March 2019

Too Trashy

I'm sure I've written this before, but it's going to be a glorious day when we finish gutting the house. I look forward to the day when I'm done shoveling plaster and done writing about it. Pete and Simon pulled down the plaster and lathe in the attic that was well on its way to falling down on its own. I missed the demolition and made it to the disposal. We still have the two bedrooms and the parlor before the house is free of debris.

This pile looked even bigger in person.

We used the metal trash chute he found after the plastic one crapped out.

Here's Pete working on his Japanese dumpster garden. I imagined he did this with his pick up sticks as a child.  He's really determined to make the most of the available space.

This tube was obviously stronger than our last one but a lot smaller in diameter. I didn't think it would be a big deal, then a piece of wood with a hand forged nail in it got stuck, then another.

We called on the ghost of Lemmy Kilmister for assistance. And a cinder block

I had so much confidence in this method! Pete threw two cinder blocks down the tube before dismantling it.

Here's the attic all cleaned up, punctuated by Pete backlit, looking particularly angelic.

There's still a lot of soot in the house. Most of it seems to be in the attic. And on Pete's hands.

We removed about 1/3 of the soil/clay pile from the basement excavated from last summers structural work. 

My dad's contractor friend laughed at my despair when he heard me whining about the pile. "Oh, come on, you can get that done in a couple of hours!" he gloated. He builds docks for a living, so I can see how he wouldn't be intimidated by a dirt pile, especially one above water. 

Pete set up a pulley system at the front door to lift the dirt out, so we were able to take the soil just a few feet to dump it at the side of the house. 

Simon looks like a character out of a Dickens novel. However we do pay him and he keeps coming back, so I don't feel like I'm exploiting child labor too much. It is really nice to have a third person working with us, it makes a huge difference. 

Faux Finish

I was very conflicted about this mantle. I didn't like it, but it looked original to the house. Maybe we can work around it somehow, I thought.  Pete moved to get to the plaster behind it and...oops... one of the legs cracked in half. 

It was like Dorothy looking behind the curtain. The whole thing is painted! I thought marbleizing  surfaces started in the 1980s. Everyone was fooled, and I didn't have to feel bad throwing it away.

Flora & Fauna
I've posted a video like this in the past, but it's so adorable watching a bird trying to get into our bird house camera housing.

I've seen hawks flying overhead, but this is the only one we've captured on camera.

 

I don't know whats going on with the strange chirping noise this bee is making. I only found one other noise bees make besides the familiar buzzing called piping, but this sounds different.

Bees are the new sloths, and I can go on a real tear posting all of the great bee related art I've been finding lately.

This is a globe mallow bee in Arizona, taking a power nap with his bee buddy. Photo by Joe Neely. You can read about these bees and the photographer here


McDonald's is making an attempt to clean up their image by building this McDonald's bee hive. The cute factor can not be denied.

This egg and bird skull was found in the attic

The egg was weighted like a weeble wobble with the mummified bird inside.

Also found in the Attic
Pete found these two wallpapers behind the walls.  This is the only wallpaper we found in rolls.

 I didn't read this but I can only imagine. Cry me a river, snowflake.

Yesterday's News

These brown bits were salvaged from a few sheets of crumpled up newspaper behind the walls in the attic. The paper is so brittle, it was a real tweezer and cotton glove affair. A lot of the stories I salvaged seemed to be timeless. We are just as interested in villains and crime as we were 106 years ago.

These clippings are from 1913. This is one year before the start of World War 1. Antibiotics were barely being researched; syphilis was treated with mercury. It would be six more years before women in the U.S. earned the right to vote.




Hurry up, call us!

Telephone technology was in its infancy, so I guess this is the 1913 version of a company advertising it has a website. Why not call, they are anxious to please you!

Although not from 1913, I really like this instructional film of how to use a rotary telephone from 1927.

I've posted some clippings from a garment sale. Most clothing purchased was made in in the United States, and synthetic textiles like nylon were 25 years away.

This dress has a pattern on it for the customer to embroider, when skills like sewing, knitting, and embroidery were as common as basic computer skills.

I thought the word kimono was only used to describe the Japanese garment. I don't know if Asian cultures had any influence on the U.S. in 1913. 

I wish I could have saved more of these ads.

silk sock sale

Men's coats were called chummys? I'll have to ask my local fashion historian about this.

Some things really never change! This is about an actress, ironically named Edna Goodrich, who didn't pay her dressmakers bill. It is common now for celebrities to get garments for free. Fledgling designers are at a race to the bottom, sending famous people clothing and accessories for no charge in hopes that they will wear the designs and get photographed doing so.

"Edna Goodrich, the actress, has just been ordered by the court to pay $10,000. worth of gowns which she had from a Paris dressmaker. She admitted receiving the gowns, but did not admit she had agreed to pay for them. The court regarded this as frivolous and ordered her to pay."

The Great War, when it was still in diapers

Labor dispute, or cat fight?

This looks like a report on a strike at a textile mill. I love the "hair was pulled" comment. Meow!

In more serious labor news.....

Unfortunately this gives no information regarding the actual content of the bill. :(

1913 Congressional Tour
This is the only clipping that really confused me. For $9.00 congress could be seen in small towns, in session. Did people really have that much admiration and faith in federal government?

Crime Time

These stories could have been in yesterdays papers.


What was Dr. Edwards up to?

Banker steals $12,000. from bank and flees to South Africa

Father murders his four children then commits suicide

I would have to do some serious research to find out more about this Chicago double homicide case. The first victim is a 16 year old girl identified only by her last name, Frederickson. She worked for tailor George Dietz,who was a suspect in her murder. I don't know if he was ever tried because he was also murdered.  His wife was a suspect in his murder as well as another George, George Nurnberg, with whom Mrs. Deitz was having an affair.

To avoid eye strain I've transcribed the story below:

"Theory Woven by Police
With these facts in their possession, the police wove a theory that the wealthy tailor may have been responsible for the girl's condition, and that the girls sweetheart or a relative committed the murder to avenge Deitz's possible crime against the girl.
The police sought the whereabouts of George Ringler, the girls sweetheart, who was examined before a coroner's jury in the inquest that followed the girls death, and to establish the truth of the story that Ringler left Chicago by the steamship Iowa for Manitowoc, Wis.
Ringler, according to Jenny Frederickson Henry, a sister of the dead girl, was not in Chicago Monday night. He is returning to Chicago and is on the steamship Caro.
The death of the Frederickson girl,..........as her death did while the Illinois.......white slave investigating commit-.......was conducting its probe into low.........paid girls, attracted the attention........al workers"

Girl Victim only 16
........Frederickson was but 16.......earned only $2. a week as.....but on this pittance she....her father who was....the fight a losing one....employed in one of the ....(department?) stores that was un-....to her that she could....dance hall who would.....and clothes. She fol-.....a few months later the.....died as a result of....."

I found this photo of Augusta Deitz (in the center) leaving the courtroom on the Chicago History Museum website. No explanation is provided regarding the chloroform huffer on the left.

Rich american kidnapped and held for ransom

Railroad robbery
This woman claims she had a diamond ring, a pearl necklace,and $8000. in cash stolen from her on the train. It reads "gems were carried in a chamois suspended by straps to a belt she wore under her skirt."  I'm calling bullshit on this story.

Here's a story on what seems to be a stalking or harassment case. Charles Miller got a month in the workhouse for "annoying" Katherine Krummer for several weeks. I wish I could send people to the workhouse for annoying me!

Titanic memorial

This memorial has been moved a few times, and now stands on the corner of Water and Fulton Streets in Manhattan.

Speaking of drowning, here is a story about a french pilot (when they were called aviators) who drown in France. 

The story on the bottom mentions New Orleans receiving steel from Pennsylvania to reinforce the levees to avoid disaster. 

Our Fallen Sister

Pete and I were driving by this poor house being demolished in a nearby historical neighborhood. I talked the contractor into letting us look around. It was impressive, scary and sad all at once. It was being torn down to build a block of apartments.  :(

I didn't take any photos inside, we only had about five minutes to look through everything, and I was too busy holding on to the walls as I walked up the stairs with no banisters. 

New Acquisitions

We got these busts at a thrift store on vacation in Florida. I guess they will sit on top of the player piano. Should they be painted or kept this cheesy gold........  

My next visit to the house will include some serious inventory of all the sconces we've purchased. I think we may be at maximum capacity regarding sconces. 

Skinny man stealth 

Years ago I came home to our apartment to Pete's clothes, keys and wallet on the kitchen floor, yet he was no where to be found. He fell asleep wedged between the bed and the wall and it actually took me awhile to realize he was there. Here he is, ninja sleeping on the cot.

 

Photo of former residents

This is an image sent to me by a woman who lived in our house in the 60s and 70s. It took me a while to orient myself, all those trees are long gone. 

The Sterling Collection

Art deco nut cracker

Although this piece is classic art deco, I don't know why the figure looks so distraught. It was the 1920s, American wealth was at an all time high. Drinking alcohol was illegal, which made it more fun (unless you got a batch poisoned by the federal government), the first wave of women's liberation was peaking, and no one understood that cocaine was addictive. What was there to be so upset about?

A peck of pickled peppers 

I posted this thing I found in the East Village in 2017. I thought it was a part of an ashtray. I recently discovered it holds a pickle jar. Now I gotta find a fancy jar for it.

Inspiration

This falls into the "If I had unlimited wealth I would...." category.

Wolfe House and Building Movers have been moving and saving structures since 1970. 

I don't know if they have a company motto, but it should be "No structure too big or too cruddy for us to move."

 There's a part of me that would love to see these guys bolting down the highway at 60 MPH, but the process is really slow, for obvious reasons.

There's some great videos on the company's you tube channel if you are as mesmerized by this feat of engineering as I am. Here's a quick teaser video of this monstrosity being turned.

Poetry corner

A collection of (sometimes) pornographic poetry left behind in the house. This one gets a PG13 rating from me.

September-November 2018

This should be an entry containing a lot of progress, Pete lived in the house from September up until Thanksgiving. He was working a freelance prop job, 10 hour days for the entire time. Not much work got done, so there are more irrelevant ramblings here than usual to fill the space.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 

"Wow, its like prison" I said to a woman also washing her clothes.

"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.