Lake Robair in late January, before it was drained.

Part 1 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Today, I’m reminded of the evil scientist’s quote in the Looney Tunes episode “Water, Water, Every Hare�:

“Delays, delays, nothing but delays!�

No one is surprised that this adventure will take longer than expected. For example, our holiday gift from the county was a 100-day wait for a set of building permits—all because of an internal door. In the meantime, my son has launched a flotilla of paper boats on Lake Robair as we wait for the rains to subside. His next big scheme is to promote our impromptu reservoir as a “semi-rural spa with mud baths,â€? hoping to charge $5 a customer. “Lemons into lemonadeâ€? is how he puts it.

Meanwhile his father is coming to grips with the issues of creating a work environment that keeps residential sounds out while keeping musical ones in. Anyone with a personal studio knows that leaf blowers, trucks, and airplanes provide a formidable opponent in terms of sound isolation. But this studio owner also likes natural light, so I’ve been thinking long and hard about the windows. The permitting process has bought me a bit more time. more