At the end of our week, as we reluctantly prepared to depart our favorite little city of mud, we made a stop. My life companion had her eye on an interesting woodcrafter's shop and wanted to look around.
The proprietor was an amiable young man, and seemed to know how to work with wood. We chose a really attractive picture of a bench which would enhance our relatively new entry hall and provide additional seating at party time. We selected a material and a finish and he quoted us a reasonable price, half of which we paid. In addition, we purchased a well-built and "kinda cute" wall-hung cabinet for the master bathroom.
The young fellow said he could have it ready by Thanksgiving, so we eagerly planned to come back and take our bench home.
The proprietor was an amiable young man, and seemed to know how to work with wood. We chose a really attractive picture of a bench which would enhance our relatively new entry hall and provide additional seating at party time. We selected a material and a finish and he quoted us a reasonable price, half of which we paid. In addition, we purchased a well-built and "kinda cute" wall-hung cabinet for the master bathroom.
The young fellow said he could have it ready by Thanksgiving, so we eagerly planned to come back and take our bench home.
We set out on our trip on Wednesday, and hit a moderately heavy snowstorm on US84 between Santa Rosa and the real Las Vegas, which made quite a hazard of the Texas flatlanders slippin' and slidin' all over the highway, which also landed us in Las Vegas around noon,
After finding a couple of potential lunch vendors closed, perhaps because of the weather, we arrived at the plaza, and a banner on the hotel, announcing a special Thanksgiving meal. For $50 (somewhat more than we had intended for lunch on the road we had sumptuous repast and time to consider whether to take the very slightly longer route through Santa Fe, or the customary route over the mo mountains, which contains a steep incline that would surely be treacherous if snow covered.
We decided on the latter, which was clear and sunny, providing smooth sailing to Taos.
Our bench was not even begun as yet, but we always enjoy ourselves in Taos, so we never have a wasted trip.
After finding a couple of potential lunch vendors closed, perhaps because of the weather, we arrived at the plaza, and a banner on the hotel, announcing a special Thanksgiving meal. For $50 (somewhat more than we had intended for lunch on the road we had sumptuous repast and time to consider whether to take the very slightly longer route through Santa Fe, or the customary route over the mo mountains, which contains a steep incline that would surely be treacherous if snow covered.
We decided on the latter, which was clear and sunny, providing smooth sailing to Taos.
Our bench was not even begun as yet, but we always enjoy ourselves in Taos, so we never have a wasted trip.
For about two additional years, we communicated by email while our craftsman suffered hard times and poor luck we suffered diminishing patience. Finally. on a visit to Taos, we found him at the shop, and working! He introduced us to his recently acquired partners, and said they had ample funding, and were really catching up on orders and would be able to start our bench in about a week. We told him to cancel our order, I had already made a piece of uurniture for the entry, and we were amply pleased with it.
We found among his finished stock a box like the one we already had, which now was selling for almost three times the price we had paid for the first. We took the box in lieu of a refund. and never expect to see him or the hal a C-note we are still owed.
BUT WE HAD FUN! And we use our "his & hers" bathroom cabinets daily.
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