Back in the Saddle

This trip actually happened on January 25th - I'm trying to be

 a little more timely with the posts again.

We are finally back on track with working on the room.  I had

a total knee replacement on December 4th and was unable to

stay in Rowe (mostly because I didn't want to freeze) and the 

stairs were too steep to go up.

The dogs are really looking to see if anyone is getting food

in the kitchen but it looks like they are admiring the room 

with its basecoat of paint.

It's beginning to look like something good is happening.  Or that we

might finish it someday.

The next job is sanding or stripping the woodwork.  The doors will be

sanded but I will be stripping the mantel.

Bill thought the fireplace screen made a good crate for Sophie - she looks

less than enthused but just patiently awaited her release.

Too Cold for Anything

I didn't take a single photograph this weekend.  I spent most of it tending a fire so the house was a little habitable.  The temp hovered around 25 but the windchill was about 5 degrees.  With the wind blowing like crazy you can't build a fire in the kitchen because a big gust of wind will blow the smoke and ash right into the room.  LOVELY.  So we dressed in long underwear and used the electric blankets on high.  Not sure I want to be here in the winter at all.  Ha!  But the spring, summer and fall make it all worthwhile.

Painting, Cleaning and Critters

It was pretty rainy last weekend so we decided to

put some paint on the walls to see if red was really 

the way we wanted to go.  (Paul's wanted to do this

for weeks).

Bill did the cutting and Paul the rolling.

We only did one wall and decided to get the paint for

the rest.  With all the woodwork in the room it should

look great.

Later Bill called me out to see the porcupine eating the apples from 

the tree by the mill.  I brought a long lense but you could walk

right up to him while he was eating.  Must have been just too

yummy to care.

Even though the weather was still wet on Sunday the boys

decided to begin a cleanup detail.  Bill's doing one of his favorite 

things here.

Bill hauled away all of the wood that was too rotten to use while Paul

cut and split a maple that was taken down a couple of years ago.

Needless to say - he worked way harder than I think he anticipated

earlier in the day and slept in the truck on the way home. (Again).

This Old House When It Was Newer

The woman whose family lived in this house from the time it was built

(about 1790) until 1942 passed away a couple of years ago in New Hampshire.

Two photo albums just made their way to the Historical Society by way

of someone who found them in the trash.

There was a small note in one of the albums to get them back to Rowe.

I'm glad someone took the time to actually look at the books and

helped them find their way home as opposed to some landfill.

These were taken in the late 1800's.  Apparently they played a 

lot of croquet because many of the photographs show the wickets

in the side yard.  Funny, we played croquet there when I was a kid.

These two photographs were taken a little earlier than the one above.

The windows are different on the house.  Would be nice to have those trees in

the front yard again.

This photograph came as more of a shock to us than the rest of them.

It is taken from the back field that Bill has been working so hard at restoring.

I tried to tell him that it was a lot different now than it was when 

I was growing up and had the little farm that we had.  It's amazing what animals

will keep clear - but it never looked like this.  We tried to locate the 

spot from which this may have been taken but it's soo grown up that

you can't even see the buildings.  Maybe someday.

One Busy Day

Monday, October 26th we took off to get some things finished

and it ended up being quite the productive day for the boys.

After putting a new bumper on Mike's truck they  came in and 

put the last coat of paint on the ceiling.

They then took the trailer, trucks, splitter and chainsaws down

to Florence's house to take out one of a number of dead trees.

I love watching these guys work - especially doing wood.  It's

an amazing cooperative effort and they just seem to know 

what to do without really talking to each other.

Bill hit a rock with his chainsaw and was trying to salvage

the chain - but ended up not using it for the rest of the afternoon.

The beer is always flowing though - nothing like using dangerous 

equipment when you're drinking.

I think that's the woodsman's way.

I'm tired just looking at the pictures.  It was a beautiful day and 

the only issue was getting out of the woods with the mud 

and a loaded trailer.

But with Florence's direction and dog tired determination

they got out on the first try.

And the Paint Goes On

The decision was made to use the holiday weekend to

finally get some paint on the house.  The weather will be

getting cold up here soon so a little protection was in order.

Mike came over two days out of the weekend to give

Bill and Paul help and moral support (as well as all of them

drinking a few beers).

With the primer on either side of the center it was really apparent

how bad the center looked so they decided to put the scaffolding 

up just in case the weather holds for another couple of weekends.

Cait helped with this until she got a face full of dirt (from the inside of one of 

the pipes).  We're very excited about how good at least one side looks.

Paul did remind us that there are 7 more sides to go - I chose

ignore that comment and just gaze strait at the front of the house.

Chimney and Fireplace

Last weekend Paul patched the hole in the chimney 

where the stove pipe had once been.

We used the mortar that Mike had used in his

glass furnace - now it's good to about 3000 degrees.

Bill and I had a long discussion (argument) about how to use a beehive

oven.  We couldn't find the flu but I knew you had to build a fire

right in the oven to heat it up.

I pulled out a piece of tin in the front of the arched door and found the flu.

There was probably 80 years worth of dirt, soot, leaves and I'm assuming

decomposed critters in the flu.  It fill almost an entire trash barrel but was all

worth it (even though cleaning it out was kind of disgusting).

Saturday afternoon I built the first fire I'd seen in this fireplace since sometime

in the 1970's - Bill had never seen it lit before.  We were impressed with how

much heat this one throws.  Good thing, the room is huge.

The goofy frogs on the mantel are something I made for the garden a

couple of weeks ago - figured they can wait until next spring.