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Post by Phalon on Feb 17, 2016 8:35:31 GMT -6
HA! It's a good thing I've already finished my coffee, or I would have wasted it by spraying it all over my computer screen.
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Post by stepper on Feb 17, 2016 18:30:36 GMT -6
I consider that high praise.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 17, 2016 18:39:11 GMT -6
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Post by stepper on Feb 17, 2016 19:18:09 GMT -6
People are capable of amazing things.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 17, 2016 19:32:14 GMT -6
Yes, they are. And it's a shame some prefer to destroy instead of finding their own artist skills within themselves.
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Post by stepper on Feb 17, 2016 19:42:50 GMT -6
Sadly Joxcee, undisciplined childish reactionary people are slowly becoming the norm instead of the exception. Just look at our politics.
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Post by Phalon on Apr 17, 2016 6:18:03 GMT -6
Quite awhile ago, I thought I either heard or read somewhere that it is customary for builders to leave some small token within the walls of houses. Mr. Fixit, the man who owned the house for 50 or more years before the owners from whom we bought the house, put on the mudroom addition back in the 70s. Our neighbor told us the entire house was raised to convert the Michigan basement to a real basement, and the mudroom was built to encompass the old outside entrance to the basement (think the Wizard of Oz tornado scene on the farm; the house kitty-corner from us, still has this type of basement entrance). Anyway...now that the mudroom is gutted, the memento Mr. Fixit left between the walls has been revealed. Instead of removing it, I was thinking of leaving it to be walled up again when the contractors install the drywall...kind of out of respect for the man. Or maybe there was a little bit of superstition thrown in there too. I kind of wondered if it was considered bad luck to remove these kinds of items, so I drilled. Didn't really find what I was looking for in the drill, but found a site with the weirdest things people have found between the walls of houses. www.houzz.com/ideabooks/14620335/list/you-wont-believe-what-these-homeowners-found-in-their-wallsJewelry, rubies, valuable old baseball cards, paintings, love letters....and what do we find? Beer bottles! And sh!t beer at that! Pfft!
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Post by stepper on Apr 17, 2016 14:02:18 GMT -6
I believe this is true. I remember a couple stories about my grandfather who did construction work - people said that many years later they were doing one renovation or another where they had to tear down a wall or some such, and they'd find his initials carved into a cross piece, or painted on something. Superman #1 for instance. A copy of Action Comics No 1 found in the walls of a Minnesota house sold for $175,000. That's a lot of money for what had been insulation. What's wrong with Pabst Blue Ribbon? It's "Blue Ribbon"! You're problem was that the bottles were empty huh! (I don't remember you talking about beer before - it's always been coffee.) What you need is some Rolling Rock! Still, finding something at all must have been fun and interesting! Leave a note for the next person explaining what it is. Just be sure to seal the letter in something so it'll keep until the next person "gets lucky."
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Post by Phalon on Apr 19, 2016 6:05:53 GMT -6
It is kinda fun. I think the younger guys on the crew that found the bottles thought so too; one of them left an energy drink can on the same ledge as the beer bottles.
That's actually how we dated the house to the 1880s; when we gutted one of the kids' rooms, we found that newspaper had been used as insulation - a lot of it in good enough condition to still read. And then there was the "hidden room" discovered behind the plaster and lathe.
I have to admit though, that although I don't have LX's or Scrappy's fear of clowns, if that clown head in the article I posted the link to, had been found in our walls, I probably would have freaked.
I thought this was a cool idea, and had planned to do it - I was going to put it inside one of the bottles. Who wouldn't want to find a message in a bottle? I never got around to it though - when I got home from work yesterday, the electrician had done the wiring, and contractor's crew had already got the insulation up. (Mr. Fixit never even put in insulation!)
I'll have to remember when they gut the upstairs, to put a little time capsule memento in-between the walls.
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Post by stepper on Apr 19, 2016 17:20:41 GMT -6
A hidden room behind the plaster and lath? Cool! Will you be able to use that hidden space one way or another? And are you plastering or substituting dry wall? Here the house is dry wall but back in NJ it was all plaster. If it was possible, I'm sure LX would have arranged it. You're still due as I recall. Finding ANY kind of head would do that. So you should make it happen. Get yourself down to that cheap clothing store, pick up a Styrofoam head and a toothy clown mask, and leave it in a wall for someone to discover. Put a note on the bottom of the head like "I couldn't resist." I think it's a fun idea, but you might want to leave two so 'they' don't form their entire opinion off of you clowning around.
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Post by Spock on Apr 22, 2016 0:24:01 GMT -6
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Post by stepper on Apr 22, 2016 20:01:30 GMT -6
I'm un-natural enough without anyone else's help.
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Post by Spock on Apr 23, 2016 2:36:40 GMT -6
The human Walking Program:
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Post by Phalon on Apr 24, 2016 7:56:42 GMT -6
What a cool idea. Even better that all the dogs were adopted. I wonder if Scrappy's seen this.
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Post by Phalon on May 3, 2016 6:12:04 GMT -6
They started on the kitchen yesterday, removing that hideous, ugly, much-hated drop-ceiling. Finds above the drop-ceiling for the day: Tube-and-knob wiring that Mr. Fixit connecting to the wiring he installed; it's a wonder nothing caught on fire all these years! Three layers of very vintage wallpaper, dating back to who-knows-when. We do know when the drop-ceiling was installed; the date on the "The Chicago Visitor" newspapers is 1961. Big upcoming concert in Chicago that day - Pearl Bailey and Ethel Merman. And this... Behind the wallpaper is the chimney that runs up the center of the house. The tin plate covers the hole the wood-burning stove pipe would vent into; on the ceiling is another hole that a pipe would run to the upstairs to distribute heat. When we gutted BP's room before she was born, we found the steel plate on the floor where the heat would come out. It was really beautiful, with all kinds of scrolled designs on it. An even neater find than the tin plate though, is what's on either side of the chimney at the original ceiling level. Wall-pockets!!! I've got two wall-pockets stretching the width of the room; they were probably were originally transom windows between the two rooms which I'd love to have, but I'm sure it'd cost an arm and a leg. Instead the guys are going to frame them in for plate and knick-knack display pockets.
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Post by stepper on May 3, 2016 19:42:35 GMT -6
Just a reminder.
I have to admit, you really have had some interesting finds with the renovation projects.
That sounds like a great idea. And it might be a good place to "hide" Halloween candy. Or Christmas presents. Little ones anyway.
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Post by Mini Mia on May 26, 2016 19:11:52 GMT -6
The oldest working nurse in the United States turns 90 and still going! Published on May 9, 2015
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Post by stepper on May 27, 2016 12:44:23 GMT -6
Some people are just plain special.
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Post by Phalon on May 31, 2016 6:16:37 GMT -6
Cr@p! Now I've got Limp Bizkit's song "My Way" stuck in my head. Been meaning to post the dining room find: another wood burning stove pipe covering that was in the ceiling. I'm keeping this one; the tin plate I gave to LX, because "it matches her decor" in the apartment.
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Post by stepper on May 31, 2016 18:32:32 GMT -6
Some how that group and that song reminds me of "one of these things is not like the others."
I don't blame you - it looks like an interesting design. Do you have a plan for it?
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Post by Phalon on Jun 2, 2016 6:39:58 GMT -6
Not to be confused with the Frank Sinatra song - completely different lyrics. I realized I was getting the lyrics mixed up with another song too though - "Creep" by Radiohead, and kept combining the lyrics to Limp Bizkit's "My Way" and "Creep" - it was stuck in my head all day, and have to admit it was a pretty good mash-up.
Not really. There are a number of things I could use it for, or I might just hang it on a wall or get a plate stand and prop it up on that. Any ideas?
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Post by stepper on Jun 2, 2016 18:16:17 GMT -6
I don't know what the rest of your wall decorations are, but my first thought is to make sure it's free of rust, antique paint it, then mount it someplace - kitchen where everyone can see it, or perhaps your shed where you could use it as some sort of hanger, or the mud room as a coat and/or key hanger. Or get the person you know who can paint stuff like old milk cans to paint an outside scene, then build an antique wood frame around it, mount the scene behind it, and turn it into a "window".
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Post by Phalon on Jun 5, 2016 6:31:40 GMT -6
All very good ideas (I was also thinking pot trivet next to the stove, or a potted plant trivet). Think I'm going to leave the finish the way it is instead of painting it; it doesn't show up well in the photo, but it's got a nice patina on it. The window idea with a scene behind it is a neat one, but not for this piece, I'm thinking - the design of the thing is too busy, and would take away from whatever is behind it.
Think I'll just leave it be for now - there are four more rooms, two of them to be completely gutted - and since the whole house was heated with wood burning stoves, maybe there are more grates such as this one to be found. It'd be cool if there were, and they matched.
LX is a child after my own heart; when she and Boyfriend were here for Memorial Day, she found a bunch of stuff set out for the trash that they dragged home (meaning here): a small lamp with a wrought iron base, a wrought iron candelabra, a small wooden table, and a wooden dining room table, which folds up and is perfect for an apartment. The moldy apartment is furnished, the new apartment that she moves into the end of this week is not - free furnishings are good furnishings.
Everything except the candelabra, (which is HUGE - the thing stands four feet tall, and extends to six feet; LX is going to use it for a coat or clothes rack) must be refurbished in some way. The lamp, candelabra, and dining room table are from Eccentric Lady across the street, who is having her garage converted into a cottage. Eccentric Lady is a painter; her style is Impressionistic - think "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, but less...uhm...screamy. She painted the lampshade and the top of the dining room table in that style, which is not LX's tastes and matches nothing she's got for the apartment.
I redid the lampshade last night. Remember "Mod Podge"?! Maybe not, it's a craft product from the 70s that is used sort of like a glue that is painted on almost any surface and dries clear. I think it's kind of like decoupage; though I'm not sure what decoupage is exactly, but I imagine Mod Podge is the stuff to use. I remember using it for a couple of products we did in Brownies and 4H, though I can't remember what projects they were. They still make the stuff! I found it in the home improvement store, and used it to cover the lampshade with pages from a vintage dictionary I had that I used pages from for some other craft project. All the pages I used for the lampshade had pictures of dogs on them; LX would love to have a dog, but can't in the apartment.
It turned out pretty neat, I think - better than I thought it would, because I really had no idea what I was doing.
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Post by stepper on Jun 5, 2016 12:58:03 GMT -6
Or put feet on it and use it to keep hot pots from scorching the table. Or is that what you meant by pot trivet next to the stove?
I was wondering about that - I couldn't tell about the size but was thinking there wasn't enough clear space.
And so very economical too!
It's like you read my mind. Real heavy on the 'not' part there so I looked it up. I still don't know what it is.
See, I would never think of this...keeping an old dictionary or finding enough pictures of dogs in it to cover a weirdly panted lampshade, or any other aspect of that project. And even if I did, it would look more like a bored little kid had nothing better to do than ruin a lamp. The only talent I have is for getting into trouble.
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Post by Spock on Jun 7, 2016 9:38:21 GMT -6
... The only talent I have is for getting into trouble. All men have that talent. Talk to a woman, get in trouble.
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Post by stepper on Jun 7, 2016 16:34:52 GMT -6
You know, some days it really does feel that way. Occasionally it feels like that fact that I'm still breathing is enough to irritate some.
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Post by stepper on Jun 7, 2016 21:05:32 GMT -6
I'm a sucker for good surprises and happy endings. While I've known about this one for a long time, it's still one of my favorites.
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Post by Spock on Jun 9, 2016 14:45:03 GMT -6
Thanks. My wife is away for a few days visiting our Daughter nearby (but not near enough) and I needed that. Instant smile.
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Post by stepper on Jun 9, 2016 16:44:22 GMT -6
Your welcome. This one is okay too.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 11, 2016 6:22:28 GMT -6
Those kinds of videos are like the recent one of the woman with the Chewbacca mask - you can't help but smile at seeing someone so happy, and laugh along with them! Same! The lamp shade project happened to turn out well; I know it did because I sent LX a picture of it along with the end table I "re-imagined" and she loved them both - and because BP wants me to do a lampshade for her too (of course, she doesn't have a free lamp she found alongside the road, or any lamp for that matter). But there are more of my ideas that don't turn out than there are that do! The end table is a perfect example: I redid it Sunday, didn't like how it looked, so undid what I'd done and started over - twice! Third time's a charm though, and finally I found a solution I (and thankfully LX) liked. Interesting old house find for the week: the electrician, doing ceiling work in the dining room, noticed an old board in the rafters that was different than the others, and on closer inspection saw it had writing on it. Knowing I want anything "odd" that they find, he took it down for me. It's a piece of an old crate that says "Columbia River Salmon. J.G. Megler Packing Co." It's dated 1883. I did a drill. Interesting guy that Megler was... "Megler quickly recognized the danger of overfishing on the Columbia and was an early proponent of legislated fishing limits and of fish hatcheries as a method to combat the collapse of salmon fisheries as seen in California and on the East Coast."en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_George_Megler
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