To be burned in effigy

Trees trying to burn in the pouring rain.

Lightning rods!

Everyone's working in the rain and we recently discovered our lightning rod is only grounded in one place! Right in the thick of storm-season! We need an expert. If we're not struck, we'll let you know how that goes.

Historic side-note:

Apparently, in days of yore, people used to plant a black locust slightly away from their home. It was believed to attract lightning, so its presence was supposed to divert the strikes from the house.

BLACK LOCUST

Harry Klahr tackles the deep-set basement window

The crumbling details at the top of this window below the porch were rotted out, and the frame was so bad it went from being a frame to being a crime itself. Luckily, Harry removed it with delicacy, and is beginning to make it a useful member of our society again. He has a great track record, so if there is any recitivism, it won't be for many many years. Check back to see pictures of the progress of our 'healthy citizen: basement window #00000001' soon!

Here it is, Framed, but free of pane! Even the chicks are admiring the transformation.

Exposing and Reviving The Baseboards of the Attic

Sean and Dennis pull up the upstairs floorboards to reveal the tell-tale heart of this old house: Gorgeous old boards, much trodden....using our favorite soy gel (environmentally friendly), they get to work on the floors. Stay tuned for more photos.

So much better after a little soy gel and a lot of hard work...

The Sheep of Sorrow

The other sheep must sense that we are trying to find a new home for one of the gorgeous Shetland Lamb twins.

Since they lost their mother, she has been needing more care and attention than we can give her. (We have to spend some of our time restoring this gorgeous old house, or there will be nowhere comfortable to live come winter.) So, if anyone knows of a good home for her, there's no adoption fee. We just need to know that you'll have time to give her that extra attention. If you would like to give our girl a home, send us an email! Let's talk...we just want her to be happy.

This is the Shetland lamb that needs a loving home. (She's a lamb, but she's also a dear):

Here she is with her brother Lucifer. (I guess that makes her 'god'...I wonder which one she'd like to be...):

The Miracles of Soy Gel

Nikki has been experimenting to find the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to strip the incredibly thick lead paint off these great old doors. There were so many epic layers of paint on them that they looked more like a geological survey of some untouched rock shelf than something that spends its days swinging back and forth in someone's home.
First, she applied soy gel, and waited. A lot of paint came up then, but not all of it...

Then she reapplied the soy gel, covered it with plastic, and let it sit. That seems to be working very quickly!

You can already see those layers of paint bubbling up under the plastic....

Floor Scraping

We have been working on the second story floors for the past week... what a disaster the old linoleum was! The pitch is nasty business, but we discovered that soy gel works well if left on over night under plastic.

We wouldn't wish this project on anyone, the process is slow and painful... but we are slowly getting down to the good stuff and will soon have our lovely old wood floors back!

Stay tuned for more pictures as we make progress.

As promised... The newly exposed floor sultrily peeks out from beneath its veil, whispering, "I was buried alive! What took you so long?"

This is Wesley

He's up on the wall re-pointing with lime mortar.

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THE EXPERIMENT:

This is the front of the Federal Mansion in progress....for those who are not color-blind, I'm sure the oddity of the top level will jump out at you immediately. You might ask, "What the hell were they thinking using two different kinds of wood on the siding up there?" That's understandable. Here's what we were thinking: Rumor has it that cedar doesn't hold paint as well as pine. We wanted to test that. What if people have been cruelly slandering cedar all these years for no reason without even realizing it? Making it go to different drinking fountains and sit at the back of the truck for no reason but prejudice....wouldn't that be atrocious? We can't let the 'alleged' injustice go on! Reggie is doing an experiment on his house to compare the difference between cedar and pine...so, stay tuned and we'll let you know what the outcome is.

________________________________________________________________

REGGIE TAUNTS BLOSSOM BY PRETENDING SHE CAN HAVE ONE OF OUR NEW BROCHURES:

Blossom thanks Reggie for being allowed to be near the brochures:

Meanwhile, in delusional jack-russel land: Blossom thinks she's a mink coat.....different kind of priceless. Much more wiggly, and much less valuable.

This is Wesley

He's up on the wall re-pointing with lime mortar.

_____________________________________________________________________
THE EXPERIMENT:

This is the front of the Federal Mansion in progress....for those who are not color-blind, I'm sure the oddity of the top level will jump out at you immediately. You might ask, "What the hell were they thinking using two different kinds of wood on the siding up there?" That's understandable. Here's what we were thinking: Rumor has it that cedar doesn't hold paint as well as pine. We wanted to test that. What if people have been cruelly slandering cedar all these years for no reason without even realizing it? Making it go to different drinking fountains and sit at the back of the truck for no reason but prejudice....wouldn't that be atrocious? We can't let the 'alleged' injustice go on! Reggie is doing an experiment on his house to compare the difference between cedar and pine...so, stay tuned and we'll let you know what the outcome is.

________________________________________________________________

REGGIE TAUNTS BLOSSOM BY PRETENDING SHE CAN HAVE ONE OF OUR NEW BROCHURES:

Blossom thanks Reggie for being allowed to be near the brochures:

Meanwhile, in delusional jack-russel land: Blossom thinks she's a mink coat.....different kind of priceless. Much more wiggly, and much less valuable.