Yesterday was the annual Christmas party at work. About an hour away, supposed to be there at 6. So at 2:30 I went outside to see if I could get the car out past all the snow. At first, YES! But then, halfway down the driveway… well, no. Our driveway needs help. It’s actually lower than the fields around it. Thankfully it’s on a hill so it doesn’t flood, but it does drift shut when there’s snow. So the car got stuck. I dug it out, and it got stuck again. And a third time.

I eventually called my dad to see if he’d be willing to come over with his tractor and open up our driveway. He said yes, and drove the 5 miles in his tractor — which has no cab, and it was below freezing — and got the driveway open, and helped me get the car unstuck. We had planned to leave at 4, to give us time to get Jacob to the babysitter. We didn’t think a babysitter would enjoy spending the evening at a cold house with only a generator providing power, so we were taking him to their place. Well, we left about 4:30.

We got down our driveway, onto the road, and hey — more drifts. Yay. Got out onto the highway, over to the road to their place. Which someone, ahem, had assured me was a paved road. But instead we got 5 miles on a very drifty east-west country road. That’s the deepest snow I’ve ever put a car through, and I am still surprised that we didn’t get stuck anywhere.

So then we dropped off Jacob, and off to the party, and squeaked in just a few minutes late. Phew. It was nice to be out of the house, too.

When we picked up Jacob later — taking the non-drifty route — he was sleeping, of course. I carried him out to the car and put him in his seat. There’s nothing quite like carrying a sleeping boy snuggled into you to make you forget the lack of electricity outside.

Today we went to church. Church was canceled last Sunday, and the Wednesday evening activities were too. So I think everybody made an effort to be there today. All sorts of electricity stories were heard. Generators moved around the countryside as those that owned them got power and loaned them out to those that didn’t have power. The president of a nearby college called the church and offered two rooms at his personal residence to anyone that needed them. One woman announced during sharing time that her husband was taken to the hospital on Friday. They determined that he needed heart surgery, and that will happen tomorrow… and she added that she’d be with him for a couple of days, so if anyone needed a warm house for a family, theirs was available and had a couple of bedrooms, fridge, and garage that people were welcome to use.

At noon there was a free lunch offered to anyone still without power. We went and enjoyed some warm soup and bread with about 30 others.

After that, we went to my parents’ place to do some laundry, then came home.

We ate supper. As Terah got up to give Jacob some more chili, I suggested that she look out the window and see if any yard lights were on yet. I had flipped our master breaker off, just to be extra cautious due to having wired our furnace into the generator temporarily. So this is how we would tell that power was back on somewhere (though we did check it periodically during the day). Terah looked out the window, and said, “I DO see yard lights out there… Do you think?” I got up, went downstairs, flipped the breaker, and light came on! We turned on the lights — Jacob had missed them — and plugged in the Christmas tree. The power had come on for people miles in either direction from us at the same time. Dad came over to get our electrical box back to normal state and to help me load up the generator to return tomorrow.

There’s nothing quite like this to make us feel fortunate to be a part of such a caring community of friends and family — people who don’t think twice about helping out someone in need, even in the midst of having a husband hospitalized.

Jacob didn’t seem to mind the power outage. Except for one thing. He is very excited about lights these days. I can spend 15 to 30 minutes exploring lights with him, especially in the kitchen. He will point at a light and say “da?” (“that”). “Da? Da?” means he wants it turned on or off. We’ll go to the light switch, and he’ll get to flip it, or watch while I do. “Dooooo!” is his excited response.

Well, when he wants something and it’s not happening fast enough for him, “Da? Da?” changes to “Da!… Da!…” and then to “DA!! DA!!” and finally some fussing. That happened several times as we couldn’t turn on lights.

Then we got to church this morning and boy was he excited. Lights everywhere! He’d point to one bright light and say “Da!” — look at the light over there, dad! Point to another place and “Da!” Another one over here! And ceiling fans! Lights everywhere! He was so excited he was trying to jump up and down.

Jacob’s favorite new word is “hi.” He has just barely figured out how to say it, and it takes effort, and comes out very breathy — but it’s there. He can spend several minutes saying hi to someone over and over if he’s in the right mood. He wouldn’t say hi to the greeters at church, or anyone that said hi to him. But we were sitting in the back row, and halfway through the sermon, he started saying hi to the ushers that were behind us. I couldn’t see them very well, but I imagine they were trying to keep from cracking up.

Yes, probably just as crazy as everyone said we were.

But we’re both really glad that we did it. We both really enjoy being where we are.

Last week, we noticed there were sunflowers growing where grandpa’s barn once stood. We like sunflowers. Terah first learned about Kansas sunflowers as we were driving on the day we moved to Kansas.

Anyway, here’s what the house looks like now:

And here’s what it looked like one year ago:

Terah and I spent all day Saturday cleaning, unpacking, and generally finishing moving in as much as possible. That’s because we invited my dad’s family over to our place for Easter dinner; our first real event we’ve hosted since moving in at the farm.

I remember going to grandpa’s place many times for Easter dinner. It was a nice tradition. Last year, the family wasn’t sure what to do; grandpa’s house was vacant, but not really in a condition suitable for having a meal either. So we had an easter picnic. Terah and I were making plans about buying the place then already, and we hoped that we’d be able to invite everyone over to celebrate Easter in a newly-renovated house by this year. I’m glad we could!

My great aunts and uncles came over a little later in the afternoon. One of them remembered sitting on the swing on the front porch when my grandma told them she had cancer. They remembered how much my grandma had wanted a larger kitchen, and how she’d be excited about what we had in the house now. It’s was nice to hear those memories and stories.

This Saturday, I plan to get out the camera and finally post the “done!” pictures of the house. It’s been quite the busy year, but we’re very happy with how it turned out.

Click here for the full set.

Here’s today’s sample:

Terah is posting some of our photos of Jacob on her blog today as well.

Yes, over the weekend, the cabinet makers had installed the cabinets earlier than expected! I never expected that I would get excited about kitchen cabinets, but I sure was. They look great.

My grandma’s china cabinet is back up in the dining room. They’ve removed the tile from the dining room, exposing the wood floor underneath. The floor restoration people have spent some time doing some patching already.

Doors and doorjams are starting to go in. Trim is arriving. And the wood in the wall alongside one of the staircases has been seamlessly extended.

It’s exciting. (photos here)

And check this out:

That hunk of ice is the exhaust from our furnace. No joke! The furnace is so efficient that, when its running, it’s a moist and slightly warm breeze blowing out of that exhaust pipe. In winter, it condenses and drips down below, forming an ice hunk.

I’ve posted some new photos of the project.

The new insulation has been sprayed. It’s a foam type of insulation that dries solid. It not only acts as an insulator, but also as a sealant, filling in little cracks that could let air in and out of the house. In some places it is up to 12 inches thick — mostly in the attic.

After that, work on the drywall began. By this point, it’s pretty much done and interior painting should be starting this week. After the painting, the next thing will be the floor restoration.

Concrete work got started last week. The porches are being re-built now, and in the photo below, you can see the forms starting to be in place for them.

So the appearance of the interior has changed dramatically over the past few weeks, mainly because there are now walls there.

Here’s the usual sample photo:

We’ve had electrical work going on. The new water and propane lines have been trenched in. New ductwork is in progress. New electrical and phone service will be trenched in this week or next.

In the past week, the new siding has started going up, and the sheetrock is supposed to start going up on Monday.

So there is some quite visible change going on now! Click here for the pictures.

We’re excited about Grandpa’s farmhouse that we’re having renovated, and it will be great when we get to move in there in December or January.

But it’s sad to leave the place that has been home for these last few years. Terah and I got a chance to spend a few last minutes over there today.

All sorts of memories came back. We remembered our long walks up and down the driveway, hand in hand, laughing and talking. We remembered sitting out on the west edge of our property watching the sun set behind the trees. We remembered playing with our cats, having friends and family over, the excitement when we moved in, all the hard work we put into renovating the old part of the house, and so many more things.

We also been looking back and laughing at things that were really pretty annoying at the time: having no water because of ants, having to move out for a few days on Valentine’s Day because of a skunk, being without power for most of a week because of ice (and having to cut my way in and out through the driveway).

We’ll have memories, photos, and some small souvenirs from our old house. But we’ll miss it, too, just like we missed our house in Indianapolis and its pond with attack geese. (That’s another story.)

When we moved to Kansas, my grandma, who grew up a few miles away, heard our address and said, “Dutch Avenue! That’s right at home for me.” It was right at home for us, too.

But anyway, I’ve now posted photos of weeks 10 – 12 of the renovation.

Some of the highlights include: new windows, a new roof, two new staircases, three old oil heaters removed from the attic (some still with oil in them), and a little joking around from the workers.

Click above to see all of the photos.

Here are two samples from this set. First, how the house looks from the oustide now:

And this one:

Someone found that old commode from the attic. They put it on the dirt pile, and put a bucket under it for good measure.

Nobody actually used it.

That we know of.

I’ve posted the photos for weeks 8 and 9. The new kitchen is starting to take shape!

We’re also going to get a nice heating/air system. My great uncle, who is doing that work for us, came up with a 3-zone system. We’ll have one furnace & AC, but three temperature sensors. There will be motorized dampers in the ducts that are controlled by that system, so we can direct hot or cold air only where it needs to be. We’ll break even on it now because we can make do with a smaller AC and furnace, and will save money over the long run due to lower utility bills.

We also learned that the wood floors in pretty much the entire house can be saved, so that’ll be nice, too.

Here’s a sample:

Click here for the rest.

Here are some photos of the foundation work in progress.

Now then…

Frequent readers of this blog know that Terah and I purchased the place my grandparents owned (where my dad grew up).

The part I haven’t mentioned is that my parents did the same thing — my great grandparents owned the farm that my parents bought after they got married. My dad’s mother grew up there.

My parents had an old farmhouse on their property, too. They opted to build a new house — the old house made a nice home for rats, but not such a great home for people by that time. But that doesn’t mean that the old house got torn down.

Nope, they had it moved to a museum, where a group of volunteers restored it.

Terah and I went to visit the 1911 Friesen House at the Mennonite Heritage Museum in Goessel a couple of weeks ago to get some decorating ideas for the house we’re renovating. I’m going to get some more photos this weekend — it’s THRESHING DAYS again at the museum! Cliff, there’s still time to drive down to Kansas! (Here’s a partial schedule)

Terah liked the idea of buying the farm. But I don’t think she’ll go for restarting the other family tradition…. (well, I wouldn’t, either, but it is funny…)

So I will end this post with a small collection of photos from Threshing Days 2004 (click the link).

Here’s the usual sample:

First, many thanks to all that sent us e-mails, comments, and notes. We appreciate it! It’s nice to have people the care.

Next, in addition to the first set of fire photos I posted, I have now added more photos: a second set of fire photos. Note that there are two pages to that as well.

I’ve also added some photos to the Grandpa’s Farm set — this shows what things looked like back in April, before the fire. The buildings that burned are the barn, calf barn, and chicken house.

On to the updates…

Monday I went out to the farm first thing in the morning. Some areas were still smoldering — basically wherever there was hay. It was a bit concerning. I went up to the 2nd floor in the house and took some photos of the yard.

I headed on in to work. Later in the evening, I went back out to check on things. Two fire fighters were back out there with a fire truck dousing the remaining smoldering areas. Apparently the fire fighters had been checking on the place intermittently all day and had been out there with water earlier as well.

The Goessel Fire Dept. is an all-volunteer department. These people aren’t getting paid for this, and they do an EXCELLENT job. Someone was out at 1AM Monday, again at 10AM Monday, then twice more with the truck. They did all this on their own — I hadn’t asked them to. It is amazing how much these people care about the community and taking care of fires.

I also never knew how long bales of hay burn.

Here’s one of the new photos:

As Terah mentioned already, there was a fire out at our farm today. We lost both barns and the chicken house. Several acres of mostly grass burned in all.

It’s hard to see those buildings gone. There was so much history and so many memories in them. And that loss isn’t just ours; so many people have fond memories from out there.

Before I go on, I’ve posted a few very preliminary photos. I haven’t even downloaded all of them from the camera yet. Here’s how our yard looks:

We’re sad about this, but there’s a lot to be thankful for. There are so many ways that this could have been worse. If the firefighters had been a few minutes later to the scene, we probably would have lost the only remaining buildings — house, wash house, and elevator — as well. The fire was starting to burn a hedge row from two sides. It got within a few feet of the house.

Somebody driving through the country noticed the fire and called it in. That in itself is fortunate, because people don’t just drive through this part of the country all that often.

We’re very fortunate to have such a wonderful and loving family. The people from the Goessel Volunteer Fire Department spent 7 hours of their evening out there, part of it in 100-degree heat. (The Walton Fire Dept. also responded — I don’t know how long they were there). Even our insurance agent (one of the barns was insured) came out — and he didn’t have to.

We hope that we’ll get enough insurance money to let us rebuild something in the same style as the original barn.

And, most importantly, nobody got hurt.

But somehow, despite all these things, it still feels like we lost a little bit of Grandpa today.

So check out the week 3-5 photos. Note there are two pages of photos.

The lath and plaster is all down. So it looks really empty inside.

The foundation work starts Thursday and continues for about 2 weeks. Then the reconstruction will begin.

Here’s this week’s highlight:

It’s an old wagon that was in the chicken house. Because of the pickup that was in there, I had never been able to get a good picture of it before.

It seems this is typical for this sort of project around here.

On Monday, I went out to take the week 1 pictures and clear out some junk from the wash house.

Workers started Wednesday. We thought we’d have to tear down the wash house, but they managed to save it! It’ll make a nice outbuilding somewhere.

They pulled down the kitchen/bathroom. So things are looking very different already.

Check out the week 2 photos. Here’s a sample:

We bought the place on June 27. The next day, somebody was already out removing the chimney from the house. Then over the weekend, dad and I went out there to remove the chimney from the wash house.

Our contractor happened by while we were out. He had heard that some concrete blocks would be available at an auction, so he bought them for us for $2 for the whole lot. Should save us some money.

Photos of the place after week 1 are now available.

Here’s one, featuring a vulture sitting on top of the barn:

I finally got around to posting pictures of the inside of the house. Take a look, and be sure to notice there are several pages!

Here’s a picture of the kitchen to get you started: