Four people, two hours, one stud

"Four people, two hours, one stud." - But things went much faster after that!  At the end of an afternoon of work where we had planned to put up our first new wall, we had one stud in and darkness encouraging us to call it a day.  That's when Dad came up with the previous quote...

Only a third of the family that was supposed to come out for Christmas actually squeaked through a window in the winter weather, so Mom and Dad were our skeleton crew for the house last week.  We were sad to be missing the rest of the fam, but those of us here had fun and actually got a lot of work done.

 With the air too cold to pour foundation, we're working inside while we wait for a warm-up.  We cleared out all the remaining trash - old electrical, a built-in cabinet we hoped to save but couldn't, LOTS of nails in the studs we're reusing, etc.  And then we started in on new walls.  Very exciting!  We built my closet and the wall dividing the master bath from the kid's bath.  (No kids yet; the state frowns on placing kids in houses with no walls and lots of nails on the floor...)  After lots of work on floor plans, it was a thrill to walk around and see the plans coming to life in the new walls.

And now Mom and Dad are back home, the weather is warming up, and we're hoping to pour foundation very soon.  Then we'll really be building some walls - hopefully at a better rate than one stud every two hours :)

History Found

With the front porch mostly gone, leaving only a deck, the next to go was the back vestibule.  Before actually crowbar-ing the little addition off the back of the house the siding had to come off.  Here is where we found the history...  Instead of today's tar paper between wall and siding, folks in the 1930's used newspapers.  These newspapers have been hiding behind the siding for over 70 years, yet they are still in remarkably good condition.  We read through the society pages (actually the front pages of the Sunday edition) about brides and fetes and socialites.  In the classifieds dealership ads encouraged us to come in and buy a new Chevy for $525.  We read an article refuting the idea that American college students have "communistic tendencies" and one detailing a reorganization of Oregon's WPA units.  

Lots of history-in-the-making in May 1935 when some previous owners decided to put an addition on their little lumber mill house.  The mill must have been doing o.k. even during the Depression if these people were expanding their home.  The first deed for our property is dated 1918 (any Red Sox fans out there?) so this addition may have been done by the original owners.  As we take this house apart and rebuild it to make it our own, it is a lot of fun to wonder and imagine about who used to live here...