New York Renovator

An interesting story in Britain: it is 80 years ago, after World War II. A man from Somerset runs a scrap-metal business, making barely enough money to feed his family and build his house. (No extravagant massage therapy schools for this family!). He comes across an odd-looking bronze cup. Deeming it too beautiful for scrap, he saves the cup in a box with other oddities, for his grandchildren to play with when they visit. The old man dies, leaving the box of old toys and oddities for one of the grandsons.

Fast-forward to 2008. The grandson is now a grandfather himself, and is going through his old storage boxes. He discovers that old bronze cup he used to play with as a child. Curious, he sends the old cup to the British Museum for examination. The tests results: the cup is 22-carat gold, not bronze, and dates back to the Achaemenid Persian Empire period– three decades before the birth of Christ.

Wow! How I wish I could find something like that in my backyard! Read more of the story here. The cup recently sold for half a million pounds in an auction.

Hat tip Lofty Matters for the story.

I’ve been pondering if we Westerners put too much time, effort, and money into our homes and yards. I have been reading the latest This Old House magazine, and this month’s stories are celebrating the hundreds of thousands of dollars average homeowners have been dumping into their homes. Don’t get me wrong– the houses are beautiful. But it cost these folks a ton of money to do it all. A few of the showcased homes are in Wisconsin and Indiana. And you know what? Some of those houses are probably underwater now, after the torrential rainfall and flooding that has afflicted that part of the country. And you know what else? If these homeowners didn’t have flood insurance (and many who don’t live in flood plains don’t), then these homeowners lost everything. EVERYTHING. And to top it all off, they are probably in debt to  the hundreds of thousands. Yikes.

The American Indian tribes built temporary homes. The Indians realized how fickle and uncontrollable North American weather patterns can be. Even the Iroquois of New York and Canada, whose homes were of solid tree-limb framing and sided with tree bark, could strip everything down and move quickly. They actually did move very frequently, every twenty years or so.

Now please don’t take this wrong– I’m not saying we should return to bark-sided houses and cook mice over open campfires! And I like my CAT6 Internet wiring just as much as anyone! But there comes a point when we no longer own our home, but our home owns us. This is true for many other things, these fleeting material things in this world.

I’ve blogged about the Amish before, written how I admire their simple ways. The reason they avoid most “technology” is because they realize that these things complicate our lives and threaten the family and community units. I think they have been correct about this. And yet the Amish are usually the first ones to show up after we “Gentiles” experience a natural disaster. The Amish came out in droves to help New Yorkers whose homes had been ravaged by floods in 2006. The Amish may have rejected modern ways, but they have not abandoned the timeless rule of loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

I am not Amish, but I share a good deal of their values and admire their way of life. Some of you might even consider us as somewhat Amish- we still have no electricity for half the house, the heating system is defunct for the upstairs, and we have no television, dishwasher, or Wii! The difference is that I would love to have electricity and a dishwasher (I’ll skip the tv and Wii, thanks). But stepping back is good. I don’t ever want this house to own ME. I’d like to fix it up, make it work, and be comfortable, but Lord please keep this thing from becoming an idol in my heart. In a fleeting moment, it’ll all be gone.

flooding photo from AssociatedPress.

It’s that time of year again! I am urging you to help out. It’s so simple to participate and even the smallest effort means so much! It’s the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive! May 10th is the day!

On Saturday, May 10, Campbell Soup Company will join forces with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) to Stamp Out Hunger! across America. Now in its 16th year, the Stamp Out Hunger! effort is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected more than 836 million pounds of food since its inception in 1993.

To help Stamp Out Hunger! this year, simply leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal next to your mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on May 10. Food items should be in non-breakable containers, such as boxes and cans. The nation’s 230,000 letter carriers will then collect donations from homes across the country and deliver them to food bank members of America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network and other hunger relief organizations in more than 10,000 local communities.

We all know gas prices and food prices have gone through the roof. For some, this may mean not getting that second car, but for others it could mean no food for the day! Where I live in Upstate New York, there are numerous food banks in my own community who rely completely on local donations from food drive campaigns such as this one. I’ll be blunt: there have been hard times for us when we have received help from food banks. We’ve tried to return the blessing by donating food when we can, too. And my husband is a part-time rural mail carrier, so he helps by donating his precious time (mail carriers do not get paid for the extra time it takes to pick up the food and take it back to the post office).

Please help out with this campaign. It means so much to so many people, and it requires so little effort on your part. All you have to do is put a grocery bag of non-perishable food at your mailbox. Even one little can of corn or a box of rice helps! Since I have been both on the receiving and the giving end, campaigns like this mean so much to me! There is no excuse for our neighbors to go hungry. If you want to help out even more, join your local food bank and help distribute food to needy families, or check out this community page for Stamp Out Hunger.

Several weeks ago, I drove to my local library and saw a beat-up old minivan in the parking lot. It was very beat-up; most of the frame had been rusted through at the bottom. Paint was peeling from the doors, and all the paint was completely gone from the hood, exposing the raw ugly metal beneath. The side-view mirror was bent, and the tires were well worn. I don’t usually pay any attention to cars, but this one caught my eye because it had a bumper sticker on the back bumper. It read:

Don’t let the car fool you. My treasure is in heaven.

It made me literally laugh out loud.

I’d been moping about my kitchen remodel this week (er, rather, my lack of one). But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered a certain psalm. It’s a psalm I remember often, actually, especially when I sometimes skim news headlines. It’s Psalm 73. I’ll quote excerpts.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For there are no pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge[a] with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.

11 And they say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.

15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.
16 When I thought how to understand this,
It was too painful for me—
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their end.

18 Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awakes,
So, Lord, when You awake,
You shall despise their image.

21 Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was vexed in my mind.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord GOD,
That I may declare all Your works.

It spoke to me not to be envious for new kitchen remodels or covet fancy Wilmington real estate. I do what I can do, and belly-aching about my current plight is not going to help anything. I trust in God, and He’ll take care of things. I’m certainly not saying that new kitchen remodels are bad, or that people are evil who get them! But if my happiness hinges on the amount of stuff I can get, then I am very very poor indeed.

I really want to own a new kitchen and a renovated house. But I do not want those things to own me. I will continue working for and toward those goals, but just like that bumper sticker, “my treasure is in heaven.” LOL, I should get a sticker like that for my back door for all to read who enter!

Don’t let the house fool you. My treasure is in heaven.

We are enjoying our fifth day of sunshine. Temperatures are summer-style. Today is slightly cooler at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s a quiet Sunday. After the morning church service, the family settled in to small projects. I am catching up on my church notes and on some online writing assignments. The Historian is working on her report for school. Beetle Bailey is working on a large Lego project (but has some Algebra that awaits him). Injane and Sniffy are enjoying the great outdoors. Now that the winter snows are dissolved, the kids have rediscovered the wonders of the metal detector.

Living in an old house on old property can be rewarding for treasure seekers. We’ve found several old coins, including a 1918 Mercury dime and an 1900 Indian Head penny. Plus loads of rusty old horse and buggy hardware, and discarded electrical wiring.

They are saying that the metal detector is picking up something valuable. But their hole is nigh well a foot deep and nothing much found yet. Lots of ashes. This part of the area used to be the ash dump, I guess. There is an incredible amount of old broken dishes and glass in this yard. It is treacherous to have a garden, as large shards of glass fragments burp up from the soil after the frost heaves of the winter.

Mr. Mecomber is repairing the clothesline– the line we created a few years ago. We’ve discovered that we can hang five or six loads of laundry in one swipe over this blazing-hot asphalt, and it will dry in less than an hour. Some folks might think it’s a lot of work all summer long, but you should see our electricity bills here in New York State! It’s definitely worth it.

The snowplow killed one of our clothesline posts– snapped it in half– so we have to replace it. I’ve got a hole dug for the new one (I have to go buy the new post and some cement yet). Mr. M is trying to remove the jagged portion of the post that sticks up out of the ground.

And with summer-like temps and summer-like outdoor activities, we also get the summer-like smells of “dairy air,” as Mr. M describes it. Farmers are going high on the hog with manure these days. I don’t think they wait for the manure to ripen anymore. It sure smells fresh. The nearest farm is about 2 miles down the road from us, and pwwweeew, it’s mighty stinky. I have a few air cleaners going full throttle in the house at times… doesn’t do much when the air is heavy like this.

John Dryden, a 17th century poet, once said:

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; he who would search for pearls must dive below.

I do love pearls. They are my favorite “jewel” even more than diamonds. I just like their softness and their femininity. And I also like seafood.

Did you know that a pearl is an accident? It is! A pearl is formed when an irritant gets inside Gulf oysters (like a splinter). The oyster produces a substance to coat over the irritant. The substance hardens with each layer, producing what we call a pearl. Clams and mussels produce pearls, too, but that is much rarer. Aren’t pearls beautiful?

I sometimes look at my house as a pearl. Well, honestly, these days I am looking at it more as an irritant. I’ve discovered that I cannot remove a small portion of a wall in the kitchen without bearing up the second floor with a support jack. Grr. And there’s a new sewer smell coming from somewhere in the house. The plumbing is rapidly deteriorating, and I’m hoping the work can wait until May, when I get my financing done.

But I do love the house. It’s big, it’s roomy, it’s got a wonderful floor plan. But its current condition is like a thorn in my side. So much needs work right now. I can’t do everything! But I’m trying to keep my eyes on the prize here.

Yeahhhh, like that.

The good people at BeOysterAware.com want to remind you to use caution when eating oysters, especially this holiday season. Know the risks of eating raw oysters! And enjoy some of the good oyster recipes at the website. And never stop hoping for that pearl.

…is another man’s treasure?

We have only just begun digging our trench, and the kids are going wild after finding one man’s…well, you tell me what you think this is:

That’s a multitude of broken clam shells, iron nails (from the 1800s), old ham and chicken bones, lots of broken glass and potteryware, an old iron coat hanger, an old eye-hook door lock, miscellaneous iron whatnots, a plastic toy figure, a petrified carrottop, part of an old clothespin, and a partridge in a pear tree. Not pictured is a 15 foot long rusty old dog tether chain.

The boys did find a Mercury head dime from 1918, in relatively good condition (value: 80 cents).

We have yet to find the pot o’ gold. Well, there’s plenty more digging to do, so, you never know…