Slush City, NY

WOW! I am absolutely loving this weather lately!  Last week, the temperatures rose to 70 degrees!  In fact, it was so warm that the snow started melting rapidly.  When 25 inches of snow finally starts to melt, it really looks like a pond. 

 

 

 

 

I suggested to Dan that we go outside and splash around in the puddles.  It brought back memories from childhood! 

One of the best investments we've made since moving to New York was rubber boots. 

 

 

 

The weekend was a little bit icy/rainy. but still beautiful. 

 

Today it got up to 65 degrees, so Chula and I went for a nice walk.  We were finally able to pick up cans and plastic bottles for recycling again!  Its been several months that the cans alongside the road have been covered by snow. 

We picked up 40 cans and bottles (I always keep track so that I know how much money we made that time.  NY gives 6 cents for each un-smashed bottle and can!).

 

Chula has been doing so much better during our walks.  I've been training her to be alert and watching around us while we walk.  Since I'll be taking the baby for lots of walks in the stroller this summer, I want for Chula to be mature and trained well enough to always be on the watch. 

For the longest time, she would put her nose to the ground and just sniff around the whole walk.  It was frustrating.  This halter we got for her really did the trick though.  Now she keeps her head up constantly and looks around for movement of people, animals, cars...everything.  It is GREAT! 

 

All of the New Yorkers here have been warning me,

 "Don't get used to this weather!!  March is the worst month of winter usually!"

So I'm not getting TOO used to the gorgeous weather.  But I'm for sure taking advantage of it while it lasts!

Fastnachts, Antiques and Quilting

 Well hello readers!! 

 

I had a great week last week, and so far, this week is going really well too! 

The other week, Dan and I dropped into an antique store in Whitehall.  We were looking for a small end table for our church lobby, which we are beginning to remodel.  We didn't find a end table that would work for that, but we DID see an old trunk that needed some work, but I really liked.  I think the reason I REALLY liked it was because it was full of old letters from the 1800's and those would come with the trunk!  That trunk was $45.  Then the owner told us that he had more trunks, but they were sitting out on the porch.  So after looking them all over, we found this one for $15.  We couldn't resist the price, even though it meant that I didn't get all of the letters.   

 

 

 

One handle is broken off, and the leather straps were mostly dry-rotted off.  We ended up just taking the straps off, polishing up the rusty hinges and brass buttons as best we could and sanding and varnishing the wood.  The canvas is actually still in decent condition, so we are keeping that on. 

I DID find a sheet of paper at the bottom of the trunk that listed all of the items that were shipped in it.  It is clearly very old...and I enjoyed reading about the "puffs" and "shirtwaists" that were stored in it.  The shipping label is on the side still, but the year cannot be read unfortunately.  Now the trunk is in our living room!  I love it...

 

 

Another thing that has me excited is that I am almost finished my first quilt!  My grandma bought me a quilting frame and I used it to hand-stitch the diagonal lines.  It isn't a large quilt, but I'm very excited that I actually made it!  I'm looking forward to the next one I can do, which will be a baby quilt. 

 

 

The other week, it snowed 12 inches.  Dan wanted to make a snowman, so we did our best attempt.  After beginning to make it though, we realized that the snow was not good packing snow at ALL.  So our snowman looks really interesting....

 

And finally, last Monday, Dan and I made apple fritters and Fastnachts to celebrate "fat Tuesday", the day before Ash Wednesday.  Actually, we don't really celebrate the day, but we did make the fastnachts!  I remember from my childhood, my grandmother would make fastnachts and deliver them to our house in bags.  We would eat them for breakfast and roll them in confectioners sugar...mmmm, SO delicious.    This was my first time ever making fastnachts myself; I was pretty happy with the outcome!

 

 

But before the fastnachts, I made apple fritters.  It was also a first to make those. 

 

 

 

Dan said to me after eating one "Wow...these are great, but not very good for you!"

 

And THIS picture was taken after he ate his fourth fritter.  :)  I said "I guess you can afford to eat four of them!"

 

These are the fastnachts.

 

After they were done frying, I decided I'd use the leftover glaze from the fritters and dip the fastnachts in them.  It actually helped really keep them soft and also made them a little bit more sweet (they are generally not a sweet doughnut at all).

 

 

Just on Wednesday (Valentines Day), Dan woke up early and made me breakfast!  I couldn't resist taking this picture of him. 

 

So you can see why last week was awesome!!! :D  So far this week, I've learned how to grind venison meat, and helped Dan to sand down the whole church lobby and re-paint.  It's been fun! 

I hope that all of you are having equally amazing weeks!

Fixing up the 1900 House

Well, things here in Granville are very snowy and icy.  Last Sunday, we got 12 inches of snow and then another 9 on Wednesday.  Then yesterday and today, we got sleet and rain, so now we have mounds of ice and sheets of ice. 

We still had church today though!!  :D

 

I figured that I'd post another update on the house.  Of course, these updates and are from the autumn.  In September, we tore the shingles off of the garage and addition roof. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then Dan built new tresses and roof to just go over top of the old one. 

 

We decided that instead of re-doing it with shingles, we would put a tin roof on.  It was certainly cheaper...

As you can see, if you compare this picture to the third one in this post, Dan built a new roof addition to cover the basement entrance and the addition entrance.  Before, the rain water was running straight down the side of the house and into the basement. 

 

We rented that dumpster and filled it to the brim...  

 



 

Another thing that needed to be fixed was the water main going to the house.  Sometime in the vacant years, it had busted during a hard freeze.  Our options were either to rent a mini excavator and dig it up ourselves or to pay someone else to do it.  And considering the fact that we had no idea WHERE the mess was in the 60-something feet of water main, we decided to just pay someone to do it.  It was a good thing that Dan told him to start digging right next to the house too, because that was where the bust was! 

 

In the back of the house, at the addition, there is a serious buildup of dirt.  One of our spring/summer projects this year will be to grade the whole property either by hand or with a bobcat.  This excess dirt has built up around the whole foundation and causes the water to just sit, eventually seeping into the addition.  Thus, causing lots of rot.  Of course we won't do the grading until it is warm out again, but we were able to put in a sidewalk, which helps quite a bit. 

 

Dan did the hard part.  I mixed the cement. 

 

This past week, Dan took out the tub in the downstairs bathroom and found a shower on craigslist that has never been used before.  So it will be nice to have two full bathrooms now, instead of just one and a half baths. 

 

Between the snow and icy weather, I have been staying indoors a lot.  I am really looking forward to it warming up, even though I still LOVE the winter weather.  The baby Shedd is growing fast.  We go to another midwife appointment Tuesday, and I always look forward to hearing the heartbeat.   

 

I will try to post sooner next time.  Hope you all are doing great!