Drapery Hooks and Fire Trucks

I’ve been down at Tybee this week, trying to get the Breeze Inn put together. The plan was for me to get towel bars and toilet paper holders and curtain rods put up, curtains hung–12 sets of Ikea Marete drapes–and all the boxes unpacked. Mundane stuff. Except my life is never mundane. Like yesterday, my friend Jacky came over. The plan was that we-meaning mostly her, since I am a total dweeb when it comes to figgerin’–would make the pinch-pleat drapes of my dreams for the master bedroom. I’d bought all the supplies, had my sewing machine at the ready. We cut out the fabric panels, puzzled over how to do the lining and the pleater tape, and then ran into a giant roadblock when we discovered I’d bought the wrong #$%^& kind of drapery hooks. Since we are out at Tybee, and the nearest “store” is T.S. Chu’s Department Store, a funky old 1950s beach novelty shop specializing in tourist crap, with an odd hardware store tacked on, this meant a trip into town to search for the right drapery hooks. Two hours later, Jacky was back, and we settled into more figgerin’ with a little sewing. Keith, my wonderful contractor, and his helper Brian, showed up to hang the aforementioned towel bars, ect. More roadblocks. The curtain rods for my office area didn’t have any brackets. The shower rod for the downstairs bath would require a special cutting tool. Ect. Jacky went home for dinner. I made the looong trip into town to buy more curtain rods. Came back and settled into working on the manuscript for THE FIXER UPPER which has to be shipped back to NY today. Jacky arrived with a worried look. Did I smell gas? We stepped outside into the freezing cold, and yes, it smelled like gas. A LOT of gas. Went into the backyard, where our propane tanks are. A whole, whole lot of gas smell. So I called the Tybee police department, and they came out, and they smelled gas too, so they called the Tybee Fire Department, who were conveniently having a department wide training drill last night. The firemen were more than happy to make the two block trip over here with lights flashing and sirens wailing. We’re talking two trucks, maybe 10 guys, plus additional police cars. The guys poked around in the attic, and the rest of the house, and could find no gas smell inside. They poked around the propane tanks, and couldn’t find any obvious problems. The cop came inside to take my report. I’m so proud: been on Tybee three days and already my name has entered the police reports! Finally, we decided there was no iminent threat of explosion. Jacky went home. I went to bed. This morning, the gas smell is gone. But you can bet your bippy I called the gas company, and they will send somebody out to make sure we don’t get blown to kingdom come. Oh yeah. P.S. We finished exactly ONE drape panel yesterday. Out of six. Stay tuned…