4 Acres and a Farmhouse

What can I say about vacuuming between ceiling joists in the attic that would be remotely interesting?  Any suggestions? That's what I thought. Instead, I'll let our video speak for itself and talk about some treasures we found while cleaning. First up: four foot long hollow glass tubes Ideas about what these could be used for?  The man who originally built the house in the late 1800s was a photographer. Years ago my mother-in-law found some glass negatives that she donated to our small town historical society so my first thought was maybe they were something used in photography to make the glass negatives.  The only other idea I could come up with that makes any sense is that they're simply stir sticks used in chemistry experiments.  Rob's grandfather was a chemistry teacher and anyone who's a teacher knows that school supplies often end up stored at home in boxes (and in this case maybe the attic). Next: An old exterior gable decoration Wooden gable...

Several weeks ago, we went into the attic to clear out a bunch of junk (and by "bunch of junk" I mean not that much junk comparatively thanks to my mother-in-law, who legitimately cleaned out heaps of things years ago when she lived here).  Still, there was some "stuff" up there that had to be removed so we could begin the task of thoroughly cleaning.  The end goal was to clear the space entirely (spoiler alert: DONE) so we could sweep, vacuum, and pull the old tongue-and-groove flooring to perhaps salvage it for use elsewhere in the house. Where might that place be? We have no idea but it's hard to pass up old late 1800s wood planking, am I right? (Yes. The answer is YES). You can read about our first day working in the attic here .  Fun fact: If you click that link and read about our first attic adventure, you might remember the pesky squirrel I talked about, who ran up and down in our walls.  We could hear him day and (mostly) night, which I never underst...

When I met Rob, he lived in a small farmhouse across the road from a dairy farm.  One of the things I loved immediately about him was that he wasn't a typical bachelor who didn't cook, clean, or do his own laundry.  In fact, he was a much better cook than I and impressed me that not only did he do his own laundry but (...wait for it...) the man owned his own washer and dryer. This should tell you the kind of guys I dated before I met him.  Suffice it to say, I knew a good thing when I saw it and he was it, baby. Moving on. He bought the washer and dryer brand new when he was 22, so when we met they were five years old.  The first time I did a load of laundry, I realized how particular he was about his things when he showed me how to load the washer "the right way." Yes, I was totally offended seeing as how I'd been doing my own laundry since middle school.  And, yes, I'm sure I rolled my eyes at his help. The washer bit the dust two years ago and the w...

I'm aware that's a cheesy title but I'm a sucker for puns. We had our first substantial snow last weekend and the girls were dying to build a snowman.  I did what any good mom would do and made them wait until Rob got home to get dressed and weather the cold (see what I did there?).   It's funny how different kids can be.  Our oldest and youngest were perfectly content to stay outside until they were shivering and their lips were blue.  Our middle daughter could take it or leave it.  She's good for fifteen minutes tops until her fingers get slightly colder than room temperature, then she's ready to go inside. All in all, we had perfect snowman snow.  Rob and the girls found rocks in our landscaping to use for eyes and a mouth and we grabbed a carrot out of the fridge for a nose.  Two stick arms and an old scarf finished off our snowman. They weren't ready to come in, so the girls had an idea to take a bucket from the garage and build what they ...