Hi there, and thanks for stopping by- it’s so good to see you again! Have a seat and we’ll get you caught up- it’s been as busy as ever here on the farm.
Since your last visit, we finished up the rebuilding of the screen porch, and have moved on to the back gable end. This side of the house is a total game of pick-up-sticks, as there are so many moving parts- from the utilities, an old, no-longer-used crumbling cinder block chimney, and lots of rot. It was going to require a lot of management and timing. While we were initially going to just re-side this end, once a neighbor casually mentioned in passing that we should think about burying the utilities to the house, which is a great idea. But now it has became much harder and a lot more of a puzzle. We needed to take down the old chimney before the excavator came to regrade the back yard so he could haul away the old cinder blocks. And we couldn’t fully re-side the wall until the power lines were no longer connected to the house. But we needed to start so that the new underground meter could be mounted. All of this involves working around the moat that now separates our yard- “the trench”.
We live in an area of “The Granite State” that really is an understatement. You literally cannot put anything in the ground anywhere around here without hitting rock. When Mike, our excavator, came to dig the trench to run the utilities to the house, you guessed it… rocks. Ledge to be exact- rocks you cannot move. So the trench had to go around the ledge, which caused too many degrees of total turn in the conduit to satisfy the utility company, and they wouldn’t approve the trench. Then our electrician suggested we place the meters out at the pole, and run the lines up to the house from there- brilliant! Now not only will we not have wires connected to our 18th century house, but no meters either! But this got us thinking about the heat pump- so we’re exploring the idea of moving that under the deck, leaving no trace of modern day on the side of the house!
We started by removing the old cinder block chimney, by hand, a block at a time. Every time I’d hit the rock chisel with my hammer, I pictured the chisel flying down the abyss of the flue- never to be retrieved. But it didn’t happen, and block by block, the old chimney came down. Surprisingly, or maybe not so much, was that it was in no way connected to the building at all- no straps or connection of any kind. After I got the blocks off below the roof, where there was no more flashing, I could grab the chimney and rock the entire thing to the ground. As much fun as it seems it would be to just give it a tug and let it fall, with my luck, it would bounce or twist, and crash through a window or something, so block by block…
The antenna pole you see towards the peak of the gable will soon be freed from its extra antennas, leaving just the cell phone booster (the lower one), and shortened a foot or so, leaving it as unobtrusive as possible. Those of you who live on the internet or that don’t give high-speed internet a second thought will probably not understand this, but we live in a black hole of broadband. Our options are very limited, and currently, we use 3 meg DSL. I know, caveman stuff. Cell service is spotty at best, to almost non-existent the further you get from the interior booster antenna, which is in our stairwell.
Those of you who are clever observers will notice that in the photos above we completed some siding before we took down the chimney. We just wanted to see a bit of the dark brown siding up against the pumpkin pine of the storm door, so we hammered out this little section between the side door and the ell. In doing so, we uncovered the expected rot (note the vertical posts that end a foot from the sill!), as well as gaping holes in the insulation, which would help explain the frosty bathroom last winter! We cut out and patched the rot, insulated, sprayed expanding foam to seal the gaps in the sheathing, ice & water shield on the bottom, tar paper above, and new (pre-primed) hemlock siding, caulked and painted. We are now ready to face the best Mother Nature can throw at us!
Once we took down the old chimney, we stripped the old clapboards, revealing the expected rot behind the utility meters, so we took care of it- including milling a new window sill.
So about the title of this post? That refers to the moat that now separates part of our yard from the rest- the trench. Todd, our electrician, and I laid 3″ conduit (for the power), 1-1/4″ for phone, and an extra 2″ in case we ever have a future option of fiber optic or something. Once we reached the basement, where Mike had knocked out a hole in the stone foundation to accept the conduits, I used mortar and stone from the backyard to patch the hole. We then built a pedestal out by the pole to hold the meter and phone interface, then ran pull wire through the lines so that when the utility company comes to hook up, they can feed the power and phone to the house, then take away all the old wires and meters, leaving the side of the house nice and clean.
Our excavator is supposed to be back this morning to back-fill, so we can get back to re-siding the gable. Hopefully, the utility company can come pretty quickly to hook up the new lines, and take out the old overhead wires. We really need to finish the siding before it gets too cold!
One of the things we most enjoy about living in an 18th century home is imagining what life was like for Daniel and Abigail. Fortunately, we have very active and vibrant historical societies nearby. We attended a session recently about hearth cooking bread, in which we made an Italian loaf, sourdough, and bread pudding. While it was held outside (on a beautiful New England day), our local historical society has a similar hearth to what they used in the 18th century, as well as what is in our house.
With summer waning, we’re starting to get more unsettled weather. With the occasional thundershower comes proof that we really live in the closest thing to heaven on earth-
Another thing we enjoy about living here is becoming more self-reliant, and learning crafts that would have been commonplace in the 18th century. One thing Jenny has always wanted was to learn to weave, so for my recent birthday, we drove over by the seacoast to pick up this antique barn loom! It’s in great shape, but needs a couple of minor repairs, then we’ll learn how to use it. The town we currently live in was formed in 1870 as a means to bring the railroad to the woolen mills that built this area. The mills are still there, and the town is reported to be the most preserved mill town in the country. One of the mills is still turning out woolen fabrics, and has regular classes in woolen production and weaving. And we can definitely recommend lunch at the general store if you’re ever in the area!
Well, that’s it for now. We really enjoyed your visit, and hope you can come back again soon. We’ll keep plugging away on saving and restoring this old farmhouse. It’s hard, dirty work, but we’re learning a lot, and becoming more confident with each passing day. We look forward to the changing seasons, and will be ready to snuggle down this winter with some good books you folks have sent us. Until next time, feel free to share, or leave us a note. God bless!
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