Melting Moments

Come early spring, the first step was to gut the Farmhouse. Peter prepped it alone. The plan was for him to stay a couple of days..... Our Friends, graciously lent us their beautiful rental apartment to live in while he was working on the Farmhouse. He filled his dump trailer up to the brim with debris & the plan was to dump it locally instead of hauling it all the way home, however, he realizes, he forgot to bring some cash! No problem, he would go into town & take cash off of a credit card. But, he had to wait for the next business day the bank would be open. No problem. He gets the money, now he's ready, only now he gets his van stuck in the snow & mud & he can't get out!! This will prove to happen more than once, but OK, so hes getting boards out of the barn to lay under the tires etc. A stranger stops by & offers to go get a chain to pull him out. Peter thinks, yeah right, like I'll see him again, but lo & behold, he returns & pulls him out!! Which brings me to talk about how different people are up in the country.....

Even notice it when I stop in the food store near the Farmhouse. Everyone smiles & the cashiers talk to you. Everyones friendly & people stop by the Farmhouse to come in & introduce themselves & tell us where they're from & offer advice & help. Its another world, compared to where we live now.......at first, I was alittle mistrustful, I'm not used to having interactions with people in the food store, unless I know them. Or to have people just stop by my house & introduce themselves! Random smiles & hellos?? And being invited over people's farms to see their animals....just downright open & friendly!

Well he gets stuck a few more times after that, and different people help pull him out! Will eventually (hopefully, before the next winter) need to fix that driveway....

But he returns with his helper & guts the house & we come up with plans and dreams....two new bathrooms, new windows in certain spots. He opens it up, letting the light in, the beautiful views of the fields, while gently keeping its layout, integrity, and its past. We are going to try our hardest, to return it, to what it originally was, yet update it with modern conveniences. But, put our own spin on it. Slowly we will get there from here.......

In the Beginning......

How did we become the proud owners of a Farmhouse & barn sitting on 90 acres of what once was a dairy farm, back in the late 1850's?

It all started with a picture of a stone house in my Country Living Magazine.....which led us to a weekend in the "country" just innocently, casually, looking for some property.....and the next thing we knew, we were sitting in the Realtors office, signing a contract, before heading home!! Really, just like that!!!

Then there was the the fiasco of getting a mortgage! Oh and the haggling over the price...and then back again to the fiasco of getting the mortgage!! And finally, on the first COLD Friday of January-we closed! And the Farmhouse was ours!

That weekend, we spent with friends and then winterized the Farmhouse, before heading home. Home is about 4 hours away. Snow shuttered the Farmhouse. We periodically went to check on it, anxiously waiting for the Spring, to begin our work......