The Cross House

This past Wednesday morning, a rushing cloud engulfed a mountain. Suddenly, the sun went away, and a brutal wind began to blast everything. The low pressure system raced to the east for the next eight hours, barreling over the plains at over sixty miles an hour, until it landed on top of… …Ross.   I…

    What a figgin’ mess. The plan is to relocate all this venting to UNDER the decking. Thus, the vent pipes will vanish from view, and I can then restore the basement window and reinstall it. And a beast will become a beauty.    

Today, I was standing on a ladder in the carriage house dining room, priming the ceiling, when Cody shrieked: “ROSS!” I froze, paint roller suspended in mid-air. And I waited. And waited. Did he need help? Then, Cody came into view. Holding something in his hand. Was it a dead mouse? It was not. It…

Tonight, Steve, Brad, Cody, and myself had Taco Tuesday at the Cross house. Yes, it is Wednesday. In anticipation, I had cranked the radiator thermostat up to 70-degrees. Just after Steve and Brad departed, Cody walked over the the dining room radiator, placed his hand on its marble top, and said: “Wow! This is really…

Yes, my posts have WAY dropped. More than ever before. Rest assured though that things are still moving ahead at the carriage house but posting pictures of taping and mudding and priming just does not seem to be very exciting. I have also been INCREDIBLY busy with my lighting business. November was insane, and I…

  The finish is original: Amber shellac on pine. No stain. Now I need to shellac the other drawer!  

  The area was a mess. Radiator pipes buried in the exterior wall had burst at some point, and damaged the plaster and Lincrusta. Had the wood block been removed at that point? It the the only trim missing in the room. I never found it in the basement Aladdin’s cave. It was also unique…

Are you sitting down? Are you wearing a seat belt? Are you holding a glass of wine? If yes to all the above… …scroll way down.                                                          …

So, y’all know about the infamous green sink in the kitchen of the carriage house. A few weeks ago, we at last, at last, at last installed it… …but the original faucet had cracked and spewed out water. Quickly, a new kinda sorta possibly facsimile faucet was ordered, with an assurance that it would be…

You just might, from the title of this blog post, get an indication, however subtle, that ROSS IS MAD. After you finish reading the post, you, too, will be violently swearing in sympathy. I can assure you of this.     But the left of the door frame? This is when Holy Hell Rained Fire…

Arriving today at the carriage house, I knocked on the door to let Cody know I was there. I have never previously knocked on the door. Cody let me in. In the kitchen was something additionally new and unexpected: a small antique table and two chairs. With Cody now moved in, the house begins a…

        As with yesterday, the work was not particularly time consuming or even hard. Yet…yet…I just felt demolished after. It is as if such work abuses my soul. I cannot really explain it. When all was cleaned up, even though it was early afternoon, I had an overwhelming desire to flee flee…

Cody does not have hot water. Because the hot water heater, which works, is not yet vented. It was vented to the original brick chimney but this is a very bad way to vent a hot water heater. The off-gassing from the heater can migrate through old mortar and kill people. And I had zero…