Lynn-I was "googling" Irma Engel and found your post. I have some additional information about her early life as my mother's uncle was Sam Engel-Irma's first husband. They both left Germany prior to WWII because Sam was Jewish-although Irma was not. After the war, she gave several pictures to family members as wedding presents although my mother's side of the family lost contact with Sam and Irma. After Sam died, she went back to Germany and I know she had a sister there. She later married the printer Edwin Grabhorn and lived in San Francisco. Did you have any luck establishing a value to the painting? About a year ago, McNaught Art Gallery in Santa Cruz, Ca had 2 paintings for sale. Not sure how he acquired them or if he sold them. I would be interested if you did find out any additional information or value. Sincerely, Jo-Ann

Painter A definitely! BUT...make sure the siding/other woods are DRY b4 priming!! Concurring on the Oil Primer!! Many top-notch Exterior primers are the sloooooww dry variety. * ACE-Royal's Exterior Oil-Primer specifies basically "the next day" wait. * The C2 Exterior Oil-Primers are the same wait. >>> The best Latex paints are 100% Acrylic. Make SURE you know the EXACT BRAND/SERIES of paint going on your house. Check your contract to see if it's spelled out. >>> If I was paying to "3-coat" MY house, 1 coat would be a primer. The other two coats = 100% Acrylic Latex...the best I could afford. Faron

A good exterior paint will hold up fairly well. Depending upon the wood your chairs are made of will also determine how they weather. Marine paint and poly would work even better. Make sure your connections are glued well, or let the poly fill in when painting, if not loose. Outdoor furniture always needs maintenance, even sold as patio furniture. I can't keep up with it, especially without a porch or patio cover.

Wow, Kelly you have definately been around the block. It is hard for me to put down a full list of my qualifications without including some of my brothers as well. Being as he has been in this business longer than myself. He (my brother) started cleaning pools back in 1986 working for a local company BRB. After high school he continued to clean pools but started his own company and his own routes. Over the next few years after that he ventured into service and repair side. He eventually sold his cleaning company and went to work for a commercial water management company as a service tec. While in commercial pool repair and water management he started building pools for some of the Execs of the company he worked for. Then for some of their clients and so on. From this is where our company started. I came into the picture in 1995 after going into the army and then to college (computer science degree go figure). Since 1995 we have taken a primarily commercial pool service company and created multiple divisions to serve all aspects of the pool industry. From pool residentual pool cleaning to complete nautatorium construction. Over the years we have both become certified or licenced in different areas of the field. I personally am a licenced plumber, a CPO, CPI, Certified diver, Tec II certified and licenced general contractor. He (my brother) has all the same quailifications except he is not a licenced plumber but a licenced electrician instead. We as a company are a warranty station for Raypak, Pentair, Hayward, and Zodiac(Jandy,Polaris ect.) as well. We have found the the more pools we build the more we want to be prepared for the time when this industry is regulated here in Texas. Most of our quaifications were needed to serve the commercial side of our company but you can see how beneficial these are to have on the residential side as well. We are not a high end builder even though we venture into the occasional $500,000 residentual pool. But more of a mid range builder. I drive by companies everyday that have these signs up (Build this pool $17,995). Has anyone heard of the bait and switch con game. This is it in its purest form. Can they build a pool for $18K, yes but you are going to get the worst equiptment, decking that will fall apart within a few years (if it even lasts that long) because there is not rebar in it but in some cases a chicken wire instead or its only 2" thick(yes I have seen this). I have even seen thinwall piping used instead of schedule 40 (I am busting up a deck right now to replace all the plumbing around a pool because of this). How about 1/2" thick flagstone coping(who the builder said this how all builders do it). This is only the beginning. I could go on and on and on. I have no problem with anyone coming into this business and starting a (legitimate) company but I am very, very picky when it comes to the quality that I see in the finished product and I will point out poor quality in material or workmanship whenever I see it done by anyone including my own guys(who all know what its like to rip it out and do it again because I didn't like it). I don't claim to be an expert in anything I mean I think that I just about learn something new everyday in this field. I still take some of my inspiration from other companies builds or designs. Even you Kelly. lol. Love some of your recent designs by the way. This all being said I take this business very serious. Not only is this my career but this is my entire families bread and butter. If I don't succeed then I have to answer to them. Sorry for the rambling on, David