Finally Bought Some Land

[rwsaunders]

PS..Jorn...I have cardinal snot and feathers on my dining room and kitchen windows, as the buggers truly are angry birds, when it comes to sharing time with our other feathered friends at our bird feeders.

[j44ke]

PS..Jorn...I have cardinal snot and feathers on my dining room and kitchen windows, as the buggers truly are angry birds, when it comes to sharing time with our other feathered friends at our bird feeders.

There was a cardinal in Amagansett that used to do battle with the driver's side mirror on the car. All day long. Incredible stamina. Lots of poop on the car door too. Where does it come from? When does he have time to eat?

[davids]

There was a cardinal in Amagansett that used to do battle with the driver's side mirror on the car. All day long. Incredible stamina. Lots of poop on the car door too. Where does it come from? When does he have time to eat?

I had that same behavior a few years back, but from a robin.

Alpha Robin, dude! I would watch him and feel like I was fully understanding the term "birdbrain".

[bironi]

Jorn,
I believe you have said the room above is your wife's office.
That would make a great bike room with a swooping ramp to enter and exit.
I do not recommend proposing this to your wife.
My apologies Mrs. if you're a lurker.
Byron

[j44ke]

Jorn,
I believe you have said the room above is your wife's office.
That would make a great bike room with a swooping ramp to enter and exit.
I do not recommend proposing this to your wife.
My apologies Mrs. if you're a lurker.
Byron

That's a great idea, as long as the grade is not much over 6%.

Getting the mail will be a nice workout. 750' driveway. I need to calculate the elevation change next time I am there.

There used to be a building in Williamsburg where someone built a BMX ramp inside the first floor. Wasn't a skate park, just someone's home. Don't know if that's still around or not. I am guessing no, property values being what they are these days.

[bironi]

Perhaps an e-bike for the new bike room.
The distance and elevation demand it.
I'm considering the same for the flat walk across the street to pick up the paper and mail.

I know.......
I'm old school, mailbox, hard copy newspaper.
I need that e-bike.

I could spin the rear wheel in our gravel driveway,
Or is there a front wheel drive option out there now?
The snow drifts get pretty high here.

[Mark Kelly]

I need that e-bike.

I could spin the rear wheel in our gravel driveway,
Or is there a front wheel drive option out there now?

My wife's ebike is front wheel drive. You don't want to go there.

[j44ke]

Dropped by the house today to compare fabric swatches with concrete colors and there was a barred owl sitting on a corner of the roof.

[j44ke]

Spent time working on path routes and tree identification. Stumbled across this skeleton in the snow. I am going to assume that it was hunting leftovers or a old road kill dragged here by a coyote (surrounded by coyote prints,) but interesting location - a north-south running swale between two rock outcroppings that always seems to have a lot of animal prints. Deer, turkey, squirrels, raccoons, coyotes and probably others. Even with the skeleton the place has a nice feel to it(?) So perhaps a good place for lunch. Or dinner. Or a snack. As well as a crossroads of sorts.



Skeleton is from a deer. By the length of the spine, I'd say an adult. Head looks small because the nose was crushed up to the eye sockets and is mostly missing. No legs either.

[j44ke]

New photos of the interior. Kitchen cabinets being built in place. Closets getting doors and interiors. Concrete board paneling going up after all the other stuff. Or before. Or in between. Depending. There are all these layers.

kitchen



front room south



front room north



master bedroom



guest bedroom



atrium



entry

[j44ke]

Exterior work. Chipboard "closet" is the mechanical room. That will be replaced with flush locking doors once everything is sewn up. Would be nice to have less mud.

[vertical_doug]

I don’t think you should assume road kill. My experience with dead deer carcasses like this is the animal was weakened from ticks. I’d recommend thoroughly checking yourself for ticks.

In North Salem, that was always the case. One time me and the aussie were covered in the buggers after finding a dead doe in the spring.

[j44ke]

I don’t think you should assume road kill. My experience with dead deer carcasses like this is the animal was weakened from ticks. I’d recommend thoroughly checking yourself for ticks.

In North Salem, that was always the case. One time me and the aussie were covered in the buggers after finding a dead doe in the spring.

Could be. Ticks do accumulate more readily on already sick animals as well. Easy pickings? Anyway, these remains long ago lost the ability to sustain a tick. Basically sinews and bones. A hunter friend said that the smashed face could have been a bad shot, a car strike or just a hungry coyote going for the available nutrients in area where the bone is thinner. But illness could have preceded all of the above, and that could definitely have been caused by a tick infestation. Or the ticks could have just been the slow motion coup de grâce.

But tick check is part of every outdoor trip. We even designed the master bathroom in our new house so you can enter it directly from outside, clean off, then jump across the atrium (outside) to the laundry and wash the clothes, all without walking through the main part of the house.

[Mabouya]

jump across the atrium (outside)

Jorn,

Looking good.

You may have mentioned it before, but if so, I've forgotten - what are your plans for what's going in the atrium? Anything on top of the gravel that's currently there? Serpentarium? (jk)

[j44ke]

Jorn,

Looking good.

You may have mentioned it before, but if so, I've forgotten - what are your plans for what's going in the atrium? Anything on top of the gravel that's currently there? Serpentarium? (jk)

We might have snakes without any planning required!

We don't really have a plan yet. Friends who are artists have indicated an interest in designing something. The atrium is open to the exposed rock ledge on the east side of the house, so we could figure out a way to carry the line of the uplifted rocks into the atrium.

Or we could do something like this:



or this:



or if the moisture content of the space is not what we think it is (there is a built in drain) something inspired by the dry garden at Ryoan-ji in Kyoto.



Last photo is not mine.

[j44ke]

Part of a small shopping center burned in town yesterday afternoon. Small as in a restaurant and 3 shops/offices. The restaurant escaped with minor water damage, as did the real estate office, but an vacant office and the town health clinic were completely destroyed. Hopefully insurance will rebuild it, because that health clinic was used by almost every town resident. The clinic is run by Elizabeth Bledsoe, a nurse practitioner (like a lot of low population density areas, there is no local doctor.) Hopefully she will be able to continue her work. Very valuable for a small town with an aging population.

I just happened to be driving past right after the first fire fighter volunteers arrived. They already had a hose set up. Must have carried in a regular vehicle because I saw no fire truck. Around here, you will see little signs that saw "Water Source 1000'" or similar. That's directing the pumper trucks to a source of water for fire fighting. The Roe Jan Kill runs right behind the building, so they must have already set up a pump and generator, because they had the hose going full blast.

Up here, whenever the volunteer fire department asks for money, we write a check. The one here seems fairly well run. I already know a couple of the firemen. Worthy investment in the community.

Now we just need the clinic rebuilt.

[mnoble485]

Jorn,
I’ve been looking for color samples for guest room. Did you forget to send them?

Mike

[j44ke]

Sorry Mike. My wife "lost" my guest list. She's opening all my mail now.

[Mabouya]

Jorn,
I’ve been looking for color samples for guest room. Did you forget to send them?

Mike

Sorry Mike. My wife "lost" my guest list. She's opening all my mail now.

Here you go, Mike.

You're sleeping next to the atrium with the snake.

[ides1056]

I imagine pachinko parties on the porch, tipsy guests bouncing from pole to pole.

Your house is spectacular.

I'd make sure that the pines are not within falling distance. We had entire trees 120' tall come down in the ice storm, just tipped over at the roots- this isn't something I have seen here before, at 1700' in the Berkshires.