AsaHunt1830Farmhouse

Well we’re just about home. Lots still to buy, install, clean, paint, schedule, pack. What day of the week is it?

We’re hustling to the finish. We’ve got until mid-March in the rental, and then we make the move back. Lots to do in the kitchen and bathrooms, but some of the rooms are essentially done. Take a look.

“You from Jersey? Yeah? What exit?” Or perhaps we should ask, “Yeah? Which province?” On July 1, 1676, four greedy men named Penn, Lawrie, Lucas and Byllynge had a legal thumb-wrestle with a fifth greedy man named Carteret over who owned a new British province called New Jersey. The resulting agreement, called the Quintipartite Deed,…

Cabinets and hardwood and walls, oh my! Lots of things going on all at once. The heat will be back on soon and we’ll be rushing to the finish…

This morning we’re talking about your favorite thing: Chemistry! Let’s start with the letter S, which stands for Sulfur. It is the 10th most abundant element. In nature it exists as a pale yellow, non-metallic chalky solid or powder. Compounds of sulfur provide nasty odors to skunks, stinkbugs, rotten eggs, hot springs and volcanoes. Maybe…

Wallboard, that is. After a summer of installing plumbing and electric and insulation, we got our permits to continue. Which allowed us to move forward with sheet rock, or gypsum, or wallboard…whatever you call it, it turns a construction zone back into a home. Hunt House gets real.

Imagine it’s 1830, in the Mid-Atlantic of the United States. You are building a house. And you need to lay a floor. You could install plywood…but that won’t be invented until 1865. You could order boards from your local lumber yard…but those aren’t in widespread existence yet, and standardization of lumber products won’t occur until…