The Cross House

Well, my fellow flying monkeys, it is time for the annual Ross Review! Overall, it has been a good year. Slow. Steady. But with a catastrophic shock on November 6. Yes, that. The primary shift in 2024 has been the ever-dawning awareness that I am not the Ross I always have been. As I wrote-in…

Last nighted I posted a very long Year End report. Here. This morning I woke to not a single comment. It is now lunch time. And still not a single comment. Have ya’all been kidnapped by aliens?

2023 proved unexpected. And I mean 2023 and not 2024. 2023 began with finishing the library. It turned out great. I mean, really great.  Then, in April, I was hit with a Violation Notice from the city regarding the dilapidated condition of the Carriage House exterior. And there went all my plans for the rest…

            In short: Very little progress this week. But….there was progress. And that is all that matters to me. Baby Steps™ in action.    

Early in the year I was working steadily on the inside of the Carriage House, with the hope (fantasy?) of finishing the interior by the end of the year. But then, in April, I decided to take a hiatus to work on some long-delayed projects causing problem on the Cross House, and the infamous cat…

In August of 2023, I got my blood tested for lead. I learned that 3.5 is normal. Anything above 5 is considered a concern. And mine? 13.4. I abruptly stopped scraping off old lead paint from the Carriage House. A month later I had another test. The number had dropped to 11.6. In December, 2023…

  The scaffolding is gone! Gone! Gone! SQUEE!!!!!!!! Look at the GLEAMING lap-siding on the first floor of the tower! That was months of work this year. There is no sheet covering the big window!!!!!!!!! Thanks to help from Godsend Eric, this is year #10 of the 3-story holiday lighted tree!    

Do you have a glass wine in hand? While sipping, please first re-read this post. Then return to this page and  scroll down. And be prepared to SQUEE!                                                      …

After the 2016 election I fell into a dangerously dark depression. The worst ever. Somehow though, magically, this lifted around mid-December but all I could think of was: How the fuck am I gonna get through 2017????????? A year later I realized that 2017 had proved the best of my life. It proved deeply satisfying…

In February, I posted about have some friends over to dine at the Cross House. You might enjoy rereading the post. It is a lovely read, and offers background. We all met again at Dr. Doug’s house in May. And again last Tuesday at the Cross House.           Louis and Phyllis…

  I think when people restore a house, a priority job should be to make sure the entry looks as good as possible. I think it is a feng shui kinda thing. However, as time has aged me it also aged the doors. The western sun beats the doors and the finish began to fail…

        The rot to the columns (even more to the left) could NOT be from water traveling from the right side. This further confirms my belief that THAT issue is from a second leak…       The water damage to the right is, as far as I can tell, old damage….