Posted by Suzanne McMinn on December 20, 2007 @ 8:14 am
Tags: the old farmhouse tour
Daily Farmhouse Journal
1. Somebody probably died there. Maybe a couple people. Maybe they’re still there. Maybe in that ammo box on top of the pie safe. People are practical in the country. Why buy a fancy urn when there is a perfectly good empty ammo box available?
2. It’s cold. And it’s going to get colder. And the house is not going to get warm. Remember when you were five and you thought living in an igloo would be so neat? Try to be cheerful. Buy an electric blanket and a space heater no later than November. You can forget about finding any in the store after that.
3. You’re going to be cold anyway.
4. Those noises in the wall? That’s mice. Huge, giant, evil mice with flaming red eyes and poisonous fangs. Your cats aren’t going to get them out of the wall for you so just forget about that, but you can stock up on scented candles because when they die there? You’ll be the first to know.
5. Buy really, really long wooden matches. You’ll be less scared that you’re going to blow yourself up if you have long matches when it’s freezing and you’re lighting the gas stove in the cellar porch every night in the winter to keep the pipes from freezing.
6. The pipes are going to freeze anyway.
7. Don’t get excited about buying ten extension cords with multiple plugs to make up for the lack of existing outlets in the house. You’re just going to go home and blow all the circuits.
8. Those slanted floors that were the first thing you noticed when you moved in? You’ll totally forget about them after a few years. So be careful when you’re drinking.
9. No matter the inconveniences, no matter the hardships, living in a slanted little house is a privilege. It might change your life. It will certainly change your perspective.
10. If you can move out before anyone puts you in an ammo box, it’s all good.
8:40
am
Absolutely priceless, Suzanne.
I remember the slanted floors in our old farmhouse in Gaspé, but I was too young to drink so they didn’t give me any problem.
Moving out before you end up in an ammo box is good!
-Kim
8:42
am
11:05
am
Love the cat photo! Cats have a lot to teach us, especially about living in an old house! Like….. grow yourself a nice, thick fur coat. You’ll never be cold! Lick yourself clean. That way you will never have to get out of a hot bath into a cold room! Those noises in the walls will be entertainment! And always sleep in the bathroom sink! That way you will have no worries about slanted floors! And what’s an ammo box, anyway? See, no worries!
12:37
pm
I can identify with the COLD. Even when our 1940’s brick farmhouse is heated it’s still cold! But I love it and the retro tile. I like your site too.
12:49
pm
Suzanne,
Fabulous post!
You don’t have to live in a 100-Year-Old Farmhouse to have mice in the walls. Just living in the country will do of that!
4:35
pm
Great post, Suzanne!!! My paternal grandma’s house had slanted floors, but it wasn’t anywhere near 100 years old. It was just poorly built. *g*
4:39
pm
Love the photo!
6:34
pm
I like the pictures of the house and the cat. No matter how cold, how many times you trip the breaker, or how slanted the floor-it’s still home. *g*
Great post, have a wonderful evening!
11:27
am
LOL on the slanted floor. Eeeewwww on the ammo box. Did you give it a decent burial? It’s probably one of your ancestors.
8:39
am
http://suzannemcminn.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/woof.gif
Hi! I LOVE your site! I am new here, but feel immediately at home. I actually came this close(imagine my fingers close together)to buying a 150 year old farm house that was surrounded by a Christmas Tree Farm. It would have been paradise for me, but after reading your experiences, I think I’m better off in the house I did buy. But, I’ll live vicariously through you, okay?
Thanks!
Ro
11:46
pm
…Love your blog! I can so relate to this post, we live in an 180 year old log house and ’slanted’ doesn’t even begin to describe it! lol…
…Thanks for sharing!
…Merry Christmas!
…Blessings… :o)
12:52
pm
Just browsed your website - - I really like it!
8:44
pm
You’re kidding about the ammo box, right? RIGHT?
(eyeww.)
9:47
pm
No! Everything in this post is completely true! Odd, but true, LOL.
12:07
pm
What a great blog! Yes…we, too, live in an old house. The original section is 170+ years old; we’ve been here for 10. We know all about those slanted, cold floors; creaks and groans and now…we know about mice! And I’m NOT happy! On top of that we can’t get a cat b/c my dh and dd#2 are allergic (and our elderly dog just watches them scamper by at night with mild attention)…AND…it’s a very smart mouse…eats everything I put on the traps w/o even setting them off. And I KNOW that they work b/c they are quite successful at catching MY FINGERS when I set them! Sheesh!
Anyway…thanks for the good reads that you offer.
Blessings from Ohio
7:16
pm
I laughed so hard about the drinking part I woke the cat.
10:16
am
Although I don’t live in a 100+ yr old house (close, its 77 yrs old). I do have problems with the water pipes also. I found wrapping them in heat tape (the type that goes on your roof) set with a timer (goes on at night) works good.
P.S. I just found your site today.
2:18
pm
Fortunately, the old farmhouse I found had been updated with a new red metal roof, new white siding, and double pane windows. The upstairs remodel was completed by the prior owners, and they did a fine job.
Fortunately, from my perspective, they did not remodel the downstairs rooms. I’m blessed with the opportunity to make my home fit me, instead of trying to fit into someone elses idea of the perfect kitchen. (I can beat your turquoise green tiles - mine are yellow with a maroon border!)
My slanted floor in the bedroom was a challenge since I have a waterbed (my DH sold them for 34 years and just closed his CA store). First DH had to convince me it wasn’t going to simply drop right through the floor when he filled it, and then he had to use a level and blocks of wood to level it so the water didn’t pool at the head of the bed.
Cold? The first thing I looked for was a property with free gas! (For those not from WV, there is natural gas under many of the farms in the area. Usually the agreement with the gas company operating the well is that you get to use free gas from their well — for life. It’s 17 degrees and snowing. But I’m really toasty warm, and there is no bill at the end of the month.
9:28
am
Thanks for the smiles this morning! Reading your work is a joy!
1:42
pm
I just ran across your site VERY accidently looking for wallpaper for my computer. I absolutely love it !
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences like this.
Lori Evans
2:20
pm
So cute! I grew up on a farm…and my current house is very very cold in the winters! Know how you feel! ;) Nicely written.
11:24
am
I loved this! I can feel for you as I have been there done that and bought the tshirt (well the long john version). We rented a >100 year old beauty for 3 years. We moved in in Oct which was unseasonably warm but Dec was just the opposite and we were poor at that time and could only afford a small “Tin Wood Stove” for the living room. We threw a mattress on the floor and our 2 teenage girls, my hubby and I all slept beside the stove on a full size mattress. DH and I took turns sleeping and watching the fire afraid we would burn down the house or the fire would go out. Ah those were the days! My girls loved it though.
6:51
pm
So glad to have found your website, looking for French bread recipes. We also live in an old farmhouse, which will be 100 years old in 2009. We hope to have a celebration. It was a working dairy farm of 40 some acres and many of the old timers have great stories to tell. We only have 9 tenths of an acre and are now at the edge of town. We are only the third owner. The first from 1909-1920, then 1920-1988, and then us. We have worked hard to “restore” not remodel, and love the wallpaper and high ceilings.
I will try your French bread! Continue to enjoy your home, as there is nothing better than that old house with character.
Barb Jacobs
[email protected]
6:34
pm
We kept our washer and dryer each on a wooden pallet in our cellar. Why? Because whenever it rained hard or spring thawed the show, our old cellar would routinely have water in it. The cement floor has been patched so much over the years that there are high and low spots so that not all the water would head toward the hole in the center of the room.
My parents kept a long handled squeegee and an old broom down there just for such occasions: “Kids, get on down to the cellar and sweep that water out!”
Being a teen in the late 1980s meant this was a mortifying chore for me. Heh.
7:20
pm
I absolutely love your site. I found out about it this evening while checking the news on WSAZ.com. Beautiful pics, love the goat stories,…and they have to be real…we raised goats for a long time…they are the best. And the old houses, been there done that and loved it.