Burning Sunnyside

No, It's not what you think! Now that the weather has turned cold, we are having more fires in the wood stove at home. I just opened a new contractor bag full of scrap wood and it happens to be a bag full of cut down 2 x 4s from the demolition @ Sunnyside last year. She gave her insides so that we could be warm. Until now, we have been burning scraps from the build out, so there are random pieces of shiplap and beadboard fueling the fires, but now, its the old board from the original building and then the 1930s spiffing up of the place. Every time I build a fire now, I think of taking down walls and of the huge scrap wood pile that I insisted on keeping out on the porch. Well, it comes in handy now.

So, our other cottage, Little Bohemia, has been on the market since just after Labor Day and we have not had one person even interested in looking at the place. I know the price is too high for today's market, but I cannot believe there aren't people out there, like us, who will look at a house out of their price range in hopes that they could get it for a lower price. I am not going to price the cottage at a give-away deal, because we don't have to sell. But, that said, I know what I want for the place and am willing to deal to a certain extent. I guess the buyers just aren't there. We will only have Little Bohemia up for sale for another six weeks and then she comes off the market so that I can start renting for next season. I already have my repeat renters lined up for their weeks, which I am holding in limbo for them, and I am already fielding rental requests for the rest of the summer. We have put Little Bohemia to sleep for the winter, but still have Sunnyside up and running. If we do not have any rental interest for the Christmas holiday, I might just host a party there, which would be a nice change of pace.

What a downpour today...mystery storm?? I never saw it coming. We lost power for a couple of hours this morning and I was thinking of packing up and moving to Sunnyside for the day, but there was too much to do here.

We had to move some things around at Sunnyside, and instead of putting the outdoor furniture in the basement, for now, I have it around the house. The living room looks like it's all set up for a sewing circle. I moved the sofa around so that heat from the monitor heater actually permeated the house rather than get soaked into the sofa. I've been thinking of drawing the curtains and putting down the shades at the cottage, but I really like the natural light that comes in from all sides.

Nice additions to the cottage are the new doors that finally arrived for the master bedroom. And yes, I know we need to paint the trim...in the Spring. I thought this was a nice shot of the open feeling that the upstairs rooms have for such a small space. Love the big double doors. I hope the renters did last year.

Started back to work on Sunnyside this weekend. I think we will be weekend warriors there for a while. Greg and I finally found some really great carpeting for the stairs that we both liked and that would be fairly easy to work with. It is an indoor-outdoor carpeting that looks a bit like horse-hair sisal carpet. We found it at Marden's (where else) on a large roll, and had them cut three 30" wide strips. Total cost for the rug bits was about $60.00 or .68 cents a foot

I felt bad for the renters last summer who had to deal with the all white stairs. Finally when my parents came to stay, my mother complained about not being able to see the steps so much that I put blue painter's tape on the treads for her. We left it there through all the rest of the rentals. We were never able to agree or find carpeting that either one of us liked.

White stairs with pretty blue tape

The rug roll

I picked this pattern because it looks a bit Victorian and goes best with the interior.

I have to admit that I did nothing but carry the rug rolls inside the house and hand Greg some tools for a bit before setting up his Pandora channel so that he could rock out and install the carpet. It is kind of a narrow area, suitable for one person.

He did a beautiful job

We are now going back to Marden's to get more of this stuff for our house. I really like the quality.

So what was I doing for the day and a half that Greg took to install the rug? I was outside raking.......and raking......and raking. I am ready to cut down the two large maples in front of the house. They rain down so may leaves!!!

I think I must rent a leaf blower in the spring to get ALL the leaves out of the rock walls, and from under the house, but I figure 13 densely packed bags full was enough for me...Had to come home and pop some Aleve tablets after that ordeal.
I put an ad on Craig's List again for free eco-insulation and within an hour had a response from the same couple who took all the bags last year. They came yesterday and loaded the bagged leaves onto their truck and took off happy!

This is about 3/4s of the leaves

If anyone knows of someone who is looking for a winter rental, or is looking for a month or two respite on the coast of Maine in a furnished and cozy house overlooking the water, send 'em my way.

I would also consider renting for the Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's holidays!

2bdrm/ 2ba totally renovated cottage with amazing water views from every room. Walk in shower down and tub up. King, Queen and twin beds.
Dogs welcome.
Quaint seaside village of Bayside in Northport, ME
$1200 a month, utilities included.
207 323-8383

check back in again soon. I am going to begin working on Sunnyside again this winter, so stay tuned for such stimulating entries as: "Finally, a carpet for the stairs that we both agree upon!" and "finding the #%#$& leak that only happens during Nor'Easters!" or, one of my favorites..."finally painting that bedroom trim."

All this and more in the next coming weeks!

I don't know how many of you out there are still reading this blog, and I certainly do not know how many of you have children. In the wake of all the reported suicides of gay and lesbian youths due to bullying over the last several weeks, I felt the need to post about my thoughts on the subject here.

I was the fat gay kid in school when I was young. I didn't know I was gay at the time, but because I was fat and not into sports and not athletic and popular, I got bullied. Life was miserable in the public school I attended. So called "friends" would throw rocks at me when I passed by on my bicycle, a girl in my class beat me up at recess because I was taught never to hit a girl, so I didn't fight back, I ate lunch alone. A group of kids spray painted "Seth Sucks" on our driveway. Life as a boy was dreadful. It may not have been because I was gay, but it was because I was different; I was easy to pick on.

My parents went so far as to transfer me to another school. A private school where a lot of their friends sent their kids. I was still the large unpopular kid, but I did have friends; I was a side-kick to the popular boys. Life was a little better. As I got taller, I became a bully on the bus home and once made a kid cry. "I am sorry Spencer!" I still remember that afternoon and regret it to this day. But, kids will do as other kids will to fit in the scene. It is not something for which I am proud. It didn't make my life miraculously better. I was still an outsider, a feeling that stayed with me through high school where I boarded. I was not among the teachers' favorite students, and my roommate and his friends would secretly pull pranks on me...I was certainly the kid in the dorm who got picked on a lot. But I was used to it.

What I have to say here today is that is is the responsibility of the parents to make sure that 1. their kids aren't mean or bullies. If parents get a call that their kids are being mean to another student, those parents should take action. There is no reason that in this day and age that kids should be picking on others for being different. Your kids may not want to be friends with the fat kid, or the wheelchair kid, or the gay kid, or even the Jewish kid, but they shouldn't be allowed to taunt those other kids. Education is not just up to schools. You chose to have children, please choose to tell them right from wrong. That is a parent's job!!

For two college age students to cyber-bully one of their classmates to the point that the man drove to the George Washington Bridge and hurled himself into the Hudson River is such a tragedy. Such a senseless tragedy. More than one life was thrown away the morning that Tyler Clementi died. The bullies are now going to be the bullied.

My mother tells me she used to lay awake at night wondering and worrying about where I would end up in life. I do not remember getting lots of comforting words from my parents about being bullied, but I do remember spending a lot of time with my mom, who did protect me and made me feel special when I was with her. I got through all the bullshit of being a kid. I made it through the bad times into college and beyond. Childhood cruelties fell away as I became older and found good groups of loyal friends.

If your kids are small, unpopular, or feel like an outsider and they come to you feeling miserable, tell them it gets better. Make them see that another three years of high school may seem like a lifetime to them, but that it is only a small blip in an otherwise wonderful life. Make them feel special. If they are being bullied, do not ignore it, but take issues into your own hands. These are your children and they need to be loved and protected no matter who they are. If I could have come out to my parents earlier than I did, I would have, but I was not emotionally stable enough to handle the perceived rejection. It would have put me into such turmoil and the feelings of being gay at a young age are scary enough.

Please, be vigilant. No lives should be lost because of being different.