One Busy Summer

Here we are.  Mid-August.  What happened to April, May, June, and July?!  It’s been a busy one for the team, everyone working at greenhouses, wineries, and electrical supply shops.  Bill and Michael continued to meet up at the Masser House (now being called the White House), getting her ready for her new foundation.  As you might expect, no small project!  Sit back, and enjoy a super-long post that will catch you up on the whole summer!

APRIL

The sun porch had to be removed.  We were saddened by this, as we cherish the memories the families shared about many happy hours spent out there.  The sun porch was an add-on to the original structure, so it wouldn’t lift with the House when she’s raised for the new foundation.  The boys carefully took it apart, window by window, board by board, until all that was left was the cement pad.

MAY

All living things have an expected lifespan.  The large trees next to the property are unfortunately at the end of theirs; they are diseased and are a threat to the White House and the neighbor’s house with limbs that could come down in a storm.  Special equipment was rented, the chainsaw was gassed up, and up went Bill and the saw in the bucket!  No injuries to any of the “chainsaw party” participants, equipment, vehicles or houses–a successful tree trimming!

JUNE

Chim-chim-cheree!  The boys looked like Mary Poppins’ chimney sweep friends, covered in soot as the crumbling chimneys came down and bricks were cleaned of mortar.  The cleaned bricks are no longer structurally sound, but are being saved for a future life in or around the House.

JULY

The sidewalk is back in the hands of the Little family.  Roger and Leslie showed up with a truck to gather up the sidewalk sections inscribed with family names.  Leslie plans to incorporate them into the landscaping of her house in Idaho.  Roger’s dad poured the sidewalks himself, and poured them THICK!  These are some HEAVY mementos!

Now it’s August and you’re all caught up!  Stay tuned for upcoming events, like a yard sale during Fruita Fall Fest, and the lifting of the House for its new foundation!  Next up on the agenda though, is a reworking of the garage to make room for the lifting company, and to be a more usable storage place than it is currently.  Most of the team will be at the House this Saturday, August 16–stop by and say hello!

 

The Attic, The Tree, and The Sidewalk

This week has been an exciting one!  Three people from the Little family with first-hand knowledge of the house during the late 40s and early 50s contacted us!  One of them, Leslie, remembered that she and her cousins had scratched their names in the sidewalk.  We now know LESLIE ANN!

As you can see from the dates, the sidewalk has been around for a while.  Unfortunately, it’s crumbling and will need to be removed.  Bill and Donna will save the signed sections for Leslie and her cousins when that happens.

We also planned to go up into the attic.  Dreams of historic treasure consumed us.  Could there be clothing?  Photos?  Tools?  Bill placed a ladder, removed the ceiling cover, pushed the trapdoor up and found…….insulation.  Lots of pink batting–a very good thing to find to be sure, but not the treasure we’d hoped for.

Removing the ceiling cover revealed what at first looked like crown molding, but turned out to be wallpaper under a layer of plaster.

Outside our attention turned to the diseased fruiting mulberry out front.  It had a pretty shape, but was oozing sap from cracks in the trunk and had dropped messy mulberries all over the front sidewalk.  Aside from that, it was blocking some of the pretty architectural details of the porch that wraps the front and side of the house.

While Bill and Donna hate the idea of removing trees, if they are problematic, diseased or dangerous, they’ll need to be removed.  The plan is to replace them with Bradford pear, autumn purple ash, prairie fire crabapples and similar trees that will provide seasonal color and compliment the house rather than hide it.