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Firlefanz
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Registered: 05-2003
Location: Germany
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
Oooh, you have a melodian and harmonium! That's wonderful.
Of course, the mice are bothersome. I bet they could use a warm, dry home, though.
I hope you can leave them outside when sorting your tools and putting them away.
It must feel very good to have all those things back. I do remember the house in Indiana, and all the work you put in there. Too bad the land was sick. Is it getting better already? (I remember you said you put a spell on it to make it healthy but that it would take a lot of time.)
So, shoooo, mouses, find your places outside!
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11/6/2011, 8:59 am
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muladzh
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
The land in Indiana is still bad - but the house protection worked well - nothing damaged though rodents had moved into the place, along with spiders - no human raids though, which is good for eighteen months empty. That was using the same protection 'spells' that I have suggested here.
The Harmonium is the type often known as an American Organ, or pump organ,built in Chicago in 1897. The melodian is an old fake really - it is a sixties reed organ, in wooden case, with 49 piano keys, and 72 base chord buttons,just like an accordion. It is powered by a very noisy electric pump, and it wheezes as it plays - the harmonium squeaks as the bellows operate - but they both have amazing tones.
I very much enjoy playing music - I weave spells around with it, so it is very much a part of my craft - I have an accordion, Ukulele, guitar, mandolin, low whistles, tenor whistles, harmonicas,and a couple of drums to keep the Harmonium and Melodion company.
This morning is very cold outside, a thick frost on everything, but inside is warm enough - the heat is electric, but it works - can't keep that as the only source, so a woodstove will help with warming, when money is a little less tight.
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11/6/2011, 4:20 pm
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Queenyforever
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Registered: 01-2007
Location: Just north of the clouds...
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
So happy that all your stuff arrived...those little furry critters are finding you and your stuff irresistible!
I'd soooo love to hear you play!
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“Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.”
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11/7/2011, 7:01 pm
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muladzh
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
I was playing Canon on D - rather good on the harmonium...... I tried it on the melodian as well - bit harder - multiple key changes ain't that easy with 72 buttons laying flat - I can do it on the accordion but not the melodian..
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11/7/2011, 9:42 pm
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Queenyforever
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
Neither are easy to play....but both are unique and make the most incredible sounds..
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“Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.”
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11/8/2011, 5:02 pm
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muladzh
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
Still haven't caught any more mice, and if we leave any food out, the ants arrive in force, but.. we have the kitchen table set up in the new kitchen, with fridge, freezer wire shelves in place so we have somewhere to eat. It is very much like the layout in the ancient house in Scotland - the kitchen is in one place, and the scullery has a sink and counters.. If we move the cooker into the new kitchen, and leave the sink where it is, that is what we would have.. but...... the sink has to come out, to see what mess and ruin there is behind it. The ants are coming in through a central location, not through the outside walls..
We put a tarpaulin up over the end door the horses wrecked, to give the chickens a bit more comfort in their favorite rousting place. (on top of a seven bar gate in the 'stable' section)
Things are still a bit chaotic, there is still some furniture on the porch that needs dealing with, hopefully not now infested with the earwigs that live out there.
In 1994, my brother bought some bookcases, that I got when he died - they came from a woodwork store that claimed everything was real.. This move, the first time I had really looked at them, showed me that they are the fake chipboard, with laminated veneer - so they are not something I want - into the workshop they went, to be knocked down and the ply back, and trim will be salvaged. The chipboard is worthless for any purpose - I like to keep natural things around me, not something made of dust and glue.
FedEx arrives here good and early, before 09:30 - so we don't need to wait in all day for the deliveries. UPS is later but they will leave it on the porch. This morning, the picture framer attachment arrived for my "Blade Runner©" woodwork tool. I don't like power tools generally, and won't use a circular saw, or sabre saw, instead using my hand saws ( I cut faster and straighter with the hand tool than I do with the power tools) but I have power routers, table saw, and now this blade runner tool, that has a sabre blade vertically fitted up from the table, with guide slots for squares,etc - there are a few such attachments available - I got a protractor with it, and bought also a circle cutter, and picture framer. of course the picture framer will also make trim cuts. I enjoy woodwork and have been unable to enjoy it for a long time - it really is something you need a workshop for - making furniture outside on gravel is not much fun.
The only other power tool I want to have is a panel saw, a large frame with a disk saw head fitted on sliding rails - used for cutting large boards of ply etc. They are a little expensive, but can make very short and easy work of cutting plywood boards. With specific blades, they will also cut other construction boards up to 5 x 10.
So far, I have 'finished' the chests of drawers that were made incomplete, allowing mice to destroy the contents - if you look at the good quality older antique furniture, a chest of drawers is not a skeletal structure with drawers in it, it is a complete box structure, six full panels, with drawers fitted into it. Modern furniture tends to make a skeleton, then staple panels on top, sides and back, with a framework to support the drawers on metal expanding rails. The bottom is left out, presumably for false economy, allowing mice access to whatever is in the drawers. Bad idea. It takes me about fifteen minutes to cut some plywood, shape it, then tack it onto the frame rails underneath the piece, effectively denying rodent access. If you do it right, the mice can't even gnaw into it - their teeth are inwardly pointing, they cannot bite into a flat surface in front or above them, they need an edge they can get their mouth round. Same with rats, which is why they always go for the edge of panels.
I will be happy when the month-end arrives - this month had a very expensive beginning, so no supplies this month - we have to wait to do any more painting or flooring. For the last three months, money has been a little tight, it will be good not to have the large amounts of money needed to get into a new homestead, but, we have the buildings, tractors, tools and our goods from Indiana, so we are content - broke, but content.
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11/8/2011, 7:12 pm
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muladzh
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
The house is a mess - no floor coverings, just paint spattered concrete, some of the walls are just bare concrete blocks, but it feels like home.
The shop is the same, needs work, but it feels like my shop. I need to make a couple of work benches, one for general work, the other a specific wood work bench, I need rodent proof lockers for my tools, so they don't get colonized, but that is not pressing me into hurry. I am protecting the tools now, by leaving the boxes and cases open - rodents won't move into the open..
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11/9/2011, 5:39 pm
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Queenyforever
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Location: Just north of the clouds...
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
All a home is....is someplace your heart is comfortable in.
Decor matters not...
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“Freedom and democracy are dreams you never give up.”
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11/9/2011, 8:56 pm
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muladzh
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Re: Life on the new Homestead!!!!!
Still working hard, putting more shelves together, and cleaning things as we find them. I seem to be missing a lot of tools, particularly hammers - I had plenty of them, now I can only find two. I need a trip to harbor freight - the best place to buy things that last forever... providing you get the right things. Most of their stuff is cheesey, but I have anvils, pliers, grips, hammers and impact sockets that I bought there fifteen years ago, still going strong. I have a couple of saws I got ten years ago, that I still have in full use, and it is the best place I have found for washers..
We have a field of llamas across the road, usually peaceful critters, but today a fight broke out - those creatures are not wimps at all - the spitting was ten feet streams of spit, teeth sinking into opponents, and a strange grunting moan going on. Whatever the problem was, it is peaceful now.
The chickens are behaving like chickens, except it is not egg laying season now, so no eggs. (they need fourteen hours of daylight to lay eggs - never realized they were solar powered
I haven't used the tractors all week, I really need to find some implements so I can drive around looking like I know what I am doing.
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11/10/2011, 10:37 pm
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