Follett Group, LLC LLC??? Libelous, Litigious, Crank-cases? Libidinous, Laughable, Cusses? Tw. -----Original Message----- From: Gabriel Orgrease <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:35 am Subject: [BP] Doors & Windows, Humongous Steam Box Talking Doors & Windows Follett Group has acquired and is setting up in operation a custom-built steam box with interior of 5' x 10' in Brooklyn. This is a double-decker unit with sliding shelves that can accommodate two large doors or several windows, or a whole bunch of window trim at one session. The shop location is continuously staffed, a full-service woodwork/cabinetry shop and the skilled staff will be trained in use of the steam box. Beside internal use to the various projects of the associates of Follett Group we are setting up a sort of Chinese Laundry for steam box paint stripping. For door and window projects of a size, unique need, or economy of production we will offer to friends, painters, woodworkers, carpenters, preservationeers, property owners, whomever -- we will provide the service of the steam box. We are providing this as a drop-off and pick-up later service. We will also offer receipt and send out of shipped items. We will also rebuild and restore, though primarily our interest is in paint/coating stripping and turn-around. Inquiry as to projects and cost quotes should be directed to me at [log in to unmask] That business promoting forbidden stuff on BP out of the way let me tell the story behind this blatantly commercial plot. Our friend Duffy Hoffman who up until a few months ago had a thriving paint and historic restoration business in Bucks County, PA (some really fine work at Washington's Crossing on the Delaware for PHMC) had this steam box custom built out of stainless steel to his specifications. For anyone who knows Duffy they will have a sense of what 'his specifications' will mean, let it rest at quite specific and exact. Duffy is the only craftsperson that I know who actually puts ALL of the tools back on the pegboard where their silhouettes are painted. So, last year Duffy was working at an historic site in MD where he was removing and stripping and replacing what sounded to me like 100s of square box cornice dentals when he had a little health incident. At the ER they told him it was heat stroke. A week or so later he had another incident that impressed him a bit more seriously... he went to ER and sat around for hours in a corridor before he could get any attention. Duffy is a bit of a nervous fellow and he got agitated so by the time he did get attention (and for Duffy to NOT get attention means there is something VERY odd going on) the doctors were inclined to think it was heat stroke accompanied by not right in the head... he was put in a room alone... and as he remained agitated to the point of threatening to kill nurses etc. along in there the word got around that he should be sent over to the lunatic side of the hospital. Possibly many of us have had this little hint of a thought ourselves in the past? So Duffy, with help of a friend, broke out of the hospital in the middle of the night. Took sanctuary in hiding. Then went (scurried surreptitiously?) to PA near to home where he checked in at a nearby hospital. The diagnosis there was that Duffy had suffered a series of mini-strokes. Let alone mental issues that often come with strokes, severe aggressive and violent outbursts, inability to talk, Duffy ended with a degree of paralysis in his arms. That did not seem to stop him from making unintelligible garbled phone calls to his friends at 2am. Eventually he got through the initial medical situation and was released. He went on to therapy... but got kicked out of that for threats to kill people. They sent him away with a note to warn others. His company rapidly deteriorated... he made death threats against his employees and long-time friends. It got really serious very quickly and not particularly in a good way. Eventually the business all fell apart and Duffy came to the realization that he could be angry, or he could live longer. He could not do both. All that put him on the skids, so to speak and it was in part an effort of Follett Group, not only to maintain the resource connection to the steam box, that we are very happy about, but to put some money Duffy's way to help him out. He drove a hard bargain to the end. Now he has moved to West Virginia to a small town that has a whole lot of wood windows and shutters in need of restoration. To hear him talk of it sounds like paradise. He got himself a place to live, a dog and a rocking chair. But that does not slow him down very much as he continues to agitate the world. Neither does it help that in his valiant struggle to rehabilitate himself, he can talk now (some may consider that a blessing) that one day he sat down in his rocking chair and busted several ribs in the process. But he has this idea, and with Duffy an idea can be a dangerous thing, to develop in this remote town in West Virginia a traditional trades school where he can teach local youth how to restore wood windows. The youth in West Virginia need dreams and hope and vocations for the future and there is a lot to conserve in the built environment of their heritage -- and Duffy may be able to save himself in the process. Duffy's health situation is something that could happen to any of us. The man is a varmint, when backed into a corner he comes out biting. He is complicated, he can be intolerably difficult, he can be in your face, and in the same breath I have no doubt he would jump in front of a charging elephant to save a friend. Thank goodness that he moved to a place where there are not likely to be so many elephants. If you happen to see him for me say hello. Follett Group, LLC [an alliance of companies and individuals, Ken & David, Witold Karwowski, Jim Hicks, Hubert Ellis, Rudy & Carson Christian, and many dearly cherished associates.] -- Orgrease-Crankbait Video, audio, writings, words, spoken word, dialogs, graphic collage and the art of fiction in language and literature. -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>