The first of several contractors came to look over the place last night, and he seemed . . . daunted isn't the right word, but he did mention the project would be a challenge. Yay! I eat challenges for breakfast. Actually, the only sticking point he thought there would be was the lack of parking space. Apparently what the city considers space for two cars (their only limitation on our building) differs from what I would consider two parking spaces.

It may involve yanking out a tree, or the ugly shrub at the corner of the property whose only reason for being seems to be to collect garbage from littering passersby. I won't miss it, is what I'm saying.

So the contractor is going to chat up the city about what permits and pre-permit permissions might be necessary for the parking thing, but we chatted about different possibilities for the space, and he thinks it's a goer. He also asked if he could have a cutting from my apple tree, because he's trying to get as many different fruit trees as he can for his own home. I said sure. On a related note, I really need to prune that thing.

On a bizarre note, later in the evening, we got a call from another contractor who wanted, I thought, to set up a visit. Instead, however, the guy seemed more interested in making sure the city was going to approve the project ahead of time, and not believing me when I told him we'd already checked, actually accusing the city of lying to us. He wanted me to talk to a "Land Use Guy" he knows, to make sure we're not doing anything against statutes, and wouldn't even make an appointment until we did. Uh, Contractor Dude? Sorry, I ain't falling for that one. Sounds like an agent telling writers that she'll consider their manuscripts only after they have their work "professionally edited" by this "book doctor" she knows. Sheesh.