Winter is Here!

We finally had our first snowfall! We only got about 4 inches but that was enough for me to throw on my snow pants and make the first snowman of the year!



We didn't get enough snow to plow this time. But the plow, and the plower, are ready to go when we really get hit.

Worky Work, Busy Bee

There have been a lot of changes in the Patten household since the last posting, so get comfy, this is going to be a long one. I will start outside and work my way through the house.

Before

During

After!

We have a new driveway!! I knew this had to get done before Winter, but I was NOT excited about it. It was a ton of money and I really didn't think I would even notice a difference. I was completely wrong, I am in love with the new driveway! Before, the driveway was pitted and super steep and a little scary to drive on. Now, it's a smooth as silk!

We're waiting to remodel the kitchen until after everything else is done. It feels like we just finished the Fort Collins kitchen and we aren't ready to jump into another huge project just yet. However, the old oven had to go! This beauty was installed on Friday and it's great. This is my first time having a gas stove and I like it so much better than electric. Our first meal was blueberry pancakes on the stove top griddle, yum!

The most exciting thing we did this week was put a door on the downstairs bathroom. We were functioning with only 1 bathroom, since we had already demoed the upstairs bathroom, and it didn't even have a door, not fun. But, it was well worth the wait because this door turned out to be our favorite thing in the entire house so far.
Since the washer and dryer are monsters we could no longer have a regular door that opened into the room. We thought about making it swing in the hallway, but that didn't seem right either. Our other option was to put in a pocket door, but that would have involved taking down, and then rebuilding the wall, ugh. So, we opted for a sliding door on mounted right onto the wall. LOVE IT! We bought the dutch door at a tag sale in Fort Collins years ago and never used it. I didn't even want to bring it with us when we moved because I didn't think we would ever use. Thank you Cyrus for insisting we bring it! I also painted the walls Willow Green, and Cyrus installed a new light.

Before

After

Moving upstairs...my craftroom/guestroom is done, so we are now taking reservations! I took out the window seat and painted the walls and ceiling Vanilla Custard; a soft, buttery, calm color. The floor underneath where the window seat was, is just plywood subfloor which I painted and stenciled.



Finally, the upstairs bathroom. I did the whole floor by myself while Cyrus was at work. Although I was almost in tears in the middle of the project (mostly because I was starving and couldn't stop for lunch), I am proud of how it came out and I'm thrilled that I didn't lose any fingers using the tile saw. The room is near completion, but still needs some finishing touches. Cyrus needs to move the outlet and light switch above the vanity so we can hang the new mirror and new lights, and we need to install the baseboard, then it's another room DONE.

Next up is Cyrus' office which is the downstairs bedroom. I'm going to paint this week and I have big plans for the floor. Hopefully it comes out as good in real life as it looks in my head.

Warm at last!

The wood stove is finally in and we had our first fire last night! It was well deserved after a day of splitting and stacking the last of the wood in the pouring rain. There really is nothing like curling up with a book next to a cozy fire on a cold rainy day.

Monkton - A brief tour

I've been researching who or what the town of Monkton was named after. Let's face it, it's not a very common name. I had no luck on the official town website, or any other website until just now. According to virtualvermont.com: Despite the difference in spelling, Monkton probably was named for General Robert Monckton (1726-82). He was the second surviving son of John Monckton, the first Viscount Galway, and a grandson of John Manners, the second Duke of Rutland. He entered the army as an ensign at fifteen, rose steadily through the ranks, served in Flanders and Nova Scotia, and was Wolfe's second in command at Quebec in 1759. In 1761 he was appointed Royal Governor of New York, a post he held officially until 1763, although part of the time he was away from New York in command of the successful expedition against Martinique, which resulted in its surrender in 1762.

There isn't much in the town of Monkton, not even a stop light. I have driven on more dirt roads in the past month than I have in my entire life. There are lots of cows and not many people (just under 2000). The days are cold, the nights are colder and Winter hasn't even started.


We have a pond which I thought, until about 20 minutes ago, was called Monkton Pond. During my research of the name Monkton, I learned that Monkton Pond was renamed Cedar Lake just a couple years ago. I like Monkton Pond better and will continue to call it that. I still can't figure out how to get to the road on the other side of the pond, and not for lack of trying.

The general store/gas station is about 4 miles from our house. They have everything you could ever need in a pinch. Eggs, bread, milk, beer, wine...They also have a deli with tasty sandwhiches and a full pizza menu. We haven't tried the pizza yet, but one of these days we will.


There are a lot of very small, old cemetaries. When the weather is nicer I want to go on cemetary strolls. Cyrus has walked through some and says the grave stones simply say "John and his wife are burried here."
I went to the Town Hall today and registered to vote. I didn't even have to show my license or any other I.D. proving who I am. As soon as she saw my address on the form, Milly, the town clerk, did say that my husband has been in already. Small town living at it's finest.

I didn't have much hope for the library when we first drove by it. Boy, was I wrong. I love the library! Cyrus and I finally went a couple Saturday's ago. We walked from the church craft fair were we got fresh, delicious, homemade donuts. Deborah, the librarian offered us a tour, which made us laugh since the whole library is about the size of our living room. I expected old dusty books, and not very many of them. Turns out, they have a ton of books and they all look brand new. I was the first person to check mine out! They also have a ton of books on tape for long car rides and a paperback section that you can take, but don't have to return. Books can be checked out for 2 weeks, but there are no fines if they're late. We have a library card, but we don't ever need to bring it. Pretty simple! I look forward to going often and working my way through all the books.

Finally, Boyers Orchard. We went to the orchard, which is just a couple miles from our house, when my mom was here. We were offered samples of the most delicious apples, pears, grapes and juices. We bought some strawberry rhubarb jam which I haven't opened yet, but can't wait to try. But what we really went for was the apple cider donuts. Wow, were they good!! We arrived just as the dough was done rising. Perfect timing! We got to eat the fresh donuts right out of the fryer. I can't think of anything better.

Although there's not much in Monkton, I still love it. Maybe that is why I love it. The roads are windy and the hills are rolling and the views are breathtaking. Monkton feels like home. I am happy to be back home.

The week of TOO MANY projects

We are in over our heads here folks...anyone want to come help paint, plumb, stack wood?! I have no idea why we are in the middle of 5000 projects at one time, but we are. Currently we are:

Still splitting and stacking wood...I know I know, we cheated. We borrowed a wood splitter from a neighbor. But, we had no choice! We got a late start this year.



Working on the hearth. Cyrus found all these great stones in the woods!! Dulcie helped by putting her footprint in the wet cement. The chimney man is coming on Friday to do the repairs and we should have a roaring fire by Saturday!!

Painting the upstairs craft room/guest bedroom Vanilla Custard and still deciding what to do with the floors.



Re-doing the upstairs bathroom. This has turned into a much bigger project than we originally anticipated. There is some funky plumbing going on and it's in the way of the new vanity. So, before I can tile or finish painting, Cyrus needs to be a plumber.

A walk in the woods

Dulcie and I went for a walk in the woods sometime last week. We stumbled upon this old, hollowed tree and I love it.


I'm constantly try taking pictures of our view on clear days and at sunsets and pictures just don't do it justice.

A quick recap

My plan was to go post by post with photos and descriptions of what we've done so far. That just isn't working out for me. So, instead, here is a quick recap.

Downstairs bathroom - done!


Living room and dining room - ceilings painted (a HUGE thanks to MOM for taking on this daunting task), holes patched, window trim painted (thanks again to mom!), walls painted. New light in the dining room. Wood stove hearth being constructed as we speak.



Choosing paint in the dining room turned out to be the hardest color I ever had to pick. I have no idea why, but the room just wasn't speaking to me. It started as white, so we had a blank canvas to work with. I bought "beeswax" and put it on the walls. Sometimes we loved it and it was warm and cozy, other times we hated it and it looked more like earwax. After much deliberation, we decided to repaint it. Now the living room and dining room are both a calm, cozy "misty summer day." Who comes up with these paint names?!



Next on the agenda- upstairs bathroom. We bought all the supplies yesterday. Now it's time for some demo and hopefully a brand new bathroom within a week or 2! No more sponge paint!!

Must do laundy!

I really should have started this blog on day 1...so much has happened during the first month of living back in VT.

First project was the downstairs 1/2 bath. The washer and dryer hookups are in this room and we hadn't done laundry for weeks so making this top priority was an easy decision. The piles of dirty cloths, sheets and towels where taking over the house!



The wall paper was the first to leave, following by the dated vanity, water wasting toilet, and ugly linoleum floors.



The walls are painted "freesia" with white bead-board and new cupboards for storage. I used a tile saw for the first time while tiling the floor! A new pedestal sink and dual flush toilet complete the room. Actually the washer and dryer where the finishing touch. I've never been so excited to do laundry in my entire life!!

We've got a long cold winter ahead

The list of things we want/have to do to this house is daunting:
Remodel both bathrooms, paint every single room, new floors, new kitchen, install the wood stove, paint the porch, get firewood, new doors, fix the driveway...

The hardest part is figuring out where to start. My problem is that I want it all done and I want it all done right now. Obviously that can't happen, so we had to prioritize.

One of the top priorities is and making sure the house is warm before the snow starts to fall. The house has electric heat and an old gas furnace with a mind of it's own. Both will be way to expensive to run all Winter, so we're putting in a wood stove. We found a Vermont Casting's Vigilant on craigslist, so step 1 is done. Now we have to build the hearth, and cut the wood. Unfortunately the chimney needs a little work before we can install the stove, so that part is on hold at the moment. Getting wood, however, is in full gear!




Cyrus, Will and Caleb cut a bunch of trees while uncovering our gorgeous view. There are also a bunch of dead trees that had to be pulled out of the woods. Cyrus and Will had a great time doing this. They attached a big chain to the back of the truck, and wrapped the other end around the tree. Then they were able to pull the tree out with the truck!


There is a ton of wood that needs to be split. Unfortunately the farm girl in me is not very good at splitting wood. I just don't have the strength, so I think I will stick to the stacking and leave the splitting to Cyrus.

Once the chimney is fixed, we will tackle the hearth. Cyrus found plenty of flagstone in the woods that we will use for the hearth and we're using corrugated metal on the walls. I can't wait 'til it's done so I can curl up next to the warm stove with my knitting or a book!

On the road again...

We left Colorado on October 1, 2009. The closing on the CO house had still not gone through. We did our part and signed all the paperwork, but the buyer was still waiting for his lender to get their act together. This made the cross country drive a little stressful. We were constantly on the phone with brokers in CO and in VT, but where pretty much helpless and just had to wait. And wait. And wait. We eventually closed on the CO house on October 7 (1 week later than planned) and the VT house on October 8. Thank you Will and Kathleen for letting us stay with you!!!!



The big drive was pretty uneventful. We had a 26' Penske moving truck and towed my car behind. It was a cozy ride since we had Dulcie with us and she wasn't very good at sharing the seat. She was an excellent traveler and slept pretty much the entire way.


Our biggest adventure happened just outside of Omaha, NE. It was about 10pm and I just happened to look out my window at the perfect moment. Another car was exiting but was also motioning frantically at the back of our truck. We thought the ride was a bit bumpy recently, but blamed it on bad roads. Turns out it was a bad axle (or something like that) on the car trailer instead. We had to call the Penske emergency number and sit on the side of the road in the dark and rain for about 2 hours waiting for a new trailer. It made me feel better when we learned we had broken down in the best possibly place. We were only a mile or so away from a big Penske building and we were on a wide shoulder with plenty of street lights.
We arrived in VT on October 4, 2009 and were finally able to move into our new house on the 8th.