Monday, August 29, 2011

Welcome to the Jungle

On days when I am not working, I am spending time at the house we bought.  One of the hardest parts of fixing up the house has been the landscaping.  The prior owners didn't do much yard work, so I am learning how to work new pieces of equipment like weed-eaters, chainsaws and tractors.  Today I decided to tackle this front part of the yard where an overgrown rhododendron was surrounded by ferns, blackberry bushes and overgrown grass.

No sooner did I start to trim around the rhododendron when I found a fountain... kinda simple, and I haven't lifted it to see if there's a pump or plumbing, but still a nice find.

Then I slowly started working my way through the brambles behind the rhododendron, and I found what I thought was a piece of plywood.  But, then it got bigger and bigger.  Then it seemed like two pieces.  And this is what I found...
It's a bench, and it seems to be from the root base of a redwood.  It's lovely and subtle in its design.  It's also very well preserved for having been buried in brambles.  That's what makes me think it's made out of redwood.  And then there's this...
Did you see the face in the above picture?  Look again, you'll see it this time.  I didn't even know it was there until I cleared more of the vegetation.  I can't wait to completely clean this bench and plant some flowers and put a border around it.  It's on a small hill overlooking the house and has a great view.

I also found this.  Another fountain.  Will have to see if there is any plumbing connected to this one.

Despite being totally exhausted from the work-out I got with the weed-eater, I am totally excited by the finds today... and even more excited to make this house more of a home that I can be proud of...
Nice and cleaned up... 


Saturday, August 20, 2011

Playing Indiana Jones

So it's been almost a month since my last post, and we have been spending most of our free time at our new house.  The home was originally built in 1980, and the previous owners had it for the last 16 years.  No real clean-up or landscaping has been done over the last 10 years, so there's been a lot of work to be done.

My hubby and I have spent a lot of time with the weed-eater.  In some ways, it's been like an archeological dig.  It's interesting to find little things here and there....


Like this kerosene lamp we found under the outside front stairs... the mechanism works, it seems to be aluminum or some other light metal, with a glass lantern, and the base is heavy and painted.  Going to clean it up and hang it outside.


We've been collecting the things we've found in the overgrowth surrounding the barn:  some old cutters, a weathervane, and a bird house.

We also found an old pan... maybe something to feed the chickens with once we get some...


We also found a ton of oyster shells... archeologists in another time will wonder what feasts were held here involving all these oysters shells.... I think they just used to give them to the chickens... 

and then, there's this lovely collection of objects d'art that I've been finding here and there... 




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