Another year gone by......We made some major improvements this year to the yard and flower beds. Dick spent most of January and February building this spectacular flagstone retaining wall around most of the rear yard. Then, came the worse part - filling it! First we made 16 (!!) trips to the Good Earth soil place to fill our pickup with good soil and amendments. Then, once back at the house, we proceeded to wheelbarrow it from the driveway over to the flower beds. Needless to say, several days and many Aleves later, I was ready to start filling the beds. I was so grateful to good friends who "passed along" plants and seeds to me to fill this large space. I also planted many perennials plants such as Earthkind roses, Gold Star Esperanzas, many different kinds of hybrid daylilies, wax myrtles, buddelia, herbs, and some annuals to fill in. They all performed really well. Even after another hot summer in Texas, we still have lots of pretty blooming flowers. Another highlight of our summer was hosting a Ridley Family Reunion in July. Relatives came from Alabama and Louisiana and much fun was had by all! In August, we had the grandkids up for our annual "Cousin's Camp." It is amazing how fast they grow up.

The Lewis Family visit

Woods After Photos

Don't check the obits yet!

Don't check the obits yet, we are not dead, just a little wounded from the money pit! It's been awhile since the last post, but we've been really busy, mostly licking our wounds. Besides all the day to day mundane things like working for a living, holidays, family events, etc. we have managed to sell our home in Plano, finish remodeling Woods, and move in. Since the last post in November, we have finished all the interior painting, refinished and added hardwood flooring, completed the kitchen with granite & new appliances, finished the plumbing, electrical, tiled both baths, installed new plumbing and lighting fixtures, and the list goes on. It has been a labor of love and hopefully the new photos will show that. We still are working on the outside, replacing old wood with Hardie, painting, and trying to keep the new grass and plants alive in our record setting heat wave. Trying to get new grass to stay alive and transplanted plants is not easy when we've had 31 straight days of over 100 degree heat and no rain!! Welcome to Texas. It hasn't been this hot for this long since 1980 and everyone is heading to Colorado to beat the heat. We just had our electrician back today to rewire the original doorbell which somehow got missed with all the rewiring, and put one more duplex outlet in the breakfast nook. He just showed us a piece of original shiplap he had to cut out to put in the new duplex. You can't believe how it smells!  It is like opening a new bottle of Pine Sol....the wood still has that much aroma, of fresh cut pine. Truly amazing after being here 91 years! We have found many neat things in the house, like a box of old love letters to a former occupant left behind in the attic! I won't try blackmail, because he is a well known attorney now in Dallas.

It has been fun making this house a home but not without some trials and tribulations. We are loving living in Sherman and have met so many wonderful people who have welcomed us with open arms. Small town living is definitely worth all this trouble! People have asked if we miss Plano, and we can honestly say no.  We miss the convenience of being nearer the children and grandchildren, but it's only 45 minutes to get back.  We live on a quiet street with no noise, friendly people, and caring neighbors who actually look out for each other. Dick is still calling it Mayberry, but I call it Home.

Slowly but Surely

We've owned our Craftsman home a little over 2 months now and we're still trying to get all the electrical wiring completed. It has been a challenge to rewire without tearing up too many walls. This past week Nathan was able to finish almost all the downstairs except the family room and office. Hopefully that will be done by next week and he can start on the upstairs. We found a guy to help Dick install the Hardie siding on the upstairs dormer windows (which were taken off during the roofing process by mistake). We hope the rain holds off so that can be completed in 3-4 days. We also have been making strides in the plumbing with only one area in the master bath to be fixed before we can start remodeling that room. I plan on extending the shower area, adding a clawfoot tub, installing new tile flooring, vanity, lighting, and hopefully, will have room for a linen closet. Closets were not a big thing in the 1920's...I guess people didn't need as much clothing as we seem to now. We've been working all week on the upstairs bath. So far, we've removed the old tile, primed the beaded board, caulked, and removed 4 layers of wallpaper on the area above the beaded board. (without using the barbed thingy that cut my finger!) Tedious, but safer for me. The old board was dark brown with a red plaid paper on top of the wainscoating. I found the other 3 papers underneath dating back to the original and have kept them for my scrapbook. Can't wait to get the new paint up and see the transformation. We've ordered the new vanity cabinet and it should be ready in a week. I plan to also redo the combo tub/shower tile, new hexagon floor tiles, and lighting.

We have a fence?

Well, what do you know? After spending 2 months clearing the forest in the back yard and hauling off literally TONS of debris, including many dead trees or dying ones, we see we have a very large backyard (now empty!) and a fence! We actually saw the fence from the alley one day, but needed an axe and Paul Bunyon to help us find our way to it. Now my problem is how to fill it back up - do I want a deck and flagstone patio or maybe an outdoor fireplace? Of course, I love flowers and flowering shrubs, so that is a given. I spent a couple of weeks trying to transplant some of my plants like daylilies, hydrangeas, iris and confederate jasmine I had in my yard in Plano and hope they make it through the winter months. I will be busy this winter perusing plant catalogues and deciding what and where to put things. I played with the idea of only using older plants suitable to the age of the home (1920) but that limits me more than I want. Did I mention the dirt in Sherman is much better than in Plano? You can actually dig in it. It's more like a sandy loam than the gumbo clay I'm used to working in...and that is great!    

Time out

Hi all, Sorry I've not been able to post for awhile. The delay was due to a very bad cut I got while trying to remove 3 layers of old wallpaper in baths. I was using one of those barbed pole things that are supposed to make holes for the steamer....well, the finger got in the way...and now, 3 weeks later I can finally type again. Meanwhile, the work has progressed a little. We have Nathan, our great electrician, doing some rewiring on the old knob and tube stuff, and Jim @ J & S Foundations, doing a great job on adding some support beams and leveling. This last week we got Matt of Matt's Tree Service of Gainesville to come and chip all the dead wood we had cut and he and his crew spent two days clearing more of the forest in the back yard. They hauled off about 6 tons of debris and old concrete so the place is looking a lot cleaner. (and bare!) We didn't realize until we cut some underbrush that there was an old chain link fence along one side of the huge back yard...now that is gone too thanks to Matt. We've had 4 of the grandkids up to help out....or just swing on the new porch swing...Drew helped Dick cut down an old Bradford Pear so we could plant a new live oak.  Now, we are waiting for our Hardie Siding to come in so we can work on the exterior.