What Is That?

One of the fun things about moving into a home that is not only old, but privately built is you spent a fair amount of time peering at things trying to figure out why something is the way it is. My favorite this week is an outlet in the basement ceiling, connected to a switch which goes to a plug. Which is no where near anything plug-able.My other favorite is a pull light that when you pull it on it not only sizzles but sparks making it very fancy and sparkly. David has suggested I leave that alone. And off. My shower looks like something out of a  serial killer B movie, complete with old,peeling wallpaper and a shower head that randomly shoots off to the side. The door doesn't shut right either which means the dogs and cat can come barging it to see What You're Doing which believe me, in the middle of the night can be a bit alarming. 

We still cannot get whatever is on the wall off the fireplace off - an old friend thinks it's lime mixed with water (it's also covering one of the dining room walls) - David has tried everything but blowtorching it. He's going to just go over it, we have discovered what's underneath is not worth exposing and it will end up being more  trouble than it's worth. The other fun thing about this house is it has TWO closets. Yup. A big one in the bedroom downstairs and a linen closet upstairs, that's it. No closets in any of the 3 bedrooms upstairs at all! We are still trying to figure out what we'll do with the upstairs but for the winter we'll probably just close it off and concentrate on the downstairs. We have a bit of a water issue in the basement, nothing we  can't deal with but it makes you wonder why they never put in french drains. The downstairs bathroom will need to be just removed and replaced, the shower has been wet for so long it's just a pile of cement.

But we are getting there. I spent all day yesterday mowing through the kitchen,bathroom and dining room, mopping and putting everything away. Last night we ate our first home cooked dinner at the table, I really felt accomplished! We found the towels and washclothes, the washer and dryer work (after a couple of false starts) and I ran my first dishwasher load las night. The TV works fine, we have decided to try a year with cable to see how that goes and we are switching our phone serivice next week so we can use a third line as a house phone. We have to finish cleaning out the Garards Fort house today, there's just one more load of odds and ends and a final sweep through and we'll be ready for tomorrow - which I hope goes smoothly!