Day 16

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
7:01:38 AM

It's been just over 2 weeks since we've moved here and the house is already looking like a home again, and is nearly at 75% function. Both of the toilets have to still be replaced, as do several small pieces of plumbing (mostly due to the large amounts of Lime and other mineral deposits that have built up over the 5+ years of dormancy). Some of the personal family treasures I've run across have been absolutely amazing. I honestly did not figure that these items even existed an longer, some of which any person would think might have been discarded or aged beyond recognition decades ago.

Most of the treasures include old photographs of family members. Most of these date back to the Great Depression era (1929 - 1935), but some date back to the early 1900's and mid - late 1890's. The photos are incredibly in mint condition, with not so much as one age spot on the photo plates, nor any streaks, rotting or cracks. I also stumbled upon old books that have publishing dates that are in the 1910's decade, as well as one book that dated back to the late 1890's. These books belonged to my grandparents and were their old school books. Keep in mind that back in that era, girls who even went all the way through high school was a rare thing, especially during the WW1 and Great Depression times. Most girls stopped their formal studies around the 9th or 10th grade to go to work and help support their families. Given the rigorous studies of that era though, an elder person who says "I only have an 8th grade education" is the same as a person today saying, "I dropped out of college in my Sophomore year". Back in those days, 'education' was never confined to the formal lessons learned within the walls of a classroom, but rather a combined set of teachings learned from 4 primary areas of the child's life. Parents, Church, School and Work (in that order).

As I was going through the mounds of hoarded items my mother had kept, I found out something about my grandmother that struck me as a bit 'unusual' in regard to her possible early-life way of living. My grandmother was also a bit of a hoarder. Of course it was not a huge problem for her like it is for my mother, because my grandmother was what I call 'an organized hoarder'. I found boxes upon boxes upon boxes of nothing but saved special occasion cards people had given her, old photographs of nearly ever member of my family (most of whom I have never met in my life, and some of whom I will never meet in my life), newspaper clippings, ribbons and bows from gifts given to her many decades ago and so forth. She kept a lovely plate and tea cup collection in her glass cabinet in the living room. Moreover, although the plates and tea cup sets are in this 3 level glass front cabinet, many more items that are far more valuable exist in there as well.

Then there is the closet area off the livingroom that we've come to call the 'utility room'. It is in this small storage room that I found my grandmother's hope chest. I have not been able to get into it yet as there are many empty boxes still piled on top of it, and with 'no room in the inn' down in our basement, the opening of the hope chest will have to wait until much later. I located my great-great-grandmother's Christian Bible from the early 1800's. Priceless in and of itself, but even moreso because of what that Bible might contain. The book is very old, and needs to be handled with kid-gloved hands when it is opened, lest the pages fall into flakes before they are ever able to be examined. I also located my grandmother's old scrap book from the 1920's. How early the dates go on the newspaper clippings from that era remains to be known, however I do know that it contains the original marriage certificate of my grandparents. Since they were married in 1927, I can therefore make a semi-educated guess that the scrap book dates back to at least that year, if not earlier, as the certificate was found nearly 2/3 of the way through the book itself.

We also have the wood stove finally functioning again after standing un-used for 10+ years. My grandmother went into the nursing home in 1998, and she did not use that wood stove since before that year, simply because she was physically incapable of making her way to the stove and lighting the wood and paper kindling to get the fire going. We guessed, based on what my mother has told us about her complete non-use of the stove, that the stove had been sitting there collecting dust for just a little over 10 years. Mr. Fisher (the locate chimney sweep) came over and swept out the flue, cleaned the inside of the stove base, and examined the interior piping. He got it working so that we'll have heat and a cooking surface should the power go out during any winter storms, and we can also use it for heat. It's not an efficient source of heat, but it is capable of producing enough heat to get the house to a comfortable living temperature. Kindling and paper logs are about all we're going to be able to use in there simply because of the small size of the stove. And, although the stove has 2 burners on top of it, it's not likely that we'll be able to do much cooking beyond warming cans of soup or heating a small pot of water for instant coffee and/or tea.

Almost all of the furniture in this home will be going out. My grandmother's old couch will be sent to the dump/trandfer station, and placed out under the pavilion there in case some one else might want the item to refurbish it. The bulk of the items however will be going to my step-father's barn in Camptonville (a small town approximately 10 miles south of here). There is only a very small portion of the furniture that will remain in the home. The kitchen table and 2 chairs for it, a bottom portion of a lighted hutch that my mother had purchased at a tag sale to house her Beanie Babies collection in (trust me, even a direct act of God could not cause that hutch portion to house over 1,000 of these Beanie Babies) and an old wooden rocking chair that I grew up with (which I absolutely will not allow to leave the house as it has always been one of my favorite pieces of furniture).

At this point I am physically shot. Thus far, I have had more Asthma attacks in 2 weeks in this home, than I did in 4 years up in Crescent City. My Arthritis is to the breaking point, and given the fact that I have 2 forms of full body Arthritis (one of which is a slow degenerative type), just about every bone in my body is screaming bloody murder at me. At times, I hurt so much that I can feel my eyelashes about to give out, and the eye strain from being in a near-constant state of sorting is causing me to soon require a newer more megnified set of glasses. My Stigmatism has gotten worse in just these 2 short weeks, and I can actually feel my eyes becoming weaker by the day. My hands are more arid than the Iraqi deserts, and not even a thick slathering of heavy night cream with sleeping gloves on has been able to fully heal my hands. Whenever I bend my knuckles, parts of my skin crack and sometimes bleed. Physical healing will take much longer than the full restoration on this home.

Fortunately for us, my grandfather built a nice solid work table and book-shelf type cabinet in the basement. He was about as mechanically inclined as my cat's litter box. However, he was a professional butcher and baker. We suspect that he built these tables as multi-function tables that could be used for not only minor carpentry projects, but also for butchering, canning, jarring and a storage area for his 'tools of the trade' (most of which we've found in the far reaches of our kitchen cabinets and cupboards). When my grandfather died in 1969, many of his larger items were probably given away to family members that live out east in Missouri, and local friends of the family who my grandmother knew would put his items to good use, if not use them to their fully restored capacity.

After a thorough inspection of the exterior of the home, Jerry found that the house itself is structurally sound, and needs very little work at all. The foundation is solid as a rock (literally, because the foundation is built directly into the bedrock that lines the river bank), and no repairs of any kind are needed on that foundation. The house siding is solid and only needs painting. The roof needs to eventually be replaced with a more modern looking roof, but this is not a necessary upgrade until possibly a year or two from now, as the roof is well placed and tacked down to near perfection (I say 'near' because Jerry knows that the roof could have been taken care of a bit more professionally, but for what it's worth, the job was well done, and considering that we're not exactly sure when the roof was last worked on, it is as solid as it can get without being completely upgraded with a full replacement).

The interior redecoration is beginning to take hold. Although we haven't begun painting or wallpapering yet, we are getting closer to the conclusion points on color, texture and pattern choices. My grandfather used a lot of Fromica sheeting in the bathrooms and the kitchen. A smart move as this material is one of the best (even today) barriers against the natural moistures that always build up on these room's walls and floors, especially bathrooms where steam can be a carpenter's worst enemy. The colors my grandfather chose remain to be seen as anything more than 'in horribly bad taste' (that is, of course, my personal opinion). He used a marbled pattern for all 3 rooms. A green-ish teal for both of the bathrooms and a grey swirled for the kitchen. Keep in mind that all of the walls in the kitchen are not slathered in Fromica. Only the wall and range hood around the counter areas are covered. A smart choice, but again, the coloring (Gray) is a bit 'odd' for a kitchen.

The kitchen project is mine alone. I have always claimed the kitchen to be my 'personal domain', and therefore, how the kitchen is redone is up to me, and only me. Since we've chosen to keep the Fromica, I decided on a two toned Gray semi-modern finish for the kitchen. I plan on matching up the two different shades of Gray in the Fromica, and utilize a pure white color to keep the kitchen from being overwhelmed with neutral tones of Nickle and Steel. We've chosen a White tile for the floors of the bathrooms, kitchen and foyer hallway, and then the coloring of the rugs remains to be chosen. Those colors will be chosen based on the furniture items and the wallpaper we choose for the bedrooms and livingroom. Yes, we like wallpaper and prefer a more 'modern Victorian' decor.

For now, the kitchen and bathrooms are what get done first. These are the rooms most often used by our family, and also the rooms that need the most work. The Master Bathroom needs the most work between the two. We purchased a new shower head, only to bring it home and realize that my grandfather did not use standard fixtures on the home, and thus we are now in need of an adapter so that the new shower head can be fitted on properly. The faucets for the bathroom need to also be replaced for both the sink and the tub. Lime and other mineral deposits have collected over the years and have caused corrosion of not only the O-rings within the fuxtures themselves, but also a small loss of metal on the insides of the threadings. These can be restored, but the cost of restoration would be equal to, or greater than, the cost of completely replacing them all together.

Both of the toilets will have to be replaced as their tanks are both cracked, with the one in the master bathroom being so visibly cracked that you can't even fill up the tank itself with water unless you have a 1/2 Gallon container under the tank so that when it's fulshed, you don't have 'Lake Superior' forming around the base of the toilet. Of course, with cracked tanks, the water damage is severe in those rooms, and thus those two rooms will be getting a new tile floor prior to the kitchen and foyer hall.