May 2013 Rivah - The Rappahannock Record

Doug Nabhan’s
Coming Here
Signs of Spring
am always excited to start looking
I for the first signs of spring—anything
that makes me believe that my
summer at the Chesapeake Bay is on
the way. Sure signs of spring are the
days getting longer and the day when
we “spring forward” and change all
the clocks. (Wouldn’t you think there
was an easier way to do this?)
The other thing we do as a precursor
to spring is sit down and
talk about what guests we want
to have down to Deltaville this
year. The actual list of possibilities
is getting shorter each year as
I have revealed too many details
about individual guest behaviors.
I still have one brother and two of
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his children who will come back.
I have some people I work with
whom I have invited, but think
the invitation is token. Apparently,
they believe an invitation must be
very formal.
I do have printed invitations
to the bay that read the Nabhans
invite you to the bay, but you
cannot bring any children under
the age of 30, suitcases, or more
than one electronic device. You can
bring towels, food and beer. You
are invited for three full meals, but
the car needs to be getting packed
shortly after the third meal has
been served to you. You do not
need to bring gifts that you think
someone with a bay home would
like, such as lighthouse lamps and
“crabby” things.
Another sign of spring is the
Call us!
We always have
Truckload Pricing
Richmond
number of maintenance calls that
begin to mount up. And, if you are
a “come here” like I am, the most
disturbing thing that can happen is
that you “get a call.” For example,
we stayed down one winter evening
and the HVAC system went
out, except when it would suddenly
turn on for about 10 minutes.
It turned out that the house
was only getting half the power
it was supposed to get, which I
did not even know could happen.
The HVAC service tech said, “The
electrical box is humming, certain
parts of the system have welded
themselves shut, the wobbler shaft
on the air-flow system has gone
haywire, and it is going to be 5
degrees tonight.”
Then, I had to get Dominion
over to see what was up with the
power. The guy that came next
said we had a huge problem and
that we had to shut the power off to
the house, or it would burn down
that night! So now it is 6 p.m.,
and I have to catch a flight out of
town the next day. An impossible
situation faced us. No HVAC, no
power. We had to get the pipes
drained. And before Dominion
would turn the power back on, we
had to have an electrician at the
house first thing in the morning to
rebuild all of the external electrical
system.
It seemed utterly hopeless, that
is, until my friends and neighbors,
Gene Ruark, the Macks, the
Chaneys, the Cutlers, the Wiltons,
Daniel of Asbury Electric, and
Mike Smallwood came together
like a Norman Rockwell picture
Deltaville
to literally save the day. I am not
speechless often, but the caring
and helpfulness that was shown on
my behalf made me so.
Anyone who reads this column
understands what my little piece
of paradise on the Rivah means
to me. So, this spring, I will not
utter one cross word about maintenance
issues, as I could easily have
owned a large “ashtray” that used
to be my house on the Rivah, and
instead of sitting in a chair listening
to the sounds of the reconstruction
of my home, I will continue
to enjoy the peace and quiet I had
thought could not get any better.
Douglas M. Nabhan is a lawyer
with the firm of Williams Mullen in
Richmond and has had a weekend
home in Deltaville for 21 years.