There was a crazy windstorm this week which knocked out power to over 200,000 people. The winds were hurricane-force, but the actual day was sunny and clear. I have never experienced weather quite like that before. The power at BHH was off for over 24 hours.
On our street, the culprit was this giant branch. However, full trees toppled like dominoes, and many homes suffered damage and plenty of near-misses.
The neighbors directly in front of and beside BHH lost full trees. Thankfully, both trees landed clear of any structures and no one was injured. Many homes are still without power, and it could be a few days before the utility companies can get everything back to normal. Mother Nature does not play around in this part of the country.
Paint
Last week, after I wrote the posts about the history of BHH, I started thinking a lot about all of the painted woodwork inside this house. I spend a lot of time looking at old houses IRL and online, and I am always in awe of the homes that still have original, unpainted woodwork. It is hard to believe that some houses dodged the trend of painting woodwork.
I am not sure which owner began painting the natural woodwork here in BHHÂ but based on the type of paint, it was a long time ago. We are not angry or bitter. Mostly, we are just sad that as much as we love and cherish Blake Hill House, we will not be the owners who restore it to its perfect original glory.
As the owners and caretakers of this treasure, we are determined to make sure that everything we paint is as professional-looking as possible. If something is unpainted, we leave it as-is. Also, when summer rolls around, I will start stripping some of the interior doors. For now, that is the only commitment to complete restoration that we can make. Over time, we may feel differently.
Podcast Update
Everything is moving right along with the podcast. Seriously, I am so excited about this that I am nearly giddy. We start our first interviews in the field on Monday! I have additional interviews scheduled all the way through April. Initially, I thought that only a handful of people would be interested in being a part of our new project. Not so! I am still working my way through the submissions and contacting everyone by e-mail or phone. Every person seems to have a story that is worth sharing.
Due to the high volume of participation, which is an excellent problem to have, we are pushing the air date back again. This time, rather than declare an air date and risk not meeting the deadline again, we are just going to lay low. This podcast is happening. We are working hard to make sure that we are putting together an A-plus production. Your stories are worth it. They deserve our best, and they will get it. Please bear with us.
The Oxford Comma
This subject has absolutely nothing to do with BHH or old houses. I won’t blame you if you skip it. I slipped this topic in here because the title of this blog post has a series of items, and it made me wonder how our readers feel. My brain is a busy place.
I first became acquainted with the term Oxford Comma in 2004 when I was helping my son study for a standardized language arts test. He was learning about items in a series, and just as I learned in school, I explained to him that a comma went after every item in the series before the conjunction. Well, imagine my surprise when he got every single comma in a series question wrong. A quick Google search introduced us to a newfangled way of punctuating, and we embraced it with gusto.
It turns out that while our family was exercising punctuation plasticity, the Oxford Comma war was brewing. Shot were fired, and people are still hashing it out on a regular basis. More power to them.
So, here is a little poll. Please vote so we can solve this issue for the once and for all. The Internet needs us.
[poll id=”3″]
Links
This week, I have a couple of real estate links to share. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the website Old House Dreams, I highly recommend it. The administrator, Kelly, has been curating real estate links for old homes since 2009. She is devoted to spreading love and respect for old houses. Old House Dreams is one of my favorite websites, and typically, that is where I find the real estate that I share here.
I already shared this beauty on Facebook, but I cannot get it out of my head. I sure hope it comes with a gardener, and look at those four chimneys! This house is right out of a storybook, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Oh! The stories this one could tell, and I would like to hear them all. This old tavern sits on a beautiful 5-acre parcel of land with a spring-fed pond and a year-round stream. Just look at this gorgeous stone.
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This afternoon, we are off to the home show. Andy and I are not in the market for anything in particular, but we are expert window shoppers. If you would like to go on a virtual field trip with us,  you may follow along on Instagram.
