Arrived 10/19/12 late in the evening after an absence of five weeks.  All in order in the house itself.

Downed Trees
Two of the apple trees directly across from the front door of the house are down.  It looks like one loosened, probably because of wet ground, and then fell on other one, forcing it down as well.

10/21/12

10/21/12

10/21/12

Also on this trip Char cleared more of the garden and in general cleaned it up to prepare it for winter.  I had the chansaw sharpened and harvested more firewood.  I took a couple boxes of old chemicals, fuels, etc., from the barn to one of the regularly scheduled collection events at the Great Barrington Recycling Center.  Information on where and when these events are held can be found at in the "events" section of cetonline.org.  I also took some old chemicals from the pantry.

We found evidence of mice on this trip so I'll be putting down some traps in the kitchen.

I came up on Friday the 31st and the chain across the driveway was not how I left it and Paul, who mowed for a bit today (9/12), said it wasn't him.  All okay with the house.


Quarry Hill Farm Visit
On Saturday, we went to an open house at Quarry Hill Farm, where they train and sell beautiful Arabian horses.  I had taken a picture (below) of their pasture and sent it to them, and they replied with an invitation to their event, which was a lot of fun.

Pasture at Quarry Hill Farm, Lakeville, CT

Young Arabian at Quarry Hill

Char at Quarry Hill Farm - 9-7-12

Solveig Visit
Solveig, Olive and Olive's friends are coming up this weekend (9/14).  It should be a lovely weekend!

Winter Visits
I have arranged with Paul for he and/or Catherine to make regular visits to the house over the winter, including coming inside to clean up mousetraps, etc., and that they can bill for it.  I've told him I'd let him know when we close the house.

Happy Labor Day!

Char's two week vacation here is coming to a close and she is sad. 

Sebastian sent Carl up with a load of stuff to store.  Char consolidated the plastic bins from this and prior shipments and we put them in the basement on the pallets.  The more fragile boxes live in the small, back bedroom downstairs. 

Char also spent some time recently cleaning the basement with the shop vac.

Bear

We have heard about bears up here and I caught a glimpse of one last season.  Recently, one has started to hang out in the yard and near the posts at the driveway, where there are apples he likes.  He was far less scared than we thought bears should be, feeding on apples even when the Propane man was here with his loud truck.  Charlyne also almost ran into him at night when we were going for a moonlight canoe.  He hadn't run away even when we were talking loudly near him.

When we first saw him his left front paw was clearly hurt and he rarely put weight on it.  We called the town game warden, who instructed us to call another agency.  No one seemed interested in the bear so we scare it off whenever we see it.  We don't want it getting used to people.

Injured, apple-loving bear - 8/12

Propane
We recently purchased 400 gallons of propane from Ormsbee Propane.

Happy Birthday Sandisfield!  Sandisfield turns 250 this year and a visit to the (apparently largely rained-out) celebration they mounted down on Rte 57 yielded a new book about the town.

We purchased a copy for the house from the author himself and had him inscribe it to The Brechts.  Nothing about the house appears in the book, unfortunately, but pictures and information about local houses we see can be found within.

I had Louis Ludovico over to give an estimate for moving the tubs to allow the bathrooms to be painted (subject of an earlier post).  The estimate was about $1200.

He also noticed three other things:

1) The downstairs toilet has hairline cracks in the bowl and should be replaced.  One with a smaller tank should be purchased which will save water, put less stress on the septic system, and because it would be smaller, potentially allow access to the riser to the upstairs bathroom.

2) The well is "contaminated" with insect and possibly animal matter because the well cover (outside the back door) is not sealed.  He believes it should be re-done and, if we want, the well chlorinated, which has a temporary effect.  Estimate for sealed cover: $300.

Well.

3) The filtration system attached to the water pump needs to be replaced.  It helps keep grit, rust and other matter out of the house.  He said it went bad a few years ago but didn't bring it up to Rena because she was dealing with a lot at that time.  Estimate: $235 plus filters.

Filtration System.

Lastly, Louis recommends that the water pump ALWAYS be turned off when no one will be around (which we always do).

Garden Faucet Leak

One day I noticed that there was a puddle surrounding the garden faucet that appeared to indicate a below-ground leak.  I dug it up and found the part that joins the black, plastic water line that runs from the basement, and the metal riser that protrudes from the ground, broken.  I think Paul may have hit it with the mower and/or the plastic simply deteriorated over time.  I found the same part in town and replaced it.

Dug up.  Black plastic water line visible.

The white plastic piece (with the red tag) is the new piece.  The old one deteriorated.

All put together with rocks at bottom for stability.

Finished!

It's late July and I've not posted in a long time mostly because I (we) have spent my time enjoying it and not writing about it!  It's time to catch up.

So far this season we have done the following:

- fixed garden fence
- repaired faucet near garden
- cleared larger part of garden than last year and planted a variety of things
- re-vitalized the screened in porch
- had the phone restored (with old phone number - 413-258-4734)
- put in a cordless phone
- replaced propane line from wall to stove
- cleaned foreign matter (plastic, garbage) from compost pit
- purchased a used weed-wacker/edger
- put aluminum around some apple trees to deter porcupines
- continued cleaning/organizing barn
- trimmed roses and lilac
- other things I can't remember now

Sarah was here with us before she went back to Ireland and we had over Gary Danko, the contractor who assisted with figuring out the chimney leaks last season.  Sarah wanted to get an estimate on painting the kitchen and both bathrooms.  This is currently a work in progress.

Garden 7-29-12

Screened-in porch 7-29-12

New Gas Line

Porcupine deterrent on tree.

7-30-12

Arrived Saturday 4/28/12.  All in order.  Took Char to train station in Hudson Monday morning.

This trip: cleared more of garden, purchased stove stuff.

We noticed on our last visit that the old copper(?) gas line from the wall to the stove was very crimped.  I have purchased the parts necessary to replace it and will do so after Sarah and Robin's visit later this week.

Happy Spring!

Arrived in afternoon of 4/20/12.  All in order - only a little evidence of mice.  There was much rain and wind the night of 4/22 but no leaks/seepage observed.

 This trip: cleaned, cleared part of garden, inspected grounds, tested smoke detectors, cleared dead ferns from stone wall, moved two chives from garden to near porch.

Louis Ludovico did his thing on 4/16.  He found that the water pump needed a new starter which he provided and installed for an additional $95.  The bill for $310 has been left on the table for Sarah and Robin's visit.

Winter Visit

Went up to the house to check on things.  Everything in order.  There were a few dead mice in the traps I left but no dead mice visible from the poison.  In fact there were almost no droppings anywhere in the house!  Hopefully, this holds till spring.  I cleaned up the used traps and put down six new ones with peanut butter bait.  See you soon!