Colonnades!

 The WINTER THAT WILL NOT DIE is passing at last! Time to do more work on the house!

There were colonnades between the two front rooms sometime in the past, but they have been gone as long as anyone alive could recall, because the floor settled and the doors wouldn't stay closed.I had a set lined up about the time I bought the place but some SOB did me out of them, so the search has been on ever since. Through an interesting set of circumstances I wound up with colonnades for the front rooms. Although dirty, the price was right and the finish is reasonably decent, and is a close enough match to what's in the front rooms they will look pretty sharp.

 The columns are AWOL; they have been for a while, too-the stain on top is as dark as the sides, with only the barest footprint to be seen in bright light.

There are some broken pieces in the doors, which are “leaded” with zinc instead of lead came. Zinc has the advantage of being lighter and stiffer than lead, so the doors won't need re-enforcing straps across them like lead might at that size.The glass is pretty wavy and has lots of character, and has a sort of interesting variation on the usual diamond and vertical bar theme. When the time comes I will probably have the Glass Shop in Emmetsburg repair them-Lee is a very good stained glass artist.

There was a broken hinge on one of the doors, which will be addressed in today's post. The hinges are half-surface mounted little butt hinges with a two tone copper Geneva finish. The bottom one on one side was missing half that went on the jamb. If they were hinges I could lay hold of easily, or full morticed so replacements wouldn't be so glaring I would have replaced them all, but plan B was to find a hinge to take apart and supply the missing half.
Thanks to N D Millwork in Paullina, the missing hinge and lots of the pieces of trim-work cease to be problematic.

The hinge in question has only three knuckles, which is easier far to match than a five knuckle one, and the half missing has the long centre knuckle, so I took the donor hinge and filed enough material from the pin to allow it to be driven out. The centre knuckle of the donor hinge is slightly shorter than that of the original, so I will file down a bronze clock bushing to take up the slack. I am going to hold off fixing the glass doors until they are fixed in where I want them. Hopefully the next project is getting the damned kitchen level so I can start in there!

There it is, in all of its half-fixed glory!

Landfill bait?

Some people collect cats and dogs, and some get odder items sent their way.





This was headed to the landfill, so like the fool I am I told him to load it up and I'd take care of it.

It is an old Fischer, from sometime in the mid twenties.

It still has the ivory keys, and the action is decent.

The wood case has some neat detail but it is dry and sunburnt.

The pin block has some loose pins, and therein lies the reason he didn't want to dink with it.

Look at the legs!

And the matching stool!

Interesting lines.....

Brass furniture.

I have an oak Cable Euphona player piano ahead of this one in line, so it'll lay for a while before I get to it. More projects! Yippie.

Do I really need another project?

No. Clearly not.

I have wanted one of these since I was a kid. They usually either sell for some ungodly sum, or are too far away to bother with. Then, along comes Mr. Gladis, who has gotten a new hip, and didn't really need another project either. He had two of these bad boys, so we came to terms, and he sold me one and kept the other.

It's a Cutler, from 1897. The drawers all lock when the tambour is closed. It has most of the pigeon holes intact, and enough of the dividers for the ledger slots and centre racks that I can copy what isn't there. Its looks are deceiving-it is 54 inches wide and pretty deep.

The bad news is that it needs to be taken all to pieces and re-glued, and several corners are actually broken. The good news is that there isn't any veneer-it's all solid, and the broken corners are going to be a little easier to fix because of that. Plus the finish is mostly intact, and can be cleaned instead of refinished.

2nd Annual Bungalow Blog Tour

Looks like I am on the tour this year! I am ashamed to let respectable people in the house, as big a mess as it is right now. Here's a few assorted goodies that stick out. Here is the messy parlor. It used to be two rooms, but the floor settled and the book case doors wouldn't stay closed so she took them out. The watchmakers' bench came from the old Elgin factory. It was in use sometime before 1888, because the dial room foreman put his name on it then. The Pachinko machine was in my Mom's folks' house when I was a baby-the picture behind the glass is me playing it when I was just able to stand on a chair to reach it.

The glass fronted hutch to the right was my great grand parents'. It was falling to pieces on the back porch of their farm, and my dad had it redone once, and my uncle Greg and aunt Bri gave it to me. They sort of gave it to me out of the blue one day, and I am glad of having it-it's a nice heirloom. It is perfect for player piano rolls. The big coffee pot came from my cousin's, and it is from before 1900.

The ceiling lamp was traded me for some Hammond organ tubes and a repair, and some little odds and ends where I used to teach. I am frankly surprised he doesn't try and get it back, but if he does he can pound sand. I rewired the thing and straightened it out, and mad it usable.

The back bedroom makes a good office. It is the larger of the two bedrooms, and has the stairs to the attic, and very good lighting. There are three windows and the one is the right height to put my library table underneath, like it was made to order. There are nice book cases, and the stairwell walls are beadboard. It looks like an old lawyers' office! The floor has a linoleum rug that has been down since Methuselah did the two step. It isn't going anywhere until it has to, and then only grudgingly.

The hallway is the only room besides the WC that has no wallpaper. It isn't getting any. None. The only thing it's getting is a different light and the walls painted. The hound likes it because he can lay there and see all parts of the house from where he is. There is an old disused trap door to the attic there too, and I may put a stained glass "skylight" that gives into the attic in the frame at some appropriate time. Four doors open into the hall, so it's like grand central. A little natural light from above might be a good thing. If I find a big enough register It may be a good place for an attic fan plenum, because I already have stairs to the attic.

Speaking of things hound, he likes the front bedroom. Here he is, on MY bed. In MY coat. With his snout on MY blanket. You know why dogs are so cute? Because it's the good Lord's way of making sure they can get away with half the tricks they pull!

Part two to follow!

Thanks to Stucco House for including my little house in this year's tour.

Previous house is Bungalow '23.

Next stop: Northland Stories.

Neighbors and such

Lots going on! Been finishing up the plumbing and the tin is in for the roof on the red shed.

I hear people tell about their awful neighbors, and it makes me glad that I live where I do.

My neighbor to the south is a very accomplished gardener, and she came over and helped shape up some of the plants around the place, and gave me a whole thing of strawberries. They cut a few trees back this week, and I was lucky enough to get a half cord of firewood-silver birch and some sort of pine. It'll be very welcome in the fire ring, I can tell you that!

The house north of me is empty, and needs much work before it is ever livable, but the owner is a nice lady (from whom I bought my own house) and she keeps the outside neat and clean. Past that is a very pleasant lady that doesn't say much, and a fellow that helped me re-plumb and put a furnace and water heater in this place.

Pictures and that to follow.

Odds and ends

The furnace had a hiccup this week and the pipes froze. *)(&^()*&! Not too big a deal though, the neighbor caught it and called me, and we fixed it pretty cheap.

More nasty on the way-look at the ring around the moon. It's been pretty bitter here of late.

Have a picture of the door. I'm not too sure what occasioned it, but have one anyway. It's the one from the dining room outside, that gets used the most.

Here's a tip: Turn the key a half-turn before you go to bed at night-it keeps someone from using a key outside, and makes sure it's in there handy in case of a fire.

While we're at it, here's the kitchen. It's a mess because I am fixing clocks there until the red shed is ready. It's a small but bright room. It'll be nice to eat breakfast by those big windows.With the table pushed up to the windows (where it belongs) there's plenty of room in there. Also, the table is good work space, being as there is zero counter area.

The ceiling is shot to hell. I think I am going to do what http://stuccohouse.blogspot.com/ did with hers-it looks pretty nice, and I already have the furring strips for a tile ceiling, it's just that the tiles themselves are what my insurance agent calls "Totally depreciated.

Thought I'd snap a few of the old water heater-it's a Ruud and been down there since the year dot. I think it's a little newer than the cookstove, but not by a whole hell of a lot-it's one of the first automatics. The boiler capacity is 20 Gallons, and it was originally set up to burn skelgas.










This thing actually fired up when I tried it, but I didn't have any idea of running the thing for keeps! Almost 500 later I have a new water heater that works like a champ, so I can't complain.

It all balances out.

The folks over at The Octagon House had a post recently about an old scale they found in their attic, which very well could have belonged to the granddaddy of all the P. O.'s. Being the nosy creature that I am, I spent a couple hours sort of giving it (and the player piano) the go-over. It's sure a neat feeling, to have a tangible link to the past like that! I've always had a weakness for old mechanical odds and ends, and thought I'd take a moment to share this.

The proper term for such an animal is actually a balance, because it has no provision for directly measuring, without the use of a set of weights. I used to use it to weigh gold and diamonds and so forth when I had the shop, and hated to sell it off when I closed up shop, although a few people wanted it.

It was made by the William Ainsworth Company, who began making balance during the gold rush days and continued until well into the 20th century. William Ainsworth was a watchmaker, who was often called upon to repair the delicate assay balances of the day, and eventually began manufacturing his own. They were an interesting parallel to watches of that era, in that they were also mass-produced and yet still maintained a degree of quality unrivaled since then. The metal cabinet and and lack of fancy finishing technique is indicative of the period between the world wars. Nothing is added to the balance that does not serve a purpose, and the thing still looks elegant. There are a lot of "little touches" like the counter weights that hold the front door up, like an old double hung window; and the feet that all screw in and out to level the base.

Because it is mass produced and not in the wooden cabinet and so forth, it is nowhere near as valuable as some of the other balances on the market today, and also sold for less new. Still, at $186 in 1942, the thing would cost almost $2,500 to buy today!

The weights are all packed in their own little places in a hard case. There are two sets with this one-the old set and the newer. Both sets are gold plated brass whole weights, and inert metal fractional weights (the silver looking ones.) Both are quality sets, and are pretty accurate for most work.




The old set is metric, and still has the traceable certification yet. This meant that they had been compared with a known set of weights directly traceable to the the master standard, and the difference noted so that it could be taken into account when the weights were used. This set was initially the second to the top of the line set that Ainsworth sold.



The newer set has metric, but also has a pharmaceutical set, with grains, pennyweights, and scruples. Let it never be said I have no scruples! The little forceps are there because you aren't supposed to touch the weights with your bare hands because the oil from them will cause tarnish or corrosion, which alters the weight.

This balance is one of two I own, and sets on top of the safe at the boss' store. The other is the next model cheaper than this one, and stays at home.


Anyway, there's anther oddball item, which I seem to have no trouble coming up with (I wonder why?)

Cheers!

Some Hillbilly's a'livin' in my DOGHOUSE!

Moved in the week of Thanksgiving!

There was a couple thousand dollars left over from Mammie's affairs, and my brothers and I divvied it up. With my share, I got a furnace from a place in Okoboji at a hell of a discount because some other body put a ding in the side, but since it has a new warranty and that it was a no-brainer. It is 95%, and all! Also, I got a new water heater, and replumbed all of the Natural gas lines inside. I had a tankless that I wanted to use, but it didn't have the special vent hardware with it and for what it cost to dink with I just call to the hardware store and he brought one down to me.

The night we did the hot water and plumbing I did the two-step Maytag bath in the clawfooted tubbie. Know what that is? You draw a nice hot bath, scrub and lay there till the water ain't warm, then you drain the tub and draw another hot one just to sit and stew in! Since I am a bachelor, I can do that. So I do.

There isn't any galvanized plumbing left in the place, and all the cast iron sewer stack is replaced with PVC because it was rotten. We rammed a rubber boot in the cast iron pipe going out, and put the PVC in that, and added a clean out while we were at it. Now if the line stops up we don't have to pull the terlet off to do something about it. Speaking of things terlet I got to get a new one, we broke the bowl. The hardware store has a "pot-in-a-box" kit pretty reasonable, that may be what I get.

I rewired a light from my great-grandmother's house, and hung it in the back bedroom. It's a brass pan light, hangs on two chains and has two sockets. The wiring was truly scary. It was all half-assed, so it got redone. The shades are frosted, and have lilacs painted on them. One has a corner that was broke, dinged up, and glued back together, but it doesn't show so much, and even if it did what the hell, my great-grandmother won't ever buy any more lights. Besides, it ain't the Gotrocks' mansion, and in the end the only one that has to be happy about it is the one I look at in the mirror.

I also put a nice Porcelier fixture in the bathroom. I got it from Shirley Pico in Emmetsburg, when she had the antique store. She was a good friend of my Grandma's, and she made me a real deal on it, because she knew I liked them. It is supposed to be a ceiling fixture, but it looks all right on the wall. It's real art-deco-looking, and has matching colours to the rest of the room. The wiring was pretty nice yet. Those bulbs looked like hell, but they've been in the old light for who knows hows how long.


The porch of doom is no more-it started making ominous noises, so an executive decision to perform the removal. Saving all the wood I could, it took an hour to pull it off. I burnt the rotten wood up in the dark of the night, and stacked what was worth bothering with. Mammie's front storm door and the one from Teri's house are up and working.

A whale of a storm is commencing, and pictures are to follow.

Merry Christmas!

Slow goes it!

Well, the kitchen porch is getting torn apart for demolition. It has a nearly flat tar paper roof, a bad case of the rot, and smells like an army boot. It really isn't worth saving. There may be a few good pieces of lumber in it, but that's it. The city gave me permission to tear it off and put on a new one, and it is going to have the basement entry at ground level.

The old porch was sort of a temporary deal eighty years ago, so I don't feel too bad about the whole thing.

Also, Mammie's landlord gave me the old wood storm door from her house, so I put it on my dining room door. It has the glass insert too, and is in pretty good shape, since she had a porch on the front of her house.

My uncle Greg and aunt Bri gave me a china hutch that was my great-grandparents', and it came from the farm in Pomeroy. It is in the dining room, and will go on the north wall once I get my smaller sideboard in and Earl's old one out.
Just to see what it would turn up like, I cleaned up the hallway door. The wood looks pretty nice. I replaced all of the doorknobs with porcelain, because the metal ones were oval and the dog could open them with his mouth.

Clocks and Desks and Cats in hats!

Long time no post! Lots of things are going on, but most of it has been pretty boring. The north half of the roof is scheduled to be installed. The junk outside has been cleaned up, and a few other little things. There may be a decrease in the mouse population-Kent & Tina's Mama cat hatched a litter of five babbies. This picture is when they were about ten hours old. If they don't find another home for it, I told them I'd take the Bengal striped one or the white one. I figure I can spend a few bucks getting it fixed and licensed, and it'll keep the mouse and rabbit numbers down a little around this place.

My Grannie moved to an assisted living, and it was time to clean up the house. My dad and I went down to help, and I got a few little things to remember the place by. I really didn't want much, and I got everything I wanted. The big thing I wanted was an old drop-front desk that was in the garage since I was a kid. It was my great-grandmother's, and it came from the old farm. It is sort of rough, but nothing that can't be fixed. My dad and I dropped it off at a place in Spencer that has done work for me in the past, and he can fix the big issues for a very reasonable rate. I need a couple of knobs, and some trim pieces and veneer work on the top. Most of the finish is not too far gone-a little Kotton Klenser and some wax and it'll look like a million. I also got a set of kitchen cupboard doors that match mine, a bunch of washers and screws, a pretty nice metal mailbox (which I happen to need) and the old sign with our name that came off the front porch.

A year ago, a clockmaker friend of mine left me an old master clock that came from the old High School in Estherville. It was missing a lot of parts (sort of a life-long project) but had good bones and a hell of a nice oak case. When I mentioned it to a friend in Emmetsburg (whom I was visiting on account of his 101st birthday he got really interested. He told me to hold on and got his car out, and we went to his "other house" where he keeps all of his goodies. He had a piece of slate with almost all of the missing program mechanism. It still needs wired and a pile of contacts, but the hard work is done. It's going in the dining room, so it can correct the clocks in the other rooms and ring bells in the bedrooms and the back yard.