Brrrr....It's Arctic Around Here!

It's been so damn cold that our Fox Hollow renovation efforts have literally been frozen... We've made very little progress in the last few weeks, its hard to motivate to work on an unheated home when it is 25 below outside. All of Zenka's extra time has pretty much been devoted to blowing snow (because the white stuff just keeps accumulating!) and 'doing' firewood. It's so cold at the Stone Mt. House, I snapped this photo of Jack Frost peeking in my window.

Here's another photo from the Stone Mt. House to reiterate the point - it's Too Damn Cold!

Help Us Make Fox Hollow a Real Farm

Take That, Snowstorm!

Zenka strikes back with his expertly reconditioned free snow-throwing machine - buh-bye shovel, buh-bye back pain (at least shovel related back pain..).  It may not seem like much, but for those of us living in the NY tundra, a machine to remove this pesky white by-product is like a new lease on life.  Finally, we can fight back.  We are no longer slaves to the snowflakes.  We can chew it up and spit it out. 

Thanks, Sears, for getting our gears here before the clean up was required.  And thanks, Zenka, for your mechanical talents....we certainly can't run a farm of any sorts without such necessary hands-on skills! Vrooom.....

Required Renovations - Update #1

Required renovations are those that we absolutely have to have in order to move in.  It's a pretty small list, relative to the extent of work that is actually necessary and/or desired...  Basically, the list is:  Decent Working Bathroom, Zenona's Room, and Mostly De-Funked Floors.  Here's a few photos showing some progress....

Decent Working Bathroom.....floors gutted, vanity removed, new toilet purchased. Still to come - tile, installed new toilet, purchase & install pedestal sink.

Zenona's Room -- First coat of paint is on.  Still needs final coat, ceiling painted and trim installed.

This Nook in Zenona's Room will become Oliver's Room!

This other Nook in Zenona's Room (minus the beer...) will become Zenona's Reading Room / Super Fort, Whatever.....

This is the Blue Bedroom with all the black crap sanded off the plywood floor.  Not bad, not bad!  Add furniture and rugs and who cares!  See the before picture HERE .

X-mas Has Passed and So Has Our Dog

It was a modest but cozy holiday with a big snowstorm rushing in a couple of days late for "white Christmas."  We scrambled around the day before the snow to get our garden tools and miscellaneous things strewn about the yard secured under dry cover and prepared for the blizzard.  It was a satisfying snowfall and we promptly headed over to Fox Hollow to sled and shovel and so I could take pictures of the real first snow.

Sadly, the first storm was also the last for our dog Sadie. I think there's a coincidence, for sure.  The ol' gal had grown decreasingly fond of the snow; this one was the last straw. She died as peacefully as death can be, in front of our fire at the foot of our bed. A perfect passing for a perfect dog. Zaia and Zenka made her a perfect final resting spot on the hill overlooking the house and garden -- now Sadie is waiting for us at Fox Hollow...  I'll be able to write more in tribute in the future but for now its too soon and makes me cry....

OK, We Won't Be in For X-Mas

Well, it was a valiant effort but as it began to quickly eat up any available funds, we quickly realized that a X-mas in the stone house with actual gifts would be better than a X-mas at Fox Hollow with nothing.  Somehow, the gift of simply being at our Fox Hollow Home wouldn't cut it with the kiddies.  Having accepted that fate, I've begun focusing on bringing some warm winter holiday cheer to our stone cold home.  Today, the mad crafting and decorating and maybe even cookie baking begins!  Here's a few photos from some of our past stone home Christmases...is that a word?



Cleaning, Part ___? of Infinity of Course

So its been a month and we've been cleaning, dirtying and cleaning again....  It almost looks exactly the same but there are some significant accomplishments that are worth pointing out:

OK, so maybe it doesn't look cleaner, but all of the funky vinyl and 1x1 ceramic bathroom tile (?) fireplace hearth have been scraped off and since vacuumed.

But here's the big deal...a front door!  Why such a big deal? Because while we were patiently waiting to close on this property, someone took it upon themselves to forcibly and violently remove the existing door (and part of the wall, too) with a sawzall.... presumably to steal the piano from inside along with all of the house's plumbing.  Yeah, it really sucked.  It's been a gaping reminder of being violated by somebody that probably lives in our very same hollow.  But, now there's a door -- and of course a lock.

This is the blue bedroom -- the one that had the trailer-trash glue-down el cheapo blue carpet tiles.  They came up pretty easily, but left behind a black foamy stuck down mess.  We rented a big old floor sander polisher thing that Zenka wrastled with and ta-da...sanded plywood never looked so lovely!  I will post updated photos of the remarkable progress.  We will be moving in before X-mas.  We will. We will. We will.  When there's a will, there's a way!