The City Mouse in the Country

 Rome, the saying goes, was not built in a day.   Home improvement will take longer than the rise and fall of Rome and despite recent emotional issues, simply can not wait.  Plans were put in place months ago, and for a variety of reasons, could not be completed until now.  Our home was built by its original owner and although there is much to be celebrated about it; it was never really updated since its construction in the 1970’s.  We replaced the roof shortly after moving in as well as the outdated wood stove used to heat the home with a much more efficient wood pellet stove. Fast forward a few years and now we are in the process of replacing the older windows and doors with new and more efficient ones, and the stress of having those replaced as well as work in our kitchen and bath going on at the same time has caused me...to become "unsettled." I would never call myself a fastidious person, but I do have my schedule and my own ways of doing things.  I like things to

Suddenly, it's October. Actually, scratch that.  Suddenly it's mid October.  Frankly time has passed me by quickly this month.  Nor do I have much to share.  We are still in a holding pattern over our home improvements, and I have just learned that our builder has come down with COVID.   So our plans are put off a bit longer.  I would rather have this work done sooner than later because October is a bipolar month.  It's full of sunshine and warm days only to shift to cold nights and rainy weather, here in Stonoboro there is even the possibility of snow flurries in the coming days.  It is not something I'm looking forward to.  For now however I'm finding joy in leaf peeping.  I'm enjoying stepping out on my porch during a break and letting the sun warm my face.  I'm enjoying the taste of homemade eggnog and the fact that my yard has taken on the appearance of a rich Persian rug.     Susan is baking fresh bread and an apple pie.  I relax with a hot cider.

     Lately everything is on "hold."  My garage is filled to the brim with appliances and tile waiting to be installed for the updated kitchen.   We have a new front door ordered, windows sitting on a loading dock somewhere and lightening ready to be installed.     We are waiting on our contractor to finish one job and start ours.        I started a new position at work in late August, where I am working nearly exclusively with "high touch" customers and agents that need to have their needs fulfilled yesterday.  I feel for them, I've been an insurance agent for eight years now and have owned my own independent delivery company (one of those jobs that I fell into - much like insurance) for roughly 15 years.  I've spent nearly my entire working career in sales.  You always want to under promise and over deliver. Due to 1001 reasons a lot of those requests and desires simply can't be fulfilled.       Holding patterns.      A long overdue vacation is also pl

      When I sit down to write something, I do so for two reasons; the first is that yes, I want to remember my thoughts and feeling about a particular moment in time, so in some ways this blog serves as my journal.  The second reason is that I hope to impart some knowledge or information on.  In the hope that you, gentle reader, might learn something new or, more likely, avoid the mistakes I make.        I leave that decision up to you.       Thus, in some ways you can blame our youngest cat, Bobble, for our upcoming spending a lot of money on window's and other home improvements.       Our first winter in Western Pennsylvania was not really that bad.  This year it seemed we had weeks of sub zero temperatures and several feet of snow.  Our house was physically colder.   Now if your wondering why I'm blaming the cat then please read on dear reader.      Bobble was born in the early spring of last year, so he's still a kitten come winter.  A kitten with very sharp claws and

      We moved into this house back in September 2020, although I don't remember the exact date.  We had been thinking about moving back home for some time and were seriously considering/pursuing  the dream of either owning or running a bed and breakfast.  Susan has the hospitality background and book keeping experience and I've the experience in management, marketing, finance and taxes to make a go at it..         It didn't work out that way due to several reasons, mostly because of Covid 19 but also because the place we found; which was an old 100+ farmhouse with a built on great room addition and an in ground swimming pool, would have required way to much work.  Plus the Small Business Administration didn't like a few things in our business plan - mostly the area where we where, which they didn't believe would generate enough tourist dollars to make the Inn profitable.       Part of our plan included  having gardens or chickens.  Partially to appeal to the crowd

  Hey everyone!  Did you know that this page now has a companion Facebook page?    It will have articles, memes and such that interes t me that relate to this page but don't really apply.  Be sure to check it o ut!      I find myself in a holding pattern.       The generator has been ordered and is making it's way slowly to me, it will take approximately two weeks to find it's way to my door.   In the mean time I have the estimate from one  electrician and I'm waiting on the estimates of two more.   I am a bit fearful that I will have no choice than to go above my self imposed $1500 budget.        I'm also fearful that after having all this work done, that the generator will sit unused in my shed.  Although if I am serious about becoming more self sufficient, then I'm sure that it will come in use, somehow and someway.       It has occurred to me that I could put up the two ceiling fans we have in the meantime, or even start the painting in a few of our rooms.

      The Original Look      When we bought this house, a little over two months ago, we understood that the roof was over 30 years old and would need to be replaced.   We actually had moss growing in one part of it, but there seamed to be little damage elsewhere and there was no leakage or damage to the wood underneath as far as we could tell.        There was also a design flaw in the original plans (???), the front porch roof only extended roughly three quarters over the concrete porch.   Since the front end of the porch roof was pitched that meant that any water or snow that missed the gutters was dumped into the final third of the porch.   This is where a diagram would come in handy but sadly, I've not idea on how to draw or attach it to this blog.   Sorry but my sad sack explanation is going to have to do.       Well I understand the basics of roofing, I'm in no way qualified to replace it.      So we hired a contractor and his largely Amish crew to help out, cleaning the

A few days ago, Autumn struck Western Pennsylvania.  The red maples exploded into the blazes of color that they are known for, other trees started to slowly change and the first leaves started to fall. A few days ago, the woods were alive with the sounds of migrating birds, and I wish I had taken out my phone to record the sounds, I found myself thinking of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds.   Although I never had that sense of foreboding or dread, I just wished that I could have seen them and recorded the moment. It was also a morning where I awoke to fog and the sound of small arms fire, which to be completely honest, I mistook as fireworks.  I'm not sure if they were hunting squirrel, which is in season now, or just shooting to practice, but it was a little odd for me.   Susan just chuckled and told me to wait for deer season in November. I am enjoying some parts of country life, other parts...not so much.  Yesterday morning Susan told me that I didn't seem happy living