This Old American Foursquare

Back in September 2023, Matt and I noticed we had about 9 apple trees on the property. They even bore fruit in October, were a great prop for our dog's autumnal photo shoot, and tasty too! Our house is located in Catskills Park and we learned about a local nonprofit called Catskill Forest Association, which specializes in forestry education and services. More specifically, they offer apple true pruning. So, we joined the CFA and had two of their arborists come evaluate our trees. The bad news is that our trees are on their last leg...or branch. They're likely over 100 years old and some appear to be volunteer apple trees, which means they were grown from seeds spontaneously without direct human control aka maybe seeds in deer poop led to their growth. The good news is that the presence of volunteer apple trees means our soil is nutrient-rich. To Matt's disappointment, these senior trees didn't prove to be an heirloom variety surprise but on the bright side we had two ar...

If that blog post was click bait, let me reel you in. It's not a human baby, it's a tractor baby. Before I dive into our newest family member, here's the update on renovations. Drywall demo is on pause because we want an electrician to evaluate all the electrical in the walls to see if any outdated wiring needs to be replaced. We also need a new electrical panel installed; that requires a permit to be approved by the town which our electrician has filed and so we wait for that bureaucratic process to do its thing. Matt and I removed all the cabinets in the kitchen, found an old flue in the kitchen that takes an obnoxious amount of space. We decided she needed to go but in order to do that, we needed to figure out an alternative way to vent. And we can't order our kitchen cabinets if the original design accounted for the flue in the kitchen (which was hiding behind drywall). So, at this point things are on hold until our electric water heater and new vent are installed. ...

One weekend last month, my in-laws stayed back to back weekends to help us with more demo: part of the hallway and the kitchen. Matt wanted to see what the kitchen would look like without all of the cabinets. In the midst of said-demo, I decided to take a bio break in the half bath on the first floor. The wood door to this bathroom was already tricky. It had expanded over the years, didn't shut properly, and the lock was finicky. Of course, when everyone is on the second floor ripping nails from the room framing, using a saw-zall, and playing the radio, I decide to test the said lock while on the toilet. I proceeded to lock myself in the bathroom. I started to laugh quietly by myself, called.oir to my dog to send a distress signal (that didn't work ) but seeing his little paw shadows under the door made me smile. I sprayed the bathroom with Febreze,.removed a wall shelf I didn't like in my denial of being stuck and then realized I wasn't getting out. So I pressed my ear...

Our renovation project is not on hold, but we're certainly not in any rush (according to my husband). I'd like to stop cooking on a hot plate at some point, but I'll stay patient and enjoy my Velveeta mac and cheese because it truly is liquid gold.  The cabin was chock full of stuff. There were about 50+ James Patterson books that I organized with other crime and war fiction books to donate. I saved ones that were of most interest to me and others that were damaged and likely not wanted by the local library. While Matt and I could dump everything in the dumpster, I want us to be mindful of items that could be reused, repurposed, or donated. Through a local Facebook group, I answered a post from a woman looking for book donations for a nonprofit. All of the appliances (2 stoves, one washer, one dryer) were picked up by our neighbor...who also took a dumpster dive or two for other treasure.  There was also a lot of plates, glasses, and other kitchenware. A few are Currier ...

Last week we rented a dumpster; the mountain of contractor bags filled with drywall and insulation was started to take up too much space in the garage. So it felt satisfying to throw in over 30 fifty-give gallon bags into that dumpster. I also took the opportunity to clean out the cabin at the top of hill next to the house. The previous owners used to rent out the cabin, which is a one-bedroom with a bathroom and kitchen, a few weeks out of the year to visitors who wanted to hunt and fish in the area. Since then, it has accumulated odds and ends including tons of James Patterson books, two mildew covered beds, carpet from the 1970s, mouse droppings, and kitchenware. It took me two days to get through everything. I saved the most interesting knick knacks that I'll dive deeper into in a future post. It was a productive weekend and the only drawback was the mouse that scared the life out of me when I was going through dresser drawers full of old linens.  We were worried we wouldn'...

I'm taking a break from drywall to dip back into our house's history. According to property records, we know there have been at least two other families who have owned this house/property: the Desmonds (1974-2023) and the Hotchkins (??-1974).  In this post, I'll start with George and Marguerite Hotchkin . They are the earliest family to own the house according to property records. In the section of the Sullivan County atlas above, I've identified our house/property as Lot 510. This map was drawn in 1875, likely before the Hotchkin family acquired the property. So, now I'm asking...who is J.D.? Also what is the method with the naming conventions here...R.Armstrong, Mrs. Van Aken, and Decker?  I also have to consider J.D.'s exact location. Could that really be the location of the present-day house or is it actually closer to the Wright's cabin (a well-known fly fisher who has passed down the property to his son/our current neighbor)? To narrow down J.D.'s ...

The first project in the house that we feel most comfortable doing ourselves is drywall replacement in all four bedrooms of the house. For context, the house (I feel like we should name it down the road. It's something cute that I found on  fourssquarefortwo  in my rabbit hole of research of renovation blogs.) is move-in ready. It wasn't a condition that we required when we were looking for a house, but it was certainly a plus. The house's previous owner had it since the 1970s and it likely went through some updates here and there, but largely hasn't been renovated since then. The current state of the drywall feels like the bulletin board I kept in my room when I was a teenager to tack up photos of my favorite bands and quotes - brittle and crackly. Like the initial demo moment in home renovation shows, the first hammer through that drywall was satisfying. The tedious work that followed wasn't reality show worthy.  Below are a few before and after pictures, and less...