Clearing the Land...

Rory with his ships - or are they just sticks???

We got a burn permit from the fire department for burning brush.  I don't think this land has been touched since well before the ice storm of 2008.  There are so many downed trees and branches, and trees covered in vines, poison ivy and briars.

 Rory, Pilchy and I have been making stick piles.  Lots of stick piles.  Rory also makes lots of "ships" out of branches and I have to figure out what is a "ship" and what is a branch that can go in our piles.  If I pick a "ship" there is a lot of protest.

My friend Eric likened us to the pioneers, clearing the land.  I think he has been reading too many Little House in the Prairie books lately! 

Me and Pilchy picking up sticks - yup in my pjs and coat...

Although I will say that there is a certain satisfaction in picking up all the chaos and putting it in nice neat piles.  It is kind of like when you pick up that playroom and after hours you finally have missing pieces returned, everything in it's place and a clear view of the floor.  Only it's actually more satisfying than that, because when you are done "cleaning" then you get to burn it all.

There is still so much to be done, but we have made some progress.  We can burn things until the end of May I think.  We will need every day of that!

The Snarled Mess of Vines

The stick lands...

Here are some pics of what is still left to clear.  Of course this is only the wooded part.  The back field is a whole other story...  T is planning on brush cutting all of that and eventually putting in a garden.

The snake in the well...

Can you see the snake on the right hand side?

So there is this well in our back yard and my husband and the kids think it's cool.  There are interesting things in there like frogs and snakes.

It makes me a little crazy because as you know things can fall into a well.  Things like children and cats.  Important things like that.

This well is about five feet deep.  The water is usually at the half way point - about three feet, but sometimes after heavy rains it can be up to the top.

I tried to convince my husband to fill it with rocks or dirt or cement, but he refuses because he likes it.  He thinks it is neat.  I tried to talk him into covering it with a big metal grate (where can I find one?).  He has plans to build some stone thing around it (mind you not immediate plans).  I found a large wooden wishing well at the MillStore that we can stick over it.  I just need to steal his truck and some strong people to heft it through the overgrown briars and cover that hole!

Anyway, I digress, the point actually was to show you the snake.  If you look in the far right corner you can see a garter snake half in the wall with his head resting on the log.  The problem was that he was there for three days in a row.  I poked him with a stick  (yes I am very brave) and he didn't try to get away.  I concluded that he must be stuck.

A few down the well.

So I waited for my husband to come home.  He is after all the snake expert in the family and doesn't seem to mind touching them.  This by the way is not the same snake that was living in our kitchen.  That was a milk snake and this is a garter snake.  Unfortunately, I can now tell the difference.

So Tristan comes home and he checks out the situation.  He said that snakes "don't get stuck" and that he was sure he could get out of there.  He poked it with a stick too with the same results (jeesh I DID that...)  He opted to leave it alone and didn't do anything.  I told him to stick his hand in there and see if he could loosen it or push it down.  He didn't do it.  I offered to get him vaseline so he could grease up the snake.  He thought I was crazy.

Man investigates snake

So the next day I went to work - I actually work twice that day so there is not a lot of time at home to play with snakes.  When I got home finally around 11:30p.m.  he had a confession for me.  He told me that the snake was still there and that he decided it was stuck (!).  He tried to pull it out (I really really wish I could have been there to video it - I find it highly suspicious that he avoided me and my camera.  huh!)  and got it out, but it's tail was a bit mangled and it had a cut on it's belly and did not survive the rescue.  I am pretty sure that it had been stuck since the weekend so it was probably pretty weak as well. 

So I guess you can add a snake to our death toll of one squirrel and many, many mice.  We now have a snake free well.  The snakes do come back though to eat the frogs so I am sure there will be more.  Hopefully the others will be smarter and not get themselves stuck in the wall.

Kitchen faucet ousted from bathroom...

Very exciting news, our one bathroom no longer has a kitchen sink and sprayer... 

Before:

Here is it the bathroom sink with the kitchen faucet.  Unfortunately the arc of the faucet causes a lot of spraying and splashing.  Also the sprayer nozzle does not work.
The sink is an interesting shape.  I think it may have come from the kitchen (there is evidence of a remodel in that room).  Some think beauty-parlor (although there is no neck rest)...some think it would make a good sink for bathing an infant.

I have no issue with the sink.  Just the faucet.  And the cabinet...and the stenciling...

Bup and his side-kick

Here is a photo of "during" where you can see my wonderful plumber (aka Dad) and his side-kick doing some serious work.  Note the matching sweaters (hmmm....). 

We cleaned a lot of guck out of the drain.  Rory really enjoyed the sprayer nozzle.  It made a nice small gun and even squirted water at times.  Such fun.  He kept it trained on Bup to make sure he stayed on task... 

The job went surprisingly well - only two gliches (really!  only two!).  We found out one of the pipes by the trap is undersized.  Dad got a little wet with that discovery when the trap came off in his hand.  We also added a soap dispenser where the sprayer was, but need to sawzall a board to attach the soap bottle...




After:

Ahhh...now doesn't that look better?  Almost like an actual bathroom sink!!!

The Icky Basement...

The Basement Files

Here it is - as promised and of course looked forward to - a picture of the glorious basement.  Now keep in mind this gem of a cellar gave us some serious pause when considering the purchase of the home.
Let me describe what you are viewing here:

• The stairs at a less than ideal angle with cinder block landing and wooden "gang plank" to keep you out of the wetness
• At the front is a fallen down chimney which rests upon a stone slab tableau.  One side of the stone is being held up with crumbled material - not sure what.
• The dark spots on the floor are wetness
• The plumbing above the washer is new - it was updated when the septic system went in.  I wish I had a picture of the previous configuration.  The plumber said he would like to take a picture of it to "show his class".  That is never a good sign...

Posts under beam

Here is a close-up of the stairs.  T added two support columns under the (undersized) beam.  The beam is too small and failing to hold up the house which is causing the stairs and kitchen floor to sink.

T borrowed a special drill from a friend so he can drill through the concrete floor (thankfully in this case the concrete is not very thick) and dig new footers for new stair supports.

We hired a contractor to come re-support the beam and jack up the sinking house and rebuild the stairs.  We gave him a check for supplies in February and haven't seen him since...  Also not a good sign.  T has taken to calling him every day to try and get a time frame out of him.  You think you can throw money at someone and get the job done - but that is so not the case!

More pics of T's cement work coming soon...I think those pictures are in his camera.

The Handy Man...

What life has become....

This is what happens when your life is taken over by a home renovation project...

T is doing a fantastic job "watching" the kids.  If he could only put down that back issue of Family Handyman... 

Good thing it's not a full size pool.  Nobody drown!  And better yet - don't splash him!



Should we be concerned?

The new living room wall...

Progress is being made folks - thanks to our good friend Thom who brings to the table some excellent carpentry skills.  The wall is up and level.  Next onto moving pipes, calling the electrician, and designing a built-in bookcase...and of course ripping down more walls!

Some pics to bring you up to date:

Measure twice...cut once!

Newly framed wall



The wall you see behind this wall is the dining room and most of that will be coming down - the rest will stay or become a closet.  Yes T will be patching that hardwood in front of the wall - better add that to the list...

The Big Black Chicken...



Spooky the scaredy cat

I am sorry to say that we used to have a long-haired black cat but once we moved she became a chicken...

The Story of Spooky the Cat...
Pilchy, our cat that we loved had been missing for eight weeks and we had put out flyers, tried to coax another gray cat out of a neighbors yard (turned out not to be our cat) and had basically given up on finding her.

The kids and I had visited two animal shelters but found them overwhelming - how do you choose between so many kittens and cats?  I saw an ad in the paper from animal control in Millbury.  Someone had dumped kittens off and they were looking for a homes.

When we arrived they had one cat left.  I had neglected to ask about it's hair length on the phone and found myself looking at a long haired black kitten.  She was very sleepy and sweet, with a laid back personality and seemed to like the kids.  I did not want a long haired cat, but how do you walk away from one cat that really needed a home when you've got a home really needing a cat?

So we brought her home and wouldn't you know it at 3 a.m. the following morning our old cat decided to come back home.  I am convinced that she heard the word on the street that we were replacing her...  So then we had two cats.

Anyway, we named her Spooky because she was black (Cassie's friend calls her creepy).  She seemed to like our old cat and her new home.  We had her fixed and wormed and got her up-to-date on all her shots.  She enjoyed going out at night and actually was a pretty good hunter, which was surprising based on how lazy she is -- always lounging about.

Once we sold our house we had a gap in the closings and spent the night at a friends.  It was a very good friend who let us bring all our crap plus our two cats and three children!  She did not like the move.  She spent the time hiding behind the dresser and then escaped and we found her hiding in the back corner of the garage.

We got her safely moved and settled in the new place, but she refused to go outside.  She sat around and ate and slept and showed signs of cat depression...  If we forced her outside she hid under the house until we let her back in.  This has been a pretty cold and snowy winter and neither of the cats have wanted to go outside much.  I am hoping that once spring comes it will change her mind...

In the meantime she has been sleeping and eating a lot.  She looks like she's gained quite a bit of weight since moving and I swear she is as heavy to pick up as my three year old even though the scale says 15 pounds.  We have renamed her the big black chicken, also known as Large Marge.  I am going to have to find a way to make her exercise.

I guess you can't always successfully bring a city cat into the country.  She is scared of the place!  Maybe it's the goats and donkeys in the neighbor's barn, or the pack of dogs up the street, or the coyotes howling at night?  Regardless, we can't help but hope that our large furry chicken will soon turn back into a cat.