Bon Voyage! is a lovely way to bid farewell to someone leaving on a boat trip. What are the "tripees" supposed to say?
My friend, Ruth Ann, and I are leaving April 10th for Norway. We will be spending two weeks on the MS Richard With, a mail boat which is part of the Hurtigruten fleet. We will travel north along the west coast of Norway, past the Arctic Circle, all the way to where Norway and Russia have a common border. We travel back, southbound, to Bergan, calling in at the ports that were night-time calls on the way north, during the day on the southbound route.
If you are interested in seeing just where we are at a given time, the following
link will take you to a real time map. Look for the MS Richard With and you'll
know just where we are!
www.hurtigruten.com/norway/map
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Down With the Old-Up With the New
This posting is aimed mostly at my family, who is far from the action here in Silverton, but the rest of you will now see one of the Moore's nasty little secrets---just what the old woodshed that has graced the back of the house lot for over a hundred years really was like!. It seemed that it was preparing to collapse, so trying to be a pro-active home owner, I decided to hire Rick the Contractor (in Scotland the accent is placed on the middle syllable, so think con-TRACT-or. I loved that when hearing it last fall in that charming country!) to remove the shed and build a new one. 
Work began by removing the north end of the shed to allow access as there was still about six feet of snow along the front side of the shed. Rick soon had the shed braced up with some handy two-by-fours to prevent immediate collapse and removing "stuff" began in earnest. He had a 16x7x4 foot dumpster brought from Naturita (our closest supplier at the moment) and it is now parked in front of the Bergman's garage (courtesy of their tenants). 
Next came our fervent hope that many of the items left in the shed would just disappear, since one end of the shed was open to whoever wandered down our alley. You can view some of the great opportunities (well, I wanted to keep the lawn mower), but, oddly enough, nothing seemed to disappear! One lady came and hauled off about 30 buckets of coal bits, which was great.
Meanwhile, a few tiny little pansies decided it must be spring and started blooming right by the back door. You can see the snowflakes on their little petals...
One of the amazing items that was hanging high in the rafters of the shed was an umbrella I purchased at Herrod's Department store in London in 1966!!! Apparently it followed me from North Dakota to Kansas to Silverton to the woodshed! Who would have ever guessed!
Two volunteer fellas I have given food to now and then (because I think they live on the edge of financial difficulty all the time) came to volunteer to help Rick (on the right) demolish the building. They worked hard for two days, toting and carrying to the dumpster and pulling nails out of the boards that will be re-purposed into my new fence. The second day was warm and sunny so I prepared a working man's lunch and served it in the backyard. First al fresco meal of the season!
The final wall standing was the one facing the house, seen here from the inside. Note the paint job on the gas tank---when I painted it I could only reach partway---looks ratty, right? That will soon be fixed.
Getting the final wall to fall took a lot of beating and banging and ice-breaking. Here it is, in the process of falling (sorry, Maggie---video is not yet my deal!) with Rick watching it go.
Now the view toward Kendal Mt. is so strange---I feel very exposed!
Here's a bit more of the new view---shed wood stacked in front of Dodd's garage waiting to be used on the fence.
Work began by removing the north end of the shed to allow access as there was still about six feet of snow along the front side of the shed. Rick soon had the shed braced up with some handy two-by-fours to prevent immediate collapse and removing "stuff" began in earnest. He had a 16x7x4 foot dumpster brought from Naturita (our closest supplier at the moment) and it is now parked in front of the Bergman's garage (courtesy of their tenants). 
Next came our fervent hope that many of the items left in the shed would just disappear, since one end of the shed was open to whoever wandered down our alley. You can view some of the great opportunities (well, I wanted to keep the lawn mower), but, oddly enough, nothing seemed to disappear! One lady came and hauled off about 30 buckets of coal bits, which was great. 
Meanwhile, a few tiny little pansies decided it must be spring and started blooming right by the back door. You can see the snowflakes on their little petals...
One of the amazing items that was hanging high in the rafters of the shed was an umbrella I purchased at Herrod's Department store in London in 1966!!! Apparently it followed me from North Dakota to Kansas to Silverton to the woodshed! Who would have ever guessed! 
Two volunteer fellas I have given food to now and then (because I think they live on the edge of financial difficulty all the time) came to volunteer to help Rick (on the right) demolish the building. They worked hard for two days, toting and carrying to the dumpster and pulling nails out of the boards that will be re-purposed into my new fence. The second day was warm and sunny so I prepared a working man's lunch and served it in the backyard. First al fresco meal of the season! 
The final wall standing was the one facing the house, seen here from the inside. Note the paint job on the gas tank---when I painted it I could only reach partway---looks ratty, right? That will soon be fixed. 
Getting the final wall to fall took a lot of beating and banging and ice-breaking. Here it is, in the process of falling (sorry, Maggie---video is not yet my deal!) with Rick watching it go. 
Now the view toward Kendal Mt. is so strange---I feel very exposed! 
Here's a bit more of the new view---shed wood stacked in front of Dodd's garage waiting to be used on the fence.The net result? I have made the decision to have the new storage unit built in part of the footprint of the old shed, as it provides privacy and screens part of the not-so-great views, as seen in the last two photos!
So come see me, sometime in June. By then I should have all the painting done, the new fence will be in place, and reclamation of the yard should be well underway. There will be a new and improved look at 912 Greene and I will no longer wonder if the shed will make it through another winter!
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