Life at the Asa Wolverton House

Meet Eddie!

2010-10-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

I had done all the usually searching through the internet and came upon a breader close to home. With friend in car, we went to visit the litter. Mom is blue point; dad is seal. We played with the six, six week old kittens. How could I not take one home! I had first pick and went for the little guy with the racing stripe down his back. He was very rambunctious. Surely Bello, our tonkinese would find this a good playmate.

Saturday was a beatiful fall day in Paris and Hubby was taking advantage putting in the new pillars. I stragitically planned to pick up new baby and bring him home when hubby was having a great day.

Baby was in a carrying case and I dropped it carefully in front of hubby while working. He was instantly smiling and scooped "Hudson" from the cage. Hubby didnt like the name that I though would make baby a winner in our household. He said we would find a more suitable name. For the rest of the weekend, hubby carried baby around or taking pictures of baby, and still carefully introducing baby to Bello. He is not photogenic and resembled the crazy hyenna from "Lion King" cartoon. So Ed was the name picked. He looks like an Ed too.

Bello was behaving very well, better than we expected. He hissed, baby hissed, he hissed again and walked away. Bello followed Ed everywhere still staring him down and still the odd hiss. All went very well even unsupervised.

Sunday morning was fun as I let Ed out to follow me around. I went down stairs to the kitchen and forgot that baby had never seen stairs before. That was horrifying at first as he walked straight out and then dropped and tumbled to the bottom, breaking his fall by hitting the wall at the end. But Ed shook himself off and kept on running.

Today was his first visit to the vet. This is the start of cleaning out the rest of my savings account as we need three more visits for shots, flea treatments, worm treatments, declawing, neutering, etc.

Just as I was ready to leave the office, the vet came back, looking under the tail one more time.....surprise....It's a GIRL...Eddie!

Painting with the Birds

2010-09-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Summer is over and unfortately so is the warm weather needed to finish painting the house. Hubby and I have spent the last four months working on the outside the the manor. I have had a very close and personal relationship with a paint stripper that should have a nick name, but doesnt. I have taken all the paint off of the windows and balcony door.

We have choosen linseed paint as it is environmentally friendly. It's needs warm weather to apply and leaves a nice luster once three coats have been thinly applied. I am pleased to report that all eight windows and balcony door frame are painted, caulked and ready for the winter.

While working up with the birds, I have also had interesting conversations with neighbours. I love how people always ask the obvious questions. "What are you doing"; to which I reply, "feeding the birds". But it is a way of starting conversation. Some people just stop and watch. And I watch them too.

We have a major street under construction and all that traffic is rerouted past the Wolverton. I have whitnessed some strange driving habits. Lots of speeding, three point turns, and one person driving on the sidewalk to bypass slow traffic. I watch traffic merge from three roads, past our street front and bottleneck onto the main street leading to the downtown district.

Just this past weekend, hubby and I were perched side by side on the top scaffold starting to put paint on the bull's eye window. I was eye to eye with the bird's and listening to traffic almost 40' below my bench. It didnt feel right and so I asked hubby to help me down. He was willing to show me the quick way...not funny.

I have climbed up and down this 'jungle gym' for months like a monkey, but the third level... is for the birds!

Goodbye to Ms Toi

2010-09-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ms. Toi, b. April 1991, d. Sept. 2010

Today is a sad day at the Wolverton House. One of our precious family members has passed away. Ms. Toi will be sadly missed.

It's so hard to imagine that this eight pounds of fur could bring such joy to all of us for almost twenty years. She was only 2 lbs when we brought her home. Jordan was the first one to pick her out of a group of twelve fat energetic fluff balls. We spent an afternoon in a historic home that Hubby and I were actually contemplating purchasing and moving to a residential area for restoration. It was part of the LACAC (Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committees) properties looking for people like us to restoric a bit of community history.

The kids were entertained by these little critters, while Hubby and I became sidetracked to looks at architecture. A kitten was finally picked and off we went. Finding the proper name was not easy. I cant even remember now what some of the choices were, but Toy was not one of them. But after 48 hours of this little being making sqeeky noices similar to those of a chew toy, this baby was dubbed, Toy....later changed to Ms Toi (as it sounded more exautic).

Hubby would carry her in his shirt pocket as she fit perfectly and it was easy to keep track of her when we were walking through the house. She would often get stuck inside the cabinetry, behine the drawers as she could squeeze into the tinyest of places. But she grew fast.

Almost a year later from her birth date, Justin Albert Courtemanche arrived. They became instant friends as Toi would crawl into the crib and sleep on his little feet. I thing it was more the blankets that she was attracted to. As Justin grew and became more agressive, Toi found new places to sleep.

There was one day, my 15 year old daughter came to me in hesteria...."Toi ate my favorit sweater". Yes, Toi, typical bad behavior for siamese, was a wool eater. She did infact chew a grape size hold in the front center of her new 'Northern Reflection Sweater'. With such anger, I decided to get rid of this cat... and into the car she went and straight to the humane society. It wasnt just the sweater she ate, but all the cuffs from every pair of mits and gloves that came into our house. Toi just loved to eat wool.

Toi did return home as the office was closed. Joanne being very relieved and hugging her best friend swearing she could stay with us forever and would never complain again.

We were very consciencious about this little glitch and Toi did become the best pet ever. She would scream at Hubby when his voice would escalate...Oh yes, she always took my side. She would stay close to the children when they were sick in bed. She would sit at the door when we came home. She would sit at her dish for food....until it was filled...even when we had to stop everything and go to the store to purchase her next meal. Like a statue, she would freeze until dinner was served.

And I spoiled her with table scraps...driving Hubby bonkers. She slept with me, 'spooning' or resting her little head on my arm, but only staying a short while and finding her own space at the foot of the bed. She loved sleeping in the sun too.

Toi was always happy. That did change when Bello arrived. Our oldest son wanted a cat and so we found his the perfect sole mate. Unfortunately we inherited 'it' when son # one moved home. Toi did not take kindly to sharing her domain with this big brute of a cat. Handsome as he was, he had attitude and a force to be reconed with. Aunty Edna was a house guests when we were trying so desperately to unite Beauty and the Beast. When Aunty left , I am sure Toi would have gladly gone with her.

Five years later the bond began between Toi and Bello.

Now that we have spent three years at the Wolverton House, Toi has aged. Her arthritis was probably very painful and it was difficult to watch were creap from room to room and up and down the stairs. She would fall in motion and at times, tumble down the stairs. Her thyroid was an issue too. I though she was seeing ghosts and screaming at them, however it was a thyroid reaction to cry through the evenings. It was difficult at times with B&B guests to keep her quiet and so I would instantly get out of bed in the middle of night and grab the cat to comfort her.

She is no longer experience aches and will no longer cry pain. Today we made the altimate sacrifice to wrap her in a cozy fleece blanket, gift wrapped in a beautiful box covered with roses and butterflys. She now lies quietly close to the river's bank in a sunny patch of the forest. We have adorned her site with a plaque that reads "Best Friend" and surrounded her with cobble stones so she is easily spotted in the wild flowers. Next year we will build our little cabin beside her and visit her often. Toi, we thank God for letting us have you, and we give you back to Him.

RIP

Then and Now

2010-06-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

Life hasnt changed much at the Wolverton House. We still wake up each morning and decide whether to grab heat gun, crowbar or hammer.

Our projects take us outside in this great weather. The pillars are coming soon and in the meanwhile, my job is to strip all...yes "all the paint off the front of the house. But our story today is going to talk about the back yard of the Wolverton House.

When the house was originally built, the property had a severe slop but still flat enough for horses and other barn animals to graze. This house was the second one that Asa built in a series of three and the first group of houses to establish the first "residential community" for Paris. Asa's first house was built to the south (or left side) of Asa's home. He and his wife, Juliet, lived in this home for three years while building the Manor. It was modest in design with no fireplaces, unlike Asa's second home which has six.

When the John Baker and his wife Elisa purchased this home in 1867 from widow Juliet, he proceeded to terrace the back property so that he could use the land as a fruit orchard. A section of the original retaining wall can still be seen. The property has erroded somewhat over the past fifty years since a large portion of this wall has come done; and years to come we will have to restore the wall again.

Now we have maple and walnut trees. There are chestnut trees too. There are hundreds of different birds to watch. Some of our feathered friends that visit regularly are the harry, downy and red breasted woodpeckers, nutchatch, grossbeaks, carolina wrens, cardinals, orieols, hummingbirds, bluejays and many more. We have watched different hawks fly overhead and my favorite in the bald eagle. Occasionally there is a blue heron perched on one foot in the river.

Animals are plentiful here too. Although the squirrels and racoons are the most unwelcomed, they are cute to watch jumping from tree to tree. Mama racoon had three babies in our barn this spring; but she has moved across the road to holy territory...the church. The babies scream in the afternoon and on occasion escape the hole to crawl up the tree. I loved watching moma chase after one of them and drag it back to the nest. We have a beaver that is chewing down our small trees by the bank, a badger hiding in a huge hole, family of four groundhogs that visit occasionally at the base of the bird feeder. My neighbours across the river have watched the deer that I hoped to see too. I had an amazing experience just the other day when I was pulling a few taller weeds from the walkway to the stairs leading to the river. As I bent down to yank, I stopped and stared at....an animal? In less than 10 seconds, I had many critters running through my mind. A cat...hair to short; the groundhog....too big; a dog would never come to this property; ...and then the little head rolled around and looked at me! Big ears...very, very big ears...oh my gosh, it was a baby deer. My first reaction was to be friendly and say, "hello". It was off like a flash....flash of white tail and I saw spots, lots of them. This was a very young fawn and hopefully mom nearby. I was so excited I went running for the camera. I think I saw mom, or it could have been the baby again waking on the first plateau. And when I have time, I take a moment to search for them again.

We also have toads, frogs, turtles and the occasions snake named Fred.

Winter is silent at the Wolverton House. It is very cold but we see the river without the distraction of the trees. Still....lots of squirrels and racoons.

This is the best place of all to be when visiting our back yard...especially on a hot summer's afternoon!

Nuts to to the Floor

2010-04-03T04:43:00.000-07:00

We have been busy working on many projects these days. One project turns into two and so one. I went on strike one day with the laundry duties as I was tired of walking from the carriage house, outside, to the main house with washer in one building and dryer in the other. So hubby decided to make the laundry/sewing room the priority.

We got hung up on the floor choices for this room. The subfloor was put in ontop of the cement. As this was to be a work room for me, it had to have more of a cushion floor as I would be standing a lot. I suggested recycling the hardwood flooring from the original kitchen and so the job started. Here are a few pictures of the progression. I will be highlighting the stories more as I post on the before/after of each of these rooms. In the meanwhile, here is what was discovered yesterday while removing the old floor. We are restoring the cobblestone smoke house roof with the usable boards.

Pillars of the Grand Manor

2010-03-22T05:19:00.000-07:00

The Wolverton House if classified as a Greek Revival Plantation House. This is an architectual style that was prominant in the United States in the mid 1800's and the Plantation House style was popular in the Maritimes, New England States and very popular through Kentucky. The Pillars are the most important detail of Greek Revival as well as the roof style. Simply in design but always very very big and dramatic statement of design. Hubby and I always shop for our house parts by asking the first question, "is it big and gawdy enough".

Spring is hovering around the corner now and it is time that we are getting ready to continue with the seconde stage of replacing our pillars. At first we considered taking them out completely, however, the way the balcony is key locked into the columns it made it a difficult and expensive project that we decided to stay away from.

Although we are still shopping around for the right pillar, this is something that will be well under construction in the next month or so. The outer pillars are actually bigger than the inner two but all four are solid trees which makes them very heavy and awkward to duplicate. I have been eying up the old telephone poles in our neighbourhood and thinking how to relocate at least two of them to our front entrance.

Nevertheless, we are now looking at hollow fiberglass pillars, not by choice but because of availability.

The most difficult part of our assignment was removing the huge blocks of cement that encased the original column bases. My guess is that someone with Italian blood made this decision....and not a very good one either. However, back in the thirties or forties, it would have been the easiest solution. Hubby had to bring home the jack hammer to remove them and as in every step of our journey, interesting history to be uncovered.

We have found two of the bases. It is not easy to pinpoint an exact age however with the knowledge that we personally have, we believe that one might be original to the house in 1850 and the other probably from the turn of the century to as late as 1930. Both bases have the exact profile however constructed differently. The older one is made of 2" blocks glued together to form the hollow base and then turned to the correct shape; while the second is made in a dish pattern with trim molding added onto different layers. We were able to take the exact template from these profiles and will use them to reproduce the base.

We are still researching different companies to produce our pillars. Interestingly enough we did locate a local company here in Canada. At first I emailed and send pictures with request. They emailed back and asked for more details. I then received an email requesting payment for a quote from the engineering department. "What, is this for real". What company askes for payment just for a quote...and at what price. I asked again for them to respond to one of our phone numbers so we could further discuss. No response. This company must not need our business. But I waited two months and emailed again hoping for a return phone call. This time I sent the template with all the dimensions of our pillar requirements. The sketch showes clearly a left and right profile with a suggested dimension of 14". I didnt think it would matter if it were 14", 18" or even 20". They emailed back and asked that I send the second profile for the 16" pillar (2 are 14", and 2 are 16").

This is clearly a red flag to leave well enough alone and forget working with this company. As hubby said the other day, if this is how they conduct business, what is their service like after the fact...and if an error occures, we are screwed.

We have now located another company in PA who responded immediately to our email send out on Sunday. I feel good with this one. The sales rep. left a phone number and invited us to call at our convenience.

After taking out the pillars and preparing for the new cement base pad, we discovered that the original Limestone patio stones still exist. How sad that previous owns poured a cement layer over it to burry it forever. It is estimated that it would have been a $20,000 patio in today's pricing. How sad...as it would have been amazing to restore this....alas chipping cement off would just destroy it.

We hopefully will have our exterior completed by year end....and will continue this post.

Portrait of Asa Wolverton

2010-03-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is as obsessed with the home as we are, will appreciate the journey we have been on to locate a picture of the original builder/owner of our home. I have spent many hours in the museum archives and ancestory sites, library, etc, researching the family responsible for building this manor.

It was at the library, almost two years after starting our restoration that I decided to check out the file for "Wolverton". Dont know why it took me so long, but it did. And low and behole, there was a photo copy, black and white, of this very portrait. It was at that time that I knew it existed. I was also lucky to find the book that was published by a decendant with 150 years of geneology records. Unfortunately, Asa and Juliet (his wife) did not have children, so that it made it very difficult to find information. But I did contact the author of the ancestory book, Harold Wolverton. We started to correspond via the internet and I was able to meet other Wolverton's.

While reading this book, I also discovered that my family ancestors were inter-married to the Wolvertons back in the 1800's. My direct roots go back to Kentucky where the Bryan, Boones (yes the Daniel Boone clan) and the Wolverton's settled. Joseph Bryan married Nancy Wolverton around 1805.

It was in September of '08 that we had our home on tour for the County of Brant. In less six hours we welcomed over four hundred people through our Parlour Poladium Window (like a french door only exterior). Two of our guests were Wolverton decendants. That was an exciting day for us! I invited them to come back so we could talk. Judy Palmer and her husband have a maple sugar farm somewhere in Ontario, I think. Cristine lives in NWT and was living briefly in Toronto while going to school. (BTW, both ladies are our age). Both Ladies are great, great grand neices of Asa and Juliet. Cristine and I connected immediately. She is an amazing and interesting lady. She had come to visit the Wolverton House many times and we still keep in touch.

Cristine was able to point me into the direction that lead me to the portrait. Many years back, she and her mother saw it while vacationing in Europe.

So I went back to Harold who gave me the addresses of Mary Sheppard and her husband Stephen. Mary resides in Edmonton as she is researching and writing a book about her famous father and her husband is living in Sheffield, England in the family home....where the portrait hangs. Mary is the great grand daughter of Asa's brother Enos.

I sent letters to both addresses and got a response via phone and letter from Mary. She too is a delightful lady, now in her mid eighties. Within three months, and three letters, and....a bit of money...I now have a 600dpi of the Wolverton Portrait.

We are not sure how old it is, perhaps from the 1840's, however it is an actual camera photo that was oil painted. We are now in the process of having this "picture" duplicated and have it oil painted.

With much discussion, hubby and I are sure that this is the very wall that the portrait original hung in the dining room. The holes in the wall are from the blown in insulation, however the black line above those holes is where a picture rail was installed. Hook and small chains were used to hang pictures back in the day. (not like today where we ram a fat nail in the wall, cracking plaster). This is an alcove, 19" deep. The black part of the lower wall is probably where the wainscott was glued to the wall (probably tar based) and the darker grey section just above the tar is where the chair rail was attached to the lath. Now it is plaster over; looks like cement. We believe there might have been a large side board or serving buffet sitting in this alcove with Asa's portrait handing over it. It is our goal to do this again.

The Front Door - Title of the House

2010-02-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a beautiful Front Door...that grew old and ugly. I am always in awe when I come home and entre through this amazing entrance.

It was not the project of choice, but rather an opportunity knocking..sort of speaking. I was caught up in stripping the woodwork in our front entrance. I had already spent 18 months with my heat gun taking off layers of paint from stairs, spindles, risers, baseboards and everything, anything that was white. I believe that at the onset of life at the Wolverton House, all the front foyer was shellac, varnish or anything sheer and shiny. There is evidance that there was a flogging treatment or graining all the wordwork visible from the front door. The side lights have a unique diamond pattern with individual set in panes of hand blown glass.

The weather was heating up and I started leaving the main door open with the shuttle letting fresh air while my heat gun was melting off the toxic lead paint. The weather was soo nice that I decided one day to take my heat gun and test the paint removal of the shutter.

The shutter was really ladened with multiple colours and so thick that it cracked and curled. With the heat burning hot, the paint bubbled and blistered with great ease and the flat surface of the main frame was so easy. I decided to steer away from the tedious baseboard work. Afterall, a change is as good as a rest and this was looking like an excuse to sit outside and not trapped inside anymore.

Hubby was not amused that I changed direction. This was my downfall with this magnitude of project, but at least I was still working on the project. Any work is better than no work!

I had extension cords, putty knives, scrappers, sandpaper, screwdrivers and any other tool that we aid in my goal to get paint from every shutter blade...and there are lots of them. I counted them one day and almost changed my mind. But the project was well started and now it was a commitment fo finish. I had my favorite rock to wedge the door open and worked on one side and then the other.

Days turned into weeks and it didnt look like I was accomplishing anything. But there were gargage bag after garbage bag of paint chips and dust. The shopvac came out every night to vacuum what was scooped with the broom and shovel.

I started to attract curious onlookers including the little old lady, 82 I think, across the road who would sit by the window in her second floor apartment. I was her source of entertainment for most of the summer.

One bright sunny day in July, I had a gentleman stop to talk about my project. He was facinated with the construction of the door and probably more that this door was still attached after 160 year. He commented that he loved working with a heat gun. This was my opportunity to invite him to join my team. He volunteered on the spot. Without even asking his name I rushed into the house and grabbed my second heat gun, face mask, sandpaper and more scrappers. It was about 20 minutes into our dual efforts that hubby came out to meet my new friend. I couldnt even do a proper introduction, as I still didnt know his name. Didnt matter, he was working on our project with us.

Hubby was amazed too and commented that this was a first as nobody has ever volunteered before. Wayne came back a few more times to help. I hope he knows how thankful we are for his time and effort.

It took more than four months to clean the door down. There were many, many colours of paint; white, grey, black, dark hunter green, kelly green, cream. mint green and probably lighter and darker versions of the colours. If you do the math on all the colours, and perhaps two coats of each colour, that equates to at least 16-20 coats of paint over all those years. The original colour was buttermilk paint and did not strip off, however it did sand off beautifully.

People were driving by and actually stopping now and asking what I was doing and what colour would be going on next. Hubby took down the door once it was completely paint free and took it to the work room to level the bottom and complete the restoration before the new colour applied. I moved on to strip the frame and windows around the door frame, including stripping the 1/4 inch thick paint on the threshold.

Hubby and I went to an Expo 2009 Restoration trade show and were introduced to a Linseed oil paint that is enviromentally friendly. We were also told that it would last up to fifty years. The paint is rejuvienated with a quick rub of linseen oil approximately ever 10 years. That would mean that we never have to paint again! The only down side is that there were limited colours choices and we would have to custom mix our preferred colour.

We placed our order and by October, I was finally starting to paint. Yes, I was now on month five of painted our front door. By November, the job was complete. Hubby and son installed over 100 screws to reinforce the shutter door frame, cut the bottom off and attached a new and straight base to the lower edge, and filled cracks, gouges and missing edges with bondo. Hubby and I caulked the details to the side lights and even puttied some of the windows back in. Windows were cleaned. From start to finish, and meeting many of our neighbours for the first time, we completed another project. It only took six months!

The Larder...Room with a View

2010-02-24T06:28:00.000-08:00

After a quick search through Wikipedia, this is the explanation I found for Larder:

A larder is a cool area for storing food prior to use. Larders were commonplace in houses before the widespread use of the refrigerator.

Essential qualities of a larder are that it should be: as cool as possible, close to food preparation areas, constructed so as to exclude flies and vermin, easy to keep clean, equipped with shelves and cupboards appropriate to the food being stored.

In the northern hemisphere, most houses would arrange to have their larder and kitchen on the north or east side of the house where it received least sun.

Many larders have small unglazed windows with the window opening covered in fine mesh. This allows free circulation of air without allowing flies to enter. Many larders have tiled or painted walls to simplify cleaning. Older larders and especially those in larger houses have hooks in the ceiling to hang joints of meat or game. Others have insulated containers for ice, anticipating the future development of refrigerators.

We definitely have a typical larder, sitting in the north east corner of our lower level....expecially the 'cool' definition. Im not sure that there was success keeping vermin out. We do have our hunter roaming this territory on a frequent schedule. He is definitely a star trapper. Several time this year he has caught at least two critters and probably just outside of the larder, or as it is now called, "our 'working' kitchen".

In true definition, this is the coldest room in our house even though Hubby installed a floor heat vent and some heat from the fridge vent. Even heat from the stove will heat the room to a tolerable temperature. But making bread just isnt happening in our new kitchen without the help of the bread maker. And last year I worked weeks to perfect the perfect loaf that just wasnt happening.

After three "wash closets" were established, the kitchen was our next and most detailed project. Hubby and son started by employing the crowbars and ripping our cupboards and exposing pipes that went nowhere and antiquated plumbing pipes that were starting to decay and rot. There was huge areas of black mould growing in the corners.

I heard a loud crack, smash and hubby hollering up the stairs, "don't come down here...the sky is falling". Well naturally, this leo is a curious cat and down the stairs I ran. The corner wall unit was unwedged from ceiling to floor and removed from the room. The ceiling with it's heavy vinyl peal n stick surface decided to dislodge the plaster from the lath and crash to the floor.
I guess this ceiling was not going to be saved. One of the major objectives to our restoration projects is to save everything no matter how impossible it presents itself. But this wasnt going to happen with this part of the room. So Hubby and Son scooped up all the debrae and contiued to pull the lath off as well.

It was only days later that Hubby had his hernia operation. Nothing major as it was not an issue yet, but with the project in full swing, it was time to do some health maintenance. He was in and out in less than six hours and agreed to watch son and I attempt to pull off the layers of tiles, subfloor, nails, nails and more nails. We scrapped with shovels, used our crowbars until two days into this, Hubby got frustrated with our 'lack of technique', grabbed the shovel and finished the job in less than 1/2 hour. I pleased to report that he is still in perfect health.

The original floor looked amazing to me. I was so excited until Hubby started prying off the entrance boards to see what was happening to the plumbing. The more he looked, the more the boards came off, until the decision was made that the boards had to all come off.

For months we had nothing more than dirt, dirt, and more dirt...and floor joices that were not doing anything. Most were starting to rot while burried in the dirt. However there was one dug out area that had hundreds of dried walnuts and one little skeleton, probably a squirrel, that didnt survive one long cold winter, perhaps 100 years ago (when the first plumbing was probably installed in this home).

Now that we had three new bathrooms, we needed contemporary plumbing to service our needs, this mean digging the dirt, putting it in a wheel barrow outside the kitchen door and throwing it over the embankment. How convenient! But all good things come to an end ...or in our case a nasty new beginning. The inspector had to be called in. We are probably one of the few homeowners in Paris....doing our own restorations....working with a REAL work permit! The inspector insisted that, according to the code of 2008, we needed to have a space of 18" under the floor boards. That meant taking out ALL the dirt to a level of 18" or in this case, digging to China. Vapor barrier had to be used and then we could complete our project.

Months have gone by and Im getting anxious. If you havent figured this out by now, we had three new bathrooms and NO kitchen. Hubby gave me a laundry sink in the neighbouring room, BBQ outside and of course my best friend..."the crock pot". Pizza delivery and chineses was on the menu...a lot! I also had the kitchen from our B&B suite that was a blessing when we didnt have guests.

Now with the dirt being removed, the joices being exposed, we had new problems. Nothing holding up the house as joices were heaving and cracking and breaking apart. Hubby had to be build from the foundation up. Cement blocks, cement forms built, and yes we had the best opportunity to crank up the entire north end of the house and level it out. The house was raised 1 3/4" to a perfect flat. Even the wall cracks in the parlor closed up and doors are now hanging square.

The insulation was sprayed around the foundation and it was finally time to put everything back together. Although time consuming, the new floor boards (recycled from an 1880 neighbouring community farm house) arrived and Hubby installed them. We finished the floor by sanding, staining, urathaning and paper covering to continue to finish the walls, install the custom cupboards and install fixtures and furniture. The cupboards are triple painted with buttermilk paint that was hand mixed from lye powder and pigment. Then sanded, oiled, distressed and urathaned. We have an amazing Douglas Fir wood slab for the counter top and a drop in farmers sink. Although there are still a few details to work on, the kitchen is complete and ....even with heavy socks, shoes, sometimes boots, earmuffs and mits in our 14 degree climate...

I am lov'n it!

Heart of the House

2010-02-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

If you have every gone shopping for a house, it is always the kitchen and bathrooms that has to make the first, and best impression. Well that is for 99% of the people looking for the right home. I have never had that desire to find the perfect cooking space or powder room, but rather the largest dining room. This isnt to say that the kitchen isnt important, but after the meal is prepared, it's all about the food we eat and the people we share it with. Bathrooms are just for the necessities of preeming and grooming. Im in and out fast.

Hubby and I have always shopped for the project house and overlook the decor that is the reflection of someone's efforts to satisfy their own life style. We have the appreciation of a simpliar life style; one that reflects a style more than 100 years or more. Seeing the Wolverton House on moving day was quite different than the way it is now and where it wil be in another three or so years. On moving day, the crowbar was the first item out of the box!

With paper and pen in hand, we start with the list of where to start. I wanted the kitchen, not because it was so important to have a pretty place to prepare food, but because it was a necessity to run a Bed and Breakfast. We had a working kitchen in the lower level and another in the second floor that has the ensuite bathroom now. It was easiest to keep the apartment kitchen in tact as it already had the appliances. After at least two months of stripping wall paper and paint and crowbarring out excess ceilings, walls, doors, etc, I decided visiting auntie in the states was a great thing to do...and when I returned there was no kitchen at all, or bathrooms! All the plumbing pipes were in the back of the pick up truck. And the water meter seemed to be running up a large tab too. But I have told that story already.

It seemed that Hubby decided, in my absence, to complete the plumbing for the entire house and work at three bathrooms at one time. If any of you have ever had to build a washroom from bare walls to finished powder room, you know that it can be quite the under taking and very stressful. Hubby insisted that I put the design to paper and do three at one time. This way all the plumbing and electrical got done in one big project instead of three little ones that take more time in the end.

We had the 1891 Tub out for restoration. I had my doubts. It was quite the piece of crumpled alluminum and the rim was in a cardboard box in three pieces with the forth one missing. Hubby tried several times to tell me what a gem it was. Ebay supplied us with the original magazine advertisment and there was hope.

The 1880 footed tub arrived shortly after. Another jewel from Hubbies family, I think. I could see more potential for that one. I purchased a paint kit for the inside and started with the little sponge/scrubbie and gave it a good cleaning. Didnt do much, but at least it was clean. I left the bottom for Hubby to finish. I purchased my wallpaper as I needed inspiration and drive to start. Hubby purchased the paint for the second tub. He didnt ask but just picked a colour hoping I would be OK with it. He was lucky and I spent months searching the purfect paper for the neighbouring room so the colour would work....as it was not ever close to the wall paper planned.

The main floor bathroom came with a different set of problems. The door was too wide and when opening into the room, the 1890 tub didnt fit anymore. The three papers were purchased and colour scheme established according to each level of this home. Now the blue room and the red room had to flip flop. How was this going to work when the red was only to be featured on the second floor and the main floor parlor and library were designed to be teal blue. The tub was already in the paint shop with paint purchased and sprayed and coordinating perfectly with the teal and putty toile paper. Too late to worry, just flip flop the designs and continue with plan B. I had lost a bit of my incentive for design as Hubby continued to fix the joices and floors, and recycle baseboards and make new ones. Everything, with lots of time started to come together. Hubby made an announcement that I had 48 hours to find a vanity to fit a 24" space. It was a funny little corner with not much room. And with the way the "new plumbing" was installed, there was no way to put in a pedestal sink. Again, luck was with me and my friend/antique dealer just happened to have a tiny oak washstand that would fit the spot. We struggled with some of the next details of finding the perfect sink and fixtures, but again with lady luck on our side, we found a discontinued sink that was the right size and ordered facets to match. The blue room-turned to red was well on the way to completion. The Blue room was also close to finish, as well as the yellow ensuite. I found two 'cheap' sink and vanities a Liquidation World and figured these would work just find until I had the time to hunt down what I really wanted. Now that they are installed at their appropriate room, they will stay forever. I refinished the vanity for the blue room and actually like it a lot. It looks custom after a good scraping of paint, fresh new colour, new (expensive) fixtures and a scrubbing of antique wax...and costing less than $400.

After eight months, we had three new bathrooms that all worked. Curtains were sewn and hung and it was time to retire the chamber pot for ever!

The Library

2010-02-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

It has been a very long journey for us to get the Wolverton House at a 'some-what' livable stage. After all of our hard work, rooms are getting ripped apart, restored and decorated. I am excited to say that the library is a well used and appreciated corner of this house.

At the onset, the library was the main floor bathroom. It had a funny little hallway leading into it from the parlor and the ??office/computer room?? You will see from the first picture that there is an 'A' framed board that was the interior structure for the ceiling of the tub.

For the first couple of months, hubby and I stripped wallpaper from every room, including the library. While in the Dining room, we discovered that there was a large built in china cupboard with open shelves on the top, large counter top, two huge drawers under the top and two more shelves under the drawers. To this day, we are still trying to invision what they cabinet might have looked like.

It was shortly after finding the outline of this cabinet when hubby announced that he found the cabinet. I was horrified to discover that it was used to build the interior structure for the tub. Downspouts were used for ductwork and wallpaper ontop of wallpaper and paint between layers. Once the room was stripped of all excess materials, it was an interest history to be found on the walls.

To the left of the doorway was a clear outline of shelving with wooden blocks to attach a wall unit too. There must have been a large, deep decorative header board to the cupboard which was obviously built before the plaster was put on the lath. The top 18" of the wall showed no evidence of having any plaster on it at all. The baseboards were painted mint green on that wall and only the original paint. It was the original buttermilk paint as I could not remove it with my heat gun or paint stripper. That didnt matter because, afterall, it was to be painted.

Hubby had to strip out several of the floor boards that were hacked from putting in the plumbing. The original library (or study) had two entrance doors; one came in from the main hall way and the other from the parlor. Hubby and I made the executive decision to keep a main floor bathroom using half of the original library space and also add a doorway from washroom to library. This way, the little room 10' x 9' would be used as a small bedroom if there became a need. We had to drop the ceiling height by 12" as the plumbling for the master's ensuite is above.

At one stage of our restoration, while the room was stripped, we used it as the tool room. It was quite convenient to store everything from drill to hammer, nuts, bolts, screws and even ladders. It was a catchall for everything including mounds of dust. But that is all part of our life style these days. And although the house is coming together, we are still tearing apart major rooms.

The day finally came when hubby picked the library as choice project. Once the bathrooms were complete and there was a kitchen I could use, the library was the next construction zone.

Floor boards were replaced, floor sanded, calked, painted three times and ready for wallpaper. The wallpaper came from California. It was custom printed from the original printing machine, paints and paper. The paper we chose was a strip designed in 1850 for the Netzley-Yender House, Lisle, Illinois. The paper was printed 18 3/4" wide on a 29" wide paper. That meant that I had to trim both edges of the paper before hanging. I also had to make my own paste. It was an original recipe of flour and water.

That sounds really simple and basic, however there is quite the instructions to follow in order to make the right paste that is the right consistancy and without lumps. I had to sterilize the water, flour, boil, strain, cool before using. It had to be brushed on quickly and evenly and that was not as easy as it sounds. The other inconvenience was that each length of paper took one batch of paste. It took approximately five days to complete my task of hanging this paper. But it looks great and I wouldnt have chosen any other paper for this project.

Once the room as dressed it was time to place in the furniture. It is still a small room, but it works well with the computer, two chairs, and bookcase that replaced the built in bookcase.

The last item and most important is the drapery. As this was the home that Asa built for himself, he cut corners and did not complete the trim details on all the windows. In the Library, the window trim is nothing more than 1" round dowel. So I concluded that there would have been a full formal drapery covering this window (or in the day, two windows). However, this now being half the room, east window exposure with morning sun only, as well as shadowed by the roof line of the balcony, I decided to put up cranes and have a swing rod with simple embroidered linen panels. This drapery is then able to open up and expose full window and allow full window exposure.

I look forward to May, open windows and enjoy fresh smell of spring. That is my favorite thing to do.

The Netzley-Yender House before/after pictures. Painted in summer of 2007

Sad ending to a Happy New Beginning

2010-02-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

For over 18 months now I have been storing over 50 wedding gowns, 50 or more formal gowns, at least 100 pair of white satin shoes and many little bridal accessories. Anyone who has ever been on the Kijiji website, craigs list, ebay, or the likes has probably seen many of these items posted for auction.

Well today all of this stuff has been relocated to a new location. I am sad but proud to announce that I have donated anything bridal related to http://www.thebridesproject.com/ "Fighting Cancer One Dress At A Time". This is a not for profit organization that operates with only volunteers that dedicate their time to run a bridal boutique in downtown Toronto. Their mission is to raise money and donate all proceeds to organizations that fund camping experiences for terminally ill children, children with cancer and the likes. Last year The Brides Project was able to donate $15,000.

Dorothy and Steve arrived at the Wolverton House today around 1:00pm and left by 2:30. It took one and half hours to load their rental cube van. Dorothy was crying when she was leaving...not sad tears by tears of gratitude to think that so many beautiful gowns existed for this donation. She was telling me that they were praying for a miracle as they were running out of sellable inventory and afraid that they might not see another year with this venture.

I am so proud today that I too am almost in tears. It is a sad day as I am closing a chapter of my life that was with me for over four decades; more than half of my life. However Hubby is happy as we can now venture forward with the completion of the Wolverton House without brides trespassing on those weekends that are most precious as our working days for this project. I have no more excuses and now have to settle down to work on the major rooms such as the dining room, parlour and most importantly, the front hallway.

From this day forward, I will keep a bit of myself involved in campagning to find other bridal shops that are willing to donate to this cause. I believe that all children have the right to a healthy and happy future and I will do my part.

Coming in June, I will be shaving my head again and raising money for Angel Hair For Kids. From 2006 to 2008, I was able to raise and donate $4,000 plus six hair locks including my own. I am currently in contact with "rally for life" event in our community through the Cancer Society. I am hoping that anyone who is reading this will reach deep into their pockets and donate for a worthy cause. http://www.angelhairfoundation.org/hair_donations.cfm

For now, I will enjoy the empty house and the warmth of my hair until summer arrives. Please join the cause!

Baby It's Cold Outside

2010-02-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like winter has finally arrived. I didnt realize until today just how cold it is.

About six weeks ago, I told hubby I was on "laundry" strike. I was not going to walk up and down stairs from the carriage house to the main house or in and out through the kitchen through snow to get to my washing machine in the other side of the house. He promised to start my laundry room and that in a matter of weeks (or months) I would have my laundry/sewing/craft room.

Hubby said he had rehooked up the laundry tub as this would make it easier for me to have a convenient sink to continue to clean paint brushes, cleaning cloths and the likes. This was my first clue that the laundry applicances would not be sitting side by side for a while. There was definitely going to be delays, as I had already predicted even before the tub was reinstalled.

We have part of our summer dining room floor being relocated to the laundry room. It is still usable hardwood and would make for a nicer floor for working on. I am anxious to see what the 160 year old floor looks like underneath too. So far "it aint to pretty" but nothing in this house had that look of 'lota potential' when the project started.

So by know we all know that laundry is still an ongoing career in this household. Even though I have picked out my choice of applicances...the Kenmore 5 cu.ft capacity washer and matching dryer. SIL was with me when we...I druelled over the dryer, practically juming inside to check out the interior space. It will hold up to 28 towel...wooohooo! The washer is big enough to double as a hot tub. Speaking of which is my story for today.

As I was on my daily routine to do laundry, I remembered that I have guests in The Carriage House for the next three days. This means that I have to do the outside run between territories in order to take washed laundry to the dryer in the main manor. I have not ventured outside over the past six weeks, at least not while the roof was being installed...and it was much to cold to take wet laundry out into such frigid temperatures.

Today would be the first time and as always, on my trek through the snow, I stop and check the chemicals in the hot tub and make sure all is operating correctly. To my horror, the tub was not running....not hot...not even cold, but frozen over and ready for ice fishing. Did the roofers use my electrical power for their equipment...or how about the carpenter who caused leaking from the master bedroom window because of facia board missing through the rain storm. Or was it just too damned cold and the artic winds passing by the river beating against the side of the plastic tub.

Nevertheless, who ever or what ever I could blame was not going to change the fact that my precious tub was frozen solid and I had to do something to save it from it's death and possibly mine.

Hubby and I never did see eye to eye on the benefits of owning a hot tub. He would never think to use one and I thought that it would be a great bonus for the guests that choice to pick their B&B destination because of the extra features. Without hubby's approval, I went out and purchased a cute and practical tub that would seat four but easy to move if needed. It takes little water and I can change it frequently, especially because it would be used by travelling guests.

I called service to see what could be done. I have to break the ice and empty the hub. This was not as difficult as it sounds, although I was a bit nervous that it would be dangerously cold on my hands. With quick thinking, I put on my "magic gloves" and rubber gloves overtop. Took my bucket and shamwhow and off to empty the tub. It only took two minutes! Clean! The service rep arrived on time and we both examined the situation. We would have the tub removed to the service centre and they would thaw out the tub. But I came up with a second plan to move it inside...and save money too. I grabbed the tape measure and low and behold....plan B.

When Hubby finds out that we are going to move the tub through our kitchen doorway and set it on it's side to 'thaw' on the construction site, I will surely be dead by sundown!

There must be a positive side to this story...with it in the summer dining room, I can convert it into a whirlpool clothes washer closer to the dryer!

******

Red Ribbon Day

2010-01-30T05:45:00.000-08:00

We have finally finished the Master Bed Room and Ensuite. It has been a very, very long time coming.

When we moved in, in August 2007, this room as part of the upstairs apartment. The largest room was the "living room" and the kitchen off from that room. Now, as it was originally 159 years ago, it is the masters bedroom and the only bedroom of the manor. The little room (10'x8") off of this room was a walk in closet or storage room. There were definite signs of this room having the beaded boards with pegs, nails or hooks mounted on the walls to the right and the left. Now we have a four piece ensuite.

The bathroom went in a year ago when we had the other two bathrooms installed at the same time. This was hubby's way of doing all the plumbing at one time. This is the most practical way for a contractor to work and plan construction, however not the most practical way for a family living in the construction zone. I remember a time when I had to escape the mess and visited my aunt in the states. In the three weeks that I was away, I assumed that hubby would have everything completed upon my arrival home.

He promised that I would have plumbing that worked. It worked alright, however it was one step past using a chamber pot...and I didnt even have the bed yet to put one under. When I arrived home, he was so proud to get the project advanced to the stage it was at. However, I was not amused to find out that, although there was a toilet, there was nothing else working. Water was not hooked up yet. There were two buckets of water sitting by the edge of the thrown. One was for gravity flushing and the other for washing my hands. Not trusting how clean the water actually was by the end of the day, and at times it was just an empty bucket used for the last flush. I had bottles of water sitting on the tank with paper towelling, just in case. The guys could have cared less, afterall, the trees in the backyard were just as useful to them.

We still had the "Carriage House" next door and that was a saving grace especially for showering. We had a busy B&B season too. So I had a great routine. Guests would not arrive till mid to late after noon and would leave by no later than 11am. So that gave me a window time of approximately 4 to 5 hours to clean the apartment and take a shower while cleaning that room. However it became a bit awkward when our guests were booked in for more that just one night. When more that three days, I would have to use the Riverlane Suite. We had plan 'C' as there was always a shower in "the Shop". Not the most ideal conditions as this was an auto shop and not a very clean one, but nevertheless, a place with running water.

So when it came time to complete the rooms and install fixtures, I had the assignment to wallpaper, paint and complete the room's decor before toilet, tub and vanity were set in place. The floor actually took the most time as some of the floor boards had to be replaced, then stripped and sanded. We painted, caulked and painted twice more. The floor was sealed and finshed. The room was complete. The plumber was called in for installations.

That was exactly one year ago this week. It was like 100 years ago in my mind now remembering the day that Hubby and I arrived home from work at 5:30...opening the front door and finding our son standing on the stairs saying , "I shut every down. It just exploded". Looking to the left into the Parlor was a "rain forest" The far corner of the room was 'raining' through the ceiling. With quick reaction, we grabbed every bowl, pot, towel and covererd the electronics, floor furnishings. I grabbed the mob and soaked the water drops from the ceiling cracks. Within half and hour, all was ok. The tub pipe burst. It was a freak accident that should not have happened, but it did and thank goodness it happened this way and not at a time we were away for hours or days. The water source is temporarily turned off now and only to be used when tub is used. We anticipate that this will turn out to be a laundry hamper for the most part!

Now one year later, I am please to say it is the Red Ribbon Day. The master room is painted, wallpapers, furnished and the TV works! I love sleeping a my own bed. The past years we have slept in every guest bed from here to the Riverlane Suite. Sometimes on rare occasions sleeping on the sofa in the Parlor, or on a mattress on the floor in the master room or library when we had a full house B&B booking.

Actually we could have moved in much earlier, however, I had this vision of the perfect floor cloth to complete my historic decorating. This meant stapling a painters canvas 12'x14' to the centre of my newly stripped pine floor. The project was going really well until I decided I didnt like the first pattern and decided to paint over and start again. This was the first week. The second week we had another set back when there was another freak accident and the rain entered in through an outside wall that was missing a facial board (carpenter didnt think this would happen, but it did) The wall was soaked from attic to cellar. I removed four strips of wallpaper, sash window and waited for the wall to dry and Hubby to fix the window. The floor was soaked in an area too and had to unstaple part of the floor cloth and put a heater down to heat up the room.

So floor cloth was on hold...and I cried for two days. Floor dried quickly and started again on the cloth. I had rolls of masking tape to grid off my pattern. This took three weeks to paint my stencil on...and it was magnificant! The day to verathane and then the bed to come in...very excited time for me. At 10am the first coat of covering. Ran out! The paint store said it would give me enough to coat it twice. I couldnt even get 2/3 covered. I headed out quickly to the hardware store...and boxing day. Picked up a gallon of something that was promised to be the same stuff. Got home and finished the first coat. Five hours later, put on coat number two. I read the instructions (after the fact) and decided everything was as it should be. It mentioned to put on liberaly and with a brush. That seemed to be time consuming and I took the short cut of using a roller and smoothing it out with the brush. The instructions said it would go on a bit 'milky' in colour...and it did. Two hours later, it was still 'milky' and making me a bit nervous. By morning, it was a mess. Dried hard as rock and nothing clear about it.

I had ruined my floor cloth. How could this be? I had to wait to call in the morning to the manufacturer. Monique was quite nice and very knowleged. She suggested that I put it on too thick and with the extra heat in the room, dried the top to quickly for the under part to dry. She assured me that it would eventually dry...maybe in a month or so. I didnt want to hear that. She suggested I sand off the top to "crack" the top layer and get air to the under coat. After days of watching, adding more heat, and crying some more, I decided to do a reverse stencil and at least see the red of the under coat. That took another three days.

I used the same product and brushed on a top coat. I used the brush and scrubbed in on until it was almost dry and not milky. It is fabulous. Not as good as the original but definitely an aged look...perhaps better...after the fact.

Hubby unfortunately has only shared the room for the weekend. I have a nasty cold and kicked him out. But he comes in at 7:00 and turns on Canada AM for me...and all is well :)

******

See Food Diet...First Party of 2010

2010-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:00

We are now four days into January 2010 and I dont want to see food for at least the rest of the month. Christmas finally arrived in full swing on the 24th of December, just as I had predicted. Our tree was a fabulous price especially purchasing it days before the big day. I wanted to find a 9 footer, however settled for what I thought to be 8'. By the time it arrived at the house still in the stretchy net bag, I carefully set it up just to the side of our front entrance. Forgetting that our eave troughts were removed for the new roof construction, the roof dripped icy water on our tree coating it with lovely three inch icicles. It was very pretty, if only we could keep these 'alive' for the duration of the holidays. So hubby dragged it through the root cellar door and there it sat to defrost before bringing it into the dining room.

The 12 dozen cookies, six boxes of Ferraros, four boxes of marshmallow santas and snowman, candycanes, truffles, and 48 Kinder eggs and much more landed on the dining room table. It was 4pm on the 24th when our guests started to arrive and started the dressing of the tree. There wasnt enough tree for our goodies. It was the oddest shaped tree with branches missing and the bottom was hacked off in the strangest configuration. But it was our Christmas tree and all 6' feet of it was dripping with "sugarry treats".

We had a marvelous feast the same as everyone else would have and too much to drink. It was the perfect party. Christmas day came quietly with a simple breakfast. It was a long quiet day, just as we wanted. Son number one and wife left for the inlaws and then on to India for their three week honeymoon.

I was glad there wasnt that much food left and we had simple meals for the rest of the week. Even new years eve can with quietness. We had the usual munchies and left overs.

The party was on the 2nd. It was a birthday party for the twins, hubby, as well as celebration for the new year. This is the party that we eat like bears getting ready to hybernate for the rest of the winter. Im sure everyone of us could find a cave and sleep for the next six weeks.

Im embarrased to tell the menu of shrimp, crab puffs, artichoke hearts, antipasta and crackers, king crab, lobster, double baked cheese potatoes and cake, cookies, tree goodies, profiteroles etc. There was enough food for thirty people and there were only 8 of us. Im pleased to say that we didnt eat the birthday cake...and pleased to say that we will not need to eat for the next four weeks.

The pictures are self explanatory....many empty plates!

******

What...no key!

2009-12-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a little more than two years that we were unable to live in the main manor. There was still insufficient hydro, plumbing, and many other simple conveniences that so many of us take for granted. We did have the Carriage House though that was attached located next door. The home was originally built in a unique fashion of having the main manor, ajacent carriage house, or buggie barn as it was once called, and the barn attached at the end.

I just try to imagine what the noices...and smells, must have been like in the 1850's. This was the first area in "upper town of Paris" designated for "residential" and this family had so many of the luxuries such as a horse drawn carriage. Today our barn holds different transportation. Hubby has his brand new Cadi Truck stored for the winter. Asa would have been amazed by this set of wheels, especially being in the lumber business. This man had built his barn in such a design as to have the stable under the barn and the hay drop above. The carriage house was designated for several carriages that we can imagine as there were two doors that opened. Each door a different size and can conclude that perhaps he designed these entrances to suit the styles of carriages or surrie that he owned at the time. The smells and the noices from the barn would have been overwhelming on a warm summer's night, however in the dead of winter, there would likely be little, if any odour at all. However, if you stand in the barn on a still August night, you might hear the sound of horse whinnying. The smell of hay is still there as I discovered when I was wallpapering so many years ago.

Now as I started to tell, we had the availability of our Carriage House to live in. It is converted now to a Bed and Breakfast suite that has its own bathroom, kitchen, two queen beds and the comfort of "home away from home". At the onset of restoring the manor, we would work all evening and retire next door where we could shower, watch TV and sleep the night...if we didnt have guests booked for those evenings. I remember one night that the three of us (hubby, son and I) laboured over the removal of the many layers of wall papers and paint. It was a saturday in December and we spent all day and night scrubbing and scrapping. When we had had enough, we would pack up our things and run from the main entrance, across the snow covered driveway and enter the Carriage House for the night.

We had nestled down in front of the TV, enjoyed a great movie and fell asleep.

I am a morning person and that means that at the first break of morning, I am up....yes, even at 5:30. I though I could sneak next door and jump on the computer that was still set up in one of the upstairs rooms or perhaps at that time even in the hallway. Nevertheless, it was a great time to just sit and surf or play games or have quiet time to myself. It wasnt long when I discovered that I didnt have my coat. I had left it next door...and in the pocket was my key. Not a problem, hubby would have his key...and with that I started to search in the dark for his jeans. Nothing. No coat either. How could this be. Were we both so tiered that we couldnt move next door fast enough? So here I was, trapped in darkness and no place to go, nothing to do. I couldnt turn on the TV as that would wake everyone up, couldnt turn a light, as kitties would wake up and start jumping over hubby...and that was definitely not something I wanted to do. So I sat, and sat, and sat...eventually surcoming to crawl back into bed where I lie with eyes wide open. I watched the clock tick away until finally the room was lite with morning sun and finally the 8:30 churchbells rang out. Surely that would wake hubby. It wasnt until 9 O'clock...the day almost over, or at least for me before movement in the other side of the bed. Finally, hubby would be able to tell me where his key was.

With eyes slowly opening, I sprung into idle chatter, explaining in a thousand words or less my plight and asking for his key...finally! "It's on the other side". "But I have no key either". Brilliant man suggests checking son's pockets. Why didnt I think of that. But there was no key there either. All three of us has dashed quickly from our project forgetting to grab our coats, or at least grab a set of keys. We had nothing! We couldnt open the doors as they are sealed up with dead bolts that would lock up Fort Knox. With all the doors in our house, how could we have everything so secured? And we wouldn't consider breaking the windows. Most of the glass is original to our home and we wanted to preserve that too.

Hubby had a light bulb moment to find a crowbar. He had a strange curiosity to see what was in the wall between the two sections of our home. The other side of the wall was our bedroom...and so with one swing of the bar, the first hole was punched. The second swing, third and so on until we had a hole big enough to walk through. This wasnt the time for a new project, but, what the heck...now we could have the convenieince to walk from one end to the other without having to 'weather the storm'.

B&B business came to a halt for at least three weeks while the door was installed. Hubby was quick to repair the walls. And once upon a time we had a door with no key...now we have a new door and new key!

******

Paris...15 minutes of Fame

2009-12-28T14:22:00.000-08:00

How exciting it was to know the that the request to stay in our Carriage House was actually the Olympic Torch Runner. I had to refrain from running up a huge phone bill as Lincoln was politely asking questions as to the accommodation that he required for the evening of December 21. "Are you close to Yeo Street?" he asked. Why yes I said. Actually I continued to say that if he where energetic, he could ware his hip waders, walk across the river, scale the retaining wall and be at Yeo in a matter of 3 minutes.

My family certainly understands how silly I can be, but this stranger must think me to be a bit odd. This was one guest I was hoping to give a bit more attention to. After all, he was the chosen one to have the honour to run with the Olympic Torch through our Town of Paris.

Up until this point in time, I was so nieve about the routine, protocol and ceremonial functions of the runner. I did not realize that it was only a 300 metre distance for each runner. I also didnt realize that there would be several runners in each town. Paris had seven runners and Lincoln was one.

Lincoln did not live in Paris which I thought to be a bit odd, however he was chosen from a contest that his company had. He is employed with Bell Canada. Im not even sure if there were any other Torch Runners that were from Paris.

I headed out at 7:00 to make sure that I didnt miss the excitement in our community. It was a 15 minute walk to the destination where I would watch my Carriage House guest "pass the flame". As I briskly walked down the road and across the Nith River Bridge, I could see hundreds of people crowding together on the sidewalks of our downtown district. The town cryer was there as well as a yoga instructor trying to gather together people to have morning exercising to keep warm while waiting for the runners to pass by with the ever flaming torch.

I stopped to take my first picture. It was the town cryer, "Oyee, Oyee, Oyee....etc". I took a picture of the Yoga Lady too. Thats when the camera died...DIED! and I wasnt even at my destination yet. As I passed familiar faces, I asked if they could share pictures and have them emailed to me. I continued my journey across the Grand River Bridge.

I am sure of one thing, and that is that even without pictures, I was one of the few proud Parisians that stood in the cold at 7:30 am at Yeo Street to cheer one of our Canadian runners. There was a small parade of special buses, one that carried all the Runners, one that represented Coca Cola and the third one that represented The Royal Bank of Canada. Flags were passed out along the route. Unfortunately, I didn't get one. Didnt matter.

I was standing with the runner's wife and children and Mrs. Runner was kind enough to send me these pictures so I could share them with my friends and family. I's also excited to say that I held the torch before and after it was lit. It's a surreal feeling now. Hard to imagine that this flame exchange had been happening for months from around the world. How many people would ever have the chance to say that they too held the infamous torch?

As the flame was exchanged at that moment on Yeo street and no pictures to record the activity, at least not for me, at least Mrs. Runner captured the moment and we all cheered. The torch ran off to the next destination....and I walked home.

I was glad to reach home as it was very, very cold. I also discovered on my route home, that everyone I talked to about exchanging pictures, actually had their cameras die too. It was just too cold for most batteries that morning.

As I entered the front hall, Canada AM was on the TV and to my surprise Mr. Weather Man was announcing the location of the Torch Run. "it is now passing through Welland". WHAT! "no, no, sorry, it's , it's, its's. Brantford". And with that news, I immediately called the TV station....the phone line was jammed!

Paris might not have had our fifteen minutes of fame that day on TV, but I was there and wouldnt have missed it for anything. Oh Canada!

******

Fender Benders...Christmas Isnt Complete Without One

2009-12-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season when the snow flys and we have lost our ability to immediatly alter our driving habits to accommodate for slippery road conditions. We forget that perhaps we are not the best drivers and find ourselves slipping at least once in the onset of cold winter weather. This is usually an unspoken event!

My son has recently experience such an occurance and survives his very first 'fender bender'. But Mother does it best!

It was Christmas Eve, two years ago and I still had the Bridal Store. My assistant and I decided to close early that day and I actually had a luncheon at hubby's office to go to. It was a perfect wintery day with lots and lots of snow falling. Assistant and I locked up the store, said our holiday greetings to each other, got in our cars and proceeded to leave. I engaged the 'three week old company truck' into reverse and slowly released the break peddal. Rolling slowly to the edge of the west exit and stopping, and then shifting into drive. Assistant is now out of her car flagging her arms at me. I stop, get out and...o h m y G O S H! I turned around and a hysterical old woman is screaming at me, "Look what you did". How could I have done that. It was no brainer that, yes, I was the guilty one, no doubt about that.

A Tayota Carolla was smushed from front quarter panel to back with the side mirror in at least ten tiny pieces on the side of the road. As I approached to inspect my truck too, I noticed an insy, binsy black mark on the tail gate. That was it? That was it! I made my apologies and excused myself to call in the accident.

Assistant decided to stay with me. I think mostly because she was interested to see the outcome. We did the appropriate activies, went into the store, called the police, called Hubby, and called the insurance company. This took about ten minutes. As the two of us where now leaving the building and locking up, Assistant says, "Of all the people to hit, you had to pick a looney tone".

The victim was now at the curb with the officier and he was combative at this point. "Not a consiencious driver, I see". This put me immediately into denfense mode and shot back my comment, "Im guilty, lets just settle this fast. I did not see her in either side mirrors or rear view mirror". You see, the 'work truck' was just that much higher on the road than the carolla. He wanted to 'nail me to the cross'...and again I said I was guilty and Im sorry...and I was not being reckless!

The two of them disappeared into the cruiser and assistant and I sat in her car, waiting. It was at least fourty minutes, when finally it was my turn. I was dressed for a blizzard with my mukluks; at least twice the size of normal boots...and into the cruiser I squeeze, barely getting my two feet in the back seat when the door slambed on my heels. My knees were in my chin. Not much room to even breath!

There was a tiny window in the glass partition. I was now a criminal ready to be slapped with a huge sentence even at the onset of investigation. In less than five minutes, the cop explained the 'crazy lady' story. She was running the green light to make a turn ...just as I was rolling down the driveway. You see, the driveway to our little commerical building with a west and north exit because we are on a corner street with street lights. The drive way is eligally too high for this type of parking lot. The cop simply said, this was a no-fault accident. He could see that the truck was much higher than the car and he believed my story.

The cop was now ready to release me, opened the rear door and like a slinky in a tight can, my feet shot out and hit the road. I said my goodbyes again to assistant who was patiently waiting to hear the story end, and off we went. I was little late for the luncheon and hubby could only comment that his work crew would probably do more damage to the car than I just did.

In conclusion, I must give you the update of the work truck. It was months later that this vehicle went in for "detailing". This is a term used for putting company logos and decals on the truck. As luck would have it, the available Vehicle Number was #13!

George, the Ghost of Christmas Past

2009-12-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

For many years, rumour circulated throughout the neighbourhood about the haunted house "just down the road". When the news first broke that 'some Paris person' was crazy to purchase the Wolverton House, I was bombarded with many questions regarding the searching of the ghosts that would have lived in our newly purchased home.

Im not much of a believer of such nonsense, however I have had a situation in a two hundred year old farm house in Colbourg that could have turned me into a ghost buster...or perhaps rather busting my a@# to run away from a ghost. I was on assignment to help with the restoration and my job was to remove the wall paper and save the plaster. While I was scrubbing and scrapping, the door leading into the "common" room at the top of the staircase was opening and closing. It was a hot summer's day and the windows were open, but a hurricane would have had to pass by at the moment that the door moved. That was almost thirty years ago and I have been in and out of lot of homes with out seeing, feeling or hearing anything like it. Or perhaps I was just in one of those moments in time when a TV was on in the back ground and imagined it all. Nevertheless, moving into our new home left me wide open to search for anything paranormal.

Walking in for the first time, one gets a calm feeling, yes even in the mess of cobwebs, debrie, cat hair, drywall dust, sawdust, etc. I have had several mediums walk through from time to time. Although they come for different reasons, each one eventually asks the question of seeing orbs, sounds, missing items and the likes. If you asked me today if I had a ghost residing here, I would inphatically say "yes". I was cleaning up the main floor bath room and noticed the second set of scratching on our red wallpaper. Something is chewing right through the wall paper at about 7' and 8' up the wall, about the size of a quarter. Chuckling to myself all the while thinking, "ya right, a ghost doesnt like the red wall paper and is sending messages". On the other side, I think it is probably a mouse. I have seen them climb the walls on different occasions. We rarely have them in the house and when we do it is because of contractors coming through leaving doors open to bring in equipment. But recently Bello caught one in the parlor. Hubby and son watched this silly feline toss it up in the air, swat and chase it for about five minutes before realizing it was REAL. Hubby snatched it from kittie and tossed it out the door! Kittie was not amuzed and story has it that he grumbled and hissed at both of them.

Now I have to continue to say that I have been researching the people that built the home, who lived with them, different owners, etc. I have discovered that George the coachman was a black slave that came to work for Asa and his wife. They also had Sadie who was given to this couple from Asa's brother who felt that the aging house maid should stay within the family. Enos lost his wife and moved from his home with his seven children. Sadie could not go with them. Folk lore also has it said that there were many black slaves who came to this part of Ontario to escape slavery and the Wolverton's took them in and also hide them from the bounty hunters.

I met the great great grand neice of Asa and Juliet and with the family letters that she possesses, pieced together more history of some of the people that lived here. I also received a call from the previous owner who is now in her mid to late seventies. She is very articulate as she is a writter for the Globe and Mail, so she tells me. I thought it odd that she would call me a year later, but figured she just wanted to share stories. She went on to mention how her daughter would frequently see "George" standing beside the bake oven and fireplace. I figured because she was Irish, she grew up with tales of ghosts and had a vivid imagination..and they believe in that kind of stuff. This woman went on to say she didnt believe in ghosts, however she saw a reflection in the parlor mirrow of a lady in a taffetta gown, dark grey and wearing a black hat with black tuelling covering her face. It sounded like the description of someone from the 1880's and of course that would be Elija Jackson Baker, the second mistress of this home. If there were to be a ghost in this house, it would be Elija as she did probably die here. The Baker family owned this home for eighty years.

With this information, I was more interested than ever to find out more about the ghosts. I didnt believe and talking to Hubby about this was not an option. He would have had me locked away for thinking such stupidness. I research the paranormal clubs in our community through the internet and actually began to email. I had an interesting response and I started to invite the group over for a "ghost hunt". Does that make me crazy now? It was explained by the 'president' of the society that they are usually out to disprove a sighting, rather than fine a ghost. That was fine by me. And so a group of six can in one night. We turned of the hydro in the house and stood in the darkened house for three hours. The infrared cameral was rolling in three corners, the six voice recorders were placed in different rooms. It was exactly what you would see if you were watching the TV Ghost program. They left and the report came a week later. Nothing! No static, not a light flash, not even light reflecting into dust particles (and there were lots).

I have talked to people since that time that say they have spotted George. I mentioned this to my son one night and the two of us were afraid to go into the kitchen for fear of "running into George". How silly! It's a bit of a giggle now. From time to time I might be caught having a conversation with George, all in the fun of thinking he might actually exist. But I believe that there is no ghost.

But if you ever have the chance to come to visit us and the front door opens on it's own,or you hear a funny strange noise dont be alarmed if you hear hubby say, "Come on in George", or "George is home".

******

I Married the Original "Tool Man"

2009-12-17T06:22:00.000-08:00

Starting to break out cement floor to pour the new one. The start of my retirement home...I think not! Where are the windows?

This is getting more interesting. The infloor heating system is now at the point of looking rather "graphic". I am amazed at this construction. All the cement was carried in via wheel barrow along wooden planks

The cement floor is in. This is the view of the entire "shoe box" apartment. ...and where does the furniture go!

We must all remember the sit com "Home Improvements" with Tim the Tool Man. I remember sitting every week at 8:00 to faithfully watch and laughing at all the antics, all the while thinking that the writters must have been tapped into the reality of our own life here in Paris. This program was so well written that we could all relate to one, two or all of the characters; or where the characters created from our family.

Every since the day that golden ring was placed (or shoved) onto my finger, hubby has always had an obsession to have the biggest and best garage to store his tools, toys and treasures. The first house we lived in was one I already owned and loved so dearly. It has a lovely garage that never had the car. It was the "Italian Garage", you know, the one where the bikes, furniture, freezer garbage cans were stored. We would spend rainy summer afternoons lounging on our patio furniture. Hubby was not amuzed with this space he secretly thought of as a small closet. No room for anything, especially the big old orange truck. He would have a special name for it like, "49 Ford Pickup...a real classic". So we sold the house!

Our new neighbourhood was just down the road. The house had a conservative two car garage...workable I guess. The backyard backed onto conservation...lovely view and we were at the end of a dead end cauldersac. We soon discovered that we were the token white folk. We also discovered that we had "Mrs. Kravets" next door. Hubby immediately took to converting the garage into a shrine for his prized possessions. For the first day or so the truck sat on the driveway and trouble with the neighbours started. Day after day the bilaw officier knocked on our door, "One of your neighbours is concerned about the commercial vehicals parked on residential property"...and ten days later, the 'For Sale' sign was hammered into the ground. Eight months passed, full blown pregnant, hubby 1500 km away on a soon to end work contract, and sold house, we packed up and moved to an apartment in Paris. Yes! it did come with a three bay garage! It was a bit rocky at first but six months later, we purchased a lovely little postage stamp sized cottage on a beautifully oversized lot with an easement roadway to the back of the property on the ajoining road where hubby invisioned a 10,000 sq ft garage!

In our usual fashion, construction started the day we moved in. I cant remember a day almost 20 years later, that we havent picked up the crowbar first instead of morning coffee. ...and the Garage was our first priority. We had the most beautiful two story 1200 sq ft "RV Barn"...the envy of every Car Buff in the neighbourhood. It wasnt big enough. Had to expand. Had to purchase "the investment property" just down the road...."The boy's Club" as I call it. Hubby would tell me almost every day that one day we would reside in his garage. Over my dead body, I would say; to which he replied, "hmmm, that can be arranged". He didnt mean it but all the while he would try harder to convince me this would be the perfect life for us.

It was four years later that he broke the news that he was going to build the ultimate apartment at the back of his 'garage'. It would be so beautiful with the best features, fixtures, and furnishings. I would love it so much I would beg to move in. I rejected the idea, ranted, complained, and never would set foot on his property. I didnt even know where it was located for the first three years; just knew that it was "down the road" and hubby and son would leave every night after dinner to putter in their work shop. I was asked to help with the project and set up a floor plan. I started but didnt want any involvement....and abandoned any thought of living in "that place". As time went on, I softened and peeked at the blueprints. Not bad, but only two windows in the entire apartment. How could this fool of a man even think that I would want to live in THAT shoe box! I started wondering over out of curiosity to check on the progress. By now we were no longer living in harmony, marital bliss or what ever else it is called. And we could fight better than Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. But once the walls were up and the accessories needed to be picked, I just couldnt help jump in. Hubby was now convinced that we could finally put up the houses for sale. Wife was going to move into the garage. What could be better than that. ...and the purchase offers started to come in on our home.

I remember like it was yesterday standing in the grand room of the apartment and slowly went to tears, "where will my 9' table go, where will the piano go...and what about antique desks, all three of them! ....and the next month I purchased the Wolverton House, Money Pit, or as I fondly call it, "The Poor House" :)

After all is said and done, we have spend many months living in the apartment, which we now dub "Riverlane Suite". It was a great stay when we had no plumbing, electricity, laundry facilities and many more inconveniences while demolishing the Wolverton House. It is now a furnished luxury apartment that many people from around the world have enjoyed living in, from one night to five months. Hubby is still hoping that one day I will retire from "the big house" and move into the 'Riverlane'. And we will live happily ever after.

A picture tells 1,000 words.

www.venturehomes.ca/VirtualTour.asp?TourID=9558

When the Fur Flys

2009-12-16T04:36:00.000-08:00

Today I will dedicate this story to our furry members of this family. Every family that I know of has had some kind of pet, either fish, bird, lizard, cat, dog and even my neighbour years back had an alligator. I have always had a cat in our home. House number one had Mimi , who was katnapped :( and I immediately adopted Nunu and Tiki. What a handful these two were. I remember my most memorable stories on these two. Returning home from an outting, coming into the house, I could hear an unusual rumbling noice in the bedroom hallway. I though it was a burgler and was very cautious investigating. As I ventured through the kitchen, I noticed my pork chops that were in the sink thawing, were gone. With a quick swing to the right and through the door, I could see those two theives, with one corner of package in Tiki's mouth and the other corner in Nunu's mouth running the chops out of sight. These two were the most amazing duo and always in trouble. They never slept and sure they spent most time scheming and planning their next attack.

I started dating a man that who as an antique dealer. I had known him for almost 12 years and ...he had the right words and moves to make me feel special. But he hated cats and kids. Nunu and Tiki had to go. What a mistake that was. It's not to say that my cats will always be number one in my life, however it was a lesson learned that unconditional love from a pet is a precious gift that can not be taken away easily. This man was physically abusive and on Halloween night and not amused by the little trick 'r treaters, he threw a cement patio block on the top of my car in a fit of rage. If I could have picked up that stone, I would have thrown it back on him! AND That was the end of him....and I gave my cats up for THAT?

Next came Katu. She was special and my favorite. Dont know why. This was my "baby in the basket at the door" gift. A lady just left her for me because she knew that I was missing Nunu and Tiki...and the stupid circumstances surrounding their leaving our family. How kind she was. Katu died of a blood disorder only half way through her life. She was only ten when we had her life snuffed out. I burried her ashes in the garden beside the house Rick built. May she rest in peace forever.

We were in the middle of a move and that's when Ms Toi arrived. What a funny little kitten she was. About the size of a mouse and Hubby would carry her in his shirt pocket. She is now 19 years old--that would be 93 years old in people years. She has arthritis, bad teeth, underactive thyroid and the start of kidney malfunction. But she is still my baby and she sleeps with me most nights. I think she is always cold and that could be because we have a COLD house...it's OLD too! Hubby said when I'm ready to let her go, he will take her to the vet's. I was almost there last week, but the vet said she could have another year or so of happy life.

Then there is Bello. Heaven knows why we were blessed with "Ninja Cat". He flys from chair to bookcase, to piano and would land on the chandalier if he could find one. Tonkinese are knowns to only befriend one person and Hubby is it. Hubby really doesnt like the cats either, or so he says. Bello is more like a dog than cat. When hubby comes through the door, kitty is at his ankles and follows him everywhere. When the family is quietly watching TV, Bello is sitting at his feet waiting for the signal to take over his lap. But his favorite move is to jump on the back of hubby's chair and push his head into hubby's hair. If he's lucky he gets the pat on the head and he's content.

In the next hour, I have to take the beast to the vet's. He had an annual checkup and ended up having two absessed teeth removed. He isnt the favorite patient at the vet's and his anti social behavior keeps the vets at a distance when we arrive. With the last visit, Son and I were sitting quietly with Bello growling in my lap. The lady beside me was patiently waiting for the vet to finish giving her kittie the routine checkup. Kittie was visibly agitated, not cooperative and was quickly removed to the back room out of sight. Son and I could hear the kittie bouncing off the walls and objects hitting the floor. The lady beside us commented that she has never seen kittie like that before. We know that it was Ninja Cat with his evil look.

The vet is amazing with Bello. He stares him down and waits till Bello decides to make friends. Im so impressed! Bello is quit lovable...really!

Now just before signing off...description of the picture. Toi hates Bello. This was a "kodak moment". Bello must have replaced by an alien, or lost memory, or just hit by the cupid's arrow. He is always 'jumping' Toi and she fights back. This was "a moment"! ...and I dedicate this picture to Edna who know's Bello best.

Cash Grab...Why Me? "Law Of Attraction"

2009-12-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

Im sitting here quietly composing a "Thing's To Do List" for the day...or perhaps till the end of the year...or just in general. There is so much to do at the Wolverton House. I have one sitting on my table everyday. If the phone rings, I add messages, write little notes or just doodle while on the computer. But today instead of jumping into a project, I started to think about all the things that I have done over the past six months to dodge those people and/or companies that are after the fast cash grab.

For those of you who dont know, I closed down my bridal business 18 months ago. In that time I have desperately tried to tie up all the loose ends and pay out all the outstanding debts occured during the last months before, during and after the business closed.

I am hoping that today is the day I can say, all debts are settled and no more hands out to take. I am constantly wondering why there are always, "Hands In My Pocket" to grab that last dime. For instance, let me describe some of this year's "Grabs".

I will start with my experience in the summer. It was August, I was driving somewhere (?) and the cell phone rang (yes I am in the car with a phone to my ear). It was the local utility company letting me know that I was going to have my electricity and water services shot off by morning if a payment of $1,200 was not paid immediatly. Not a good statement to hear while driving. I managed to temperarily loose focus of the road and looked at the phone thinking she had the wrong person. So composing myself briefly, asked the obvious questions. Unfortunately she had the right person who lived at the right address. Afterall, I own the Wolverton House, and, well, there is the "law of attraction" to grab money.

I know I have been paying my bill faithfully and recently discovered that these services were getting more expensive each month. I know I am using a heat gun daily to remove paint or water to wash debrie from the floors, but this was way too much to be sitting on an outstanding debt. I told her I would call her back immediately when I returned home. I wanted to look at my bank statements and IB receipts first.

So I collected these papers and called her back immediately. It would appear that all of my payments that were paid through the bank machine were being redirected to the old account...our previous address of almost 2 years past. At that point, I scooped up my bank stubs and utilitie receipts and marched down to the bank. Flagging these papers in hand, and a few unfavored colourful words asked "what the f~!@ where they doing with my payment". The girls polietly ushere me to an empty office where we sat to unravel this mistake. I run a B&B and what would the guests think coming to a house with candle light and chamber pots, not to mention the boiled grass soup and dandilion salad for breakfast. The manager phoned the utility company and explained that it was their error and they would deal with it and I went home.

The next day I called the gas company, and sure enough they too were showing a delinquent payment to the account. Another visit to the bank, and yes, they immediately escorted me to an empty office before I uttered more colourful words. But this time, they had no record of where they posted the payments. I had my receipts and this was for them to correct.

September I decide to revise my debt load and decided to cancel my Moneris system. This is the little machine that everyone is familiar with because it swipes credit/debit cards and takes your money at the retail level. I had one for the bridal business and kept it as it was convenient for the B&B business. I worked out the math and discovered that it was costing me 35% of my profits and made the executive decision to shut it down. That seemed like a reasonable thing to do and with a simple call to the service center I was going to have it cancelled. I had a pleasant conversation with the respresentative that said it would be cancelled by morning. She want to explain that there would be a charge of $300 to cancel the account. "What!" I asked if I could have the account transferred to the B&B business instead. So we chatted about that and discussed the details of having the company name changed. It would be as simple as pulling up the existing account and typing in a name change. The bank account, and all details would remain the same. The rate would drop also because of the business differences. So I decided to do this and all was arranged. She went on the explain that there would be a charge of $300 to set up a new account. "What!" "This is a cash grab". I had to think about this or...just react..."I want to speak to your supervisor". I asked for my original contract to verify that I had signed an agreement that would get my money 'coming and going'. However, in the meanwhile from the first conversation, Moneris had already put out the request to debit my "newly closed" business account for the $300. Of course there was no money, there was no account. The bank forwarded this debit the the master card service that held the business line of credit account. But I had recently cancelled the credit card too. Low and behold....hands in my pocket again! The bank (with signed contract in file) had the ability to set up a new credit card account, activate it and bill the card for $300. I was screwed...damed if I did and damed if I didnt. Now there were flamed shooting out my nostrils. I called the bank..."sorry, no can do". I called the credit card company..."sorry, we have your signature". I called Moneris and started going up the corporate ladder until finally the upper management agreed to credit my "non existing business account" with $300. Three weeks later they finally send a cheque for $256. Where is the other $44? Dont know, dont care, I will run with what I have in hand.

So life is good again. Hubby and I decide in October to pay out all credit card balances and life with cash only. This sounds like a very practical plan to work out of debt. What we cant afford with cash we cant have. Makes a lot of sense. We write out three cheques, one for his, two for mine (personal and business). I put both cheques in the same envelope and mail them out immediately. The end of October I get two statements; one is paid in full, the other, same big balance with interest,. "What!#$%^%^" Im on the phone again asking what they did with my "big" cheque to pay the account in full. They dont have it because they are suggesting I didnt mail it or it got lost in the mail, or some other excuse. "sorry", I said, but both cheques were in the same envelope. Now I am really concerned and dont want to pay any more money to the bank than I have to. It is a cash grab everywhere I turn these days. I tell them to put a note in file that a second cheque is in the mail and to hold the other when and if it is found. The end of October I receive the new statement. They cashed both cheques! and I have a huge credit on the account. No @#$ way they are keeping this! So I phoned again (this is now a full time career for me). They promise to issue a refund cheque, and it came 10 days later....with a new statement asking for $13.34 because payment was late. F#$% this and fired off a cheque to get this out of the way for ever.

Statement arrived friday....$25 service fee and requirement of minimum payment of $10. Guess what...more nostril flames and a call to CIBC credit card services! Roger answers, listens to my lengthy story and...sorry mam but you owe this amount for having an invalid account for this auto payment plan. I explained that in October the card was paid off...etc, etc. Sorry mam, you will have to pay! So I hung up and immediately called the 800 number back, knowing a new operater would answer. "Hello Neil", I said and explained how angry I was becoming and I wanted to be reimbursed for this terrible error on CIBC's part. He put me on hold and....disappeared. Im slowly turning into the Green Hulk and decided they were not going to get the better of me, I was going to call back a third time. Tammy answered this time. She listened with empathy and said, yes, they would reverse the charge of $25. Sorry for the inconvenience and have a good day.

Life if good today!

Christmas' at the Wolverton

2009-12-14T20:33:00.001-08:00

We are now in our home for the third Christmas. As always, we are without the festive spirit. This is not to say that it will not eventually come. Like the years past, we have been ankle deep in dust, paint chips being stripped from baseboards, bags of sawdust, and so on. There isnt a room that is suitable for a Christmas tree.

Our first year was spent in the Carriage House. We had a lovely little tree that stood about 18" high that I picked up from the florist section of the grocery store. It was one of those cute little trees that came with a package full of little lights and miniture ornaments. It was carefully set up on the end of the blanket box that sat just off centre of one of the windows. I proceeded to place tiny presents around the tree. Eventually, we lost sight of it as the pile of presents grew. As the time approached closer to Christmas, our spirit grew and parties were created and friends were invited to share Holiday Cheer and good food. As always, with minimal kick start approximately three days before Christmas, we found the true meaning of giving and had a wonderful time. Christmas day around the Wolverton House was full of buzzing saws and swinging hammers...as always.

Our second Christmas became a bit more sophisticated with an eight foot tree this time. And we set it up in an appropriate spot between the windows in our parlour. Again, I was slow getting the spirit but did eventually start to dress the tree in our traditional manor of 'anything eatible'. There were gingerbread cooking, sugar cookie, Ferraro Chocolates, marshmello treats, candy canes and much much more. The presents arrive too. Lots of them. I even got into the spirit of making sock monkeys for everyone. Im sure there must have been at least two dozen socks cut and shaped for everyone special to us. As always Christmas came with great cheer and giving and food galor! We were even invited to a "lobster feast"...with one catch...that we provide the dining room! And we did and had 15 of our favourite people there to celebrate.

It is now Christmas 2009 and as usually it is ten days before Christmas. I splurged this year and purchased two cedar and spruce urns that sit on either side of the front door (which BTW only took me from June to October to strip, sand, straighten out, repair and paint...another story). There is nothing going on inside yet except for a few Christmas Cards, company gifts (one very, very nice 18" tree with little lights and mini ornaments that sits on the dining room table) and all the candy/cookie/chocolates in a huge bag waiting for the Christmas tree to arrive. We have discussed where the tree will sit this year, should we finally decide to purchase one. We have waivered back and forth about going to visit my aunt in the US. Although we have B&B guests, we can still leave if we choose to. We still have ten days to decide what we are going to do. Still nothing really planned yet. We breifly discussed today, going shopping to get presents for Justin. Although he is seventeen now, he is a dye-hard fan of Santa and we wouldnt want to disappoint our "baby". We will miss the gift giving with the older kids as one is off in Australia and the other in Nova Scotia now. One is planning to vacation three weeks in India, leaving right after Christmas day. But we will set up a tree and dress it in the traditional manor with all the cookies, candies and sweets that have been specially collected. ...and our invitation for Lobster Feast came this year...or rather next year as we are planning to "pig out" on January 2, 2010.

"Tim the tool man" and I plan to work hard as always before, during and after Christmas celebrations and plan to have our laundry room well on it's way to completion...and a bed sitting in the master's room.

A Merry Christmas to all who read this...and an open invitation to come and join us during the holidays. Join us in our dining room and enjoy sweets from the tree and enjoy Irish/Spanish/hot chocolate and/or coffee with scoops and scoops of real whipped cream!

Asa Wolverton House Restoration Progress

2009-12-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

We have had many requests to post our progress on the restoration of the Wolverton House. For those who have found this blog and have not heard of this house, let me give you a bit of history.

This home was built in 1851 by a lumber merchant, Asa Wolverton. He was originally from Cayuga, NY but migrated into Canada with his family when he was a young man of only 17 years old. I have not found any information about his life before the time that he started building this magnificant Greek Revival Plantation House on the Banks of the Grand River in Brant County. He married Juliet Capron from Leicester, VT. For what ever reason, they did not have any children, however, it is believed that they were a very happy household during the ten years that they lived together in this house. Asa's family was very much a part of the Civil War and four of his nephews were stewards in New York during the 1850's. Also during that time Asa and his wife took in the freed slaves that would wonder up the banks of the Grand River. His home was the only one allowed to take in these people.

I have come across family records that describe several of the black servants that lived with the Wolvertons. There have also been Irish immigrants that were employeed by the Wolverton's. At the onset there were two sisters (or cousins) that worked for this couple. Later there was a family of four that stayed at this house and worked for the family.

August of 2007, my husband and I purchased this historic manor with great intentions of restoring it back to it's original spendor. We have ripped out everything that was not original to this home, including dismantelling three apartment units. To date, it is returned to one home; the plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems have been modernized. The walls have been insulated and currently the roof is being totally replaced.

Our jouney to this point has been exactly as we predicted, however our friends and neighbours shake their heads in amazement that we live like this. You see, we live in an ongoing construction zone in every part of our home. We have no finished walls, floors, trim, window frames, doors and stairs. We do however have several tool rooms, spiders, cobwebs, dust, three bathrooms near completion. We are still missing the doors...just minor details. I've survived living through the dark ages when we had no electricity for weeks, survived the two weeks when there was no plumbing. That will be another story.

I will begin my story by telling you what we did today. My husband is finally going to get the laundry room together. He started today by continuing to patch holes in the lathe and plaster walls and boxing in duct work. I told him weeks ago that I would no longer do the family laundry until I had a "real laundry room" with my appliances both residing in the same room. Right now, the dryer is in the main house and the washer is in the Carriage House (next door). Its really, really cold outside and today it is trying to snow. I refuse to spend another moment carrying cold, wet laundry in and out and out and in and all the while dropping a sock or a tea towel or a shirt on route.

I, on the other hand, chose to work in the Master Bedroom. We are still sleeping "where ever" and we still don't own a mattress for the new canopy bed that sits in storage..in the laundry room... since last May. BTW, "where ever" includes our B&B guests quarters down the road, in the Carriage house guest beds, the sofa, on 3/4 mattresses on the floor upstairs, 3" cot mattress on the floor in the library, in the trailer, and at times, I have left home to stay with my Aunt, hundreds of miles away. This month we are sharing a 160 year old bed in the guest room. Nice mattress, and very cozy-- tight together.

It's been almost a year working on this room and we are almost there! Two weeks ago, I spent three days hanging wallpaper. We stripped the paint from the floor, sanded and ready for paint. I stapled the canvas to the floor as I am making the 12'x10' floor cloth. I was so excited weeks ago to think that we would soon be sleeping in a 'real' bed, in a real room, that we could actually call our own. I was counting the days till I could lie in bed and watch TV...a favourite past time. I had finished putting up the final piece of wall paper and cleaned the floor and went to bed (on the floor in the library) excited but exhausted. The next day I was going to paint my floor cloth and count the days till completion. As I lie on the floor, I could hear the rain pouring down hard and fast and all the time questioning if it was raining inside and not out. My husband came in to listen but excused it as being misdirected water from the roof. Afterall the eave trough was missing now and the rain was falling into the gravel patch on the other side of the parlour windows.

By morning, the carpenter had returned to finish his job of repairing and restoring the facia board and trim. He came in to ask if we had any water on the inside of the house. I didnt like the question and proceeded to climb the stairs and enter the Master bedroom. Sure enough, the trim around the window had buckled, water dripping from the cil, huge dark wet spots on the newly papered walls around the window and the pine floor water soaked like a sponge along the wall's edge. Now the paper is removed from the wall, and a heater is on full time to dry up the lathe and plaster and floor. The floor has black streaks and waves that hopefully will be sanded back to flat. You see, the rain started late afternoon and the carpenter decided to leave early...forgetting to put the trim on that would keep the rain from entering between the walls and soaking the newly blown-in insulation. Two weeks later and the insulation is still like a wet sponge and the walls...well I cant even think what is happening between the walls right now. The parlour wall is really sad looking too. I told the carpenter to be glad that room wasnt done yet as it has $4,000 worth of custom historically correct wall paper ready to hang.

Today I have concentrated on painting the floor cloth as there is nothing else I can do until the wall completely drys, window put back together, floor resanded. Hopefully we will have a completed bedroom before Christmas.

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