BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin At the Farm
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Top photo: An early January sunset colors the western sky.
Prints in the snow between the house and the road showed that deer had been through recently.
The spruce tree just below the garage needs to be "liberated" from the birch forest closing in around it.
The Kelvinator refrigerator sits in the garage after many years of use, waiting for a new home.
This little wood pile is about all that remains of the sugar maple that we cut down in the front yard back in May.
Top photo: An early January sunset colors the western sky.
Prints in the snow between the house and the road showed that deer had been through recently.
The spruce tree just below the garage needs to be "liberated" from the birch forest closing in around it.
The Kelvinator refrigerator sits in the garage after many years of use, waiting for a new home.
This little wood pile is about all that remains of the sugar maple that we cut down in the front yard back in May. Jan. 5-7
Truly a January to remember
When we arrived at the farm late in the afternoon on Thursday, the temperature was pushing 50 degrees. Not bad for Jan. 5. There was a little snow in the driveway, since the sun barely hits it this time of year, but it was clear that I would have no need for my new snowshoes - a true surprise Christmas gift from Gayle - during this visit. Now that we have a house with a fireplace, we would have expected to have a fire on a January night. But it seemed uncalled for, given the weather conditions.
With the new year, our heads our swimming with ideas. Last year, we kept family and friends away by virtue of having torn down the only place they can stay at the farm (except for a tent). Now we have a new place, and we want to get it furnished comfortably and - to be cliched - put out the welcome mat with style.
So, on Friday we planned to go to town and shop for a sofa, a couple of side chairs and a queen bed or two. We spent much of the morning organizing and putting things away and going through things from the old house to decide what to keep and what to not keep. We also, thanks to the suggestion from our good friend Barbara Dembski, had brought along some new temporary blinds. You can buy them in a six-pack at places like Home Depot, and they are held up by an adhesive strip and look like pleated blinds. You hold them up with a couple of little
clips, or let them down for privacy at night. I installed several of those and they worked great! So, we won't have to have cardboard up in all of the windows until we have time to see about window treatments, which may be a number of weeks down the road.
It was about 1 p.m. when we were finally ready to head for town to shop. We hadn't gotten more than a couple of miles along the aptly named Highway S before we ran into a van that said BTU on the side - our heating company. We had called a few days earlier saying the vent covers could finally be put in because about everything else was finished, but they had not been installed yet. Could this be the moment? We had to find out, so we turned around and headed back to the house, and sure enough, Cory from BTU was in the driveway and already in the house to finish things up.
When he was done, he installed the computer/thermostat that can do practically e
verything, possibly even break into the Chinese defense department's computer system. It is a little intimidating. It can talk to our computer, among many other things. But for now I think we will stick with just using it to raise and lower the temperature.
After Cory left, we headed back to town. It was about 3 or a little after by now, but we hit both furniture stores before they closed for the day, not really having luck finding a sofa or chairs we liked but possibly finding some mattresses to order. We visited the K-Mart to pick up a couple of things, then had dinner at the Pizza Hut, which we have come to believe is the best place to eat in Mauston. It was nearly 7 when we finally got home.
Saturday morning we had a visit from the propane truck from the Camp Douglas Co-op. The tank, which was initially filled in September, was down to 25% full and it was time for a refill. It was great we could get it done without having to worry about two or three feet of snow in the driveway. The refill took less than 15 minutes.
Later in the morning as I was moving the Cub tractor back to its spot in the corner of the garage and chaining it up for the first time since we moved all of the furniture into the garage, our builder, Jim Langendorf, came by. He walked into the garage just as I was talking to the uncooperative lock in language I sometimes use for inanimate objects that won't do what I want them to do.
We went into the house and talked about how well things had turned out and the few remaining details to be tended to. The biggest is probably some drywall repair and replacement of the front door, which had a paint flaw. He chided us about not having finished the painting yet, good-naturedly but he said he would like to get some photos for his website when we get that handled.
The rest of our day, however, was not given over to painting. We concentrated on organizing the kitchen and getting more things moved around and organized in the garage. I got a wood rack set up to replace the little stack of wood we had kept on the floor so we will have some dry wood for future fires in the fireplace, and I have almost enough space cleared in the garage to fit in a car alongside the wagon and tractor. Next will be getting rid of the old refrigerator, the old window-unit air conditioner and the countertop microwave.
After a busy day, the moon came up again, darkness fell and we finally hit the road about 6 p.m.
A virtually snowless winter has left the landscape looking more like late March (in a good year) rather than early January. Nevertheless, the demands of the new house kept us out of the woods on this visit.
Truly a January to remember
When we arrived at the farm late in the afternoon on Thursday, the temperature was pushing 50 degrees. Not bad for Jan. 5. There was a little snow in the driveway, since the sun barely hits it this time of year, but it was clear that I would have no need for my new snowshoes - a true surprise Christmas gift from Gayle - during this visit. Now that we have a house with a fireplace, we would have expected to have a fire on a January night. But it seemed uncalled for, given the weather conditions.
With the new year, our heads our swimming with ideas. Last year, we kept family and friends away by virtue of having torn down the only place they can stay at the farm (except for a tent). Now we have a new place, and we want to get it furnished comfortably and - to be cliched - put out the welcome mat with style. So, on Friday we planned to go to town and shop for a sofa, a couple of side chairs and a queen bed or two. We spent much of the morning organizing and putting things away and going through things from the old house to decide what to keep and what to not keep. We also, thanks to the suggestion from our good friend Barbara Dembski, had brought along some new temporary blinds. You can buy them in a six-pack at places like Home Depot, and they are held up by an adhesive strip and look like pleated blinds. You hold them up with a couple of little
clips, or let them down for privacy at night. I installed several of those and they worked great! So, we won't have to have cardboard up in all of the windows until we have time to see about window treatments, which may be a number of weeks down the road. It was about 1 p.m. when we were finally ready to head for town to shop. We hadn't gotten more than a couple of miles along the aptly named Highway S before we ran into a van that said BTU on the side - our heating company. We had called a few days earlier saying the vent covers could finally be put in because about everything else was finished, but they had not been installed yet. Could this be the moment? We had to find out, so we turned around and headed back to the house, and sure enough, Cory from BTU was in the driveway and already in the house to finish things up.
When he was done, he installed the computer/thermostat that can do practically e
verything, possibly even break into the Chinese defense department's computer system. It is a little intimidating. It can talk to our computer, among many other things. But for now I think we will stick with just using it to raise and lower the temperature. After Cory left, we headed back to town. It was about 3 or a little after by now, but we hit both furniture stores before they closed for the day, not really having luck finding a sofa or chairs we liked but possibly finding some mattresses to order. We visited the K-Mart to pick up a couple of things, then had dinner at the Pizza Hut, which we have come to believe is the best place to eat in Mauston. It was nearly 7 when we finally got home.
Saturday morning we had a visit from the propane truck from the Camp Douglas Co-op. The tank, which was initially filled in September, was down to 25% full and it was time for a refill. It was great we could get it done without having to worry about two or three feet of snow in the driveway. The refill took less than 15 minutes.
Later in the morning as I was moving the Cub tractor back to its spot in the corner of the garage and chaining it up for the first time since we moved all of the furniture into the garage, our builder, Jim Langendorf, came by. He walked into the garage just as I was talking to the uncooperative lock in language I sometimes use for inanimate objects that won't do what I want them to do.
We went into the house and talked about how well things had turned out and the few remaining details to be tended to. The biggest is probably some drywall repair and replacement of the front door, which had a paint flaw. He chided us about not having finished the painting yet, good-naturedly but he said he would like to get some photos for his website when we get that handled.
The rest of our day, however, was not given over to painting. We concentrated on organizing the kitchen and getting more things moved around and organized in the garage. I got a wood rack set up to replace the little stack of wood we had kept on the floor so we will have some dry wood for future fires in the fireplace, and I have almost enough space cleared in the garage to fit in a car alongside the wagon and tractor. Next will be getting rid of the old refrigerator, the old window-unit air conditioner and the countertop microwave.
After a busy day, the moon came up again, darkness fell and we finally hit the road about 6 p.m.
A virtually snowless winter has left the landscape looking more like late March (in a good year) rather than early January. Nevertheless, the demands of the new house kept us out of the woods on this visit.
