Mud, Sugaring, Projects around the house

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Saturday Bill decided he didn’t want to get dirty sanding the woodwork 
in the living room.  We went to the Falls to Plants for Pleasure and
when we returned found that Dad had done the project that Bill was itching to 
do (it involved using the Bobcat).  So he walked into the library and tried to open
the damper to the fireplace.  It was jammed shut with bricks and desbris from
the rebuilding of the chimney years ago.
Well, he got some bug in his brain and worked on this for over 3 hours making more 
of a mess than I’ve seen in quite a while but now we have another fireplace that’s working.
The damper on this fireplace is interesting because it opens and shuts much like a 
damper on a wood stove so at night you don’t have to leave your damper wide open, you can 
shut it with the slots open.


Sunday morning Bill left to help Russell tap his trees.  It was a beautiful
day for it – and you know it’s time.
While he was gone I worked on scraping off the paint where I’d applied
the stripper the night before.

The only thing this stripper is doing is taking off the latex so far. The lead
paint underneath is far more stubborn.

Being the impatient sort that I am I donned the dreaded respirater 
and went at the other end with the orbital sander.  I figure I’ll attack the 
flat surfaces with that and just do the detail with the stripper, otherwise I will be 
stripping this thing until July.

Ahhh, the place is soooo attractive this time of the year.  It’s warm but 
you can’t walk much of anywhere because the snow is too deep and soft.

Here are the current snow levels.  I got back to Enfield last night and 
there wasn’t any snow at all (and my daffodils were poking through the 
ground).  Sometimes it amazes me that there is such a huge difference.

Another Setback

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Last week I got an email from my dad that just said “call” in
the subject line.  Never a good thing.
He told me that the heating pipes in the library had frozen
and spit.  With the warmer weather last Monday and Tuesday
all hell broke loose in that room with water and steam and no
one was there to see it until Tuesday afternoon.
The doors were so swollen you had to use a hammer to 
pound them open (yes the doors were shut, probably the
reason the pipes froze – but sometimes arguing with your
father gets you nowhere).
Apparently there was over an inch of water on the floor
and the steam was extreme (not to mention that the furnace ran
non stop for 2 days).

This was the only shot I took of the ceiling.  The room will be cleaned
out this coming weekend – we’re waiting for an insurance adjuster
to take a look at this.  This is really the last room that needed
to be cleaned out so it may be a blessing in disguise (but Bill and I
thought this was one room that we wouldn’t have to do anything to).
The initial surprise for me was that the wallpaper stayed on the walls, 
then I remembered that my mother had papered over new drywall.
Sized or not that paper is NEVER coming off!

Back in the Saddle

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Away for a Week

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There is no more peaceful spot for Bill and I than
Lake Winnepesaukee.


We begin each day on the dock.


And end each day on the boat.