Happy Anniversary!

September 1, 2014 marked one year of Bill and Donna’s ownership of the House.  A lot has happened in a year:

We learned about the original owners, Dr. Charles and Gertrude Masser and about life in Western Colorado in the 1900s.

We met some of the families that lived in the House and learned some great stories of their time there.  The Sorters, who lived in the House in the 1980s, and the Littles:  Leslie, Roger, Mitch, and Virginia, who lived in the house starting in the 50s.

Troubled trees were removed, and the sinking porch was shored up.

Winter’s snows came and the carriage house was taken down.  Meanwhile, we learned about the sorts of tack and carriage Dr. Masser might have stored there.

Plans to lift the House for a new foundation involved removing additions that had been built onto the original structure.

Porches and chimneys were removed, bricks were cleaned and saved, trees were trimmed, and Leslie and Roger picked up the family sidewalk sections during One Busy Summer.

This last week,  in order for the house-lifting company to have enough room, alterations are being made to the garage.  Its nearly unusable door was removed to make way for more efficient storage shed style doors.  Here’s a look:

The House has come along way from September 1, 2013

to September 1, 2014.

As Bill puts it, “One year down and a few more to go.”

 

Goodbye and Hello

We’re saying goodbye to the carriage house.  It served it’s purpose for decades, and can now be reborn as a shed and possibly other structures.  Bill carefully took it apart, piece by piece, board by board, and salvaged every usable part.  We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the plans for the salvage!

Remember a few posts ago, regarding the carriage house and the lids that were found in the rafters?  Turns out some of the jars we found last fall match the lids!

Say hello to our own vintage canisters for the House!  What shall we store or display in them?

Neither Snow Nor Cold…

…Can keep Bill away from working at the House!  Little bit by little bit, the carriage house is coming down; salvageable pieces stored away for later use.  Plans are to use the lumber to construct a new and sturdy storage shed and to use windows as frames for art, historical pictures and pictures of former residents of the house upon the completion of the restoration.  Check out the progress:

While bringing down the rafters, Bill found lids to various pantry products.  Have you seen any of them before?  Do they bring back memories of morning coffee?  A nice frosty malt on a hot summer day?

While artifacts such as these may seem like not much to some, they are little signs of life in the House to us.  Evidence of a House filled with a happy family going about life in the day.  Little bits of nostalgic art.

A Shadow of History

Horse-drawn carriages were common in the 1900s, and Dr. Masser may have had one that looked like this:

“Most were made with a storage area below the drivers seat where the doctor would store his supplies and medical bag.

These buggies were used during the time that doctors actually made house calls. If a settlement was even fortunate enough to have a doctor residing within a day’s journey, settlers expected the doctor to come to them. The buggy was a necessity. Frontier doctors were typically always on call. The doctor with his black bag and buggy was a common site in towns large and small. Traveling in the frontier the doctor might have to take his supplies and buggy along very primitive trails. Treating the ill was one challenge. Getting there was often times just as difficult.

The truly professional physician was a treasure for any frontier settlement to have. The doctor of that era knew his or her patients and patients family quite well. The doctor was a pillar of the community.”  (source)

The Masser House has a carriage house, presumably built when the house was and most likely stored the carriage, related tack and possibly a horse.  As years went by and cars became more prevalent, carriage houses were no longer needed.  The carriage house on the Masser property is in the process of falling down, fading into the shadows of history.  Rather than letting it crash in on itself in a snowstorm, we plan to take it apart carefully to salvage what we can.

Bill has been busy removing shingles the last week or so.  (Even though he’s been told to not be up on a roof without someone else there!)  He says he’s being careful, using a broom to remove snow before climbing up.  Snow has made the process a bit more challenging, but as you see in the progression of these images, Bill is making quick work of the shingles!

As always, if you’re in the neighborhood and one of us is there, stop by for a tour or feel free to lend us your muscles for a bit of work!