migrated home of ben and erica on the web

First Snow 2012

2012-01-21T13:25:00.001-05:00

To All a Good Night

2011-12-26T12:22:00.005-05:00

One thing that gave me a good chuckle while migrating the house building pages was the shots of myself polyurethaning our "bed."

It was a platform made of extra two by fours with strapping laid crosswise. It sat barely above the floor, our mattress on top.

I am amused by my apparent excitement at the time, though the piece did have a simple zen feel. It also served its function until I found a bed I liked.

I became enamored of a wrought iron bed from Celtic Wrought Iron Beds online. At some point, they had a sale, I ordered and the bed arrived, well-packed and ready for me to assemble. It is a very sturdy and solid iron, not a thin imitation metal and the beds are supposedly reproduction designs of older ones. The detail in the mold is also well done, not a cheesy half-hearted impression.

I recall calling them up with a question and found them very friendly.

Ours is the "Celtic," though it looks like that model is no longer offered in this country. We purchased a new very firm mattress from Ikea and we were in business.

Big Tree

2011-12-23T21:27:00.003-05:00

We've never had a habit of putting up a Christmas tree. Two small trees that we'd gotten have been planted in the yard, but it has been years since either of those.
I decided this year to try for a bit of a return to the fun parts of the holiday- a tree, watching my favorite films , taking time to indulge in old-timely favorite treats - I even got an advent calendar just to eat the chocolate. Mostly this post is an excuse to try posting pics and content from my new phone.

This is extra amusing because this blog started out with ben tethering his laptop to a phone so we could update the blog remotely. Our GPS was borrowed at the time as well, though all of these things seemed rather high-tech at the time. Now I have a Blogger app right on my phone, which will also take the pictures and act as a GPS.

House Blogging?

2011-12-10T21:05:00.014-05:00

(porch flowers)

i'm almost done transferring all the posts from our old homepage to this blog.

when we built our house (in 2003-2004), we started posting pictures and text about construction. we continued for some time after we moved in, through early 2006. though we haven't updated the site in years, we've continued paying for an outdated earthlink web service, because that's where the pages were hosted.

we've been using comast cable, i think since the day we moved in here, and i decided it was time to finally clean house (so to speak) and stop paying for something obsolete.

i am migrating everything over to this blog; we opened it when we went on a pretty lengthy road trip back in 2007.

it's true, the posts about the house don't look exactly the same on this blog, but all the content is here.

it's strange to look back on the house building process. though i'd never forget how much help we received, i had certainly forgotten a lot of the details, including how many people showed up on different days to help us with different projects. it's still amazing to think how many people took time out of their lives to help us with part of ours.

it's also funny to look back at things like our Open House party. the house was so empty, in comparison. we knew we'd never go out and simply populate our house with an entire Pottery Barn catalog. we wanted to fill it with more personal items over time. but the result is that from time to time, and certainly when we invited everyone over to celebrate with us, our home still had the appearance of a first apartment.

all in all, the house blog reminds me how our house was both empty and evolving, how it still needs finishing and improving and taking care of. i'm envious of the emptiness of the basement but not the bareness of the walls. i still notice all those things that were never finished, but having repainted our upstairs bathroom last winter, i'm also aware of how easy it is to change things.

in fact, we've rearranged quite often since we first shared photos of our moving-in days. i can't help but note that the whole place seems a lot more like a home now than it did back then.

transferring the old house blog posts has also given me some inspiration to maybe start updating this blog again, as a means of keeping me on task with some of those house projects that i never got around to, or that are still cropping up...

news from bogg hill

2007-10-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

we have been on several weekend road trips since clairstock '07 but we just haven't kept up with this little blog. we've been to NH to see a friend bike up Mt. Washington, been to NYC to see Rush and visit djelliott and stay at the infamous Chelsea Hotel, and we've just returned from another family weekend in DC. we had a busy summer of dog-sitting, weddings, housewarmings, bbq's and more! to see pictures of many of these events and pics from now on, you can visit b's great new photography site:

www.benshotme.com

i have been spending free time doing little sketches and drawings lately and you can see these by going to

http://wishacapecod.home.comcast.net/

and clicking on "erica's art blog"

ben's yer uncle

2007-05-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

i am a sucker for the Life Is Good products. what can i say? the designs are simple and full of life. when we were in savannah we purchased our niece one of their little pink (yep) hats. in a few weeks, we are going to DC for her big first birthday bash! my whole family will be there, my sister-in-law's family will be there and their home will be busting at the seams as we all cram in for the mother of all sleepovers. b & i think we will tent out for at least part of the weekend- yard camping. stay tuned!

gotta refuel often on a 5200 mile trip

2007-03-15T22:48:00.000-05:00

wedding take 2

2007-03-15T22:12:00.000-05:00

the wedding was of course, beautiful! the ceremony was held outdoors under the banyan trees at the old spanish monastery north of downtown miami. it was, we are told, brought over stone by stone and reconstructed.

reception follwed at the waterfront restaurant of giorgo's grille, another sunset over the water, family style buffet (my new reception suggestion!)

here are some old-skool boys

the big day

2007-03-15T21:51:00.000-05:00

there wasn't much way i could do anything the next day except sleep in. while i was doing that, b went for a 2 mile walk along collins and ocean ave. i slowly roused myself by watching a dawson's creek rerun and eventually dragging myself off to the shower. b returned and we went for a coffee run and exploratory mission which led us to jerry's famous diner. obviously an institution to the local scene, we partook in some of the all day breakfast (most expensive breakfast of the trip) after ordering off the largest menus of the trip.

after our meal, we donned our bathing suits and our pale skins went sauntering off to the water's edge. b dove in and i sat on my towel. there was a solid breeze on the beach and the water was ice cold! i will say that it was that gorgeous tropical greenblue however. on our way back in, thru the one of the hotel's two pool areas, a couple stopped and full of awe, asked how much we paid to stay there. we had booked on priceline and while we were right on south beach and the pool area was impressive, we told them we felt they were in the middle of renovations. (confirmed later by the person at the front desk) since the outdoor area and lobby etc were gorgeous and clearly new, the rooms had a bit of dingy here and there. all in all though, i certainly wouldn't have minded staying longer :)

after more showering, we were off to the ceremony and reception!

fort meyers

2007-03-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

parking in a neighbor's yard $7
scalped tickets from some guy on the sidewalk $20 each
getting to see the red sox at spring training?

so we left bradenton the next morning and headed off to red sox nation's home in the south. it was something b had kept in the back of his mind for the trip and it worked out perfectly. we arrived in time for the nat'l anthem. and although we didn't get to stay for the whole game, since we wanted to get over to miami in time for some of the wedding festivities, it was still a great time! over the PA it was announced that the current temp at the stadium was 74 degrees and in boston, it was 12! that of course got a rousing applause. there was no dice-k that day but lots of japanese press floating about anyway. it was a fabulous summer atmosphere and this was still sort of surreal to me. plus, we paid ($10 over face value per ticket) for standing seats which is interesting of itself. basically you can stand most anywhere as long as you are not blocking someone's view and not along the inner railing. however, if you want to shoot a pic no one has a problem with you going up to the rail for a few minutes to get your shot.

and not only did we see rem-dawg, we are pretty sure he was looking right back at us (that pic is slightly out of focus though and he's got a paper in front of his face so i posted this one instead).
the parking area behind the stadium was surrounded by a chainlink fence covered in green mesh so you couldn't see through it without sticking your nose right on top of it. but, on the way back to our car we saw a fan getting his baseball and pen thrown back over the fence to him. at the same time, we walked into a wimpy kid trying to act tough, "F the po-po!" "F Kaitlin!" His girlfriend was telling police they got in a fight and the other fan kept walking along our way. we surmised the wimpy kid had been too obnoxious in his own attempts to get an autograph. b asked the first guy who was in the black pickup truck now pulling out of the parking lot and the guy told us it was timlin. apparently people hang out to get auographs near the parking lot fences and entrance regularly enough but the rule seems to be- keep it friendly and on the DL.

on our way over to miami, we took the crossstate 75 and got stopped in a traffic jam not even halfway across. within a few minutes, people were out of their cars, stretching their legs, asking truckers for information and turning around in the median. someone told us there was a fire and we saw a FOXtv news truck speed by, but they didn't stay long and we were back moving again after about a half hour. we passed a completely burned out bus, greyhound style. however, there were no people milling about and i don't believe it was even smoldering. i looked on the internet later but all i could find out was about a busfire a week before...

we got to hollywood, got a tour of s&s's new place and met their sweetiepie dogs and family, got a mini rush concert, went to south beach to check into our hotel, showered, changed, and met the gang back up at the hard rock hotel and casino (yep the one where anna nicole just died). b & i had some dinner at a little italian place (best coffee of the trip) amidst the hard rock restaurant/retail complex

and then joined everyone and watched them play poker. eventually, we headed back to our hotel for... oh right- sleep.

fries & fires

2007-03-15T20:31:00.000-05:00

when i last left off our written posts, we were somewhere in GA. we drove in one relatively leisurely afternoon to bradenton, FL and stayed in plush and cozy accomodations once again provided by odranch. thank you! on our way to bradenton, we had our first fast food of the trip. amazing! it was day 8 i think & if you must know, it was 5 piece chicken nuggets from wendy's. mostly we needed a pit stop in some place in the middle of nowhere. that fast food stop, as well as driving by a fuddruckers got me a-hankerin and we hit the internet over the phone and tried to locate another fuddruckers for dinner. when we got to tampa however, the fuddruckers was long gone. this was all the better, since what was in its place was a five guys burger and fries. if you have one near you, i suggest you check it out. plain stuff good food. i think that's essentially their motto- you can check them out on the web at www.fiveguys.com
they bake their own rolls, no preservatives- that was enough for me :)

even before the wendy's, somewhere on the highway loop around jacksonville, were large flames just off the highway. we were in no hurry and went by to be oglers.
thanks to the internet, i was later able to find out that what was burning was indeed a residence & fortunately no people were home at the time of the fire but 11 dogs and some odd cats were killed in the fire. :(

arriving in bradenton, we hit the beach straight away. b posted some pics of this already. i was euphoric to put my feet in the sand and b did some baywatch sprints along the beach. there were palm trees, volleyball players, sunset over the gulf, and people dining waterside... aaahhhh warm weather. soothes my soul. we decamped to odranch for the night and b was very excited to find that we were receiving VS at odranch. for those uninformed, VS is a cable station that hosts several Bruins games a year that our usual NESN does not carry. you might guess that our current cable package does not include VS. so, needless to say, we had VS, an indoor microwave and teapot- things were good:)

"yucky!"

2007-03-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

so--- oops. we got fair warning of the stomach bug that was being experienced by jack before & when we arrived. the truth is, it never really occured to me that we might actually catch it and we arrived willingly and excited for our visit. claire was whimpering a lot and then mary came down with it and now i am slumped oddly on our couch after my own achey pukefest from yesterday, typing to you about noroviruses instead of posting any more trip stories... stay tuned...

back

2007-03-12T22:00:00.001-05:00

we made it!

e wants you to be assured that more trip anecdotes are coming so stay tuned over the coming days.....

all the places we stayed overnight

2007-03-11T18:59:00.000-05:00

parking

2007-03-11T10:44:00.000-05:00

yesterday we spent most of the day taking it easy and frequenting two parks. t brother to e had warned us that we were stepping into what could be a vomitorium, as the kids had come down with a gastro illness and we were prepared for things to be at a slow pace. i think the slow pace is what we needed too. the poor kids have been miserable on and off and us big kids have had a tough time watching.

the first park as jack says is down the hill and the second, well its up the hill and we went to both. much fun was had jumping and running and yelling and sliding and kicking and falling and photographing ect.

life is like a box of chocolates

2007-03-10T15:26:00.000-05:00

last monday in savannah we took ourselves on another self-guided walking tour of the city and in the afternoon took a trolley tour. i am starting to think we need to move to an area of the country with more young people. we are getting used to the sunday night movies at the nick with all the elderly and now we are gladly hopping on trolley tours.

nonetheless, this took us to some of the places we had already seen ourselves, such as city market, the riverwalk, and colonial park cemetary. however, it also took us by many places we had missed such as forsythe park, the location of the famous fatal lover's quarrel detailed in the Midnight of the Garden of Good and Evil, the birthplace and home of Flannery O'Connor, and one of the first mansions on the east coast to ever have indoor plumbing. we also saw the location of the fake bus stop depicted in forrest gump where feathers flutter from a church steeple and tom hanks utters those famous words. had i known ahead of time i may have signed us up for the creme de la creme of trolley tours, the film tour, replete with movie screens to watch scenes from the 70+ films which have been made in savannah.

that night we had a fabulous second dinner at our old friend's gorgeous restaurant in hilton head. it was great to get to catch up and get a tour of his place, including the wine cellar/cooler?. he also told us that some outdoor scenes of tom hanks and captain dan were filmed in the area. thank you chris for the great meal; i had my tastiest meal on the trip at chris's Aqua Grille & Lounge; grouper with fried green tomatoes.

tornado/es

2007-03-10T15:05:00.000-05:00

also in the village of helen (bavarian brainchild of john kollack) we saw tornado damage that was actually spun off from katrina. driving thru alabama we did not witness any of the more recent tornado damage that made national news coverage, but we did see what appeared to be tornado damage driving toward savannah in rural georgia the next day= last sunday. tornado damage is odd in that it is extremely severe and devastating where it hits yet so specific in it's location... also feeling a bit dan quayle-ish with the plural of tornados... tornadoes?

after b's speedy mountain driving through the edge of the appalachain trail- we took the leisurely route to savannah via athens, GA, quintessential college town & home to REM (formed there in 1980??)! we hit a local thrifty/art shop and coffeeshop and stretched our legs with a quick self-guided walking tour.

our driving meandering that day took us through the birthplace town of Alice Walker, Eatonton. this is one of many rather obscure towns we passed through that day; i only know this info from the signage upon entering the town. we also passed thru whatever town is the dairy capital of the USA? perhaps, the world? dublin, GA, (starting to think there are no original names anywhere) and lots more religious signs outside churches with inspirational offerings such as "We use duct tape to fix things, God uses nails." i am still pondering that one. i hope it is a reference to jesus the carpenter and not the way he was killed on the cross but i am really not sure at all of the meaning.

if you are traveling back to georgia

2007-03-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

we are safely in DC after our epic drive yesterday morning from south beach. way back in georgia, i took a posting hiatus. i was either allergic to savannah or some shellfish and just got real tired. then we were super busy! now that i am recovered i shall forge on with the posting recap and some more pictures.

we drove through atlanta one week ago yesterday on our way to sautee nacoochee in the northern hills of georgia. atlanta is one long city sprawl; b looked on the phone-internet while we were driving and informed me that it's had a population surge of 1 million in the past ten years! at the edges of the city, b was in the passenger seat and received the peace sign from another driver. we don't have any peace stickers or anything, just MA plates on a VW...? maybe the residents of atlanta are just kind and well-wishers. in any case, we headed into the hills and to my complete surprise, thru the nearest town to sautee, the mini german-swiss alpine dream that is Helen, GA! if you are expecting a very rural area with country shops, this is quite a surprise.

our first morning however was spent driving into cleveland center to get the tire fixed. we passed a very open-minded and loving [read with great sarcasm] man bearing a placard with religious and anti-gay sentiments. if you want to know the message, please ask us. it is too ignorant to re-print here. while b waited at the repair place mtn. mamma and i shopped the local trading post and looked at GI Joe figues and guns. oh, and some antiques.

the tire was a quick patch job & we were off on a driving tour with stops at the old country store and granary in sautee nacoochee. the area was named after two lovers from different tribes who fell in love but whose love was forbidden. at least one of the lovers, the female half i think, in such anguish threw herself over a precipice, or so goes the legend. there is an old burial mound in the town as well. the area is gorgeous with mountain vistas and valley views.

that afternoon, we walked about the village of helen, which is right in the crook of the chattahoochee river- you can go tubing down it when the weather is warm- the Hansel &amp; Gretel candy & fudge shoppe, little glass blowing studio and a wood craftsman's shop where he chops out bowls from tree trunks. he is very skilled, supposedly descended from one of the wright brothers, and we purchased one of these and had it engraved for the wedding couple.

if you are a history nerd, there is rich gold-rush, pioneer and native american history to be had visiting this area. or perhaps you know someone who lives in a cabin in this area??? you should definitely make the trip![hint hint]

we made it again!

2007-03-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

15 hours, almost to the minute, from south beach to arlington, could be a record, could be insanity.

one hitch

2007-03-08T23:41:00.000-05:00

mid day update

2007-03-08T14:09:00.000-05:00

so e is showering and i am next for getting properly primped for tonights wedding. here are some photos from last night and this morning.

the pace continues

2007-03-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

e is showering and i have about 2 seconds to post as we run off for poker and drinks with tomorrows bride and groom and their extended clan. ill let the pictures from today do the rest of the talking for now.....

on the gulf again...

2007-03-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

last night we saw old friend and restuarantuer chris. after another day on the road for what seemed to take longer than it should.... we arrived at the odranch (pictures of ranch to come later during summary of places stayed)... e got to put her tootsies in the sand on the beach, which made her quite pleased. due to fatigue that is all the attention the blog is getting today.

in savannah

2007-03-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

some shots from today so far in savannah: erica making plans with x-roomate, erica at graveyard and erica on stairs.....

leaving mtn momma

2007-03-05T15:02:00.000-05:00

on the way out of the mnts we saw:

remember us?

2007-03-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

first those of you more inclined to look at the pictures than to read - do not worry- pictures to come later today. for those of you into the text.... well keep reading. yesterday we drove up into the mountains from mntmomma's cabin. the mountain drive may have been the most fun i have ever had driving. one stretch featured a climb to neels pass on a perfect road. cutbacks, banked corners, two lanes all perfectly paved. a nissan passed us and motored up towards the pass and i decided to keep pace. well we flew, e admitted afterwards to biting her lip over the aggressivness nature we were thowing the gti into the hill. we then switched and e drove us on the old highways of north east georgia through the towns of athens and dublin. late in the day we switched again and the super freeway brought us to the Thunderbird Hotel in Savanah.

we had decided that we would surprise an old roomate at his restuarant. so we made a quick 40 minute drive up to hilton head S.C. we took bets as to wether or not he would be at work on a sunday night, i bet that he would, i lost. we had dinner at his restuarant which was the second best dinner on the trip so far and perhaps the most expensive e and i have paid for (fancy place right on the beach in a resort area). we are contemplating revisting tonight if we get a call back from the x-roomate.

presently we are taking it slow contemplating walking around savanah for the day. e is showering i am watching last nights bruins game on the slingbox (google it if you dont know). actually probably pretty save to say i am the only guy in all of savanah watching the bruins game from last night right now. pictures and e's take to come later today.

pinch poke, you owe me a coke

2007-03-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

i apparently jinxed us yesterday while we were driving through some gulf coast neighborhoods ravaged by katrina...

we traveled along rte. 90 which is as close to the gulf as you can get and starting around waveland beach and the cute artist town of bay st. louis, we meandered along what were once thriving coastal towns now half standing and displaying signs that say Now Open.

we took a ferry where the bridge was still being repaired. the potter in one of the local art studios told us dubiously, that it would be re-opened in 2008. on rte 90 in gulfport and biloxi, the waterfront homes were separated by the beach only by a two lane road= rte 90. the pictures b posted previously look empty and essentially are. it is hard for us to determine in many cases what has been demolished and what was initial storm damage, but all that is left today of many of these neighborhoods is slab or post foundations. many homes that are still standing are spray painted with their address, the street address or messages like "don't demo!" followed by insurance contact info. churches, not to be beaten by mere armageddeon weather, are in temporary tents spouting messages such as, "Katrina was big, but God is bigger."

It was not uncommon to see a temporary trailer home on top of foundations where the person's house once stood. in fact, near biloxi, we saw an entire enighborhod of temporary trailer homes. and travelling through at lunch time, we saw many construction workers on their lunch break hanging their feet over the edge of what was once someone's gorgeous in-ground pool or lunching on the beach. the beaches had many signs that still warned not to enter the water due to storm drain debris (and who knows what else) as well as signs that asked for pardoning their appearance while they cleaned up storm damage. again, 1 1/2 yrs later, there is a mix of lots of rebuilding and still utter disaster. some neighborhoods seemed to have the income to rebuild and some businesses like waffle house seemed to be making an effort to rebuild their operations. others were as if they had never been touched, schools were open and despite some new windows you could tell most structures made it through the storm ok. still other areas were miles upon miles of emptyness. it was in these areas that we rolled through, stopping to take some photographs, that i looked at the debris still on the ground and said, i hope we don't get a flat tire out here....

yesterday outside of mobile b filled our tires with air and this morning we had to get the back right tire patched after b found a screw in it....

if you can raise the roof for michael jordan...

2007-03-03T20:41:00.000-05:00

debbie, our indefatigable b&b owner, told me that conde nast travel has rated NO as the #1 food capital of the world, followed by san fran. and paris. it's no doubt that there is food food and more food that is all great to sample! our first night we ate on dacatur st. at the crescent city brewery. b & i split a cup of gumbo and i had some tasty spicy (for me!) crab cakes, b had steak- and of course we both had beer brewed on site. b was amazed at how tasty our food was.

the next night however, we opted for something that was in a lot of ways, a little more close to home. entering the french qtr. from a different direction, we stumbled upon the house of blues. ben convinced me we had to go in and though i tend to be "jobsick" (as b put it) was thoroughly glad we did. the last time we visited harvard square we went in to the new irish restaurant that occupies the old HOB bldg. it nearly brought tears to my eyes. sure, there were days when i wished the whole place would burn to the ground (it seemed like it had some close calls from time to time) and although the "love ever, hurt never" motto was wearing thin in the ever-growing corporate face of the company, i loved that little original building, it's people- employees and regulars- and spirit.

so, to go into what, if memory serves, is the second HOB, was a fun experience. i had been to the LA venue when i was still employed by HOB, and while i worked in cambridge, we had visitors from other venues and i would hear stories from some of the original employees who had traveled around to these different cities to train opening staff. our waiter was very friendly when i told him i used to work there and an old-skool mgr came over and chatted us up about some people we knew in common. i had my favorite mushroom penne entree, tried the local mint julep concotion, and b & i split my other HOB fave of the key lime pie. the employees were also very kind and gave us the old employee discount. i read on-line later that though they are open for dinner and concerts, their gospel brunch food/show is on hiatus and they do not seem to be open for lunch. so although our waiter, when b asked how he fared during the storm, said he couldn't complain, there seemed a certain wistfulness to his reply. one certainly wondered if in fact he probably would be justified in at least a lot of sorrow. so again, if you are vacationing and have never been to NO, it would sure help their economy to have tourism back to a higher level.

one other thing i learned from the friendly HOB employees was that HOB had been bought by Live Nation and read on line that it sold for over 300 million... in my intellectual brain, i know that the company was never intended to be just that one little decrepit bldg on winthrop st. but there was a tangible feeling to it's "mission" there, something you are lucky to ever feel in a workplace. i can't help but wonder that whatever heart lived in that building was stopped when it closed it's doors and if it is still just slowly dying away....

sautee nacoochee

2007-03-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

first, thanks to everyone who has posted a comment- they are fun to read! we have not encountered any tornados and we are in fact using the microwave!

b & i are cozied up with mtn. mamma at her cabin in the woods. there is a bubbling brook, a little bridge, and maybe even bears! it is chilly this evening here in northern georgia- a little over an hour north of atlanta- and we are relaxin by the stove. it is good to relax after the fast beginning of our trip.

night #1 in NO- we walked bourbon st. up and down many times. partly, to get some exercise in and stretch our legs after our 48 hour trip through 10 states. also, because there is just so much good people watching there. similar to key west's duvall st., there are are open bars to the street and of course drinking on the streets literally all night long. b spotted a beer can in a guy's back pocket- i guess he was keeping some alcohol in reserve. we were a bit surprised by the sheer number of strip joints on bourbon st. though. in key west, they tend to be a bit at the end of the main drag and not quite so many in number. here on bourbon st they are very numerous and the poster advertisements are how do you say...explicit. the music is also LOUD & overwhelmingly '80's (live cover bands & karaoke).

all the same, there is a pretty crazy vibe and amidst the cheesy t-shirt and mardi gras tchotchke shops are the interesting locals every city has. the guy making tips off getting his (or taking your) photo with the HUGE ASS BEERS sign told us his name was Freddie Rickie. there are some musicians, magicians and tarot card readers out, but from folks we talked to (b&b owners and red cross workers from NY who were staying at our b&b) businesses are still struggling. the city really needs the tourism but many areas are stuck with a huge reduction in population (i.e.staff & patrons) and stranded in a rebuilding quagmire of federal assistance, utter lack of funds, or various other issues...

i got to have a nice chat with our b&b owners- who were very friendly -about what really happened during the storm, issues with local officials, disaster planning and relief, what tourism is like now, etc. the b&b owner debbie said she is amazed by the variety of calls she still gets- some people fearful to stay in NO (they are about 30 minutes from the city center) because they think it is too devasted- as if it's the day following the storm- and some people who think everything is totally normal. the reality seems to be a sad somehwere in between. it's been 1 1/2 yrs since katrina; we drove by neighborhood upon neighborhood, miles upon miles, in what i believe is east new orleans, that are essentially dark and empty at night. many homes were burnt out, boarded up, or you could see right through them. while much storm damage has been cleared- streets are free of debris- homes and buildings are still being demo'd or gutted and are just skeletons. many neighborhood homes or apt. complexes still had piles of debris in the driveway or parking lots. so please, if you have a chance to visit this area, they really need it. the french quarter and the people are still beautiful.

in terms of our own touring, in a day and a half- we did get a chance to see the riverboats along the boardwalk, walk around jackson sq., the french market, have beignets and cafe au lait from cafe du monde, and briefly stop in at harrah's casino as well as the infamous lafitte's blacksmith shop. i made b take a pic of me outside a local diner in the french qtr. that had a sign posted in its window stating that it would be closed the next day because it would be in the movies. being the closet celebrity fan that i am, i figured this was for the brad pitt movie reportedly being filmed in the area now. unfortunately, though i kept my eyes peeled for any of them, i saw neither brad, angelina, nor brad's mom pushing the grandbabies around in the double stroller with her foot in a cast (as documented by the papparazzi).

georgia on our mind

2007-03-03T10:31:00.000-05:00

we arrived after 11 oclock last night at ola and dana's cabin in the woods of the ga hills. we had spent the first half of the day on the back roads of the gulf coast taking in the ravaged coastline. on august 29 2005 hurricane katrina smashed into these shores and the carnage left behind is not really easy to comprehend or recover from. the people who remain here are in the process of rebuilding but the scar seems to have cut very deep.

pictures!

2007-03-02T10:21:00.000-05:00

we are about to leave for GA... here are some pictures from the last couple of days

Woodridge

2007-03-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

I got up with b this morn and drove him to work. I am taking it slow today myself. I had imaginings of heading into NO on my own, hanging out at a wireless coffeeshop and posting to this blog. Scribbling post cards and hitting a museum. Then I realised, b will be out of work early today- I can post from the balmy upstairs porch at the b&b here, Have a cuppa, reorganize our mini-RV and take it easy. It is, after all, the Big Easy. I'll let b fill you in on last night's Bourbon St. adventures.

macgyver

2007-03-01T12:24:00.000-05:00

It's time to present some technical information about equipment b installed on our vehicle prior to our departure. While I was driving around town getting dog food, making bank deposits and getting in a fender bender, b was driving to auto parts stores, conversing with co-workers and hitting the RV store. The result is that we have a microwave in our car that is powered by... well, it's powered, somehow. When he gets out of work today perhaps he can fill us in on what exactly he has finagled. All I know is there is a microwave, a jumper cable and a red wire crimped all up in an old film canister and it all is wired into the engine. I think. b revs the engine and I cook us up some soups and oatmeals and the like. This is a great way to travel. We eat much as we would from home and seem to have saved ourself from fast food tummy. Photos will be coming soon; b has the laptop I need to download the images.

(P.S. The fender bender was not my fault and although I had to do a bit of running around to the police station and insurance co. before we left on Monday, I felt relieved and slightly vindicated because the officer's accident report stated that the other driver received a citation. My vehicle was also fine but the other driver had some considerable damage considering the slow speeds.)

adventure freeway/radio america etc.

2007-03-01T12:18:00.000-05:00

They really mean it when they named 'em the smoky mountains... actually, it was in Alabama, that b returned from the gas station convenience store to report the employee was smoking up a storm inside the store. Ashtray full o' butts.

Driving from TN, thru the corner of GA and into AL, we drove through a whole lot of empty highway. Seems the population really thinned out from Megalopolis. So as we entered back into society & the city limits of Birmingham, we tuned into local radio. The male DJ was saying, "You know how you see lots of professional women all the time and you just wish sometimes they would put on a skirt?" We changed the station and heard all the callers-in in a tizzy about James Cameron's apparent "documentary" to be aired on the Discovery Channel regarding the possible archeological finding of Jesus and his family's tombs. [hiccup!] Did we say family??? Everyone was in an uproar and thankfully we had to turn the volume low to navigate our way in to the b&b.

Our b&b was in the Five Points restaurant district- about 27 restaurants in a couple of blocks- of Birmingham and after our host checked us in she told us there was also a crew staying there filming a documentary. We took a much needed stroll through the restaurant area. There was also a large statue near our b&b but when we walked closer to it ,a partially lit park separated us from it. Although we did not feel unsafe, I decided we could not venture through the end of a dead-end street in a city we were unfamiliar with to go check it out. It was a shame because the next day b looked it up on the internet. While we were on the road he read to me about the Vulcan Statue- the largest cast iron statue in the world- and you can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_statue

At breakfast we met our other b&bers and (were we surprised?) the film crew were made up chiefly of the editor of a catholic magazine. They were making a video about a local hospital's program that enabled people to get nursing skills to get them an improved quality of life. A good portion of these people were single moms and/or some Katrina evacuees so you can't find any problem with a program like that. When we got back on the road that morning though and realized the "news" program we were listening to was actually broadcast by the American Family News Network, ("AFN is a national Christian news service that exists to present the day's news from a Christian perspective.")

b wondered aloud how much religion one area can support. A lot apparently. One of the other b&b guests was a middle-aged gent who played for Tottenham Park before he came to the US in '59, '60 & '61. So, you never know who you will dine with at a b&b! In fact, the b&b owner herself was a NYC transplant who came to work alongside a NYC coworker- architects both- at the Univ. of Al. She opened the b&b recently as a business venture to refurbish some of the older unoccupied buildings in the area.

Back on the road, the morning radio consisted of your standard a.m. shows albeit with a bit more of a hunting/truck selling perspective by the hosts themselves. We felt not so far from home as the DJ's were letting callers weigh in on the possibility of Bobbi Brown becoming part of their show for a few weeks. Yep, that Bobbi of Whitney and New Edition fame. Before you could sing Mr. Telephone Man, they had his personal assitant on the show and were discussing the probablity of getting Bobbi out of jail in MA and out of bed in time for their radio show. They wanted to help contribute to Bobbi bettering himself and earning money for the child-support payments for which he is apparently jailed. They were all set to write a check to the Commonwealth and help him set his life in order. They wanted to get him back on the path to success and our favorite quote from the DJ regarding Bobbi's past escapades was (say with a southern twang) "Where can you find trouble? Well, right there on trouble street."

After traveling some 1000+ miles to get to LA (b please supply accurate mileage here), we arrived to meet b's contact at the Stennis Space Center/NAVO withing five minutes of our projected schedule. We found ourselves highly punctual and were proud of our endeavor. :)

alabama fan club

2007-02-28T16:59:00.000-05:00

as we left arlington, VA, the scene quickly turned rural. rolling hills and farmland became mountainous and we saw lots of hawks. west on 66 and south on 81, we went through blue ridge mtns, shanendoah valley and the snow disappeared. ben noted somewhere along the route that the gas pumps became hands-free. soon, every gas station was paired with a waffle house and cracker barrel. churches, giant crosses and jesus saves signs were more plentiful. traffic thinned to almost nothing and major cities were easy to travel through. by the time we left chatanaooga late yesterday afternoon, we were about to gain an hour and leave civilization so it seemed...

Megalopolis

2007-02-27T23:10:00.000-05:00

I am not sure where I first heard this term, perhaps an ecology class? If you haven't heard of it, according to an About.com article by a Matt Rosenberg, it was coined by a French geographer, Jean Gottman, in the 1950's and is the "vast metropolitan area over 500 miles long stretching from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C. in the south." The important details to this are such:

"In 1950, Megalopolis had a population of 32 million, today the metropolitan area includes more than 44 million people, approximately 16% of the entire U.S. population. Four of the seven largest CMSAs (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas) in the U.S. are part of Megalopolis and are responsible for over 38 million of Megalopolis' population (the four are New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, Washington-Baltimore, Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, and Boston-Worcester-Lawrence)."

So, although we are relatively exhausted this evening from our overnight drive from MA to DC to AL, we are glad we did it that way. We made excellent time from Lakeville to T&M's doorstep, departing at 8:20 p.m. and arriving at their doorstep at exactly 4 a.m. Ben drove us to CT and then I cruised us along through NYC, the Jersey turnpike and Delaware. There were no masses and throngs at the rest stops and no lines at the tolls. Ben got back at the wheel and we zipped through the Baltimore/DC area. So, 2 out of 2 Allszplats recommend the night drive on this route to anyone! (Especially if you have a friendly face to greet you in the middle of the night, give you a comfy bed, and then in the morning, more friendly and cute faces to give you breakfast and a hot shower as you dash out the door in less than an hour! TX guys!)

the big hike!

2007-02-27T22:06:00.000-05:00

so we are pooped! but we are in birmingham AL at our b&b. i am sitting among three lap tops, reading work emails, instant messaging- mothers and hockey friends, taking in the slingbox/nesn take on the big bruins trade of the day... charging batteries and now its time to take a little walk around birmingham and crash.... apparently there is a documentary crew staying at our b&b - thats what our host has told us to investigate over breakfast at 7 am.

25 hours 1100 + miles...

knoxville

2007-02-27T17:18:00.000-05:00

Knoxville has come and gone. e has been at the helm for hours and i have been playing with all the toys and manning co-pilot duties. My turn at the wheel will come soon. chattanoga and the change to central time are coming with the waning sun.

truckin

2007-02-27T14:01:00.000-05:00

We are making good time and are about to enter TN...... On the left and right are hills of va on rte 81, duran duran is on the itunes and i am about to play with the gps tracking! good times

first leg

2007-02-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

no time have to keep on the move. terry and mary and jack and claire have put us up in arlington, va. we are presently packing up to be on the road for birmingham.... first day light leg here we come!

on the rd

2007-02-26T22:36:00.000-05:00

Gassed up outside new haven. estimaed 4am arrival in dc. nap time for ben........

T-24

2007-02-25T22:08:00.000-05:00

saturday was a day i vacuumed and mopped the whole house and pulled a giant clump of hair from the shower drain. but no one wants to hear about that. ben ran around town doing various errands, mainly securing our power source for our various appliances; see, we are not traveling light. we will be hyper connected to the wired and wireless universe. for various reasons, we are taking three cell phones and three laptops. we are not taking miss elbers :( departure time is less than 24 hours.

gps

2007-02-22T18:26:00.000-05:00

so yesterday we visited clayton and lydia and borrowed his fancy new gps hand held. last night i found some shareware and today i did an errand with the gps tracking software following my movements (blue line)... anyone mention that im a big time geek?

bookends

2007-02-22T16:16:00.001-05:00

in e's itinerary below she forgets to mention that all this motion is book ended by moday night hockey in lakeville!

super-itinerary!

2007-02-22T15:52:00.000-05:00

mon 26th 8pm drive to DC?
tues 27th drive to Birmingham, AL
wed 28th arrive Stennis Space Center, Missisip.
thu 1st accomodated in Pearl River, LA (30 min. outside downtown NO)
fri 2nd mosey back to Sautee Nacoochee, GA
sat 3rd accomodated at odranch cabin!
sun 4th mosey to Savannah, GA
mon 5th possible visit to Bluffton/Hilton Head, SC
tues 6th head off to odranch Bradenton, FL b&b ;)
wed 7th cross state to Miami
thu 8th attend wedding!
fri 9th marathon drive back to DC
sat 10th visit kids in DC
sun 11th more visiting in DC
mon 12th arrive back in MA

phone bloggen

2007-02-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

So this is from the phone-possible live rd bloggen to come!

off b

Testing emailing the blog

2007-02-21T12:56:00.001-05:00

so in preparation for the trip here is an email attempt to blog..... coming
soon an email from the phone attempt to blog!

ketchup

2007-02-20T23:53:00.000-05:00

When I was in the 1st grade, once a week was 'ketchup day;' if you were absent or sick or what have you, ketchup day was there to save you. You could get your work done or get extra help with whatever it is in the 1st grade that's difficult to learn. Of course that is irrelevant except that I am going to take time here to get you up to speed, y'know- ketchup.

A few months ago we heard that B's high school pal was engaged! Congrats to them and thanks also, as we have been invited to share in their especial day on March 8th. In the post arrived the sweetest shell-filled message-in-a-bottle invitation. (Kinda reminded me of the bottle with the vowed paper we had everyone sign when we got married!)

Thus began the planning of our road trip to FLA. We decided we would visit my brother and his family in DC and my aunt in the hills of Georgia. We'd hit Savannah and maybe try to see an old roommate/friend in Hilton Head. Then, B got word of a business trip and so we extended our plan for four extra days and are now heading down through Alabama & Mississippi to the New Orleans area. Our departure time is Monday the 26th at approx. 8 p.m. from Lakeville, MA.

trip prep

2007-02-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

We are getting ready for our business/wedding/great road trip '07. Cleaning & neatening the home so EK can stay with Elbers, nursing Elbers back to health, gathering books and electronics, stocking up on food, cooler and yes, a microwave for our big road trip. Follow the adventures here in sketches, photos, and hopefully some sort of literary manner...

See and Hear Paul

2006-04-07T18:04:00.000-05:00

If you can handle it, cute pictures of us

2006-04-05T17:57:00.001-05:00

these photos are from march 12th day we got

engaged in provincetown.

here we are on our wedding day over a year later

july 21, 2001

Rob

2006-04-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

In Memory of Some Friends

2006-04-02T16:56:00.000-05:00

orion

1989-2003

cygnus

1991-2006

199?-2007

Interim Website Revision Homepage

2006-04-01T16:48:00.003-05:00

Welcome to the new look of the old home on the internet of ben and erica. If you liked the old home click [here]. As of December 2007, I do not plan on updating those old pages, but if you want to re-live our building a house back in 2004, this is where you will find those links or any of the old content.

If you are here and you would like to know what we are up to more recently you are probably better off clicking through to our newer better and much more up to date websites. These are the links that we update a lot more regularly and are presently supporting, so to speak. For ben click here and for erica click here.

ella how old are you now?

Spring Fences

2006-03-30T15:27:00.003-05:00

March 30

SPRING! THANK *&!*# ....

fence supplies for the part of the fence that will be in the woods

[editor's note: this is the last post from the original house blog]

2006-02-17T15:24:00.001-05:00

Feb 17

all the furs on your twinny twin twins!

This Yard Rocks

2006-02-08T15:19:00.001-05:00

Feb 8, 2006

how many people want rocks for christmas? we did! we got two big ones! now we just have to decide where they go... we also met with a chainsaw artist and picked out another xmas gift. we picked a wolf sculpture. you can see other cool stuff at his site rossmacvicar.com and of course we'll post a pic when we get the completed item!

hmm what other fun things? this one is actually a houseproject! these are the house pages on the site right? perhaps only if you have done this tedious job can you make out the picture. i spent two nights and two rolls of insulation filling in the places around the top of the foundation where our contractor cheesed out on us.

i feel proud that i did it though and it is one less thing on the list...this activity was inspired by ben's commandeering of the draft situation in the house the weekend previous. he sealed up the attic accesses, basement door, and our porch doors which were rather warped.

i intended to give a virtual tour of the first floor here but it didn't work out. so all you get is cute doggers to greet you as you come up the stairs...

Intro to House Building Blog, Page 17

2006-02-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

page 17

it's been 1.5 YEARs since ben & erica moved in to 12 vacation lane!

found here will be details of ...?

written mostly by erica and photographed a lot by ben, however like most things in life there are exceptions....

for instance ben wrote that last useless sentence.

Allszplat 21

2006-01-19T20:43:00.001-05:00

JAN 19, 2006

ben's new hockey jersey!

[editor's note: this was the last post on the original page 16. we linked to the last page, writing: cliquez ici pour le page 17]

Road Trip NH

2005-10-15T20:46:00.000-05:00

OCT 15

we drove up in the rain to visit Kay in NH.

her neighborhood was not flooding.

we hung out in kay's fab studio apt. in the rain and watched some telly!

we had breakfast at the arty-hip-tatoo-ey "friendly toast" and checked out the records at bull moose, all in the rain. it was clear we were not going apple picking and so we went to the kid's matinee instead and watched Wallace and Gromit with all the wee ones! Ben checked out Kay's wireless possibilities (lookin good!) and then we drove home again, in the rain.

Bulkhead Blue

2005-10-01T22:12:00.002-05:00

OCT 1

These pictures are all about a weekend behind, and I still need to finish painting some spots on the bulkhead.

I have been trying to finish lots of projects-

The bulkhead arrived primed but was never painted and had started to rust. I painted the small trim piece around the stove vent on the outside of the house.

I cleaned most of the "Sickens" (SP, wood sealer) off the glass panes of the double doors. They look much cleaner now! The next major project is the inside trim painting. After two summers of unsealed wood in Cape air, things are getting a wee bit mildewy...

P.S. the poison ivy afflicted are making amazing recoveries !

Green & Red

2005-09-28T22:17:00.001-05:00

Sept 28

we planted three arbor vitae! (TX kim & geoff!) and cleared undergrowth. The little rocks surround the arbor day seedlings.

we got a rose of sharon seedling from stach! and a little lilac tree from our neighbor's yard! (It's ok, he gave it to us and even gave us some mulch to go along with all our new plants.) We spread lots of the leaves and undergrowth down the slope of our front yard that was still a pile of sand from where the water line was dug. It looks much better now.

I also painted a bench we got from a co-worker who was moving. TX Millie! Ben helped move some items and I painted the bench! I also painted a coat rack the same new england red!

Oops! Did I forget to mention something else we got!? ***Gross-Out advisory***

MMM! Poison Ivy! The dreaded PI that we sprayed a few months ago, of course was still active in the brush somewhere....

escape

2005-09-20T01:42:00.000-05:00

i used to keep some things
in my rucksack
just in case

Bruins Ice

2005-09-10T22:27:00.001-05:00

Sept 10

We went to the recently re-named (TD Banknorth) Garden on Saturday! We got tickets for a Bruins game! We skated on the ice! In the [top] pic, Ben heads "backstage" where we can put on our skates and get on the ice. Coming down the hall in the left of that photo are Patrice Bergeron and Hannu Toivonen. Where is RAYCROFT!??

I goofed with Blades the mascot.

Labor Day Weekend

2005-09-03T22:33:00.000-05:00

Sept 3 Labor Day Weekend

we dogsat Tuck!

Ben continues his finger recovery with special therapeutic exercises

Plan B

2005-08-20T22:36:00.001-05:00

Aug 20

CONGRATS! to ben & his team "Plan B" for winning the latest season of games in their division at lakeville street hockey! In the meantime, you can see ben's finger is merely taped together now; no splint. it is still rather swollen and has limited movement, to say the least. but it's discoloration has greatly improved!

Broken Finger

2005-08-08T22:56:00.000-05:00

Aug 8

co-pay at the emergency room, $10

supplies at the pharmacy, $20

memories of the last Webbsoxx game of the season, priceless.

no black eye! But, ben did get a broken finger (in two places!) yesterday! at least he wasn't like the poor guy on the other team 2 weeks ago who ended up with a broken arm! Ben goes to see the orthopedist on thursday-- will his finger stay in a splint for 6 weeks? stay tuned...

in other news, did we mention hockey is back!!?! we have the Bruins schedule posted on the fridge and anxiously count down the days!

i did some more painting on the porch (small trim pieces left over from last summer's trim painting bonanza), ben has painted a bench of ours and kay and i went to the Newport Folk Festival this past weekend!

Blue Waves Orange Dogs

2005-07-22T23:01:00.001-05:00

JULY 22

the doggers check out our new plant! a beautiful gift! a blue wave lace cap hydrangea!!!
in birding news, our fledglings flew away about two weeks ago.

Birdies Grow

2005-07-04T23:10:00.002-05:00

JULY 4

LB & Cygnus got luxurious outdoor showers curtsy of ben, and we have seen fireworks and BBQ's galore!

we help out regularly still at the job site*, although we are not as dedicated as some! here ben does the magic "weaving" of shingles, a new skill he has recently mastered.

we also had a second not-so-orange turtle visit us, this one was more of a scaredy-turtley and hid a lot. it danced a giant loop thru the yard so i hope it wasn't having a mixed-up homing beacon.

their mama ursula still hovers over/next to them at night, she is dropping her droppings all over the porch below. and tho we have not seen them fly yet, i think they will be little fledglings any moment now- 4 cannot fit into this nest much longer!
somehow in all the mystery that is life, the mama bird brings insects and the little runts grow feathers; how do they DO this? although i know energy and matter are only transferred, it seems like they are growing out of thin air, created from nothing... magic!

[editor's note: job site refers to josh and tally's house]

Summer Solstice

2005-06-21T11:16:00.001-05:00

First day of SUMMER!

they are growing fast!

We have finally and accidentally identified our mama bird, she is an eastern phoebe, Sayornis Phoebe! This week her eggs hatched and she and the papa bird have been feeding them. She continues to sit on her little ones, so I hope they aren't getting suffocated! Apparently the phoebes have two broods a year so she will have eggs again this summer. What a lot of work. The phoebes also do a little renovating and use their nest year after year, so I guess she will be around for along time; we decided to name her; Ursula.

Turtle & A Break-In

2005-06-15T11:23:00.002-05:00

June 15, 2005

we cleaned up the porch tonight, which had acquired an old fridge as well as some other items that were looking unsightly. the fridge has sort of an oldtimey icebox look and is now in the basement for storage. we also hung our hammock up! (say that 3timesfast!) it was a great gift and has been on a hammock stand for a couple summers. it seems to have found it's perfect home- that's me in it, trying it out.

here's the view from our hammock!

we also recently had bike mechanics lessons. i got new tires and tubes for my bike and master mechanic ben showed me/put mine on. i have to say, just having seen the inside of the tire is a relief. i often guessed i'd feel as good as being lost in the wilderness if a tire of mine ever went flat while i was out biking. plus one of my tires had troubles the last times i tried to ride it. now, i can go biking again!

Terrapene carolina? aka Eastern box turtle, spotted by ben wandering thru our yard. i took this shot while he was temporarily held captive in our window well. (the turtle was held captive, not ben!)

speaking of window wells, we think someone stepped on the same one trying to break into our house on friday! i found the screen (of one of the windows on the back side of the house) pulled out and this hole cut in it! we surmise that someone came in through a back window, was spooked by our ferocious (!) guard dogs and split out the door. so far as we can tell, nothing is missing. fortunately, LB was found in the driveway by ben who came home at an odd time during the work day to some work on our home computer! Cygnus was found, of course, sleeping under the bar in the house... we spoke with neighbors who saw a strange woman in our yard/walking around the house that day and the local police logs tell of two other similar breakins that weekend very nearby...

Eggs and Ivy

2005-06-09T15:01:00.006-05:00

June 9 2005

our birdie nest has eggs in it! we have curtailed some porch activities to allow the mama bird to sit on her eggs until they hatch- we don't know how long off that is, but we speculate there will be lil chicks soon enough!

ben keeps on watering and although our grass is spotty at the moment, the stuff that is growing is going like gangbusters! we plan on reseeding again but we are so pleased with the beginning we have! ben's eye has healed. hopefully he will be able to clearly see our new format, where we are now scrolling the right way on our pages- new entries will be at the top of the page!

we have halted work on the side of the driveway (clearing brush) because of THE DREADED IVY, poison, that is. this pic also shows the PI killer we sprayed. it's dyed so you can see where you are aiming and hopefully not use too much since it kills a variety of plants.

our girls have been hiding low, avoiding the papparazzi for a few entries here. now they would like to say hi to their fans and thank them for all their appreciation-- from one of their favorite vacation locales, the bogs.

Growin Grasses

2005-06-01T15:07:00.008-05:00

June 1, 2005

we are growing grass!!!

remember the dirt delivery on page 15?

our kindly landscaping professional neighbor(s) arrived on the scene with the bobcat and spread all the dirt around and helped rake it smooth. ben spread seed and a week later- voila! grass :)

half the arbor day foundation seedlings sprouted up leaves...

nesting in the corner of our porch atop the light sensor is a bird that escapes our identification abilities. we figure she is gonna lay some eggs soon!

chicken wire meets a pair of snips - a compost marriage made on soil! i am so happy to be composting kitchen scraps!

i spy the compost bins! contrary to the word on the street, i didn't slug ben because he was two (or was it three?) minutes late on his 6:30 p.m. curfew- he got elbowed during street hockey! this shot's after the swelling had considerably subsided but before it got really yellow...
this season, we have time to take care of the yard a little. we have five lady slippers and don't want to decimate the wildness in which they grow... but, we have been able to do a little tidying. we like to use the materials we have and keep it casual (that's what it's all about on the cape right?) so we have done a little edging with rocks and leftover logs we collected up from the property. we gave our woodstack away to someone who can use it in their home. we have also been cleaning up the side of the yard by the driveway. how many years worth of decomposting leaves, brush, branches? at the bottom, almost dirt humus, perfect for covering the swath of sand that still encircles our house from construction!

Intro to House Building Blog, Page 16

2005-06-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

page 16

it's been 1 YEAR since ben & erica moved in to 12 vacation lane!

found here will be details of ...?

written mostly by erica and photographed a lot by ben, however like most things in life there are exceptions....

for instance ben wrote that last useless sentence.

Dirt Dogs

2005-05-07T20:09:00.001-05:00

April 7

ELBERS!

I think she loves us! She has really come along way this past month! She got another bath and her coat has lost its greasiness! Her personality is still coming out and she is ever more playful! She loves to play when we get home from work, and did I mention how she can RUN!?!?

LB and Cygnus get along better than ever! Cygnus has even gone over to sniff LB's face and LB has shown some spunk and bared her teeth when Cygnus got too close to her beloved bone.

LB likes to be protective of us and here she keeps an eye out last weekend as we get a dirt delivery.

We have implements of grass construction and though we do not crave a perfect lawn or anything, we hope to remedy the barrenness of the sandy construction-site yard! I planted some trees today that I got by sending $$$ to the ArborDay.org people. They are little twig tree seedlings at this point so I hope they make it!

In the meantime, we have planted some wheatgrass at the base of our flourishing orange tree. We have loads of miniature oranges and some sweet-smelling blossoms. Stay tuned for some pictures of my *new* Hombre!

Introducing the Hombre

2005-04-28T20:29:00.012-05:00

APRIL 28

this is my blue light and flame motif hombre!!

here is a view of Cygnus in the back of the hombre-

perfect for taking the girls to chappy beach!

careful not to get caught in the tangle!

they are mischievious!

LB loves to play!

Cygnus and I love to look silly!

b& e are off to Dc for the weekend. the doggers will stay here at home with their pal Bren!

[editor's note: this was the last post on the original page 15. we linked to the next page, writing: Cliquez ici for page 16 and seemingly warmer times!]

Update on Dog Cohabitation

2005-03-17T20:03:00.001-05:00

St. Paddy's Day!

Elbers is starting to relax in her new home. She has been to the vet and they pronounced her A-OK, despite her two supposedly benign belly tumors. TOOMAH!

She peed in the house almost everyday for a week although she is certainly house trained. And although parties in the house are split as to which is worse to clean up- #1 or #2... I will say that I prefer to clean up the solids. Well, when she peed on our bed twice, and possibly in her crate, we thought we might have less of a doggie with behavior issues and more of a physical problem. Alas, to save our sleeping quarters from further destruction, we purchased a goddarned ^@&!? baby gate for the stairs. There are only three moving parts on this thing but it never fails to be a pain in the arse as they would say in the old country. Fortunately, we have not had one pee incident since it's installment!

LB can sit, stand, shake paws and sometimes lie down and fetch. She is a quick student and although she seems to prefer her food with some yogurt mixed in, she is gaining weight and her coat is improving. She was picked up on the street so we don't know anything about her previous life. We found her thru Petfinder.com and the vet we saw thinks she is approx. 8 yrs.

So, now the girls only go upstairs when we are home. Elbers has her own bed, even though the two have not quarreled over her stealing of Cygnus' bed too. Phew! Cygnus needed some consistent reprimanding to stop her snapping (when food and affection were concerned) and has since become a good doggie roommate.

Mostly, the girls don't interact. Elby is old enough that she doesn't pounce on the elderly dogs for too much play. She has a few times gone to greet Cygnus in the morning and to our delight there have been no altercations.

And for all those worried over whether Cygnus is still getting enough lovin, well, she is! Both doggers even got brand spankin new nametags! Perhaps the funniest thing about our twin mystery husky mixes, both strays from RI, is that their left ears both have a little bend at the top corner! Cygnus attacked a skunk which resulted in an ear infection and subsequent deformation; we can only speculate about our little LB.

Introducing Little Bear

2005-03-05T20:01:00.000-05:00

SATURDAY March 5th!!!!

we went to Bristol, RI to pick up our new pal from the Bristol Animal Shelter. Her name is LB (Lil Bear.) She's just about the sweetest pup you could ever imagine!

House Burgers

2005-02-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

FEB ?

I finished reading Fast Food Nation and we made our own french fries and tried out the Free Range Australian hamburgers from Trader Joe's.

Prop Fan Installation

2005-02-09T19:54:00.001-05:00

Feb 19

today, clayton and lydia came by for pancakes and brought along the mucho anticipated PropFan!

you can see another shot of the prop on a way earlier page (#2.) clayton ingeniously attached the wooden propeller, a beautiful gift from odranch, to some sort of motor and handcrafted a gorgeous metal "art deco" nose to complete the objet d'art and function! above, clayton installs the item and voila! it spins! it is just about as silent as can be!

here is a closeup! AGAIN!!!! what can we say!?! we are blessed for all our beautiful friends and family who have made our home a unique place!

Doggie Acupuncture

2005-01-31T19:52:00.000-05:00

Jan 31

the dogger went to acupuncture and has been doing trottingly (dog equivalent to swimmingly) ever since!

Australia Day Party

2005-01-29T19:48:00.001-05:00

Australia Day!

We celebrated Australia Day on January 29th, although it is really on Jan 26 in Australia. Considering the hemisphere differences, it would have been difficult to celebrate at the exact same time as the Aussies anyway. Most Aussies BBQ on this day since it is summer down there, but we decided to have a 18.5 lb turkey and full thanksgiving day feast! Unfortunately, we were so busy, we did not get a picture of the turkey when it came out of the oven.

i am really proud of my very first applie pie from scratch! YUM!!!

the party included two guests who lived in Australia, Foster's, Tim Tam, AC/DC and our old skool dart games. we had so much fun making our first turkey dinner and were so glad everyone made it from near and far.

Blizzard Pics

2005-01-28T19:42:00.000-05:00

More of the Blizzard '05

the dogger is longingly gazing out to where the path to the bogs should be...

ben did not take his car out until thursday after the storm. here, he gets picked up by clayton to get to work on monday afternoon.

pete snowblows the driveway at seacoast. (curvy path on right is my shoveling out from the porch.)

Intro to House Building Blog, Page 15

2005-01-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

page 15

in the summer of '04 ben & erica moved in to 12 vacation lane.

found here will be details of ...

written mostly by erica and photographed a lot by ben, however like most things in life there are exceptions....

for instance ben wrote that last useless sentence.

Snowdown Shutdown

2005-01-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

Jan. 27

We have not seen mail nor trash trucks all week. School and the Town of Falmouth have been closed all week.

STAY TUNED for more photosof the blizzard of 2005

[editor's note: this was the last post on the original page 15. we wrote a link: Click away To get to More Pics at Page 15]

Homey Homes

2005-01-26T23:01:00.008-05:00

Jan. 6 2005

it was snowing, and everything was covered with snow when we woke up this morning...it has since turned all to rain. we have been adding coziness to our home...
we have been hanging some simple blinds. apparently they don't keep anyone from peering in, but they lessen the dark hole of the windows at night.

we have been doing small but useful things like making places for towels to hang...

and adding more warmth for the winter in the way of lighting

and some throw rugs

we got this trunk at the Mill Store when we first moved in and erica stained it up in the fall. the next painting/staining project is the coat rack from the Mill Store

among many great home building gifts- thank you everyone for your continued support (sound like those old bartles and james guys!)- we received these three stools that are the correct height for our bar! no more using mismatched too-short stools!

Snowing Again

2005-01-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

By Wed. Jan. 26

It's snowing again in the morning. Reports predict 4-8 inches by the time it departs. Our next door neighbor, who works for a landcaping company & has been snowplowing all week, told Ben that he had worked 44 hours in the past three days. They were out of salt, out of sand, and it was late that night before we finally saw a plow actively going on our street.

It was like witnessing a rescue operation! Ben and I had been shuttling around in the truck for fear that once his car went down the hill, it would not make it back up again.

A Day without Shoveling...

2005-01-25T19:39:00.001-05:00

Tues. Jan. 25

A day without shoveling is like a day without breathing.

Blizzard Update 1

2005-01-24T19:38:00.001-05:00

Mon Jan. 24

Pete came over with the snowblower and widened and expanded upon what Ben had shoveled. We were already hearing reports that we could get more snow later in the week. Pete had been snowblowing all day and we went to Seacoast and dug out there as well. Reports were coming in over getting another snowfall this week.

Third Snowstorm

2005-01-23T19:23:00.003-05:00

Jan. 17

martin luther king jr day brings us more snow (our third fall this year?) this time only about 4 inches. it is rather cold at 30 degrees. visible in pic is the thermometer we hung up to monitor conditions! we've discovered that the dog loves making snowangels (er, snowdogs?) in the snow so it is another banner day for her.

about 48 hrs ago, we organized the downstairs closet. theres no 'before' pic but you can just imagine all of these things (minus wooden boxes and plus two milk crates) all piled on the floor and you will get the idea. we discovered some missing items and other items we had simply thrown together in one big box such as this dart holder. we are actually hoping for an honest to goddness blizzard because we have so many things to entertain us here at the house there's really no excuse for us ever to leave it.

in the last 24 hrs, ben hung up the holder for the cues/sticks.

over 192 hrs ago, chris walked through our doors and visited.

As early as Thursday and Friday, we were being warned of a huge storm approaching. Saturday afternoon, Ben and i went to the local food market to get some milk and various sundries & see the excitement. The place was mobbed and people were chatting about how the major supermarkets were out of shopping carriages!

on Jan. 22, it started snowing around four oclock. It didn't stop for over 24 hours. At the top of this page you can compare and contrast! One side of our house had a snow drift that that was at least four feet high, and the other was almost at dirt level (this was good because we did not become those you are reading about in the papers who got poisoned because their heating system vents were blocked with snow.)

On average, we got somewhere between 2-3 feet of snow all around. Winds were reportedly anywhere between 60-80 mph and took a screen off on of our windows.
(the dogger tries to get back on the porch from her new bathRoom facilities. Ben had to go out first thing sunday morning and shovel her a cavern to go in!)

We never lost power and stayed cozied up on the inside, reading books, watching Netflix (we were lucky enough to have 3 on hand at the start of the storm!) baking goodies and playing video games online. This view is from the porch doors looking out towards the power lines in the east. The small stick near the top left is the top of the hammock stand pole at bout 5 ft high.

Of course, you should be able to see the edge of the porch, but the snow is level with the porch and higher.

On sun. Jan. 23, I got a ride over to Seacoast and around town in the blizzard to check on family and friend's homes. Ben shoveled the driveway all the hours I was away.

Snow Feet High and Rising

2004-12-27T22:45:00.008-05:00

Dec 27, 2004

we got a REAL snowstorm! approx. 17"!!!!

ben and dogger go out exploring!

this is actually the corner of vacation lane and john parker road. can you spot the vacation lane sign? most of the snow was pretty light, but it started out as a wet rain/snow, so at the bottom of all this snow was some heavy icy stuff. fortunately, we never lost power, although thousands of people on the Cape did. It was difficult to drive up our street though as so many branches were weighted down and hanging arched over the road.

what with no gutters n all, we got our first icicles...

they were tall!

we are just approaching 6 mos. in our new home and we already have to repair some damage to a screen on our porch. we have some purps in mind... of the four legged kind... (not ours)

Stay tuned, we hope to continue our house work ... Although, this was originally billed as a home building thing and although we do lots of polyurethaning and staining occasionally, we are more on the decorating/finishing aspect these days.

Fall Catchup & Darkroom Build

2004-11-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

TIME!? SPACE??

Visitors to the site are slipping away... We scurry to update the site... We realise there is not a lot of housework to show... We travel back in time space and stay up too late pondering string theory, the universe, and other dimensions...first we reel you in, think black holes here, this is actual work and it was done a long time ago.

picture 1 is rather obvious.

in pic 2, ben hooks up the stove to the wall thermostat! Magic!

ben had a bday and got to celebrate the first TRUE sox victory in (ahem) a bazillion years! don't you still get the chills watching the footage of the big wins!?!?

fall flew in full fashion at punkin nite

replete with corn husks (like we live on a real farm and everything)

dogger continues to be cute as ever and "tons of fun"

can you believe she got ANOTHER bath!? her first with indoor plumbing...

she also got a cute new bandanna...

ben built and set up his darkroom!

WHAT a PROJECT!

ben contructed walls, a light trap, shelves, and made his basement room light tight all in the week surrounding thanksgiving!

We made a trip to the real big city and purchased some more supplies and he now has a working darkroom!

view from the outside of the darkroom

Intro to House Building Blog, Page 14

2004-11-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

page 14

in the summer of '03 the szuplats purchased property on 12 vacation lane.

found here will be details of ...

written mostly by erica and photographed a lot by ben, however like most things in life there are exceptions....

for instance ben wrote that last useless sentence.

Fire Outdoors, Fire Indoors

2004-10-01T21:08:00.000-05:00

october 1st

this is the little firepit we got! it's still on dirt as we continue to plan the yard design...

we got some more things hung up on the walls... mirror erica painted herself

and shelves she stained herself....

stach worked hard all saturday

and installed the gas stove!!!

with a little help from ben!

it works great!

[editor's note: this was the last post on the original page 13- we linked to the next page, we wrote, "Click Here to see the latest house goings on!"]

Shell Driveway, Of Course

2004-09-10T21:01:00.000-05:00

sept. 10 wkend.

there came no rains on saturday and so the trim painting continues. ben has set us up for the final side, ladders a-ready.
on sunday, he shoveled the edge of the driveway and cleaned up several areas in anticipation of our deliveries of fill, rocks and seashells.

paul and his shiny truck came and made several runs to the mecca of landscaping supplies.

we brought the grade up around the back step and then spread some planks and seashells. very rustic. we used some logs to delineate driveway of rock and pathway of seashell (we think the shells might bleach out lighter yet.) our next project is to get more fill for the rest of the area behind the house....

Yes, We Still Paint Trim

2004-09-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

labor day weekend

the east side is all done! (view from vacation lane)

the front is all done! (less front door)

we work our way around to the west side of the house. ben can be seen in the top right corner of both pictures. he was diligent and has been hauling the tall ladder around the house and painted all the trim at the peaks and the front dormer (including the blue diamond shingle!

Aerial Shots

2004-08-30T22:51:00.003-05:00

aug 30

smile for the camera!
dogger gets another bath. she has a busy week, getting sedated on her second trip to the vet. she hadn't been in so long that she needed 2 appt.s to get in all her shots and get her swollen gummed teeth cleaned. she also gets a little lump snipped off (she proudly bears 2 stitches!) and her nails trimmed some more. she has recovered from her day "trip" and is back to her normal un-droopy-smile self.

ben gets to take another flying trip with don and they do a flyby over the house! you can tell ours by the sandy yard! ben has scheduled a work day and hired our connection to getting some stone or shells for the driveway in about a week. we continue to paint house trim and have the whole east side done! half of the front is done as well. weather is looking less humid (thankfully!) and so we will forge ahead...

despite not having any grass, we were lucky enough to have a gift of a pushmower! erica tries out mowing the floor and the dogger tries to get in on the action (and a haircut?)

clayton supervises while ben, stach and pete try out different spots for the pool table which was slid around the floor (via carpet samples!) to make room for larger seating area in the main room. stay tuned for more house work. for those of you who are still visiting the site, i promise there will be more house related stuff to come....there will be the gas stove installation coming soon!

Painting Trim Continues

2004-08-18T22:38:00.002-05:00

aug 18

painting of the trim continues at a leisurely pace- and the dog is not of much assistance except being good company.
the only trouble with our deep blue is that it takes several coats to get even coverage.

ben begins some yahd work! after picking up wood from our fallen over (again!) wood pile , he rakes out some mounds of dirt left randomly around our uneven yardscape, still mostly untouched since construction. plans are in the works to get some stone for the driveway. especially in our most torrential rains yet- the leftovers of hurricane charley, we had a massive!! puddle in the front yard and a giant crevace in the driveway and much sand of our driveway went down the river that was vacation lane. we also recently had our first power outage. someone flipped their car near the bottom of vacation on john parker and took down a telephone pole too. apparently they were all right and we got our power back at 3 a.m. or something like that ( i was alseep!)

the dogger has taken to the shower lately. it hasn't even been that hot but she likes to hang out there and although she is making it muddy, i don't have the heart to kick her out...

Painting Bright Blue Trim

2004-08-03T22:31:00.003-05:00

aug.8

ben begins to paint the trim!

Little Progress, Little Heater

2004-08-03T22:23:00.002-05:00

aug. 3
the dogger says it all! resting up before her big vet visit tomorrow. we have to get her rabies vaccination especially since cape cod is certainly no longer rabies free. we have not been up to much house work lately. we have been up to lots of poker and pool of course. ben did build a fabulous box around our kickspace heater (the heater will keep our toesies warm in the breakfast nook in winter!)

whew! it's dusty under there!

we made a trip to upstate NY to see family and unfortunately all we got were photos of jack!?!? it's a jack montage...

we are hoping the blatant use of cute baby photos will hide the lack of house information...?