Year 2, First Month: November!
Hello! Welcome to my new Pigeon Manor format! We’ve reached the point where a monthly report should be plenty to keep you up to date on our progress.
The theme of this month was Kostishions! So many Kostishions! It’s been really terrific to have the opportunity to meet so many members of this wonderful family who owned this house for years. This month, I got to meet Joanne, Gary, John, and Mark, who came up for a tour. They gave me some wonderful photos, and Joanne and I went through tons of photos and family information too! I got a lovely email from Coreen, complete with wedding photographs of John/Jack and Anna Kostishion, the grandparents of all of the above, and the owners of the house. Then later that same week, we received a surprise visit from Edward and his wife Kathy (I think her name was Kathy? I’m sorry if I got it wrong! She was super nice!) who were up from Florida! Edward grew up here, and he told us many stories about the house. I believe he is in his 90s? Anyway, it is such a nice feeling to be able to connect with so many people from this family, to hear the stories and see the pictures, and know how much love and fun went on in this house!
So now back to the current house situation! The weather kept surprising us with balmy days this month, which was excellent for bonus rounds of “get it done before winter”! First up: The dormers and roofs are done!
BEAUTIFUL, right? Also outside, we got some really pretty copper gutters going on on the bump-out! The rest of the roof’s guttering system will have to wait, but at least water won’t be dumping down in that corner anymore.
The west side dormers are the only original curved dormers that didn’t need to be torn down, so they got a different treatment, one designed to highlight that slate roof! I chose flashing over paint, and out of the sun, they look terrific! Unfortunately, when the harsh winter sun shines on them, the reflection isn’t so great, so I probably wouldn’t go that route again. Also these windows look absolutely terrible now, so they just bumped up on the list of “things that need to be replaced as soon as feasible”, but alas, it will probably need to wait until next year, like the rest of the brick repointing. Hopefully the gorgeousness of that slate roof will detract from all that!
Back to the East side: We no longer have heaps of dirt, rocks, and roots in the yard, at least not right next to the house!
The groundwork has now been set up to make a new sidewalk through the yard to the back door, thanks to Ronnie’s handy digger skills! Kevin is still working on his plan and which materials to use, but we’re almost to the point where the real gardens can begin come spring. Hooray!
Speaking of Kevin, check out this beautiful new doorway and mailbox system he crafted along the side porch:
Ultimately, this will be the only entrance onto the front porch. Next year, we plan to eliminate the front steps and bump the porch out instead, giving us some more hangout space and making the entry less dangerous!
Out back, the railing project and the porch are finally finished:
Isn’t that 3rd floor entryway gorgeous!?
Inside, here is the biggest weirdest project: Basement digging! Paul, Silvio & Carlos have all been taking turns lowering and leveling the floor a bit in preparation for a cement slab to place walk-in coolers on top of. We were super curious what they would find when they started digging. Turns out its nothing but rocks, rocks, and even more rocks!
How that many rocks could come out of about an 8 inch depth of one small area of floor, I have absolutely no idea. It’s like magic!
Well, that was the November scene, along with all the other tons of non-house family and friends and holiday related stuff we had going on. Onward to December! I hope you have a terrific month, and I’ll see you again for the complete report on New Years Day!
-Sara