew how.

Until now.

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W

E HAD BEEN using a small portable space heater for our winter heating needs in lieu of the central heating and AC system that is long overdue for an overhaul. It adds a bit to our energy bill, but it is cheaper than buying a new compressor and paying someone to install it. But the thing isn’t very attractive and is noisy as a buzz saw. Roni decided it was nearing the end of its useful life and needed to be replaced. Which seemed like the perfect time to take a second look at that old hole in the wall.

Fireplace inserts have become all the rage, and there are lots of them to choose from. We decided to do something radically different and buy one that could be installed directly over our existing fireplace. Rather than tear out a bunch of brick and concrete and cover over the remaining hole in the wall, Glenn thought he could build a frame right over it.

So after a few days of consulting YouTube and Pinterest for inspiration, then combing countless product reviews, we invested in a 50-inch Touchstone Sideline Elite electric fireplace. Next we drove over to Home Depot and bought two-dozen 2x4s to start putting together a frame, because even if there was little expectation that this project would be complete before Christmas, Roni wanted to be able to put the device to use heating our home as soon as possible.

We didn’t have a concrete plan written out for how things would all come together, and given that Glenn hasn’t tackled anything so major in nearly three years since remodeling the kitchen, we didn’t want to make the project too complex. A bit of basic carpentry was all we needed to get up and running.

The fireplace showed up on our doorstep the morning of Dec. 2 while we were both still in bed. The delivery guy had no trouble at all one-arming it onto the porch, and Roni wanted it off of there as soon as possible lest some porch pirate trot away with it. There probably wasn’t much need to fear that, however, as it took both of us straining with all our energy to raise the heavy box over the door threshold and slide it into the house. Yeah, we’re getting old.

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G

LENN SPENT THAT weekend building the basic frame. Because we planned to hide the existing hearth and mantel, that meant widening the footprint of the fireplace slightly. A professional surely would have told us to remove the carpet where it meets the brick of the hearth, but our goal was to avoid any major demolition (on the off chance that we wanted to go back to the way things were) and so we decided we could make it work by laying wood planks along the edge. We then placed a three-quarter inch plywood sheet on top of the bricks, covered that with cement backer board, and made plans to finish it off with tile. 

That would result in an 11-inch wide hearth, considerably smaller that what we had. This was because the stud wall holding up the new fireplace needed at least 6 inches of clearance from the brick surround of the old fireplace, to account for ventilation, and we were in very tight quarters there.

The front stud frame came together quickly. Glenn decided to assemble it with screws rather than nails, again to make it easier to disassemble if it ever came to that. To the front face, he attached small sidewalls that got anchored directly to the outer wall studs of the house, and then he added a top plate to match the height of the old mantel. The result was a rock-solid structure that wasn’t going anywhere.

It took the two of us to lift the fireplace into the frame. At nearly 50 pounds, it is a hefty beast. Then we plugged it in to test it out. Wow! This unit got great reviews, it cost a bit more than some others, and now we understand why. The Touchstone Elite series offers two heat settings along with an array of programmable colors for the flames and the embers. It comes with a package of clear crystals that can be interchanged or combined with some ceramic logs to achieve whatever ambience one desires. Everything is lit with LED technology, which means that you can turn off the heater and just enjoy the look of the fireplace on a warm summer night, if that is what you want.

Roni decided to go with the crystals for the first run. They were pretty simple to install — just remove a couple of screws in the glass faceplate and set it aside to access the “combustion” compartment. There are enough crystals to spread across the full length of the compartment base. Technically you can put anything you want in there, as it won’t burn; we joked about adding Pokémon or some other little figure to the display. The colors are all controlled via a remote, or you can link it using bluetooth wireless connectivity to a smartphone app or Amazon Alexa device. We got the bluetooth working quickly enough, but unfortunately it “forgot” the connection within a few days and so we went back to using the remote control.

The heater runs at either 750 or 1,500 watts, depending on how warm you want things. We honestly weren’t expecting miracles with it heating our cavernous living room, as it is rated for about 400 square feet, but having used it for a few weeks now we are very impressed. It gets the temperature of the room up to around 70 degrees, even on nights when the outdoor temperature has dipped into the 30s. We had grown accustomed to shivering in blankets and sweaters  during the winter months, and it looks like now we won’t need to do that as often. (It could also be that our new doors and windows are more efficient than the old ones.)

So yes, we are so far very pleased. This may change once we see our first electric bill! But at least we will be warm as we write that check to PG&E.

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K

NOWING THAT THE fireplace worked properly was only part of the equation; we still needed to finish the rest of the surround. It looks a bit naked having this beautiful techie device sitting in a bare wood frame surrounded by a construction zone. The next step was to continue with the framing process, and this is where the look of the fireplace was about to take a radical departure from what we’d known for the past 30 years.

It was decided to move the front of the fireplace wall out about a foot from the existing wall, so Glenn used his studs to build a 6-foot-tall upper frame that we covered with shiplap. We bought the 12-foot MDF boards from Lowe’s and had them cut in half there to save us some money. Glenn then used 1-inch wood screws to attach them to the face of the upper frame. Yes, we probably should have painted them ahead of time, but because we haven’t settled on colors yet we decided to attach first and paint later.   

At the top of the shiplap our plan is to install a trio of small, decorative windows using glass we had leftover from the kitchen cabinets. As we write this, that part of the project is still evolving and may end up quite different by the time we’re done. The same is perhaps true of the mantel, which we plan to build ourselves out of 1x and 2x dimensional lumber. The existing mantel we never liked much, as it was covered in poorly applied plaster and too small to hold most of the trinkets we placed on it. The new mantel will be longer and wider, and have a more natural wood-like appearance.

For the sides, we plan to use wide planks of MDF, with corner edges finished using thin boards running the height of the wall. We will need to leave access somewhere for the fireplace cord and other electrical connections. And of course there is the tile, which we have yet to choose. We are leaning towards a gray or black slate with a polished finish that will take up the hearth and most of the bottom face surrounding the fireplace.

When will it all be finished? Ah, there is the million-dollar question. Which is to say, if we had a million dollars we would have hired this job out to someone else. Seriously, the goal is before the end of January, while we still have some time to enjoy it before winter turns to spring.

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N

ATURALLY WE WANTED to see the fireplace completed in time for Christmas, but that was never likely to happen. So on Christmas morning before opening our gifts, we assembled around the construction zone for some selfies, the ambience of the roaring fire helping to set the mood.

Perhaps because of the project, it wasn’t a typical Christmas for us. We all felt busier and more rushed than usual, which seems strange to think amid the pandemic. Ben and Glenn did some in-person shopping at the mall stores in Antioch one rainy afternoon a few days before the holiday, but most of the gifting came courtesy of the Chinese artisans that inhabit Amazon.

Roni, heavily immersed in her resin crafting for the past several months, decided to make gifts for most of the family, so she spent days tucked away in her office room with her molds and two-part epoxy creating coasters and trays and some out-of-this-world pyramids filled with planets, stars and galaxies — even a few Pokémon for a present she designed for Ben.

Meanwhile, we fretted about when (or if) packages would arrive on time. As it was, the brilliant minds at Amazon managed to send one of Ben’s gifts to another address in the neighborhood, and our faith in humanity was further tarnished when no one bothered to forward it to us. Roni reordered it, but instead of what we were expecting, she received a duplicate of another more expensive gift she had purchased. Then the day before Christmas, she got the original package that she had reordered. Apparently Amazon is rich enough that it doesn’t care about such screw-ups.

Glenn baked his Christmas bread despite coming close to not doing so. He has been extra tired lately and busy with work, and there is always more food on Christmas morning than we know how to finish. But the mere suggestion that he might break tradition drew swift condemnation from the rest of the family, so he braved fatigue and a sore back to make the double loaves once again on Christmas Eve. This turned out to be one of his better efforts, with a balanced flavor he described as just perfect.

There were fewer gifts under the tree, which was good because we planned to visit family in Hayward that afternoon and didn’t have hours to linger over the unwrapping ritual. Ben’s main present was a gift card from Best Buy so he could choose from any of a dozen things he said he wanted. Glenn received a Ring floodlight camera and a mini doughnut machine. Roni’s main gift was supposed to be a heated foot spa, but as with many things Amazon-related, the package didn’t arrive until the Monday after Christmas; she did get to enjoy the scent of the tea tree oil massage pellets that Glenn wrapped up as a stand-in.

We got to Hayward a bit after 2 p.m., later than we hoped but still well before dinner. Our gathering — the first for a holiday in two years — was a little smaller than usual because Glenn’s dad came up from Hemet to visit a few weeks ago and wasn’t with the family on Christmas Day. We exchanged gifts before sitting down to a feast of Cornish game hen, braised Brussel sprouts, cranberry sauces, caprese salad and marshmallow Jell-O squares. There was plenty of pie and cookies for dessert, along with some eggnog we brought to share, although most of us were so stuffed that it was hard to find room to put it all.

We headed for home around 7, Roni as the designated driver concerned that it was preparing to rain. All in all it was a fun time, but also an exhausting day of trying to stay on schedule to fit everything in. Now that the holidays are winding down, we’re looking forward to a chance to resume a more relaxed pace for a while.

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W

HEN IT COMES to dead and dying trees, it’s not if but when they have to be removed. Unlike the behemoth we chopped down in the front yard this past summer after it had grown so large that it began crushing the gutter and threatening to do the same to the roof, our evergreen ash has been a frail skeleton of its former self, towering dry and brittle over our backyard and threatening little more than the occasional birds that perched in its branches. A good wind might have knocked it over, and we more or less hoped it would, to save us the task of hiring someone to remove it. 

We were all indoors on an inclement Monday night, Dec. 27, when we suddenly heard what sounded like cat claws skittering across the kitchen floor. Given that Phoenix had been in that room drinking water from his dish, we assumed it was another feline dust-up of little consequence when he went into crazy cat mode and fled the room in some sort of irrational terror. Where’s Phyre? Are you two fighting again? Pfft… cats.

Well, the next morning we were getting our day started when Roni peeked out the patio door and noticed things looked a little different. “Did that tree move closer?” she asked, looking at the barren branches that now brushed the top of our small pergola. “I think it’s definitely closer. Did it fall?”

She pondered the situation for a few minutes, unable to get a good look because of the layout of the yard and not willing to venture outside onto the wet ground in her socks. But Glenn was able to confirm that indeed the tree was no longer standing upright — or at least not as upright as it had been.

He pulled himself away from looking at stock tickers, threw on some shoes, and went outside to confirm what was already obvious: the tree was down. Well, as down as it could be under the circumstances; its main lateral root had rotted through and the tree’s weight had carried it down to rest on top of our Spring Season statue.

Apparently 260 pounds of concrete was enough to stop the descent of the once mighty ash. Its massive trunk sat propped on the statue’s head and shoulders, such that we were amazed it hadn’t damaged the sculpture in any obvious way. Spring is no stranger to mayhem, of course, having toppled off her pedestal in 2009 when the unstable earth beneath her base shifted. Back then, her neck had landed on a retaining wall block, and it was by miracle that her head hadn’t snapped off.

Now we worried that there was some unseen damage. But on closer inspection we found nothing more than the scars she still bears from her previous collapse. She’d proven her Wonder Woman capabilities admirably, saving any further disaster from the tree’s toppling.

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B

UT HOW TO remove the fallen ash, which was still leaning on the pergola and could yet harm Spring. Glenn used the extension ladder and his demolition saw to hack off the midsize branches that were now much more accessible than when he’d first tried unsuccessfully to prune them a year ago. The only apparent damage was to the weathervane on Roni’s weather station, where a branch had struck the plastic instrument and nearly snapped off its tail.

Many of the smaller branches were so brittle that they simply broke off in Glenn’s hand with little effort. But the larger parts of the trunk were more stubborn, and even with the demo saw blade it took a few passes before they finally fell. Frankly, it was probably a job better suited to a small chainsaw, and although we have one we would have needed to retrieve it from the cluttered garage. So, expedience first over convenience.

By the time we removed the top branches, all that was left was the main trunk that was still supported by Spring’s head. With the help of an old 4x4 post, we pushed the dead tree back, temporarily lodged the post under the trunk to get it off of Spring, then gently leaned the statue down into the sand to get her out of harm’s way. Neither of us possesses the upper body strength we once had, so lifting her off her pedestal was out of the question; she looked like a model lounging on the beach for a photo shoot once we were done with her.

So now we’ve got a big hole in the ground and a bunch of wood to further chop up so it can be removed from the yard. A project for spring — the season, not the statue. At least there won’t be much work involved removing the stump, which pulled up from the ground. The tree we once called our “Independence Tree” because it was planted on July 4, 1997, weeks after we bought the house, is no more. It had been dead for years, and now we can reclaim its spot to plant something new and hopefully more durable.

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W

HAT UNFURLED IN promising fashion for much of the year concluded with a major thud as our investments struggled mightily in December amid a wave of relentless selling pressure that had us flirting uncomfortably with margin calls. While we close the books on 2021 having reached our cash flow goals — just barely — the situation is shaping up to be far less rosy in 2022, at least initially.

With selling options, what positions one opens eventually must be closed at market price or you are “assigned” the shares. For calls, that means losing 100 shares of stock you otherwise own; for puts, it means having to buy 100 shares at the strike price of the contract you entered. Ideally that exercise price is close to what you sold it for. If not, your losses can balloon quickly. We attempt to strike a balance between selling calls and puts because one is usually going down in price while the other is going up, but it doesn’t always work the way you intend or expect, especially in a volatile market like the one we’ve had recently.

So Dec. 17 turned into one of our busiest trading days this year, as Glenn awoke early to close out several large positions on Apple and Boeing among others which although profitable were eating up a lot of needed capital. And while things may be right again between us and our brokerage, there are still enough loose ends going into the new year that we are most likely going to chill by the sidelines for a while until some of the most troubled trades work themselves out. In other words, we won’t be taking on a lot of new puts the way we did earlier this year.

This is not to say that we won’t be or haven’t been buying stocks outright. With some shares trashed 60, 70 or 80 percent from their highs just a few months or weeks ago, there are bargains aplenty among growth names and even a few dividend payers if you believe that tax-loss harvesting, inflation and COVID concerns will eventually subside. We purchased 200 more shares of Invesco Mortgage Capital (IVR) as it appears fairly priced now below $3 and still holds promise for further recovery and dividend growth next year. We also added 150 more shares of ChargePoint (CHPT) in Glenn’s IRA — the first 50 because we couldn’t pass on the price when it hit $18.20, and the the latter 100 because it was assigned to us on option at $28 a share (ouch.) We closed out the year by adding 10 more shares of our favorite ETF, QYLD, embarking on a new strategy to purchase 10 more shares every month to increase our dividends.

But those were the highlights in a mostly disastrous month that featured a lot of option positions rolled deep into 2022 or beyond in an effort to manage the huge selloff in growth and tech names. Some should recover, but others may not. Our task going forward is to decide which is which, and what to do about it.

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W

E WRAP UP this newsletter in the waning hours of 2021, reflecting on what was supposed to have been the year we conquered COVID and returned to some semblance of the “normal” world we knew before there were masks, vaccine mandates, toilet paper shortages, supply chain worries and inflation fears. And although we personally accomplished some big things in the form of rebuilding our fireplace and removing two troublesome trees, replacing our doors and windows, and spending a great week with our extended family on the shores of Monterey Bay, life seemed to grow more hectic and our world more confused both socially and politically.

This could easily become a 2,000-word rant on what’s wrong with America in 2022, but it won’t be; it’s merely a final sigh heavy with longing for better times for ourselves and for everyone. It’s easy to take the cynical view that we’ve somehow lost our way, never to regain it. It would perhaps be more optimistic to believe in the resilience of humans and our ability to persevere in the face of adversity.

Let’s hope the end of 2022 finds us back on track, celebrating again our achievements and good times savored with family and friends. That is our wish to you for peace and prosperity in whatever form it may take.

 

Glenn, Roni and Ben