Old photo found of our house!!
Pete found this photo on You Tube. A local historian makes short videos about various neighborhoods in our city. A few years ago we attended a local historical society meeting. A woman we spoke to said she had seen a photo of our street with our house in it. This must be the photo she was referring to.
The end of the video credits several archives, two that I haven't rooted through yet.
This is the most recent Google maps screenshot, from 2017
Silent but Deadly
I'm pretty low maintenance; I don't mind getting dirty, I enjoy heavy labor, I'm OK with peeing in a bucket. However, there are some things that I can not tolerate, one of those things is being cold for extended periods
We weighed our options when we considered how we were going to bring temporary heat to our temporary bedroom. A wood burning stove would have been the easiest to install, but chopping wood and constantly feeding the stove is impractical considering all the work we already need to do.
The second option was a pellet stove. A pellet stove burns manufactured compressed wood pellets. No chopping, but constantly purchasing and feeding the stove seemed annoying as well.
The third option was a vent-less natural gas stove. A project to install, but no cutting holes in the house for a chimney and no dealing with gathering a fuel source. So we bought a gas fireplace online. Years ago I made fun of a friend who had a gas fireplace installed in his house. "This is cheating, you need to burn wood for this to be a real fireplace." I told him. I now formally retract my statements an offer an official apology.
Needless to say I was concerned when we were blown off by two contractors who we were hoping would install the gas fireplace.
Heat (at least in the room where we were sleeping) was the last link in the chain to making the house livable. Pete is pretty tough when it comes to the cold. He can stand about three days of sleeping in the unheated house before it upsets him. As a bachelor he liked to sleep with the window open in his bedroom when it snowed. "I like the snow on my face, it's refreshing" he told me. I found out this is common in Minnesota, where they referenced it on the radio show Prairie Home Companion.
I made it clear I would not be sleeping in the unheated house during my November visit. This threat was the motivator for him to install the gas fireplace himself.
After purchasing the fireplace we went to Lowes where a friendly salesman helped us get all the necessary parts and fittings.
We bought this hand held gas detector as well.
Pete then dragged the line through the crawlspace. There are moments where I really admire his determination; this was one of these moments.
This is kind of an exaggeration, the mess under the crawlspace has been cleaned out, but shimmying through there is no easy task.
Here's Pete with the new heater. After all of this he realized we were missing a fitting.
Another night in the cold!
I've never experienced cold like this. We have several comforters and an electric blanket, so getting into bed was great! It was getting out of bed in the morning that was painful agony.
Second Attempt at installation:
After buying the correct threaded part, Pete hooked up the line to the fireplace, then opened the valves. Nothing. I suggested we unscrew it to see if there was gas in the line. Whoa, mother, that was an experience! Everyone is familiar with the odor added to natural gas, but hovering over an open gas line was like the devil farted right in my face.
The manual failed to mention the regulator, which is a part on the heater, controlled via a simple flat screw. Pete found it, turned it a smidge, and got it running.
We've gone from homesteading to glamping with this heater. It was a beautiful moment.
Click below if you would like to share this beautiful moment with me.
Front Bedroom
I'm pretty low maintenance; I don't mind getting dirty, I enjoy heavy labor, I'm OK with peeing in a bucket. However, there are some things that I can not tolerate, one of those things is being cold for extended periods
We weighed our options when we considered how we were going to bring temporary heat to our temporary bedroom. A wood burning stove would have been the easiest to install, but chopping wood and constantly feeding the stove is impractical considering all the work we already need to do.
The second option was a pellet stove. A pellet stove burns manufactured compressed wood pellets. No chopping, but constantly purchasing and feeding the stove seemed annoying as well.
The third option was a vent-less natural gas stove. A project to install, but no cutting holes in the house for a chimney and no dealing with gathering a fuel source. So we bought a gas fireplace online. Years ago I made fun of a friend who had a gas fireplace installed in his house. "This is cheating, you need to burn wood for this to be a real fireplace." I told him. I now formally retract my statements an offer an official apology.
Needless to say I was concerned when we were blown off by two contractors who we were hoping would install the gas fireplace.
Heat (at least in the room where we were sleeping) was the last link in the chain to making the house livable. Pete is pretty tough when it comes to the cold. He can stand about three days of sleeping in the unheated house before it upsets him. As a bachelor he liked to sleep with the window open in his bedroom when it snowed. "I like the snow on my face, it's refreshing" he told me. I found out this is common in Minnesota, where they referenced it on the radio show Prairie Home Companion.
I made it clear I would not be sleeping in the unheated house during my November visit. This threat was the motivator for him to install the gas fireplace himself.
After purchasing the fireplace we went to Lowes where a friendly salesman helped us get all the necessary parts and fittings.
We bought this hand held gas detector as well.
First Attempt at installation:
The gas manifold; its a scary and powerful spot in any structure. This manifold was installed by our plumber when the hot water heater was installed in April. Finagling with it was not in the original plan.
The first step was removing the cap from one of the lines, then applying pipe dope.That's the white stuff on the fitting, used for sealing threaded fittings.
The next step was to test the seal. Small leaks can be checked by spraying soapy water on them, if the soap bubbles up, gas is leaking out. Yay, science!
Pete then dragged the line through the crawlspace. There are moments where I really admire his determination; this was one of these moments.
This is kind of an exaggeration, the mess under the crawlspace has been cleaned out, but shimmying through there is no easy task.
Another night in the cold!
I've never experienced cold like this. We have several comforters and an electric blanket, so getting into bed was great! It was getting out of bed in the morning that was painful agony.
Second Attempt at installation:
After buying the correct threaded part, Pete hooked up the line to the fireplace, then opened the valves. Nothing. I suggested we unscrew it to see if there was gas in the line. Whoa, mother, that was an experience! Everyone is familiar with the odor added to natural gas, but hovering over an open gas line was like the devil farted right in my face.
The manual failed to mention the regulator, which is a part on the heater, controlled via a simple flat screw. Pete found it, turned it a smidge, and got it running.
We've gone from homesteading to glamping with this heater. It was a beautiful moment.
Click below if you would like to share this beautiful moment with me.
Front Bedroom
Our friends son Simon and I finished pulling down the plaster on the front bedroom. We are getting close to having the entire house plaster free, with only the ceilings of the two bedrooms, the attic, and the parlor remaining.
New cracks were visible, probably from the house getting raised five inches.
This is the layer behind the plaster, the wood that the clapboard is nailed to. I love the reddish color of this wood. Is it redwood? It makes me want to cover the interior of the house with trendy Joanna Gaines ship lap, minus the white paint.
.
She works hard for no money
"Wow, its like prison" I said to a woman also washing her clothes.
This is the layer behind the plaster, the wood that the clapboard is nailed to. I love the reddish color of this wood. Is it redwood? It makes me want to cover the interior of the house with trendy Joanna Gaines ship lap, minus the white paint.
Another funny design quirk; brick wallpaper over the brick chimney. Although I know a few ladies who pull it off beautifully, this is the design equivalent of shaving off your eyebrows and drawing them back on.
She works hard for no money
Here's me after about 30 minutes of pulling down plaster. In November. With no heat. I was surprised to see how sweaty I can get in those conditions.
I'm not a big selfie person, most of the time I cant stand to have my photo taken. But I felt this was worth documenting. And yes, the reflection of a cuter me in my goggles is intentional.
Bottom Feeding
Whats the most desperate thing you have ever eaten? For me I think it was this. We were running low on groceries so I made this-An all vegan sandwich on Indian naan bread with pickles and ranch salad dressing. It looks so sad and anemic, not a culinary high point.
You can wash the blood out of your clothes after you get stabbed
We don't have a washer and dryer at our house, so we've been washing our clothes in a decent laundromat that's about a five minute drive away. I recently noticed a laundromat around the corner from us, so I decided to wash our clothes there. How bad could it be?
Public laundromats in our new town do not have attendants like in NYC, so there can be a real sense of unease and danger depending on how desolate they are. The first laundromat we explored, Elliot's Laundromat, was so derelict and scary we re-named it Elliot's Rape and Wash.
The real close laundromat was clean but pretty annoyingly minimal. No place to sit, except for the toilet, in a bathroom with no door.
"No, prison is better than this, at least federal prison is." she replied
Flora and Fauna
I'm looking forward to fencing the entire yard in, but I will miss the deer. This crappy cell phone camera photo shows one of many visits from our hoofed friends.
We found several of these woolly bear caterpillars, the wives tale is that the length of the brown band determines the severity of the coming winter.
There is a woolly bear festival that's been happening in a small town Northern Ohio for 45 years.
Here's a bunch of locals at the woolly bear race. Whoa.
This photo is from the Woolly Bear Festival Facebook page.
I also found these really tiny snails under a sheet of MDF. They were about 1/16 of an inch in diameter. Pete says they couldn't have been that small. I didn't measure them, but they were pretty itty bitty.
She's a brick house
This cute house is for sale around the corner from us. She has the misfortune of being across the street to the railroad tracks and under a power line. If I won the lottery I would buy her, buy one of the ranch houses across the street from us, knock that down, and move the brick house in its place. She deserves a better location!
The asking price is $85,000
These are photos from the real estate website. She's in fantastic shape!
The Sterling Collection
A real wise ass gave the blood pressure cuff its formal name, the sphygmomanometer. Does anyone in the medical community actually use this word? Invented in Germany in 1881, this model is sporting American patents just over 100 years old.
My blood pressure used to be perfect, then I went to an exam where the nurse made me anxious.
I was nervous to begin with, and she didn't help.
"Go out into the waiting room and relax!" She barked at me. "If your BP doesn't go down I'm gonna send you downstairs!
I didn't know what was downstairs but it didn't sound good.
Now when I see the cuff at the doctors office I get agitated. Last year at work I sat with the blood pressure cuff on my arm and took readings, over and over, trying to desensitize myself to the experience. I printed out each normal reading, like a little trophy. It actually helped a lot.
Inspirations
The Museum of Modern Renaissance
Bohemian Russian artists Nicholas Shaplyko and Ekaterina Sorokina bought this building from the Masons in the mid 1990s in Somerville, Massachusetts, working to create their temple of art. Photos are from the couples website.
I doubt this couple has a television in their house.
I watched the Netflix Series Amazing Interiors, this and several other houses I will write about are featured in this show. This house is on season 1 episode 6, starting at about 13:00
Group tours are $200. and will accommodate 10-15 people.
Poetry Corner
For those of you just joining us a collection of pornographic poetry was found it the house. I've been posting one poem at the end of each entry
Be warned, this one gets nasty at paragraph three.
