It has been a great source of consternation for many of our friends that we have no furniture in our living room. It has remained as empty as the initial pictures I posted of our new house. Well, empty except for the stacked boxes because we have no furniture in which to put their contents away. Everyone seems to have a really hard time accepting this cavernous, empty room. We got a constant stream of phone calls and emails telling us about people who were selling their living room sets or furniture stores that were having sales. I thanked everyone for the information, but I had other plans. I wanted a pool table. And on Monday, we bought one.
Our living room really is huge. It's 19 feet by 28 feet. Do you know how much furniture it would take to properly furnish a space that size? My heart quailed at the thought of purchasing and moving and arranging and accessorizing that much furniture. No necessarily because of the cost and effort it would require, but because of the absolute uselessness of it. No matter how well we furnished that space, we would never use it.
Chuck and I spend the majority of our time at home in the casita at our desks. We each have our own office in the casita with spacious desks and comfortable chairs. We enjoy our work. Even if we don't have work to do for clients, we find our own projects that need our attention. When we are not in the casita, we choose to spend our time outdoors in the courtyard. And the courtyard is a space that we have furnished well and comfortably with a large table and generous and comfortable chairs with throw pillows. Heck, we even watch TV out there. We just don't need another furnished space. Now a pool table, on the other hand, we can use.
We had a pool table back in Fort Worth, and it was one of the items I was really sad to leave behind, but it just would not have survived the move, and the first house we lived in here simply didn't have the space. Since we now have the space, I have kept an eye out over the past year looking for the right opportunity to acquire the one item that can lure us into spending time in the main house, and Monday I found it. Canuck's, a local restaurant and bar, was going out of business and auctioning off its remaining assets, which happened to include an eight foot, slate-bed pool table. It needs to have the felt replaced and one of the bumpers repaired, but it is a sound table.
We went to the auction on Monday and sat through the entire, interminable thing just waiting. I knew from the beginning it would be the last item to be auctioned off, but that was fine with me. The longer it took to get to it, the more likely my competition was to get bored and leave or spend their money on something else first. There was just a handful of us left by the end, and I got the table for a steal.
My giddy elation for acquiring my prize for such a steal was quickly quenched by the logistical nightmare to follow: I had to get it home. And quickly. Pacifico was retaking possession of the property, along with its contents, Wednesday morning. That meant I had to figure out how to move the behemoth the very next day – much too quickly to arrange for professionals in this town – which also meant that I was about to find out who my friends are.
I am truly blessed to have Geoff Simons, the best cabinet and furniture maker in Mazatlan, as a good friend. Not only has he restored pool tables in the past, but his partner, Juan Valdez, has a truck that can actually carry the 1,000+ pounds of a slate pool table. Even better, they were both willing to completely rearrange their schedules to help me move the darn thing on extremely short notice. I called Geoff at 6:30 pm Monday night, and he and Juan were ready to help me Tuesday morning.
Chuck and I spent a couple of hours Monday night researching best practices when moving a pool table. We were at least not naive enough to think it would be either quick or easy. We learned about pool table construction and dismantlement. How to remove the rails, the felt, and the slate for safe transport, and how to get it all back together again. We gathered an impressive array of tools to bring with us: assorted screw drivers both flat and Phillips, a cordless power drill with assorted attachments, two sets of end wrenches both English and metric, six socket sets both English and metric, hex T wrenches, star drivers, a dead blow hammer, a ball peen hammer, a staple puller, chisels, a utility knife with replacement blades – we were prepared. Or, at least we thought we were.
Five of us converged on Canuck's Tuesday morning, with further reinforcements ready and waiting for the phone call when we were ready to start the heavy lifting and carrying. We gently turned the table on its side and removed the 40 four-inch screws that held the base to the top, a long and wrist-wearying job – and the top would not come off. We searched and searched for additional screws or other anchors and found nothing. Could it possibly be that all those layers of varnish were holding it in place? We took the utility knife and thoroughly scored through the varnish at the seam between table top and base. Nope. Dead blow hammer and chisels were employed. Nope. Numerous other tricks were employed by our experts. Nope. The table was glued when it was put together, a big no-no. The top was not going to come off, at least not nicely and not in the time we had allotted. So we did what you are absolutely not supposed to do. We moved it all in one piece with the slate flat.
We loaded the table up on Juan's truck and I plotted a course to our house on the smoothest possible streets, and anyone who lives in Mazatlan knows is a real trick. Even if you can use streets that have been recently repaved, they are still usually punctuated by speed bumps every few hundred meters. I couldn't believe it, but I actually came out with a route that had well maintained roads, no speed bumps, and no hills. We set out in a convoy at 15 miles per hour and I chewed my fingernails the whole trip. Broken slate would turn my great buy into the worst buy ever. Amazingly we got the table home and into the house with the slate intact.
The grapevine in this town is one of the fastest and most active I have ever encountered. We had the pool table home and in place for less than an hour before the phone started ringing. People had heard we were now the proud owners of a pool table and were angling for invitations to come play. We are very popular. But the honor of first guests was reserved for Geoff and Juan.
Chuck and I are unbelievably happy with our purchase (my birthday present). We usually start the day with a couple of games and a cup of coffee. We always get a few games in before bed, too. And, of course, a few "mental health" breaks away from work in the middle of the day send the balls clicking around as well. So, if you see a little bit less of us around town, you know why.
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferThanks Michael. We are very pleased. The route: Paseo Claussen to Najera, then all the way to the end where we picked up Zaragoza where it starts. Long way around, but it worked!
The dogs absolutely love having the pool table. I think they missed having one. Reku gets so happy when we play that it is hard to keep him from jumping up on us when we are trying to make a shot. And now, instead of sleeping in the bedroom with us at night, he sleeps next to the pool table. Maybe he is just happy to have something in that room. More evidence that we are not moving again. He always was a nester.
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|Registered |m-d-Y H:i:s NancyDI'm so glad you got it! Woo Hoo! Now, get a big piece of plywood and a ping pong net and it will really be a fun addition to your home!
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferThanks Nancy, I'm thrilled. But I think I will defer the addition of ping pong functionality until we are done buying pool table accessories.
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|200.66.50.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s ZoeAwww man, when I saw the word "POOL", I was ready to be one of your best friends... oh well, glad for your bargain and know you will have fun.
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferI think this kind of pool is way more fun
Besides, the ocean is as big of a swimming pool as I could ever wish for!
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|201.132.46.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s Viki Wilson - Pool TableWhaaah!!! I'm SO jealous! We sold our pool table with our house in North Carolina, 'cause we knew we couldn't bring it with us. I miss it terribly! We've found a few decent places to shoot, but it's just not the same .
The table from Canucks is a good one, I've shot on it a few times. I was sad the last time I went in to Canucks and couldn't shoot on it, because they had moved it against the wall. I know you will enjoy it!
Congratulations!
Viki
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|SAdministrator |m-d-Y H:i:s jenniferYou are right, nothing compares to having your own table to shoot on, and I am so happy we have one again. We are having some cabinetry and furniture built - so we can put the boxes away and have a place to sit around the table. When its all in, we will have you over for a few games!
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|70.246.40.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s April - Does Maz have ER re-runs on Thursdays?Awwww, Chuck and Jennifer have a pool table in their home, again which means all is right in the world!
I highly recommend doing anything necessary to get your name on the invite list!
My happiest memories of early married life took place near the pool table, with Jennifer's amazing cooking, Chuck's famously funny wit. Intelligent conversation, and the easy company, of these two make evenings disappear, and created friends for a life time.
I'm thrilled to know you have one again! May your new table bring you as many good times as your previous one brought us.
All my love,
Mostly Cloudy 64 oF • 18 oC
I was wondering what route would not have topes?
Anyway, by the time I get back down there you two will be unbeatable players.