Bottom Dwellers

As you can see, if you drove by our house in the quiet little village of Brock, it would appear that much has been happening in the inside!

But at some point in this crazy endeaver, we have to face the music in the basement! 

Its not pretty there!

The only pretty is the scary!

Pretty DARN sacry in fact!

 Knowing where to start was the hardest part! 

Tim has done some work in this room already.  I was hoping to clear out a spot to place tools and supplies so that we weren't tripping all over them all day long upstairs!

So I chose this room.  It was the least yucky so I dug in and got to work!  Before long I found the floor!  Once it was cleaned, we were able to eliminate a big mess upstairs!

Apparently, someone was an avid gardener.  While cleaning I found some jars of saved seeds with little notes in them.  I think we might try to see of the ones I saved will germinate.



This note says round black seeded yellow meated watermelon 1969

It might be a fun experiment!

I'd really like to complete the clean up in the basement during our next week stay!

... to be continued ;)

Amish Auction

My neighbor Joe came over last night and wondered if there was a chance we could pull the trailer down to a big annual auction down in Jamesport.  I had no problem with it, except a little bit of worry that I wasn't going to be the only truck and trailer trying to maneuver around in a massive auction.  But since I could really use the practice, I told him I would help him out!  And practice I got.  I backed, and squeezed and maneuvered my way around people and trucks and trailers and through narrow passages!  I'm certain my dreams will all be of me driving that big trailer down the highway in reverse!

I've been to a couple of auctions that are geared more for the Amish and they've been fun to see, but I've not been to this one, which lasts for a couple of days!  This auction is huge!  What fun it was to go and see all of what was there!

I especially got a kick out of all the young men, Danny and three of Joe's boys - some married, some single - teasing about the garden tools they had to buy because they were now supporting a household, or the marrieds, teasing the singles about their auction finds, hinting about future weddings!  Danny got three old wooden interior doors and he maintained that they were for a bachelor pad only.  Hmmmm!

The Happy Little Girl!

Here is the picture of a happy little girl!She is a happy little girl because her mommy made a giraffe Jumper for her to wear!
She is extra happy since it is made out of polar fleece and adds a little extra warmth during this season of extreme cold!

She thinks her mommy is pretty clever to use the thrifted, sweet little vintage giraffe applique pattern and give it a modern adaptation!

Best $5.00 Ever Spent!!

$2.00 in gas to get to the Thrift Store and home again.

$3.00 for a suit he's been begging for, for well over a year. The look on his face when he wears it.... PRICELESS!

Junk Hunt

68 Degrees today! It was a fabulous opportunity to get out of the house and go find some trouble to get into. The apple farmer joined the crew and I, after moving his tractor to the machine shed. We got nice and dirty and found some old scrappy treasures to boot! Here is a seasonal creek on the property. It isn't flowing because it is a bit frozen! The crew thought it was pretty cool that they could 'walk on water.'

Human Resources is quick on his feet!

So is the attorney!


Cool! Some old gear thing.

Cooler! Some old Wheel thingy!

Oh! Oh! The spray arm is falling off! Never Fear!! The Apple Farmer's wife is well trained in vehicle repair!

Check me out! Perhaps the old bailing wire we found in some of those junk piles could have been more effective, however, I thought I might reach into the recesses of my memory and try out some of my knots I learned way back at girls' camp...

The President has found some fluffy seeds in a seed pod. He can't wait to see how they fly!

Her Royal Highness is pretending to be shy.
Somewild rose hips we found. Notice the buds starting to swell on the wild rose. It is still a bit early for bloom, but it does offer hope that we will soon see much warmer days!

August Fog Blooms Winter's Snow

The Amish often share "old sayings" and this morning was one of those moments. I love hearing them and as of yet, I have not heard one that hasn't proven itself to be true. John Zook was over this morning about peaches when he said, "There's an old saying that August fog blooms winter's snow." Human Resources was quite excited to hear that, since we won a bid on two pairs of cross country skis at a neighbor's auction Saturday morning. I'm just thrilled for the cool, calm and misty morning. It will be nice for getting our demolition and building projects completed.

Auction Winnings

May 9th I had a spare moment to go to a nearby estate auction where over 100 old sewing machines were going to be auctioned. Over 30 of these were hand crank machines. Curiosity got the better of me, since there were still a million things I needed to be working on at the orchard. I couldn't help but wonder if the supply was more than the demand available in the area. It turned out that my hunch was correct. I had a lot of fun and won the bid for this beautiful German made machine. I also won bids on a couple of treadle sewing cabinets ($2.00 a piece) and 5 sewing heads - 2 singer, a New Home and a Vesta. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures! By the way, my winning bid on this beautiful machine was $45.00!

I can't get over the ornate metal work down below!

This reads Winselmann.

I haven't had a chance to try this out. I need to get a new cable to attach to the machine and the treadle wheel. I'm positive that this machine has a lot more guts than my Bernina sewing machine!

The wood cabinet is in great condition!