2011 New Year's Day

We started 2010, working hard on New Year's Day, taking apart a kitchen in an 1825 house that was going to be demolished by the new owners of that property.  We worked through the night to get the cabinets and appliances out of the kitchen and into the storage shed on the same property.

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

The Czechs have a belief that what a person is doing on New Year's Day, so shall he do for the rest of the year.  I knew about that belief last year, and still we worked, in that freezing old house, without benefit of heat.... it was hard work and naturally, was pouring rain when we were trying to move everything from the old house to the temporary shed storage.....  I suppose then I should not have been surprised that the rest of the year was spent, pretty much in the same posture.....

Moving Through the Rain

By the end of January, we were supposed to have closed on our old farmhouse, but, as fate would have it, we did not get to close until February 2.  This is significant only because the folks in whose shed we were storing the items removed from their old house, were anxious that we have them out of the shed by the end of January, when the old house demolition was to begin.  So, rather than being able to move all of this stuff into the giant garage at OUR new property, we had to move it to yet another temporary storage....  With the weatherman predicting snow on Friday, we rented a U-Haul truck on Thursday and spent all night moving all of that heavy stuff from the shed to a rented storage unit.

Items in Storage Shed on Old House Property

Items in 26 foot U-Haul

Everything Packed into 10 X 12 Storage Unit

And indeed it DID snow that Friday and we had to dig out to get to the closing for this old farm house.

Pier in Snow

Pond House in Snow

Killian on Frozen Pond

Closing Day at Old Farm House

February and March were cold and wet, and we worked and worked and worked on this old farm house property.  We had to dig trenches and build roads to access different areas on the property, and always, it seemed, we were freezing and wet while we worked.

April brought warmer weather, and we were finally able to actually move from the pond house over to the garage apartment at the old farm house.  We had a busy, busy Spring and Summer, working to get the pond house ready to put on the market, and working to transform the old farm house property into a livable, home.

Joe Working on Pond House Prep

By the end of the hot summer, we had made major changes to this farm house property, just in time to be subjected to the wet season again.  The incredible rains that flooded the property at the end of September, meant more road work, and more trenching.  Thankfully, by this time, we had acquired a tractor and were no longer having to do all of this road work by hand.  By the time we left for California, for work and for a visit with friends and family, the water had receded, but it was still pretty mushy.

September Flood

More of the Same

New Deck above the Flood

On our drive back from California in the rental box truck, we once again ran into torrential rain.  Counting our blessings that this was at least better than our last cross country drive, in January 2008, when we'd driven through ice and snow storms, and then torrential rain storms, we drove through the rainy days and nights, and finally made it back to the old farmhouse.

November was spent preparing for winter, and cold weather, trying to catch up from a month on the road and trying to complete projects delayed by rain.  And before we knew it, December was here and it was cold, snowing more than I recall it snowing in December in the 22 years I have lived in this area.  Joe cut and split the wood for the newly installed wood stoves, and, by the time the big snow fell on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, we were ready.

Joe, Waving from the Comfort of the Garage Apartment

Joe Clearing the Roads in the Freezing Cold

We've spent the last week keeping warm, venturing out into the cold snowy outdoors only when necessary.  Joe worked in the freezing temperatures, clearing the roads and driveways so we and our neighbors could get out if we needed to, but we opted to simply stay in.  Today it finally warmed into the 40's and the melting is well underway... which means we have more road work ahead of us.

However, this New Year's Day, I think we will spend the day just relaxing and taking it easy.  If the Czech belief is correct, we will then enjoy a relaxing year????

Happy New Years!

It Will be Warm Again....