The fat man lives!

Well, I haven't froze to death yet. Not from any lack of cold, this winter is a pissuwah. It's been so cold I had to put the brass monkey in the porch. Progress is slow, because I have yet to hear from the people who were supposed to bring my propane barrel, and the people to upgrade the service enough to put an electric heater in!

I did go and get my Quincy rocker from the basement where I work, and brought back the kitchen table last time I went to my mammie's in New Ulm. The rocker has a pressed front, and vaguely mission-esque sides. The upholstery is shot to hell, but it's made it this long, a few more months won't be any problem.

The table is elm, with faux-oak grained legs and apron. I get kick out of it-it looks all little and tiny, with 5 great big fat legs, then you pull it open and it'll seat ten, twelve if they like each other. Leaves. 6 of them.

I have the matching sideboard at my mother's but it's not going anywhere for a little while.

I still like the oak centre pedestal table a little more, but this this sure a good runner up! It'll fit better in my kitchen. There is no counter space in there! None! The only counter is the thirty inches or so that are between the burners on the stove, and the drainboard on the sink. Since the glass fronted built-in takes up the whole west wall, the sink and windows the whole south wall, and the outside door and fridge the whole east wall, and the stove and dining room door the whole north wall, the only counter option is a table or island. I'm nowhere near to the point where I want an island, and Miss Andrea got along with a kitchen table for plenty of years, so I guess that's what I'll do. With the leaves all in, it takes up almost the whole kitchen.
And that's all the news as I know it. Mr Chompp wants it warm, so he can go out. Boo hoo! We all want something!

Aftermath of Christmas

Well, we made it back from my brothers' house. It was pretty nice-we lay around all day and not much was expected of us. The day after Christmas was some pretty thick fog, but warm so I went schlogging around in it. Here is the high school I went to.


On the Dog House front, I got my Kindergarten rocker from my brothers. I bought it on an auction in Quincy, and the lady was a kindergarten teacher. I had a couple people tell me afterward that they remembered when it was in her classroom, but it looked nicer then! As you can see, it's pretty ratty. I took it apart to fit it in my mother's car, which was a blessing anyways because since I've owned it it's been one plump hind end away from a messy insurance claim. At first I thought that the rough and spotty surface was just a piss-poor refinish job, but while disassembling the thing the smell of smoke hit me like a pickled herring. Some dim yestertime It's also been in a fire....yippee. Well I can't squeal too loudly-I paid thirty bucks for it, and used it two years in Quincy, and it's been drug across the state since then. This is what the wood looks like under the varnish. It'll look like a million with the joints re glued and some new finish on!

My Christmas present to myself.

I know, I know...I'm greedy, I want it all! I want heat. Inside. Inside the house, no less! Turns out the electric furnace I got from my dad fires up and heats, so it's the logical option, now that the propane company hasn't gotten around to putting in a bottle. I was over there today, and got some pop from the fridge so it wouldn't freeze, and did notice that the house was keeping the heat coming in from the south windows. Speaking of my dad, here he is! He came across a pretty nice Ward's snowblower, and let us take it. This when he could've sold in a second anywhere in town. How's that for nice?

The stove fires up and holds temperature, so I need to pick up a few small cylinders for it, and a new regulator. It's sort of neat to think that the stove has been there since 1934 (there's a receipt in the kitchen drawer for it) and still looks good and works, but then Miss Andrea was immaculate in her housekeeping, so it stands to reason.


My New Year Resolution is to be in there to live by the end of January. Wish me luck...

Q: Does it snow in Heaven?

A: Yes

The ice man cometh

With no real end to the nasty cold expected anytime soon, and the propane barrel in limbo somewhere, I have done more work on furnishings.


My dad found an old oval frame, and it had potential. With some new glass and oil, looks like a million.


Also a neat old tray that I've hauled around for the last few years is finally going to have a home.

More as I can write it.

My kind of day!

Any day when it's your duty to eat like a swine and then sleep it off, and eat again is my kind of day!





Happy Thanksgiving!

Dead ringer

Ever see the old-style door bells that made one loud *pong!* and then you had to push the button or pull the cord again? Well, I got one for the Dog House. It has a respectable-sounding ring, and looks like it's been round the horn. It has a pretty simple mechanism inside, and after cleaning and greasing, works like a charm. I need to build or find the outside part to it, but there doesn't look like there'd be much to it.

The insides remind me of door latches from that time period, in that it is simple and beefily made, one of the reasons it is still able to operate after all this time. It has a patent date of 2 July, 1872, as well as one from 18 April, 1873, so perhaps it's a little older than what would have come n a house the vintage of mine. Then again-it's out past the Styx, so maybe he could've had one laying around somewhere to use up.

I also dug out the old clock from my house when I was a kid. It is a New Haven Tambour #56, and used to run to the tick. It's had some hard luck since then, so it'll have to get overhauled. It was overhauled in 1991 the first time, and ran until one of the mainsprings broke. It sort of makes me feel old, when I think that I first overhauled this clock at age 14, and now the bushings I installed then are worn out. You can't see it, but there are four repair numbers of mine in the back, and one of Ron Sires, from whom I bought it for $15.

Next on the agenda is hooking up one of the furnaces and getting the bedroom floor taken up so I can replace the subfloor. That and the heat are the only real things keeping me from living there right now.