The chimneys are down, and everything is on track for house lifting tomorrow(?). At least that's what we were told on Friday. I'm learning that the best way to know what's going on at the house is to just be there, so I'll head over in the morning to see what the plan is. Who knows? Maybe the power company will finally show up! Yeah, right....

Ready to go

The last of the garage was cleaned up on Saturday. Only the outline is left, the block foundation that Grampa Al and Dad put in.[I've been informed by my Dad that Ken also worked on this. I didn't mean to leave you out, Ken! kw] Dad said they considered taking the garage down 30 years ago when its foundation was crumbling. It had been a wood shed, and was too short to park a car in. Instead Al measured his car, then expanded the garage exactly that much. They poured the floor in 1976. I know this because it's scratched into the floor, and my cousins and I spent many, many summers "cleaning" the garage. We'd sweep with every broom we could find and make huge clouds of dust. I think this was something our parents cooked up to keep us out of their hair, and it usually worked. Then we'd ride the bikes and trikes in and out. Someone always ended up on a trike, because there weren't enough bikes. And when I say "someone", I mean Janna or Mikey. Sorry, guys!
The photo of the day is of the empty basement. The water heater and water softener used to be here. The shelves on the right were full of canned goods: pickles, canned fruit, relish, jam, and some unidentifiable stuff. More shelves are on the other side. The room was actually perfect for a root cellar/pantry, the dirt floor and "ventilation" kept it cool but not frozen year-round. Aunt Marion says they used to keep barrels of potatoes down here, but it's always been a little creepy. She said when she was a young wife out at the farm in the 30s, she went down to the cellar to get potatoes, put her hand in the barrel, and grabbed a rat instead! Honestly, if the absence of rat stories is all we get out of this new basement, it will be worth it.

It's The End Of The Garage As We Know It (And We Feel Fine)

The power company still hasn't been out to disconnect the meter from the house. Our contractor has been going back and forth with them all week, and is frustrated with their pokey-joe "we'll get there when we're good and ready" attitude. Now the storm has pushed us off their schedule until at least next week, because so many houses lost power, including -- wait for it -- our house. We're in the unique situation of having to wait for the power to come back on, so they can disconnect it. Ah, the irony!

I went out to the house this morning and found the power out and no work being done. I took Dad over this afternoon to see our fallen tree and discovered: progress! They cut the garage away from the house with a sawzall. Dad approved and said that's exactly what Grampa Al would have done! I think Al would have taken it down shingle by shingle, board by board and saved every nail, but that's just me. It took them two and a half hours to take it down and get one dump truck filled (a MACK truck! the first word Jake ever read). They're coming back tomorrow (a Saturday -I Love These Guys!) to finish cleaning up. Instead of waiting for the power company to move the meter, they just cut around it and covered it up for the weekend. The pictures are self-explanatory, and kinda cool.

Stormy Morning

Iwas going to put up some pictures of the electrical work they've started (digging a trench, temporary box, etc.), but we were interrupted by a storm this morning. It wasn't raining when I took Jeffy to Kindergarten camp at school @ 8:30, and at, oh, 8:31(!) the rain was coming down in sheets, sideways. Jake and I managed to get to Janna's house in town, but the power was already out and winds were up over 60 mph. They called a tornado warning at 9:00, but I'm not sure if it was an actual tornado or just straightline winds. Not that it makes much difference, there isn't a house in town without trees down. So many roads are blocked by trees that we were "stuck" in town until I managed to backtrack my way out to school again (no trees out there). Janna had a tree snap right in half in her backyard, and more branches land on power lines in front. That seems to be the story all over town. The good news is, it's only trees, not houses!

These pictures are from our front yard. We only lost one tree, snapped off about 8 feet up, and one large branch that seems hung up on another tree. We're so glad that's all! Our "split" tree, the one that was hit by lightning twenty years ago, is still standing, go figure. It was almost split in two during that tornado that knocked over the original garage sometime in the '80s. Grampa Al, resourceful guy that he was, tied it together with a chain. The chain is still there, and the two halves of the tree actually healed together. A couple of years ago we thought that when the wind blew just right, you could see through the crack in the tree, and we were planning on taking it down. Well, you can definitely see through it now! I get a kick out of the fact that it's Still Standing instead of Laying Across The Garage -- thank you, Grampa!
















Closeup of the split tree.


















I call this one "Chairs, Trash Cans, and Wet Dog".

The silo is still standing, thank goodness!

Looking for a Theme Song

Jacob helped me pack up clothes and things to take to Mikey's house this morning. He was as helpful as an 8-year-old who's been bribed with five dollars can be, which is quite a lot, actually. The contractor picked up a key to the house today; they'll start disconnecting utitilies tomorrow. Not much news today, so it's a great time to ask for: Theme Song Nominations. The leader so far is "Raise The Roof" with 2 votes. Obviously we need more ideas. Help!

Green Light!

It's official! The (de)struction crew arrives next week to take off the single-car garage and the porch, since they can't lift it with the house. Mike has already been tearing off siding and saving it (when you live on the farm, you save everything. It's a rule.) Then they'll disconnect the utilities, and we'll have to move out. They're hoping to have the house "lifted" on Friday, August 1st. It's actually staying in one spot, but the new foundation will be two feet lower (now you get the title!) than it is now, so my dad will be able to stand up in the basement and not knock his head on the joists. I just want dry weather, and to get back in the house before school starts.

Reason #2

Looking down the stairs to the basement. The camera flash actually makes this look much brighter and friendlier than it actually is.

Wouldn't you love to come down here during a tornado warning? The brick is in front of the fieldstone foundation, and was apparently put in to stop this wall from caving in. It's not working.

The door between basement rooms. The ceiling is 6 feet high. One room has a (broken) cement floor, and the other has dirt. We (meaning Mike again, I Don't Go Down There) added drainage pipe and gravel the year after we moved in, right after our first big rain put out the pilot light on the water heater.

Looking into the crawl space under the kitchen.

Inside the crawl space. This is why plumbers make so much money. Mike and one of his buddies put the insulation in the "ceiling". They had to slide in on their backs, and when Mike turned to his side, he found himself face-to-face with a dead rat. Eeeeeewwww! He says it was more than one, but they were so old they were hard to identify. Which is strangely comforting, 'cuz if they'd been "fresh" I would be living in town by now.