NEW DUNBURY

I bet you thought I was talking about Christmas stuff.

I was talking about “trimbers,” which is to say timber-like elements that aren’t actually part of the structure.  Pretty much as soon as we saw wallboard up we realized that the braces that had been left out of the frame (their stresses handled by the two-by-four infill and plywood overlay) left a hole in our appreciation of what the framing should look like.  We determined to add some trimbers later to “fill out” the frame.  And “later” has finally come.

An earlier “later” saw the trimbers in the great hall go up, then the usual mish-mash of delays, unfortunate timing, and other “necessities” set in.  Now, however, we have trimbers filling out the frame “look” in our bedroom, the master bath, and the utility room.  It is so the “look” that when hauled in to admire the first of the new ones, Liz wondered what she was supposed to be looking at.  They really do feel like they belong.

Oh, and the house is decorated for Christmas, too.  Mark 1 decoration regime, mind you.  We wanted to see how what we had fit with the house.  Much of it fits pretty well, actually.  We did add a new item or two and have plans for next year.

Hope everyone has happy, pleasant, and safe holidays.

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Admit it, you knew it was going to happen.

This time it’s the Utility Room.  Currently hanging on the wall are two eight foot long shelves supported by laser cut brackets matching the ones I used to form the arches in the window seat’s stub walls up in the loft.  The shelves sit over the shallow, glass-fronted cabinet and the deeper, country-style eight- door cabinet.  This construct pretty much completes the “pantry” storage space.

I’ve got wood putty drying in the nail holes of the nosing.  Sanding, then the inevitable second touch-up patching.  After that, priming of the holey bits and finally a coat of primer and paint.

Not all today, of course.  Not with all those drying times and the current high humidity due to 100% probable precipitation here.

Still, soon there will be pantry shelves.   Then will come the shelving of things on them.  Fun all around!

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All the leaves fall.

Well, not all really.  Some of the oaks are doing the oak thing and holding on to them, awaiting the new buds or sufficient wind to dislodge them.  But there were more than enough to pretty much cover all our hard-earned grass, meaning raking had to be done before the new lawn was smothered.

And it was done.  Result: aching muscles.  And a strong desire to figure out what equipment will best serve us out in the yard to deal with said yard.  And to acquire it before this season returns.

Happy Fall , everyone!

Of course the other thing about leaving for awhile was that this was the first time we’ve been away from the newplace for any real length of time.  It was swell to come back.   Despite the way-too-many loose ends, the place has a real homey feel to it.  So nice!

Soon there will be the first decorating for Christmas.

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Not Bad for a Sickie.

I’m still snurfling so I’ve been hanging around the house this weekend. And doing stuff.

The garage doors are now washed and stained. We now have a shelf in the office nook/closet. And we have a stone step at the bottom of the west deck stairs — no more plywood to prevent those muddy landings. And the LBC stuff in the garage is re-arranged so I can get the van in again.

In the “not as good as it could have been” department: The countertop guy was supposed to come and take a look at the now re-cracked fix he did weeks ago. It was supposed to happen Saturday AM. He didn’t show up. He called mid-afternoon while I was in the garage and said he’d try again later. Which AFAIK never happened. Follow-up time.

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Or more like: Non-Progress Report.

Last weekend we did a living history show downtown. While getting ready for it I thought I seemed to be coming down with something. I was. It didn’t really hit until Monday, but it has meant that this week has been pretty unproductive.

However, the house survived its first major over-nighter with multiple guests. We relied heavily on air mattresses since every guest was a singleton, no couples. We let them draw lots for the actual bed. The one problem was a leak from the guest shower. We had used it ourselves for months without an issue, so it seems to be a combination of the new shower curtain and user error. It was caught pretty quickly so we’re hoping there’s no permanent damage.

The window seat remains unfinished and will probably stay that way for a bit, as more pressing items that need good weather are needing to be done. I’ll need to be healthy to get some of that accomplished.

Yesterday, the landscape guys came by to do remedial seeding for our grassed areas and to plant our first chosen tree: the holly for the “planter” in front of the house.

I have managed to get the pads on the new dining room chairs replaced. Here’s hoping it’ll end those annoying “scraaaapes.”

Before taking down the plywood cutting station I had established in the garage, I rough-cut sections for the closet/home office shelf and shelves for the pantry. They need priming and I’m hoping to get that done today since I’m feeling a bit better.

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