Category: Uncategorized

Floored

  Stained and Tung oiled, two coats left to go…and then… WE’RE IN!!! 

 The adirondacks got a new coat of paint in a light green hue…
Now that the brickwork is finished, the old patio furniture was dragged out of the shed, scrubbed and moved to This Old House….
Although the garden was thrown together in haste, everything seems to be pretty happy except the cucumbers and lettuce…..they might whimp out.
The barn/garage is nearly complete…
Look at how fast these baby robins are growing…
My kayaks sit outside while Mike devises a rack for them in the garage.  I’m really looking forward to getting back out on the water.  It’s Summer!

A Roll in the Hay

   Walter has been haying the fields behind This Old House for many years. We’ve asked him to continue the tradition because we don’t have harvesting equipment or cows to feed.  He has both and so he’s happy to oblige.

 The fields have been in a state of neglect for years and are in need of a good dose of fertilizer.  Walter plans to bring in six to ten loads of chicken manure later this year to fortify the soil once again. 

  One of my favorite scents in the whole world is freshly hayed fields. The sound of the tractor putt-putting across the field could lull me to sleep.

You thought this was gonna be a whole different kind of post, didn’t ya.
  

Can you hear me now?

So… the Census Bureau had been leaving messages on our tape for a few weeks. I ignored it because  Hey, I Filled Out The Form Correctly and Mailed it In On Time.  But after the fifth message I thought.. ok maybe it’s important and I oughta call.  I did.   Here’s how it went.
Census Bureau:  (in heavy Southern Drawl, not that there’s anything wrong with that)
Hello, US Census Beareau, how can I direct your call?
Me:  Well I don’t know. You have been leaving messages on our tape, I’m thinking someone wants to talk to us but I don’t know why.
CB: OH, ok ma’am, what is your name?  (heavy accent here, but I got what he was saying)
Me: My name is Karen ________ and my address is _____________________________.  I’de like to warn you that I am hearing impaired and it appears you have an accent. I am already having difficulty understanding you, so could you speak alittle slower and more clearly.  I apologize for any inconvenience.
CB:  Sure, Ma’am… (rapid speak here, and not any louder) Blah blah blah and we’de like to Blah blah your blah blah blah blah.
Me:  I’m sorry, I was not able to get most of that. No offense to you, this is my handicap, but since your accent is very heavy and you are speaking softly and very FAST, I don’t understand what you’re asking. Can you speak slower and alittle louder.
CB: I’m very sorry ma’am.  Can you blah blah blah…blah blah the number of blah blah … and verify that?
Me:    Again, the same problem. Can’t understand you. Is there anyone in your office who perhaps is not soft spoken and can speak slower, or who does not have an accent?  And please, no need for an apology, this isn’t your fault, it’s my handicap.
CB: Ma’am  ( this is the only word I fully understand in this whole conversation….and it was repeated about fifty times)   we just need to blah blah blah blah blah.    Blah blah blah… blah blah. 
Me: *sigh*  Right. I know you need to do something, I just can’t hear “WHAT” that something is.  I’m going to put my daughter on, here she is.
Daughter takes phone.
Daughter says they won’t ask her the questions, only the heads of the household can answer legally.
I take the phone back.
Me: Listen, whoever you are, can you e-mail me and I’ll be happy to answer whatever questions you have?  
CB: No Ma’am, blah blah talk to blah blah.   Blah Blah Blah blah ?  
Me:  Still the same problem Dude. I am going to say something and then I’m just going to hang up, ok? I am hearing impaired. Sometimes when someone has a heavy accent in any shape or form that I am not accustomed to hearing on a regular basis, I’m not able to decipher what you’re saying. No matter how many times you say it.  I can’t read lips over the phone either.  If you are not able to get whatever it is you are looking for through e-mail, and you aren’t willing to take the answers from my daughter who is sitting right here with me, you’re sh*t out of luck.  Unless you can find someone to contact me from your office who speaks louder, slower, or with less of an accent (not that there’s anything wrong with that) you’re not going to get your answers.  I’m hanging up now. Have a good day.
The next day someone called who spoke louder and slower. We had no problem conversing, and they got their answers.  What was so important?  It was just a verification of our information, the information they already had.
 Ask me about my conversations with DELL when I need computer assistance.  Ha!

He’s All That

  We don’t always see eye to eye, and sometimes our taste in things couldn’t be farther apart on the spectrum. One of us is a natural navigator, one of us can’t find his way out of a wet paper bag.  He’s super organized and I’m… well… not.   

  When it comes to being parents we’re both on the same wave length. I couldn’t have chosen a better father to our children and it’s one of the things I am most thankful for in life. 
~ Happy Father’s Day ~
 

Happiness Is…

… discovering that our “new” old house has already been approved by several bird families and they have taken up residence even as the crew continues their noisy work nearby.  There are many bluebird houses in the fields and a few near the garden. All are inhabited.  But this really surprised me.

   I saw this little shell yesterday under one of the big cedar shrubs we planted at the back of the house, thinking it had been blown under there by the wind…
but we soon discovered upon closer inspection….
……a nest of baby robins. 

It’s the little things, you know…..

Mirror, Mirror on the wall….

 This was my awesome (cheap!)  find at a funky local antique warehouse, now hanging in the downstairs bathroom ( no sink or toilet yet, but HEY, we have  an awesome cheap mirror!)  and accompanied by sconces I found online.  In the process of restoring and moving into this old house I have really come to appreciate the warmth and charm in old things, especially home furnishings. The fact that you can do it for a very reasonable price makes it even more rewarding and the hunt is half the fun.
Where have I heard that before?

Some of you have asked if we’re on target for a July 1st move in. It looks as if we’ll push it back a week, move-in date the 7th, because the floor finishing is quite a project.  They’ve just finished “nailing”  and are going over it with a sanding machine.  There are several more steps and drying time in between.

Seeing Red

 A funny thing happened on the way to the hardware store (for the 100th time) on Friday.   I stopped at the house to see how things were going.  You might remember the RED issue.  Well apparently it ain’t over yet.  Yes mom, I’m using “ain’t”  because sometimes it just “fits”, kinda like a few other words I use on  very rare occasion…. *ahem*

 So…. I moseyed on into the family room with my usual cheery demeanor and  saw this new development…..

 I thought about it for a few minutes, picked my jaw up off the floor and spat out the sawdust  and I thought about it alittle more…. You see I don’t want to be unreasonable because there are so many worse things in life than hating the spindles in your family room.  But the CIRCUS came to mind, you know what I’m sayin?    Especially since… we have big bold furniture coming with big bold RED… and The Man knows this because he picked it out with me and I chose big bold red so that he would finally have the red he’s been longing for and he deserves that after all the hard work he has put in on This Old House.  
I am not ashamed to admit when he walked in about 15 minutes later I begged and pleaded and promised a favor or two or 300,  and now it looks like this. 

It’s the Real Thing

  Wouldn’t it be grand if just sipping a bottle of Coke could solve the world’s problems?  I believed it back in the 70’s, and I think my grandmother did too. We often had a weekend dinner and sometimes a sleepover on Bard Avenue. The very first thing I did when I stepped into her little galley kitchen was grab a coke out of the fridge.   She was brand-faithful, meaning there were certain things she’de always have in her house, never switching brands.  Coke, Ivory Soap, Laughing Cow Cheese and Jean-Nate Body Splash were among them.

HISTORY: Coke was invented in 1886 by Doctor John Pemberton,  a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia. He concocted the Coca Cola formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard. The name was a suggestion given by John Pemberton’s bookkeeper Frank Robinson. Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. It was he who first scripted “Coca Cola” into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today.

Coca -Cola was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta. Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut. In 1887, another Atlanta pharmacist and businessman, Asa Candler bought the formula for Coca Cola from inventor John Pemberton for $2,300. By the late 1890s, Coca Cola was one of America’s most popular fountain drinks, largely due to Candler’s aggressive marketing of the product. With Asa Candler, now at the helm, the Coca Cola Company increased syrup sales by over 4000% between 1890 and 1900.

Advertising was an important factor in John Pemberton and Asa Candler’s success and by the turn of the century, the drink was sold across the United States and Canada. Around the same time, the company began selling syrup to independent bottling companies licensed to sell the drink. Even today, the US soft drink industry is organized on this principle.
Until the 1960s, both small town and big city dwellers enjoyed carbonated beverages at the local soda fountain or ice cream saloon. Often housed in the drug store, the soda fountain counter served as a meeting place for people of all ages. Often combined with lunch counters, the soda fountain declined in popularity as commercial ice cream, bottled soft drinks, and fast food restaurants became popular.On April 23, 1985, the trade secret “New Coke” formula was released.
Today, products of the Coca Cola Company are consumed at the rate of more than one billion drinks per day. 
That’s nuts. But you know what?  To this day, I still have Coke in the house for whenever someone’s got a sour stomach. The bottom line is, even though it’s loaded with sugar and there is no nutritional value… it still really works as a tonic.  

This morning I went to Target for cleaning supplies and really unnecessary stuff  for This Old House. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the logo…

  This is why I love Target… $12.99 and you, too, can have a vintage Coca Cola Tee.   I’de like to submit this photo to Snappy Di, who periodically posts “What Boomers Are Wearing” pics… Diane, I’m ALMOST a boomer, just two years shy of it..and this is what I wear almost always.  A tee and worn jeans. These have rips and frays, much to my delight and my husband’s chagrin.

As for the concept of being brand-faithful, my grandmother had something. You can still find Coke, Ivory Soap, Jean Nate and Laughing Cow Cheese in your grocery story.  I’ll admit I went to the other side for a while, but I eventually came back to Coca Cola.

  Although it hasn’t done for ME what it apparently does for HER…..

Yesterday’s Treasures

 In the process of dismantling and reassembling This Old House we found many little treasures, some stashed for a 100 years or more in various parts of the house…

 This little bottle, no bigger than my thumb, was stashed up inside the keeping room fireplace on a tiny shelf. It still has a little cork stopper and contains what looks like gold flakes. These were typically sold by traveling snake oil salesmen many moons ago as an arthritis treatment among other things…

 Arrow heads and the remains of a pipe….
These are the pegs that held the frame, we used most of them when putting the frame back together…
A 1936 coin found in the stone walls out back…
Many old horse shoes found on the property….
These are two of the original wallpapers we found when removing toilets in the old house…
This one is bizarre…  The man has fallen from his horse into a ditch as the woman gallops away ….
Some 1940’s postcards and pamphlets also stashed in a fireplace shelf….

Wet Paint and Watermelon

  Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am that I am not asked to do any of the painting?  I’ll be honest and tell you it’s because I suck at it. I hate having to be so precise and I don’t want to be responsible if a drip, (more like 109 drips) get on something important perminantly. 
  Wayne’s crew is back to paint the remainder of the cabinetry, touch ups, the barn…
Dennis spent the day installing more of the cabinetry that he and Jeff created in their shop….
These are book shelves in the area between the mancave and the family room. The window seat in between  has storage for blankets and will have a comfortable cushion and vintage pillow or two.
My dining room light fixture hijacked removed from our current home and installed in This Old House….
The brick layers have already finished the front walk, patio in the backyard is half complete!….
 Neighbor dog Lulu showered Mike with the usual adoration today. We all love her, but she only has eyes for Mike.
 That tiny little line is lettuce, beans are already three inches tall… and look what I found at the grocery store…. we’ve  not had luck with watermelon in the past, guessing the soil isn’t sandy enough, but this variety is new to me, so I bought a few plants and we’ll see what comes of it.