April 2017

I was able to get some time off work to accompany Pete to the house for a week. It had been seven months since I'd been there, and I had an emotional moment seeing in person what will some day be our kitchen. A new sub floor, and the start of our first bathroom helped me really visualize the future of the house.

Big brother at our big house

Between the peckerhead neighbors behind us shooting at the house with BB guns and some other random skumbag stealing our mail, we decided to install security cameras outside of the house on this trip.

After a lot of research we decided to go with the Canary system.

These cameras connect to wifi and send alerts whenever there is activity detected. It's possible to turn them on at any time and watch anything going (or not going) on.

We bought 4 cameras for outside, but mounting them on the house unprotected seemed like a bad idea.  We bought pre-fabricated bird houses from the local craft store to house our little spy birds.

Pete built mounting brackets to make them easier to remove them when needed, and cut the birdhouse doorways wider to accommodate the face of the cameras

Painting them was a dry run for painting our big house. Pete kept adding more and more details, asking me what I thought during the process. 

Here they are, all cute and ready to be mounted.

Maybe we should have painted them peeling yellow to camouflage them.  

We were concerned about getting alerts at odd times at night due to deer activity, but so far this has only happened once. I slept right through it. Pete woke up and had nightmares after that, probably about aggressive deer.



The vegan in me loves this video. The only shame is that this guy didn't sustain permanent injury. Between the wife who kept filming and made no attempt to help her husband and the man who sprays Elk urine in his mouth, these two idiots really deserve each other.

The only trespasser we've caught so far is this guy. If you turn up the volume you can hear his wings flapping around. I now feel obligated to mount more bird houses and keep them vacant. 

Scrap metal and other trashiness 

Pete hates scrapping alone. The last time he was at the house by himself  he refused to complete a scrap metal run. Every day I asked him about it, and every reply was "I'm busy."  This time I was determined not to be naggy about it.  I mentioned the issue once again, and he surprisingly agreed.  He dismantled the old boiler in the basement, parts of it looked like something from an archaeology exhibit. 

I wonder if the previous owner purchased the extended warranty.

I forgot my work gloves, so I used our host Amanda's oven mitts at the scrap yard. Sorry, chica.

$43. in scrap metal, better than last time

Profits from the house so far:

$43.10 in scrap metal in April 2017

$166. 70 scrap metal in September 2016

$1.35 in US stamps in June 2016

$21.60 scrap metal in March 2016

$52.80 scrap metal in October 2015

$62.30 scrap metal in July 2015

$11.37 Guitar Center gift card found in house November 2014

$40. box of uninstalled ceramic soap dishes sold on Craigslist

We decided to throw away this chair I found on Broadway last year. It's a cheap reproduction,  as light as balsa wood, and not worth restoring. 

Second circuit breaker panel
Here is our amazing electrician Tom hooking up our second breaker box.
"Whatever you do Stephanie, do not touch the bla bla bla when yadda yadda."This warning does not matter, I have no plans to touch that thing until the installation is 100% complete.

We need to replicate Tom as a plumber.

New Acquisitions

This chair was for sale at the City Opera Thrift Shop in Manhattan. I always take the time to visit all the thrift stores on 23rd street whenever I'm there. Being the cheap person that I am, I walked around the block contemplating a $75. purchase.

When I  finally returned to buy it I was told all the furniture was 50% off that week! 

Unfortunately, I lost one of the finials transporting it home.

More creepy books. This collection is slipping down a slippery slope. I thought Pete would eventually run out of appropriate titles, but there is no end in sight.  

 Reproduction salt and pepper shakers. 

 These are relevant considering my current job. 

Pete was enamored with this bat-on-top-of-coffin candle, convinced it was not mass produced and made by some local goth child suffering through high school in the small town where we purchased it. He contemplated buying it like I did with that antique chair on 23rd street.

 I'm not sure how this is gonna work out, but we bought this for our intercom system.

 Pete is planning to reproduce this spiderweb doorbell cover and make more of them, using them for various push buttons around the house. 

I really like this multi hinged floor lamp base!

Our hosts gave us this porch swing. Rocky's dad told us it was mounted under several family porches before this one. 

In a funny twist, Pete and I bought each other gifts from the same Etsy vendor for Christmas. These miniatures are made by Lady Delaney, a professional prop fabricator in New Orleans who sells a ton of adorable itty bitty spooky books, bones, and everything else one would need to furnish the ultimate haunted doll house. 

If the space between the beams allow it, we plan to create alcoves in the wall between the foyer and the parlor, each with a themed diorama using these miniatures. 

I know the whole sea monster/octopus thing is pretty trendy, but I

I'm still hanging these prints by Amber Curio in one of our bathrooms. 

I'm hoping this cutting board does not get the attention of our house ghosts! Woodcrft makes custom cutting boards in several woods, and has a huge inventory of styles.

I'm so happy I will have the wall space to hang these fantastic prints by Alternate Histories. This graphic designer creates alternate history for many cities including New York, Paris, Chicago, London, Cleveland, etc, etc. Each image depicting a city attacked by a giant cat, squid, flying saucer, or Godzilla.

I got Pete book these ends for his mountain of creepy books. Made by Knob Creek Metal Arts 

Things left behind

I would love to hear the details of what went down between Kristen's dad and Dave! Did it involve a baseball bat and Dave running out of the house pantless?

This RCA payment coupon book from 1980 is fully intact.  I'm sure this was one of the many consumer items never paid for, considering how this family dealt with their debts. Perhaps this was for the TV we disposed of during our first clean up.

Unpaid bills from the no longer existing Trans World Airlines-1980

The groom's name on this wedding invite has a familiar ring to it.- 1991

A flirty letter from Jackie-1992

I wouldn't be too happy if someone gave me anything saying they were burnt out over me. Is the

 'I love you" supposed to compensate for that?

The hugs and kisses coupon book from 1992. dated, (mentioning video rental and answering machines) yet timeless (get out of the doghouse free)

Poetry corner

(refresher warning: If you are offended by pornographic poetry avert your eyes now)

This is one of several poems mentioning rain. It's always raining in this guys mind. 

February 2017

Pete continued to work on the kitchen during this trip.  The plan is to make that room the apartment while working on the rest of the house.

If I have my way, this scene will someday be accompanied by all six fireplaces fully functional.



Here are a few progression photos of the two entryways between the old and new kitchens. The first photo shows a sheet of steel that was nailed to the floor to cover the damage.

Got these doors at Construction Junction, $35.00 each. 

We decided to mirror the doors to swing out into the old kitchen.

Pete could have easily just installed one door and blocked off the other entrance, but we both felt this preserves the architectural integrity of the house. Leaving the doorways without doors may also contribute to heat loss in the winter. 

If you don't remember, we discovered this hole in the back of the chimney when we tore down one of the 10 layer walls in January 2015. Smashing a hole in the chimney just because you don't like where the stove sits is a pretty extreme retrofitting job.  Our hosts father came by and immediately recognized it as evidence of a summer kitchen. Summer kitchens are one story structures, either attached or detached from the house. Way before air conditioning, cook stoves were disassembled and moved to the summer kitchen to prevent making the house even hotter than it was already in June through August. There's a link to an article about summer kitchens here.



Poetry corner
The previous owner was apparently part of some poetry club, or was encouraging girlfriends or whoever to write as well.  Here's one written by Lucille:

January 2017

Pete took another trip to the house by himself. I am really itching for that sledge hammer; there are so many walls left to destroy!

So I whined like a cranky three year old when Pete left me behind once again to have all the fun.

He moved all the storage into our new attic above the kitchen, down two flights and up the ladder. This was one task I was happy not to be a part of.

Now our stored belongings will only have new sheet rock/plaster dust all over everything, not that nasty coal dust/bird excrement dust that permeates the house.

Pete worked on electrical wiring during this trip.

 Our electrician suggested Pete install a second circuit breaker box in the kitchen.

Pete installed this gray 100 amp service cable from the main breaker box in the basement to the new one in the kitchen. The yellow Romex cable was run through the kitchen for outlets, light switches, and appliances.

Our electrician Tom offered to loan Pete this right angle drill. He used it to burrow through the beams to run the service cable between the circuit breaker boxes. Tom has been incredibly kind and generous to us.  The suspicious New Yorker in me is waiting for him to ask us for some huge unreasonable favor, like assistance with disposing of a body, help with laundering funds, or delivering a package across state lines.

 

We'll see if these holes were worth the savings. 

The 44th edition implies that this book is not really so simplified, but Pete was very excited about the diagrams. How often is the national electrical code upgraded?  I'd like to read about all of the accidents, shorts, and fires that led up to this 44th edition. 

Here's a progress photo. Yes, that window is being replaced, smarty pants.

These nail plates are designed to stop people like me from drilling/hammering screws and nails into the wiring. Are these a code requirement?

Due to the strange spotlight effect on this photo, I thought Pete was at some avant-garde theater production when he sent this to me. Pete built the door jamb for our new bathroom door. I can only assume it was a pretty dramatic learning curve.  I am hoping the skills he perfects from installing doors can be applied to windows.

Too bad this diagram cant be applied to all the doors in the house, because there are 10 more to be replaced!

One step closer to an actual bathroom!!

Things left behind

vintage documents

I'm finally done with sorting through the mountain of paperwork left in the house. I'll spread the interesting things over a few more entries. 

I really like the font on this sample life insurance policy, from 1918.

Social Security was signed into law in 1935, and I think this was the first card printed. Check out the tetanus inducing staple on the upper left.

The WAR department, when America was direct and honest about its intentions. 1944.

Although I remember bank books, I'd never seen one specifically printed to document paying off a mortgage. It's from 1966, although it looks a lot older. Note the phone number on the front cover. What's up with the hand written entries? I'm guessing this was only for the customer to keep track (more like a check register)  and not an official bank document.

Here's a more official bank book,  from 1985.

Here's a punch card, another example of antiquated technology. I'm sure there are some nerds that collect these things, I think I may become one of them.

Here is (I think)  the former owner of the house, being all macho and self absorbed. 

Don't let the sweet old lady act fool you. This itty old bitty will concuss any mugger with a couple of swings of her purse.The back of the photo reads "grandma, born Feb 23, 1895.

poetry corner

The former owner left behind a stack of about 20 love poems. There is an unexpected intermingling of sensuality and God in most of them. I've decided to post one poem in every blog entry until they are all posted or until I get complaints.

You be the judge.