The Shed 20

originally posted by: Autorico
a reply to: Mike Stivic

You could at least grope me a little...

Bahahaha!

a reply to: [post=23804810]LightSpeedDriver[/post

ETA
(Pssst, the girls are awake. Talk about flowers!)

So anyway I said to Bob, those Rhododendrons will never survive the winter in that state....

Hahaha! Aren't we going to talk about our Fall wardrobes?

a reply to: Night Star

Yes the upside is I don't have to water the garden today

Tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous though.

New south park episode tonight I'm looking forward to that!

Other wise not to much going on here,How are you today?

Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: Mike Stivic

I'm fine thank you! What do you do with your harvest Joe? Do you dry any herbs or can or freeze things?

originally posted by: Night Star
a reply to: [post=23804810]LightSpeedDriver[/post

ETA
(Pssst, the girls are awake. Talk about flowers!)

So anyway I said to Bob, those Rhododendrons will never survive the winter in that state....

Hahaha! Aren't we going to talk about our Fall wardrobes?

I'm thinking of wearing white even thought it's past labor day. Am I crazy?

a reply to: Autorico

I don't believe those rules apply anymore Darlin', so wear whatever pleases you. Even if there are rules, break them and be your fabulous self.

I have to find my beautiful scarfs that are lost amongst all the things hanging in my closet. I have a purple one with fancy lace edging and others.

a reply to: Night Star

I know nothing about fashion lol, I'm a tshirt and jeans guy.

a reply to: Autorico

I figured. LOL

Whatever makes you comfortable is what you should wear.

I'm a girly girl and love dresses and jewelry and stuff.

a reply to: Night Star

We blanch and freeze the beans and squash and peas and other things.

We keep the potatoes (close to 200 lbs) in two large rubbermaid trash cans I drilled holes in so they can breath in the basement, we tie the onions and garlic into braids and hang those in the basement as well.

We pickle the cucumbers and beets.

My mom made salsa out of the cherry tomatoes this year, came out excellent and we have a lot .. I harvested over 50 lbs of cherry tomatoes.

We freeze the blueberries.

Chives, oregano, basil we dry out.

I'm missing things for sure, that's off the top of my head.

I grew a few suger baby watermelons this year.. they were good but small and they take a lot of room in the garden, so probably won't be doing those again.

My mom preps and freezes Apple pies. Just defrost and throw in oven..

But yes we try to store as much as possible for the winter.






Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: Mike Stivic

That sounds wonderful! If I lived closer, I would help you guys. Sounds like fun. All that food right from your own garden. You guys should be proud of your hard work. If I owned my place and had the energy and a good back, I would love very much to grow my own garden and harvest all my wonderful goodies.

a reply to: Night Star

It is the most rewarding of my endeavors that's for sure..

It's all organic no herbicides or pesticides and only organic fertilizer..miracle gro is an abomination..

If you lived closer you would be getting jars of jelly,salsa,pickles, and other goodies .no work required



Respectfully,
~meathead

Just dropping this in here for enjoyment. IMO, it's one of the best Major Tom covers out there (no cover tops Peter Schilling's German & English originals, though)

a reply to: Mike Stivic

Man, that would be awesome! When are you moving to Rhode island? LOL

a reply to: Nyiah

Oh I enjoyed that Nyiah! Chair dancing here.

I'm over at facebook and joined two more groups. I wonder if they have one on rocks. I belong to a few crystal/gem ones, but it would be fun to learn about the rocks I have been picking up off the ground lately.

Hi, everyone,

I got a message from WIS and wrote a longish reply but then thought it'd be better to share it here. (I'll send her a link to this post.)

We're doing ok. Dada is about the same, or perhaps going a little more downhill with the Alzheimer's. I'm too close to things to judge that very well, as you'd all doubtless understand. But a couple of her visiting carers had difficult sessions with her about a wekk ago, perhaps due to her routine being disturbed. On the plus side, she's otherwise pretty well.

I haven't been around on ATS much recently because we've had quite a bit going on. Have had most of our house rewired, which has been a big task as it's meant cutting/chipping into the walls so the new cabling can all be hidden away. (Required by code here.) It's been an especially hard task for the electrician and his helper because our walls are all stone or brick -- or a mix of them -- which means lots of work with a diamond cutting wheel and ergo masses of very fine dust. I have spent endless hours cleaning.

In the past couple of weeks we had a firm out to re-do our whole roof, both on the house and also its adjoining small barn. The place was last re-roofed (ie new tiles) in 1954! So it was a big job: all old tiles and battens off, rafters and beams expertly repaired or completely replaced, then new battens, waterproofing foil, then 3,000 new tiles, all new gutters,downpipes, flashing etc etc. It looks fantastic and gives great peace of mind, as we had parts of the roof that'd leak in heavy rains.

The master carpenter on the job confirmed that the attic's (roof supporting) woodwork was original and around 200 years old, which tyies in with what we expected the age of the house to be: built somewhere around 1780 to about 1810. So I was glad they were able to save most of it. They only had to replace about 10% of the wood with new.

Soooo... Now that we have the roof fixed I have guys starting on new rendering. More chipping away, more dust... But it's all for a good cause. The house will look and feel so much better and be easier to look after as well.

Meanwhile, though, I have had lots of work to do, like cutting up hundreds of old roof battens (for firewood), general cleaning and dusting every day and so on. That's on top of all my normal "housewife/house-husband" duties, like cooking, shopping, washing clothes and all the rest.

But it's okay. Dada has already survived beyond the longer average time for people with her condition and hopefully we still have some more years together.

a reply to: JustMike

Mike, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see you here today!

I would love to see pics of your historical home when time allows. It must be gorgeous!

I'm glad that Dada is doing ok and I too hope that you have some more years together. You are an amazingly loving and thoughtful Husband.

Know that you have been missed greatly my dear friend.

a reply to: Night Star
Thanks, Night. I wouldn't call our home gorgeous -- not yet -- but it has its charms.

Give me a couple of minutes and I'll upload some pics.

ETA: some pics. Warning: cute kitty pics included... (BTW right-click any image and choose "view image" to see it at full size.) First one I snaffled off some googly earthy mappy thing, as I can't find my folder with more recent pics prior to them starting work. (I will find it once I stop looking for it, I guess.) This is the "before" image, which is actually about 3 years old. Things had got worse since then:


You can see all the "waves" in the roof. This is what happens after many years as battens warp and so do some beams and rafters. BTW don't be concerned by the facade. The house's main walls are about 85-90cm thick (over 2 1/2 feet) and the rough appearance is a protective layer of cement until we get the new rendering done, which on the outside walls will be next spring.

Next pic is when they were taking the tiles off on the back courtyard side of the roof, at about one hour into their work on day 1:


Ditto out front, a couple of hours later:


Removing roofing from our barn:


A view from inside the attic:


This was the morning of day 2, when they brought in some of the big pieces of wood to replace pieces that couldn't be saved. The long beam on the crane is the main central crossbeam. It's 20x20 Cm and 11 metres long. (8x8 inches by 36 feet long.) Smaller image as it's a screenshot from a video I took.


That same beam in place a few hours later. It's the big one on the right.


Some 200-plus-year-old beams saved by grafting in new sections:


Boss kitty (who has adopted us) was not impressed by all the ruckus. He likes to sleep in the straw in the attic.


Three minutes later (with his lil' cousin), after he'd realized the guys had gone for the day and the whole attic was now his again:


Barn gable repaired and ready for new boards:


Roof wood repaired, waterproofing sheet installed, all ready for tiles:


Tiles delivered (rest are out front) :


Out front, one hr after tiles arrived (delivered 3 hrs late) :


The next day. Almost done:


Doing the new barn gable's new boards so they can complete tiling the barn:


Done and lacquered, flashing done, tiles installed:


New barn roof (prior to them sliding down last tiles; they leave some up so they can walk around without cracking tiles). :


All done...


I have plenty more pics and videos, but you get the idea. We're happy with it.

a reply to: JustMike

WOW! I love stone houses and that barn is big enough to live in! I'll let you know when I'm ready to move in. LOL

Thank you soooo much for sharing these with us!

The kitties are just adorable!

I know there is a ton of work being put into the place, but imagine when it is completed? It will be well worth the wait!

I can't wait until it is all finished and you share more pics!

a reply to: Night Star
The barn has plenty of space for you to move in, but you'd have to share it with a few local kitties.

I'll be sharing more pics as we go along. Just can't say how often I'll be online here and posting. I have rarely even been involved in any staff things lately. But I get on ATS when I can and try to post in a thread or two -- plus here.

I'm very grateful to WIS for her message. It really helped and gave me some extra motivation to drop by here and not put it off until that (ever-receding) "tomorrow".

Dada with kitty a couple of minutes ago. He likes to have a little bite of our fingers, but not enough to hurt.


As it's heading towards 3 am, I must get Dada and self to sleep, perchance to dream.

Goodnight, all. I'll try to get back in again soon.