the first photo was an ice house

Me and my kitty have made it snug despite the cold.  The ice house is cork lined and served the squab farm and canning factory that was operated by my grandfather and his business partner 1910-1957.  When large refrigeration was possible in the 30's, the ice house was moved and converted to office space with a black coal burning pot belly stove, hence the chimney in the picture.  When the squab farm was closed in the 50's, the ice house was moved once again to next to my grandparents' home.  My grandfather used it as a shop where he refinished furniture and made "calcutta" fishing rods  - including one just for his 15 year old granddaughter me.

Well, the pot belly stove is long gone and I am using an electric heater made to look like a blackened iron stove, fake flames and all.  The flames are the kitty's endless fascination.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

More than flurries ... the world was white this am

It made me smile.   And remember that every day is a chance to make others smile too. 

First snow flurries ....

Just like summer was hotter than in recent years .... fall/winter is shaping up to be colder.  Snow flurries appeared about 9am and the temperature is cold ...  doesn't bode well for getting the house renovation started.  Hoping to get bids in before Thanksgiving.  It's been dragging on and on and on  and really bumming me out.  But a new contractor asked if he could make a bid yesterday and so may be that has been what the whole process needs -- a fresh face.  

Happy Winter all

Phillies Won! and I wasn't asleep ...

After 28 years, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series .... it was nice because I was awake to see it happen. As a child, I was, of course, a Phillies phan growing up here in South Jersey but I rarely saw the end of a game, particularly a World Series game because I often fell asleep or had to go to bed for school. And, as an adult, I rarely watched any baseball game, too slow, too interested in other stuff. I did see a few Mariners games but now I'm back in the farming part of the Garden State, I have to be a Phillies fan.

So, it was fun to watch them win last night and have some special occurrence to falsely attribute to my being back.

Time slipped away ...

So I had all these good intentions to keep the blog up to date but, of course, time slipped away. I'm learning that retirement is like that.

So what has happened?

• My mother fell in early August and fractured her pelvis. Trips to the hospital and then rehab really ate up time -- fortunately, she has recovered to the point of just needing a cane for extra balance security. Her trips with my Pops to the casinos in Atlantic City have resumed.
• The remodeling project has been architected by Greg Modelle and plans have been out to contractors for several weeks as they figure out their bids. Part of the reason this is taking so long is because this is a project to both add to and rehab the house. The porch area is becoming two walkin closets with a jackandjill bath between them; the living area is becoming a bedroom and will preserve the chestnut fireplace surround built by my great uncle the cabinent maker; the dining room is becoming a third bedroom; the kitchen is becoming a bath large enough for handicap access; and the old small second bedroom expands into the addition to become a new kitchen, with the remainder of the addition becoming a new dining and living room areas. The other reason for the slow pace on the contractor bid is the poor state of the economy. Specialty contractors have gone out of business over the summer and others have to be found with the right qualifications.
• I did manage to go fishing off the Avalon Fishing Pier with my Pops. It was a beautiful September day and I caught 2 king fish, several snappers, some pompano, and 2 undersize flounder that had to be released back into the ocean. What a blast that was.
• I found a movie buddy in my nephew-in-law, at least while he is home recovering from shoulder surgery.

What has been difficult is arranging doctors and homeowners insurance. Doctors are in short supply here and you wait weeks for appointments for dentists as well. The homeowners insurance is a problem because the house is from the 1920's and has not had electrical or plumbing upgrades. So, I found that there are "special" lines for homeowners just as there are assigned risk pools for car insurance. And, just as costly. It has been quite a frustrating experience. All the insurance companies will be very happy to insure me after the remodeling, yeah right.

I am having a wonderful time getting to know my grandson. So whatever else is going on, that experience trumps it all.

My nephew by marriage proves himself a genius

Sunday July 13th was a scorcher.  Shampooing the rug in the now cooled down ice house seemed like a doable chore.  I got it all set up; turned on; lots of motor sounds but no water!  Didn't have a user manual to consult.

Found a manual online that said the pump nozzle was clogged and recommended to clean it out.  But the manual gave no clue where exactly the nozzle was located or how to get to it.  Fortunately, my nephew is a whiz when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back together.  Turns out that the last person to use it several years ago had left it so that soap had dried in the lines.  After two hours of deconstruction, hand smashing of the dried soap residue, and reconstruction without any extra parts, I was in business.

Lucky for me that my nephew was here for a family dinner cooked up specially by my sister to welcome me back to Newfield.  Just proving out the omen that there would be small snags but lots of sunshine :-)

Saturday July 12th was Avalon Fishing Pier Picnic

My sister moved more of her belongings from the ice house to her storage shed and I vacuumed again.  Discovered that my parents had a Bissell carpet steamer that I could use the next day.  Put that aside so I could go car shopping with my parents.  I had returned my leased car in Seattle and needed wheels.  It's embarrassing at 60 to ask your Daddy to borrow his car.

I wanted a fuel efficient small suv/crossover that my parents could easily get in and out of.  My research had uncovered two vehicles to test out -  a Honda CRV  and the newly introduced VW Tiguan.  We did a test ride with the CRV and it was satisfactory.  A little sluggish on pickup compared to my former car but that is a trait of Honda's 4 cyclinder engines.  Next, we just tried getting in and out of a Tiguan but no dice.  The rear doors for passengers are narrow and difficult for seniors to manuever.  I was sad, since sitting in the driver's seat felt so good.  So we had a choice, now it was time to find a good deal. 

Unfortunately for me, the Honda CRV is one of the hottest cars in this down market because of its fuel efficiency and resale value.  But, on our way to the Avalon Fishing Pier, there was a dealer there to try out and see what prices might be like since the model year is changing soon and they did have many in stock.  The negotiations were not successful but showed me that using the COSTCO Auto Buying Program was going to be my best bet.

So, we ended the day, sitting out in the ocean breezes, smelling the salty air and relaxing.