It is a delight to be the spouse of a hard working, joy-filled, dedicated man.



Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Bedroom Story, Part One

Well, here's the hole that started it all. It all began with the bed actually, but right now it is just a big brown uninteresting box. So the hole will get top billing for now. The hole and the termites that ate the hole, nice square job they did eh? (That was really Dirt's handi-work.)


This is the type of stuff that freaks out my silly over-reactive nodes, they're so much like me, over-reactive that is.

Boards just hanging out, being bored, waiting to be reused and used. Not everything got hauled out as planned but the girls appreciated the stereo being left in the room.


It kept them entertained while they pulled the wall paper off the wall to expose more paper. I'm a corner cutter, and would have just plastered over the wall paper but when I heard it peeled easily I figured they should peel it and I'll plaster on the paper I used to decrease the paneling lines on the upper part of the wall over twenty years ago.
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I know, everyone is going to say that I should strip things and do this and do that, butcha know, I was told that the wallpaper and even the paint wouldn't adhere to the paneling twenty years ago. I would have had a different color scheme years ago if it would have only peeled or flaked or something. So for a person who loves change, I like to live dangerously.


Here's the original window with the window taken out. A nice typical bedroom sized window.

Anna helped her dad measure and draw the cutting lines for the new window. A new window could be extravagant, but I found it on Craig's list for a relative song, it is a really nice Penguin window, and will afford quite a view of the yard and gardens from the bed. No need to pull up a chair, the head of the bed is a mere eleven feet from the window. The foot of the bed, just inches.

Dirt will be installing a baseboard heater just under the window. I like baseboard heat. I don't care for the blowy noisy-ness of most force air heaters or furnaces. And with my asthma issues (and now obviously my lymph seems to want to complain a little too) one of the worst triggers is house dust and mites (uck) and forced air heat is a contributor to the problem.
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Besides that, our furnace never worked well into other parts of the house and Dirt had to crawl under the house and redo the soft duct work. Our cats were often blamed, but I'm thinking that the possums that Martin has pulled out from under the house also liked to rip into the ducting and enjoy the heat, not to mention the mice and other rodentia that crawl under my house with abandon ( I hear them all the time, skritch, skritch, skritch).


Ah, here is the new window! And even better, here is the help to put in the window! Our friends from up north have impeccable timing to show up for work and for that Dirt and I are incredibly thankful.


It took the three Coulter men, Dirt and a bit of help from Bet on the inside to put the window in the hole. I have no idea how Dirt, sicky me, Anna and Bet would have gotten that hurkin' thing in.


It pays to have tall friends, and friends willing to play huggy to rose bushes (I told them they could cut it down), you can't really see Trevor in behind the rose arbor or Mark being eaten by the climbing clinging rose, that's Justin on the ladder getting tapped on the arm by the rose, and looky there, Dirt, and no rose thorns in his side!

And here are the spectators. Becky and I sittin' on the Lilac Bench watching the window installment. (I'm the one in the mask.) I appreciate good company sittin' on my favorite bench with me on a bright sunny day. We are both happy to have the chance to soak up some pre-winter sun.
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This all went down on Sunday and now it is Tuesday evening, I still wear the mask most of the time, even when I am not in that end of the house. It helps with the asthma, I forget how much more comfortable I am with them on than without them wheezing most of the time.

After lunch break and a little football, we took our precious company out back to Dale's pond to see how the mountain was getting along. It looked pretty in soft pink and all snowy. Anna was ready to head to the mountain and play in the snow. Daddy better have his big truck ready for some Saturday afternoons in the snow.


I should have packed the tripod with me as the light level was low enough that it was hard to hold still for nice crisp shots. But I enjoyed being out shooting pictures again.



One of my favorite things about autumn is the evening, with the fog that forms on the ponds and the way the sunset catches it. After taking in all the pretty sky we could, we all headed back to the house for Anna's Green Tomato Spice cake from the last of this year's green tomatoes. We topped off the cake with our homemade caramel sauce and some delightful home made hazel nut whipped cream, had a little bit of coffee, watched some of the Philly's and NY game and then reluctantly said good bye to our northern friends, those positively amazing Coulters.
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I hope you had a good weekend and are in the middle of a terrific week, Dear Reader. Things are just looking plain old terrific here at Victory Farm and Gardens because as a very dear friend shared with us this week:
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The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
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Zephaniah 3:17:
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It matters not who you are or what you situation is God is in your midst.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lanny, I love that window and that view is amazing. Thanks too for sharing the photos of the mountain; that is just so pretty. Hope you are feeling some better dear friend.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

love your new window and you have wonderful friends, but of course you already know that! hope the asthma is better, sarge suffers with that too and so does chuck.

hugs, bee
xoxoxoxoxoox

Flower said...

Nice new window!! The tearing out gives me the shudders! Get better and stay warm!!

A. Joy said...

Wow ! That's a window! Such a nice addition to your room. I love big windows.

Far Side of Fifty said...

That window is going to be perfect.. you will really like it! It sounds like your asthma is really giving you fits..I am guessing that Fall is a bad time of year for you. We did lots of work in the yard today..raking and chopping up leaves..I feel like I inhaled a bunch of leaf duff. Keep the mask on if it helps..you need some colorful stickers for it! Take care:)

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Lanny: Neat story, cool the way you kept the mask for the photo. Who was that masked women? I loved your sky scenes.

Tipper said...

Glad to see the room is being put back together-love the window. And I hope you your breathing improves-quickly.

LindaSue said...

Great addition to the room - big windows are a pleasure in the country. Sorry your asthma is kicking up so much - thanks for dropping by the blog - DH is yelling from the door - Time to put YOUR chickens away - ttfn

Cliff said...

Nice work. A room with a view. Very nice.
Nice to have friends to help.

KathyB. said...

The window in your bedroom has probably transformed your bedroom into THE room to be in!I hope you are feeling better by now.

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Hi! What a lot of work! But so well worth it. You have the most beautiful view! That mountain is just breathtaking! blessings,Kathleen

Connie said...

Lanny, I am so sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well. I'm sending a prayer up for you on your behalf. I hope you are breathing easier by now.

Having that window will be wonderful for the view and for adding light to the room as well. It is a lot of work, but it will be worth it, I think. You are lucky to have Dirt who is so handy with repairs there to fix the hole in the floor and to put in the window.

Those last three photos in the post are so beautiful. Thank you for sharing them. I especially love the last one.

Carol............. said...

OK, now THAT'S a project!

Looks good!

LindaSue said...

Did you hibernate this year? missing updates on the updating of the house! What are you planning for Thanksgiving - what kind of pies are the girls making? Inquiring minds need to know! Hope you are well - need my Lanny fix!

Far Side of Fifty said...

Hi Lanny..how ya doing gal? Just popping over to say Hi..you have a wonderful Thanksgiving:)

Far Side of Fifty said...

Hi Lanny, Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Cliff said...

i'm beginning to hope the project didn't get the best of you.