Progress!!!

We had a very productive weekend at The Manor recently. Jeremy's parents, Mike & Julie, drove from Kansas City to help out on Saturday. We also had help from my dad, sister, brother-in-law & nephew...it was quite the (motley) crew. I have decided that I will only work on the house with a crew of at least 7 from now on. Hey, a girl can dream.

First of all, remember this picture from the last post?...the things that were "just popping up".

2 weeks later & YOU IN THE JUNGLE BABY! The foliage around this place never cease to amaze me, I swear.

I was going to pull out the weeds but this little area looks like the Taj Mahal for snakes so they'll just have to stay there for a while.

I did, however, get to play foreman for a day (my true calling in life) and give everyone their own little "assignment".

Dad's job was to install the door in the kitchen...no more ugly plastic!

I bought this door off an online auction for 12 bucks last year knowing I would probably need a door at some point in the reno of the house. It only needed a half inch cut off the side and bottom...impeccable planning skills or dumb luck? I'll never tell. ;)

Mike & Jeremy's job was the porch. Every beam was completely rotton at the bottom & needed to be repaired. This was no easy project but they got them all finished & it looks so much better...and our porch will not fall in! Yeah!

The rest of us worked on windows. You would think 4 people working on windows would be plenty but I found out pretty quickly that I needed an army for that project. The paint & glaze on the windows were spot welded on...LOTS of scraping! Poor Julie scraped the big window on the front of the house all day Saturday...it was pretty bad.

Did I mention it was 150 degrees outside? Being the great foreman that I am I look out for my crew so I bought this at the local hardware store.

...yes...it works. :)

Sunday we were able to slap some paint on the windows before we headed out. BEHOLD! THE POWER OF PAINT COMPELS ME!

It's amazing what a little white paint & Windex will do. My sister...the queen of clean!

So I basically have 2 windows that do not match the rest of the house & the realization that I'm going to be scraping trim until I'm 60 but that's ok...it's nice to see a little "glimpse" of what's to come.

PS-It was not all work last weekend...I got to celebrate with my niece for her 13th birthday. Officially feel OLD.

PSS-But I am still taller!

SPRING 2014!

SPRING!!! Things are popping up all over at The Manor.

Great things will surface when you get rid of all the weeds. Life metaphor? You bet.

Marie is making me look like I have quite the green thumb. I must admit though...my thumb is as black as the dirt these flowers are planted in. Last year I was meticulously trimming a plant that had berries on it & my brother-in-law walked by me & said "You know that's a weed, right?". *sigh*

My Aunt Patty on the other hand has an unbelievable knack for identifying every flower on the face of the planet. She can look at any plant & tell you it's name, perennial or annual, if it needs shade or sun & how to care for it. Meanwhile, I'm like "That yellow one is pretty". I'm learning though.

So are you wondering where my before & after attic pictures are? Are you confused as to why I'm not talking about the horrible things I scooped up & how many bags of trash actually came out of there? Do you really think that all I did on our last trip was frolic around the yard and take pictures of flowers while poor Jeremy was battling the soffits? Well...I did. I'm not proud of it. I had every intention of showing up with guns blazing, strapping on my ventilation mask & marching up to that attic & not emerging until every piece of trash & other unmentionables were bagged up & ready to go to the dump. But...I frolicked & stayed as far away from the attic as I could. Don't judge me!

Exploring the grounds has not always been a complete waste of time. I've actually found some pretty interesting things while doing so. I saw this from a distance on the ground last year & thought it was a turtle shell.

When I flipped it around I realized it was actually a rock...I think?

If anyone knows what kind of rock this is, I would love to know. Completely stumped on this one.

It's not the first time I've found something like this. Last Spring I found a large wedge of obsidian in the house.

I've also found tons of smaller polished stones. My dad recently told me a few stories that shed a little light on the reason why. Marie LaSalle had a husband named Frank. I don't know much about Frank or what he did but apparently when my dad was a little boy Frank would give him $.50 to do little odd jobs for him. He said Frank would sit outside & polish stones & make jewelry out of them like cuff links, necklaces, bolo ties, etc... This is the only picture I have found of Frank.

I don't know about you but I think Frank looks like a pretty cool cat! I would love to sit on that lounger & talk to him for an afternoon. I bet he had some great stories.

In other news, the soffit that Jeremy has been working on is DONE!

Since the lift is already in that spot & is a pain to move we are going to get some paint on that peak on our next trip up...and you have no idea how excited I am about that! :)

PS:
After a hard day of soffits (& frolicking) it's always nice to have someone make you dinner. Thank you Mike Ugolini for the amaaaazzziiiing homemade Margarita Pizza. It was delicious! (And dad...nice photobomb)

Simon & the attic of horrors.

Spring has sprung, the frozen tundra has thawed & we got our first 2014 weekend of work at The Manor under our belts. I'm not gonna lie...this trip was tough. Murphy's law of "if something can go wrong, it will" was in full effect. But things have gone relatively smooth up until this point so I guess the balance is restored.

When we purchased the home, I knew that one obstacle that we were going to face was the fact that we live over 2 hours away and we were not going to be able to work on the house consistently. Two hours isn't too far but it's far enough that you can't make it an every weekend thing. And here's a confession and little known fact about me...I am not a good long distance passenger! Anything over 1 hour & I'm fidgity and asking "Are we there yet?".

Proof: Only an hour in & I'm so bored I'm taking selfies of my new light up safety glasses to use in the attic!

These things are the bees knees! Does anyone even say that anymore?

Anyway, I'm getting off subject.

Basically, when we show up Saturday morning to work it's like a clock starts counting down and you only have so much time to get things done. And when you start ripping into your roof and have exposed rafters with rain in the forecast, that clock starts ticking pretty loud!...which brings me to "Simon". Simon is the lift that has been graciously loaned to us by a family friend. It has been a complete lifesaver. It's enabled us to get projects done in half the time compared to climbing up and down a ladder or scaffolding.

But Simon has a dark side. He is loud, heavy, guzzles gas, has a huge air leak in one tire and leaks oil.

A LOT of oil.

Simon also has no reverse so if we need to move him we have to hook him up to a truck & tow him around. This is not an ideal situation but it has been working so far...until last weekend anyway. Apparently, Simon got pretty comfortable over the winter & decided to sink down into the dirt. So, how many trucks and tractors does it take to pull out a stuck lift? Four. Actually, two failed attempts by the trucks, one failed attempt by a tractor & finally success by a bigger tractor with chains on the tires.

Thank you so much Shelmadine family for the rescue! And thanks to Mike Ugolini as well! We really appreciated the help. :)

And thank goodness this house is in a small town. If it were in Kansas City I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have two different people say "I'll go get my tractor". :)

That little escapade set us back about 4 and a half hours. Tick-toc, tick-toc. But we got the lift in place & it was soffit time.

That was my cue to start on the attic. Guh. I think I was secretly happy the lift was stuck so I could mull around watching all the action & avoid going up into that disgusting abyss. However, I did have some help & company this time. My sweet little niece, Anna, decided to pitch in.

I know I've talked about the horrors of the attic before and how much junk and trash is up there but instead of going into great detail I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Crazy, I know. I'll spare you the pictures of the raccoon latrines in case you're reading this and eating something. You're welcome.

After a much needed air break from the attic, I went to check on the soffit king...yes, Jeremy has a new nickname.

Annnndddd....

Broken hydraulic line. :(

This is the moment you want to pack everything up & head to the tavern to get schlammered with the locals. But, we pressed on and $72 and a couple of hours later...it was fixed. Tic-toc, tic-toc.

The last day we were there it rained in the morning (figures...I was not surprised at all at that point). Then around noon the construction gods cut us a break and the sun came out and Simon was running like a champ.

It was a scramble to get the roof covered and when the clock had run out this was where we were at.

It didn't get completely finished and didn't seem like much but the roof was covered in that small little section and it would properly shed water for the first time in years.

As we were leaving I turned around (probably to shake my fist and curse the lift) and the sun hit that house and it shined. I realized that even though there were frustrations and setbacks and we didn't get as much done as we had hoped it was not a defeat. It was a small step in the right direction...it was progress.

T.S. Watson, MD

I'm pretty sure I can speak for all of us when I say that old man winter can officially take a hike! And because this old buzzard is sticking around for a while, I have no current renovation updates until the frozen tundra thaws. I do, however, have a little insight into the history of The Manor that I think is way more interesting than rotton soffits and the amazing places foliage can grow. This post is dedicated to the man who built the home & lived in it for 39 years with his family, Dr. T.S. Watson.

I knew it was going to be difficult to dig up the original history of a home that's 117 years old and a man who's been dead for 78 years, but I've had some luck and a very resourceful lady on my side. Thanks to a Bevier resident (and historical guru) named Ruth Masten, I've had some pretty important documents sent my way. The first thing she surprised me with was an original picture of the home.

Now whether you're amazed or creeped out, it's okay. I get both reactions when I show people this picture. :)

I've always known that a doctor lived in the house because on the front porch there is a concrete plaque that reads "T.S. Watson, M.D.".

I really didn't know anything about T.S. until Ruth surprised me again with another useful piece of information. Here is the article that was written about him when he passed away.

This little article is priceless to me. It's a window into the past and into the life of a man who was obviously well loved and respected in the community. A name is just a name but reading this article gave life to T.S. and it was the first time he became "real" to me. A little too real after reading that he "fell over and expired in the house working on a screen door". Whaaaaat?!

When we started digging into the trash in the house, I wondered if I would ever find anything from when Dr. Watson lived there. We found tons of stuff from the boarding house (which is a mystery all in itself). There were dishes and pans still in the cabinet and clothes/shoes still in the closet.

They literally just left everything. I've also heard that the house was full of beautiful antiques but those, unfortunately, are long gone.

I'm not sure why the house was left that way. After lots of digging I would occasionally find something interesting like slides or hand written letters and old recipes. I found vintage cards, pictures and sometimes a few small antiques. I would also find things nightmares are made of...like this!

*cringe*

But sometimes I'd get lucky...and believe me...when you're wading through trash, dirt and racoon crap it's nice to reveal something as beautiful as Marilyn. :)

Or a picture of your grandma! That's her on the left...I had no idea she even worked there.

But as far as anything from T.S....nothing. I thought maybe when we start renovating the inside of the house I'll find a picture or medical instrument hidden behind a wall or something. I mean, he hasn't been there in 78 years so the chances of anything left behind from him is unlikely, but ya never know.

...and as luck would have it, I found something!

While I was in the attic one day I flipped over a laundry basket & there it was, Dr. Watson's medical bag!

I couldn't believe it. I just stared at it for a second and said "you've got to be kidding me!". Then I snatched it up & came yelling out of the house with it, scaring the crap out of Jeremy. When you come barreling out of this house screaming, it means one of two things; A. You found something amazing or B. You found something horrendous. And believe me when I say I've found plenty of B!

It might be a little silly to get so excited about an old leather bag but after knowing the history of the Dr. & reading the article...knowing that he rode on horseback to visit patients in all hours of the night & this was the bag that he carried was pretty exciting to me.

I really haven't even scratched the surface on cleaning out the attic so I can't wait to see what other things will be revealed.

Now here's the flipside to this story. Last fall a neighbor came over to visit with us & said "You know, there are bullet holes on the front of this house". He then walked over & pointed out two different grooves in the brick.

What the? Bullet holes? I have no idea why those would be there and probably never will but I do have a theory! Dr. Watson not only had a practice but he also owned a drugstore in Bevier and was part owner of a coal mine that his very wealthy father, W.S. Watson owned named "Watson & Sons Coal Mine". In the article above it says that Dr. Watson was a friend and advisor during the strikes and that "the working men and operators were strongly influenced by his ideas of right & justice". I have a feeling that maybe not everyone felt that way...hence, the bullet holes. We'll probably never know for sure but it is fun to speculate.

And speaking of holes in our house...remember the hole left by the amazing house tree? Tadaaaaaaa!

Was soooooo glad to see this fixed! We're planning to get a door & window installed soon so we can take down this BEAUTIFUL mustard gold plastic that I've grown so fond of! More to come later...


PS-I wanted to thank each and every one of you that shared this blog, commented on it or let me know that they were reading it & rooting us on. I honestly thought that this would be something that would just be documentation for me personally but I was so surprised to see that many people were interested in the project and keeping up with it. Thanks a million, it means a lot! :)