BONES!

No. Not the new TV show on Fox. But real bones in our backyard. You see when we bought the cabin there was an old trailer on the property that was boarded up but standing which was good enough for us. We figured that that is where we will store all the salvaged material we rescue from the old house . Little did we know that when we opened up the trailer we were in for quite a surprise. This is a shot of the trailer after Greg spent a lot of time and a great deal of energy cleaning it out.

But this is what he spent all that time and energy taking out...piles and piles of bones.... A LOT of bones. Big ones, some little ones, mostly all sawed into pieces. One small vertebrae. Some unrecognizable fragments. We're talking roughly 4-5 wheelbarrows full of bones, perhaps more. Now, we found this pretty creepy but it got even creepier...

These pieces you see here are have the diameter of a baseball. They are fairly large. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger)

You see when you buy and old house that needs a lot of fixing up you must also have tools. Yarn and books and toy trains...yeah we got a lot of that stuff...but tools...those we needed. So off we went to our local hardware store to get us some fixin tools. Well, you see, while I was way on the other side of our 2 acres maintaining hiking trails with Jorn, Greg was on the opposite end of the land cleaning the trailer. I went to clip some overgrown brush and all of a sudden my trimmer handle just fell off and at that very moment I heard Greg yell from the other side "Abi, you better come and take a look at this"...When I got there Greg was standing with the handle of his rake but the rake part had gone flying off at what must have been the same time mine did and disappeared into the woods. These were good quality, new tools. At that point Greg showed me a 3 foot high mound he had started raking in to which was literally a pile of bones. Talk about a "Do NOT Disturb" sign...

Here are our broken tools. We still can not find the rake head. Needless to say at this point we called it a day and left the mound undisturbed. We are intrigued though by this new mystery which will most likely just add up to the bones being the remnants of a farming lifestyle. Though that doesn't explain why someone would put bones in a trailer?! But people do strange things. Somehow interesting properties sort of gravitate toward us I think. In Cornwallville, NY (our old farmhouse) we decided one day to clean the old hay out of the barn which was at least a good foot deep. Armed with pitchforks and dustmasks Greg and I pulled the pickup truck up to the loft door and started forking all we could out into the trucks bed. It wasn't long before we realized that there wasn't just a foot of hay on the floor but rather 150 year old documents that belonged to the original owner of the house , the Reverend Scott Inglis, including personal letters, postcards, checks, bills, Christmas cards!! It was a historians dream. And there it had sat for all those years secretly secure under a bed of hay. So, you never know what you will find or why people do what they do but you sure won't get stories like that buying a prefab modular hunk of junk.

The day wasn't all strange discoveries though. It was actually quite fun and we are getting a lot of work done. Here is a picture of the boys after a long, hard days work, sitting on the edge of our newest adventure.

And the Award for Best Summer Oh-Fiddy's Best Rejection Letter by a Major Literary Agency goes to ...

... none other then the ga-giant William Morris Agency. Let's give them a small round of applesauce for their considerate pass on my novel. What happened to the box my 600+ page manuscript came in is a mystery, as it returned in a bubble wrap manilla envelope, but ... thats splitting hairs. Nice stationary you richie riches!

The other 35 or so rejections of the season never made it to the 'review manuscript' phase - but thats ok. Since they are all in the upper tier of agents, i'll let it slide. Though my ego would prefer a reaction more civil then the response you would likely get if you offered someone "haggis and mealie pudding with that?" - im still in full optimism mode.

I have a lot to be thankful for, i'm ramping up for my second novel and the wind of change is at my back.

"What do they win?" you may be asking yourself. Well, what do you get someone who 'literally' has everything.

Well my new DVD of course, where I sing all of the Perry Como and Lawrence Welk hits through a voice synthesizer - naked. Really, conganulations and thanks you guys!

GC

A New Addition

Say hello to a new member of the Connors Clan. Little baby Trixie! One of my co workers cats had babies and we have been waiting anxiously for our little girl to be ready to come home. Yesterday was her first full day at our house and despite leaving behind a few brothers and sisters she adjusting well to her new living situation.

Obie is another story. When we first got Trixie home he hissed and moaned. But now he seems to be tolerating her and allowing her to get in his space a bit more. He's not thrilled about it though.

As you can see from the expression on his face here. I think this pictures says everything about his current state of emotion.

But isn't she sweet? Her daddy is a Main Coon and you can see the little tufts of hair on the tips of her ears. Trixie is a real sweetie. Jorn is loving her already, in fact, I heard him saying her name in his sleep last night. I'm sure that didn't make his bed partner, Obie, too happy.

Center Road Cabin

It's offical! The Connors Clan are the proud owners of a cabin in the woods! We closed on August 23rd and promptly went over to open the padlock on our little piece of heaven. Pete and Dimitri were with us that day so they were there to experience the joy with us. Here's a shot of the Dimitri, Jorn, and I opening the door for the first time.

Located on the property along with the cabin is an old farmhouse that is falling to the ground. A property like this is not for everyone and we understand that but located within the old house are quite a bit of building materials that can be used for other projects we have planned in the future. Greg and I have already started dismantling the house and removing wood, windows, and other supplies in preparation for the houses inevitable demolition sometime before winter.

The old portion is quite big as you can see from this picture. It extends a ways from the cabin.

I have posted this picture before but it now functions as a "before" shot. In this picture (below) the pathway leading from the "front" door is just grass.


But I uncovered a slate floor underneath a collapsed portion of the house so now that pathway looks like this...

It extends up from the house toward the driveway and winds its way up into an eventual garden plot. Pictured below. Let me tell you those slate pieces were heavy! Greg and I are getting our hard work muscles back that have sort of disappeared since we owned our farmhouse in Cornwallville.

But, as we all know "all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy" so Jorn and I have adapted this sled we found to work on grass. There is a nice steep hill (you can't tell from the picture) and you can really get going! Who needs snow?

Finally, for this post, a gratuitous shot of one of our neighbors.

New Photo Album Feature

Hi everyone! I have added a photo album of our current work in progress or as we like to call it the "Center Road Cabin". If you click on the pictures down below in the sidebar it will take you to a virtual album. Let me know if the pictures load too slow by leaving a comment so I can change the format or something! Enjoy!

Hurricane Katrina

The victims of Hurricane Katrina are all on our minds. I urge you to take a moment now, like our family has, and donate what you can to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. If you designate the Relief Fund in your payment all of your donation will go towards helping those affected by this natural and humanitarian distaster. Please click on the button below and you will be directed to the Red Cross website where you can make an online secure donation or find the phone number so you can donate by phone.