Big Tree Fall Hard

Remember this?

Well, with a borrowed chainsaw we were able to clean up the downed limb after about three months of living with the limb in the backyard.

But there was still the issue of the rotting, ugly, dead spruce which with winter a-comin’ was again threatening our wee house, yard and pergola and has also been acting as a squirrel highway to our roof, and was also home to a squirrel nest, we were told.

Saturday we didn’t end up getting any more work done on the house, but that’s because we had some guests over to finish the work we’d started last spring.

My lovely co-worker Janet’s husband Matt is a talented rock climber and by day, a Tree Guy (technical term). We struck a deal with Matt who came over to help us take the rest of the tree down, and we agreed to handle the clean-up.

It really was dinner and a movie. 

Especially since along with their good company and cute puppy Booker, they brought venison hunted from the woods of Dogtown (a neighborhood of Gloucester) and freshly foraged Chicken of the Woods.

We prepared these to Matt’s instructions and sautéed them in a bit of butter… they were absolutely de-lish. Slightly earthy, sweeter than I expected, and something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. And though I’m not yet empowered (or educated) enough to take to the trails and make myself a foraged feast of mushrooms and the like, I certainly am inspired!

And so, now we have another downed tree in our wee yard to clean up (which will likely not happen until the end of the month as our social butterfly lineup continues this weekend with a trip to NEK for peak foliage, a wedding the following weekend in the Berkshires for some southern peak foliage, and finally a weekend jaunt to NYC). Matt told us that although our other downed tree, the juniper that Dad and Ryan took down (foolishly unsupervised) last spring can stay outside and take the moisture because of the “weird toxins” in its heartwood, the spruce will turn to punk if we don’t deal with it soon.

Anyone need some free firewood?

Seriously.

The Time-Money Continuum

Oh hey.  We’re still here.  Hope you didn’t give up on us.

Ryan and I have a theory about our “little” project and it goes something like this – all our plans are possible (and will eventually get done), but how quickly it does get done relies heavily on those pesky requirements of time and money.

After our first summer working on the house went something like this: work five days-demo-medicate sore muscles with beer-repeat, we promised ourselves to “Take Back Summer” in 2011.  And we did. 

Lest we burn ourselves out too quickly, this summer we made room for a couple visits to Vermont, The Cape, and even Crane Beach!  Not to mention a bit of wedding planning that has had me rather preoccupied (next to my home inspiration binder I now have a larger, and even more exciting wedding binder)! 

We also spent more time outside working on the Wee House’s wee yard and wee vegetable garden, did a lot of purging and organizing of the barn (nearly empty now), fixed our steps (which Ryan is awfully proud of using the sawzall on), and got ourselves a couple used bikes to cruise around town.

That all said… now that fall is upon us, we are very much looking forward to getting back at it. Our major projects to finish up phase one of the first floor include:

• Trim in kitchen, nook, front room
• Finish chalkboard project
• Touch up walls in front room
• Touch up floors
• Trim out new stairs, paint
• Add sheetrock wall in stairwell, paint
• Build built-in and sideboard in front room
• Wire for entertainment system
• Install gas fireplace
• Build dining room table (we have a salvaged door we plan to use)
• Install pendant light above dining room table
• Window treatments for kitchen, nook, front room
• Finish furnishing front room

It’s a lot… but not really.  But there is one high-ticket item on the list (the gas fireplace), which I am really really hoping to have done for Christmas.

So don’t give up on us!  We’re excited to put back on the work clothes and get cracking again… but this weekend only on Saturday, because Sunday we have our engagement photo shoot (What!?  It was part of our package!).

Nook glamour shot

Here's a better view of the fully upholstered and painted nook bench.

When last we left off…

The nook had no finished bench, and Ryan was 29.

Done, and done.

We had a rather impromptu Fourth of July bash, which involved our very own fireworks display courtesy of some of our partygoers that stopped first in New Hampshire.  It was a lot of fun.  The breakfast nook took a turn as a poker nook.

And Ryan and I had fun dressing the yard up for the party.

Before the big party, though, we had a motivating deadline and moved some mountains at 84 High Street.

I upholstered the banquette.

 

Ryan worked on his chalkboard project.

We hooked the lights back up in the front room.

Ryan finished up the nook bench so I had something to attach my newly upholstered bench to, trimmed out the nook and we painted all that.

Oh, and I made strawberry rhubarb sauce (so simple!) with rhubarb from our garden.

In addition to this –

We also enjoyed a Thursday Night Picnic at Crane Estate.

And had a couple days out in Townsend by the pool during the heat wave. 

While we were out there, my parents had a yard sale and we snagged a couple treasures, including a set of four chairs I am going to refinish for the dining room table.

Our hydrangea continue to flail, but check out my sister-in-law Tatyana’s.

So jealous.  She said it did nothing for 4 years and this year, it decided to be a real show off.

Mom's gardens in Townsend are also going nuts.

Still counting on that genetic green thumb...

Up next… an update on what we kept ourselves busy with this past weekend.  After a few weekends off, it felt good to be back at it!