The Old Farmhouse Needed a Lot of Work

 As mentioned in my previous entry

the old plaster was coming loose from the lathe. 

If anyone was too rambunctious upstairs a new crack

might form on the ceiling downstairs! 

An interesting aside about old plaster, the coarse base layer
was full of horsehair, which made it strong and then the
skim coat was thin and smooth, sticking well to the coarse base. 

The Old Farmer spent many years as time and money allowed
knocking off the loose plaster and putting up drywall.

 The Old Farmer's Wife was usually in charge of choosing
a suitable wallpaper to finish the project.
She was conservative and classic in her choices
so not to offend anyone's sensibilities.

There were places with old wallpaper and sound plaster. 

Removing old wallpaper was quite the project. Not the easy
damp and strip of the new glues. This stuff was on there!
and in many layers! You had to rent a steamer. It had a big flat head

That fed the steam to the surface, then followed scrapping, 

there were places with 10 layers of old paper! 

It was a hot messy job.

The fascinating thing was when old dates

were found penciled on the wall under the paper. 

I remember in the front hall a place
marked with the paperer's name and date of the project.
My memory recalls 1896, altho there is some disagreement
about that!

How We Got a Farm

I heard a story.

The Old Farmer got a deal on the farmhouse.
He had a growing family. The proposed house was in disrepair. 

An old gentleman lived there. He had an old horse. 

An arrangement was made that the old gent

would continue to live upstairs

and the Old Farmer and his family would live
in the downstairs and renovate as time allowed.
He had his farm! 

 

It was a grand old farmhouse, 

made for entertaining.
With double doors between rooms
that could be opened to make a large space. 

The whole ground floor could be opened 

but for the back room,

which had the huge wood cookstove

 and washtubs 

and a swinging door.

The plaster was coming loose from 

the lathe in several places.
A couple times a large section fell

 and it was luck for no one to be

 under when it happened.

 The Old Farmer's wife,
expecting a child was under one 

such fall, and had moved aside just 

before catastrophe might have struck. 

Over the years new drywall was 

put up and walls were papered. 

The Old Farmer's Wife made her personal project
stripping the paint off the main staircase railing and posts.
It was a beautiful thing of black walnut when done. 

That project took several months.
I can still see her sitting there step after step, 

moving upward as she worked on each piece.

Woolly Caterpillars and other Signs

Summer is winding down.
We are starting to watch for the geese to be flying south for the winter.
We check the Wooly Bear Caterpillars to see how large the band is,
are they more brown or more black, will this tell

us how bad winter will be? 

What other signs did we look for on the farm?
Most seem to foretell rainy weather.

The Old Farmer's Wife liked this one...
Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in morning, sailors take warning.

Then does it follow that rain before 7 clear by 11.

Or a ring around the moon means rain soon.

One time The Old Farmer killed a large snake in the yard.
He threw it over the fence saying it would bring rain.
I don't remember if it worked ? 

 
He also taught us that if the cows lay down in the field
rain was on the way. And if the tree leaves flip over
on a particular tree in the back yard, 
I think it was a basswood.
so that the light undersides were showing 
rain is soon to come.




Or if all the insects and birds go silent, something is up.
A storm on the way or a predator
 may be in the area.
(of course you might be the predator
 in question!)
If you stay still awhile and they start up again you were the problem.
But if they stay silent something is amiss.
Now crows will sound an alarm
 if there is danger.
 Crows are very smart.

LABOR DAY

It is Labor Day in America.
A day set aside to recognize the American Worker.

Traditionally a day off from work. 

A picnic day....

Here the average american goes about his day

interacting peacefully with coworkers, shopkeepers and neighbors.
Despite what the news would have you believe. 

These are the American People. 

Thank-you for reading my blog!