Note Type
TranscriptionNote
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Menuhin,
Now that the rains are finally over (Carl recorded 60 inches total for the season) we've had several weeks of instant summer with temperatures up to the high 80's. We are promised more "normal" (whatever that is) spring weather for a while now, however. It has been beautiful in any case.
Some of the benefits of the extra rain are very heavy flower crops on some species. The _Iris macrosiphon_, our native iris in this area, has more flowers than I've ever seen before. If my pictures of them seem worthy I will send copies for your enjoyment.
The two 'Alma Schultz' flowering nectarine which Frank and George planted years ago were a mass of flowers this year. I'm including one of Carl's pictures of them. We've been able to resurrect them with fertilizer, pruning and some sympathetic attention which is certainly due them considering what they have lived through.
We were also able to resurrect an old Delicious Apple, which rewarded us with many flowers this year.
next year we hope to prune the remaining old fruit trees in the lower meadow, which include an apricot, a mulberry, a plum and several kinds of apple.
We have not pursued the cord-wood production project yet but may be able to get started on it this summer or fall.
We've become acquainted with a young man who works at Filoli, who is a man-of-all-trades there, and who expressed an interest in pursuing development of the Soda Springs. He and the grounds manager of Filoli and we went to the Soda Springs to see what we could discover of the current conditions of the facilities and the spring itself. Both of them have experience with decloping abandoned water sourced and are honest, sincere young people who may be able to understand what has to be done to rehabilitate the facility. So far we found no spring water entering the site, and have found that a culvert which Santa Clara County Road Department placed across the road above the site is dumping water from the road ditch into the property, and this is running into the spring box. We could redirect that ditch water across the property, I believe.
The facilities which remain amount to a concrete wall, out of which the spring water is supposed to emenate. The spring is not currently running but the very heavy mineral deposits which are evident in old overflow pipes suggest that the supply system through the wall may be plugged by the same material.
Some pipes which appear to have been part of the original equipment have been cut off above the road which is above the spring property.
How important a function those pipes served will have to be investigated further. We are in hopes that we can get these people back up here to further investigate the facility with the intent of being able to offer some specific suggestion of procedures to follow next.
Carol and I have the opportunity to go to Japan with a tour led by a land-scape architect friend who wishes to train us to conduct tours like this, ultimately to use them as fund raising means for the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation. This tour will be a group of thirty-one professional horticulturists. Our purpose is to study the relationship between horticulture architecture, and art in Japan. We leave May 11 and will return June 1.
It is for this reason that I am writing this hurried letter, to offer you the first bids we have received for repair of the roof.
I've divided the roof areas into three sections, to enable the roofing companies to offer you bids in such a way that you may decide to do all or only part of the roof this year.
Section A is the area we use the most, and in which the worst leaks occur, so seems the most important.
Section B has the fewest roof leaks at this time. However, it abuts section A at the corner of the dining room at a difficult site to seal. This area is the source of most of the leaks in Section A, so would be better done at the same time.
Section C is the roof over the apartment. It has mushrooms growing through the ceiling in several areas, and indication not only of a roof leak, but of some dry rot in the roof sheeting.
This bid is offered by a local, small company, in which the owner does much of his own work. Though we expect other bids, I feel that this kind of company is better to business with than larger ones.
He has bid these at:
Section A $3,550.
Section B 1,475.
Section C 1,600.
_
$6,625.
He estimates a savings of $200 if all sections are done at the same time. Notice that his bid is for removal of all old roofing, (tar paper, old shingles, etc.) application of 15lb. felt and installation of 20-year guarantee fiberglass (fire resistant) shingles.
There would be additional costs for replacement of sheeting where these boards have decayed too badly to retain. That work would be invoiced as a per hour labor figure plus actual cost of new sheeting. Unfortunately there is no way to estimate how much sheeting would have to be replaced until the old roofing material is removed. It could cost several hundred dollars more. We could set a maximum figure for that portion of the work (as $500). I would assume that either Carl or I would check and approve any areas which might need replacement sheeting before that work is performed.
I've included a very crude plan of the house to make it easier to understand the arbitrary section I've defined.
If you wish that we go ahead with this contractor, I will be pleased to do so, or if you prefer to wait until we receive other bids, I will be happy to do that, too.
We haven't heard from Mr. Menuhin's mother is faring after his father's passing. We hope she is doing well, as we hope for all of you. These parts of life leave painful scars.
We also wish you a pleasant and as restful as possible a summer in preparation for the festival in August.
We are sorry that this is such a hurried letter. We leave tomorrow morning. Love from us all,
Carl, Caorl, and Barrie.