Tag: Repurpose
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Pickets & Kindling
While Glen has been enjoying some much deserved R&R, Tony has been finalizing preparations for the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn. Woodworking, especially repurposing rough or recycled material into finish grade lumber, has proven to be a well matched and rewarding undertaking for Tony over the last year and a half. Again and again…
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Declutter
Where can you reduce clutter in your life? Where, oh, where can we reduce clutter in our life? Everywhere! So much stuff — physical, verbal, creative, emotional, psychological, social — ready to be filtered and distilled. Things to downsize. Bits and bobs to organize. Debris to purge. Busyness to abbreviate. Distractions to alleviate… Over the…
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Crazy Biz?!
Crazy biz?! It’s fair to say that, since day one, I’ve taken pretty ample creative license with these Bloganuary prompts. I accepted the challenge without much reflection. Why not add a new twist to my daily installments? Like discovering a new spice? I remember when I discovered za’atar via Yotam Ottolenghi. Wow! It was like…
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Do Differently
My existence, so far as I can tell, is largely rhizomatic. Not always. But often. Most often. My life tends toward a nonlinear network more than a bifurcating path. And yet some pivotal moments stand out — opportunities, considerations, deliberations, decisions, actions, and consequences — that fundamentally alter the network. Such moments, beginnings and endings,…
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Compost Bin v2.0
Probably about a decade and a half ago we repurposed a shipping crate (that happened to have been fabricated out of tropical hardwood) into a compost bin. We’ve used it for years, far surpassing the value I anticipated at the outset. When the top began to fail, it got pulled aside for eventual repair. Today’s…
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Stumping
As political pundits’ newscycle turns to election stumping, our workcycle turns to ash stumping. The inevitable next step in our current homegrown lumber undertaking is to transform the stumps (leftover from five removed ash trees) into mulch and then prepare the ground for grass seeding in the spring. After felling five ash trees in the…
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Stone Wall Retrospective
Fifteen years ago, on November 5, 2008 we were many months deep into building/rebuilding the stone walls around Rosslyn’s deck. The original estimate had morphed from weeks to months. As I recall, five weeks had stretched into five months by this stage. I’ll dig into my notes to verify, but for the sake of this…
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Lumbering Home
Hymn-along a song ofhomegrown timber,harvested within sightof the renewed icehouse.Hum, drum, and struman anthem hailinghyper local lumberloved, labored, arrayed.Felled and milled on site,then stickered and stacked,courses upon courses,a dozen years cured,between hemlock floor,and fir paneled walls,ceiling stained from fivequarter centuries.Once towering ash,elm, and poplar treesreborn as flooring,balusters, newels, railings. Canopied colossimetamorphosed intostair treads and risers,door…
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Last Boat Swim
During Carley’s last boat swim of the summer, Susan realized that she’d done such an efficient job of cleaning out the boat to prepare for hauling and winter storage that there were no longer any throw toys for our crestfallen Labrador retriever. Uh-oh. Nary a tennis ball or frisbee. Crisis? Hardly! Master of improvisation, Susan…
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Sidewalk Upgrade Begins
Hurrah! I’m super pleased to showcase the swift progress that the Town of Essex has made so far with the sidewalk upgrade. A couple of weeks ago I met with Town of Essex Supervisor, Ken Hughes, and Town of Essex Highway Superintendent, Bradley French, to review plans for replacing the derelict (and potentially dangerous) section…
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Bird’s Eye View: Backyard
Over the last year, I’ve often relied on aerial photography to help me conceptualize icehouse rehab plans, visualize topographical integration, and plan landscape / hardscape layouts. Over the years I’ve relied upon bird’s eye view photography (thank you drone technology!) for many of Susan an my projects, so this isn’t something new. And yet, it’s…
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Hardscaping an Oasis
I’m overdue for an update on the icehouse exterior — from deck, hot tub, and grass court to sunken patio, gardens, and fire pit — at least in part because this summer’s weather has stalled many of these projects to the point of discouraging doldrums. But today I’d like to offer a glimpse at our…