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20758. wabbit - 12/28/2006 5:00:17 PM Ms IT had suggested having a Dreams thread quite a while ago. I don't know if I could do justice describing my dreams. Some are incredibly horrible, gory and violent, and some are just fantastic, but almost none have anything to do reality. I'm also mostly not in my own dreams, not as myself anyway...I know that in your dreams you are supposed to be everyone. I have one that I did a painting of, where a large ribcage is floating in space amongst small, flat, sharp edged bright rectangular objects and drops of blood. I don't want to know what that was about.
Does anyone else rewind and edit? Now what kind of control freak do you have to be to do that in your dreams? 20759. alistairconnor - 12/28/2006 5:14:02 PM I have a dream that comes back with variations. The theme is that I'm at university, but I've been letting things slide and skipping classes, to the extent that I don't even know what class I'm supposed to be going to, and I've got an impossibly big backlog of work. And the brick wall of exams is coming up. 20760. alistairconnor - 12/28/2006 5:17:09 PM Yesterday I got a Christmas card from my sister, with a DVD enclosed. It's a transcription of our father's Super-8 home movies from the 1960s. Lots of laughs, and probably some good dream material too. 20761. thoughtful - 12/28/2006 5:17:34 PM Thanks, arky.
Our sadness compounded by the fact that the old family homestead is no more. They started at about 8 am on Tuesday and by noon, the house was gone. Hubby and I shed a lot of tears. I took pictures as I was sobbing. I'll have to post a few sometime. Right now they are still too painful to look at.
He's feeling much better about the house being gone now, though, as when he saw the condition of the beams as they tore it down, he realized there was no saving it. They did save as many beams as they could and now we have a large pile of very old wood. Not sure how much we can or should save and how much will end up as fire wood. Stunning to see the condition of the beams...cracked, rotted, notched so much as to look like giant-sized dentile molding. To think these were the best and strongest ones there! One builder saw the wood and all the notches and thought that the beams may have been previously used before being put into the house in the 1790s. Certainly the house was not built by a wealthy family. But I can't knock what they did...it stood for over 200 years...not sure how many homes being built today will be able to make the same brag.
But we have some with cross braces and we have some with the pegs still in the ends. We have some with the old steel nails. We hope to be able to use some decoratively in the new house. The longest beam we would need would be 18' and the demo guy wasn't sure he'd be able to get that out...instead he got 2 out that were at least 21' long, so we may be very lucky indeed.
However, the last thing I want to do is bring the old beams in only to bring in insects and rot and such into the new house. We'll need someone who knows his old wood to take a look and let us know what's what. The beams seem to be mostly oak...white and red...with maybe a few chestnuts mixed in.
While it is very sad to see the landscape changed so drastically for the first time in centuries, it is much easier to see the lay of the land and how wonderful the new house will be on it.
Mom gave hubby a painting of the old house that came out really really nice. We'll always keep that in memory of the old gal, and give it a prominent location in the new house for sure.
We meet with architect tomorrow am to look at the old beams and the land so he can help render a judgment on them.
No place else to go but up.
As hubby's old boss told us...close your eyes, open your wallet and let 'er rip! 20762. thoughtful - 12/28/2006 5:23:44 PM Not surprisingly, I've been dreaming about houses lately.
But when I'm away from work, like I am this week, I find I dream a lot about work too.
There are always those horrid dreams though that I don't know where they come from...like being infested with head lice and such...
And of course the obvious dreams like being in a public place and getting frustrated about not being able to get to the restroom or getting to one only to find there's a long line and waking up only to find that I do have to go!
(i'm sure cap'n dirty was thinking that last one was going someplace else...) 20763. alistairconnor - 12/28/2006 5:29:47 PM Ah yes, being naked in public is always good dream material. But in recent years it hasn't been a source of shame for me, it just makes me uneasy that it might be embarrassing other people. 20764. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/28/2006 5:32:04 PM I have a dream that comes back with variations. The theme is that I'm at university, but I've been letting things slide and skipping classes, to the extent that I don't even know what class I'm supposed to be going to, and I've got an impossibly big backlog of work. And the brick wall of exams is coming up.
I've had that same recurring dream (with minor variations) for decades. We're all theacademic roadkill of fear-based education. Anxiety and dread mixed with dyslexia and bad memories––my dream cocktail! 20765. alistairconnor - 12/28/2006 5:33:38 PM Tful, if the beams are actively infested, you'll have to get them treated to kill the bugs. Don't leave them outside, at least keep them covered until you're ready to use them, because water will help them rot and let the insects in.
Then it's a matter of carving off any surface rot, and sealing the wood so it isn't a source of dust. Household wax works well for me. 20766. thoughtful - 12/28/2006 5:41:18 PM Thanks AC...so far I see no signs of active infestation, though dry rot is clearly an issue.
Hadn't thought about sealing the wood. The stuff is extremely rough...beams are hand-hewn so the surface, even where not notched, is very rough. Not sure I want to do anything to change that... 20767. thoughtful - 12/28/2006 5:42:38 PM Hubby's off to buy a very large tarp to cover the wood today. 20768. arkymalarky - 12/28/2006 6:50:23 PM I can't imagine how emotional the tearing down must have been with so many family and childhood memories there, Thoughtful.
I hope you will share all the processes, decisions, etc, of your house building with us--and pictures! I had not long finished my house when I began posting in the Fray. It is on Bob's family place, though not nearly so old, but we did replace their little family house. I've mentioned it before, but a former student of mine bought it for his dad who'd had a stroke and is confined to a wheelchair. I drive by it on the way to Bob's mom's house on pretty days and see him in his wheelchair on the porch his son built for him, happy as a clam.
WRT wood, it's awful here and termites are a problem, yet we've (meaning Arkies in general, not Bob and me) still managed to do a lot with old wood. I know you'll get great advice and help. This homeplace has been one since the late 1800s, which is a lot younger, but humidity is hard on houses here. Even so, when Bob's parents built they tore down someone else's old house that was on the spot and used the HUGE planks for barn shelves, and we still have them. One of the Methodist churches in town also made use of its beautiful old interior wood and pews to make a small chapel that looked like the inside of the old church. It's where Bob and I got married, and it's great. I have friends who've used old homeplace and barnwood (and church wood) to make an interior wall accent, wall a room, or even make furniture. A woodworker would probably have lots of great suggestions, and to me that was the most fun part of building a house--all the suggestions, ideas, etc, that are everywhere.
A dear friend of mine was building her house when I was (two of mine would fit inside it), and we shopped together, shared ideas and tips we had discovered or received, etc, but it's a lot more fun looking back on it than it was at the time. If I had it to do again I'd enjoy it more, but we were in a time crunch due to the loan requirements and other unfortunate and unavoidable circumstances at the beginning that ate up valuable time. But since then I haven't even changed paint colors, I'm still so satisfied with what we did. At the moment it's unfortunately suffering from benign neglect, but I'll remedy that this summer. 20769. arkymalarky - 12/28/2006 6:56:29 PM Ah, the public humiliation dreams. Bob used to have those. I've had the ones like Thoughtful where I can't find a decent bathroom in public places.
If there is any way you could show us that painting Wabbit, it sounds fascinating.
I've been staying up until 2-3 am working, which is just how I do. When I was frantically working to save rural schools I did the same thing and would go to work almost every day on about 3-4 hours of sleep. Now I'm sleeping late, but people call me in the morning, so I know I'm having dreams, I can remember having them, but don't recall them when I wake up.
When Bob worked nights and Mose was a baby and I was "way out here" alone, I had nightly nightmares about people trying to get in, not being able to dial the phone, etc, and I'd wake up terrified about 1 or 2 am almost every night, and rarely was able to go back to sleep. 20770. arkymalarky - 12/28/2006 7:11:03 PM I'm anxious to play around with our music and I simply can't before spring break at least. We bought a turntable and I used Audacity to digitalize part of a record, but I haven't had time to figure out how it all works and tweak the sound, etc. 20771. PelleNilsson - 12/28/2006 9:19:50 PM thoughtful,
I hope you made sure that the beams don't rest directly on the ground. I would recommend some kind of supports that give, say 2", for ventilation, Don't let the tarp cover up the ventilation space and remove it altogether when there is no more risk for snow. Seasoned wood is not susceptible to rain, but keeping it covered for a long time will expose it to mould. 20772. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/28/2006 11:09:25 PM Pelle knows his stuff––what he said tful. 20773. thoughtful - 12/29/2006 4:24:35 AM Thanks for the suggestion...we did put it on boards first before it was stacked and it is loosely stacked with air spaces in between. We will tarp it but hopefully, not for long...I want this house project over with already! 20774. thoughtful - 12/29/2006 4:28:31 AM Arky, when I was going to school nights while working full time, I kept telling myself that sleep was overrated. Not sure I ever fully bought it, but it helped get me through those excessively long days and nights....maybe it'll help you too. 20775. arkymalarky - 12/29/2006 8:35:30 AM Thanks! For my part, I'm way hyped up right now but it's about over, barring insomnia issues, which I've never had much problem with. Once I get this project turned in on Jan 8 things will slow down dramatically, though I'll still be fairly busy until around spring break. And after one summer class, I'm done. When I was doing all that rural ed work, my main concern was falling asleep on my rural 30 minute commute, but I only came close one time after being up the entire night before.
In going back to school I had to drop some things that I won't pick back up, with all the work on the state level I was doing wrt rural ed. I tried to do both at first (under pressure from state and national advocates I was working with/for) and bombed an ed law test that I didn't get to study for, after a huge out-of-town meeting (I'd have a 4.00 if it weren't for that--it dropped my A to a B). So I relearned how to say "no" and lived with some people being disappointed--most have been fantastic, though. I dropped playing any leadership role and will only write, research (what I choose, with no demands or timelines) and maintain our website (along with fun political and event stuff of my choosing), unless I retire from teaching. I'm in my niche with the advocacy work and have a much better perspective now, and that's where I'm staying, though I'm still totally committed to the issue and still work on it a lot--just not frantically and non-stop. By summer, my life should be like it was when I began posting in the Fray (12 years ago?), which is a very good thing. I have a long list of books I want to read, stuff I want to get into, etc.
I don't think I could survive working and full time school. I'm in awe of people who manage it. Nine hours was too many for me this fall, but it was just a one-semester thing. I just can't take the stress levels any more, and my personal relationships suffer too much. I should have done this a long time ago, but Bob went back to school when Mose was a toddler and then we built our house, and one thing and another, and before I knew it, it was "now or never" if I was going to have any control over the rest of my career and my retirement options. 20776. Magoseph - 12/29/2006 10:28:09 AM Dear Moties,
What are the more important tasks you want to accomplish in 2007 that will affect the rest of your life? 20777. Magoseph - 12/29/2006 11:36:13 AM Excuse me, I meant to say: What are the most important tasks you want to accomplish in 2007 that will affect the rest of your life?
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