What is new?

I hope everyone had a great Holiday. We had a quick trip to my sister's new home in Mississippi to visit for Turkey Day and stopped back by my grandmother's house on the way home. Back at ThirteenEleven, the support for the deck is almost completed, but there is no work going on outside today because something odd is happening .... It is raining (YES, RAIN) and it is quite cold. I will have more pics of the house to share this next week.

New Banner

Look, I finally created a banner for the BLOG!!!

Whacha diggin for?

Puppy is wondering if there are any good bones left by the P.O.'s in that dirt, and if there is he has first choice. Why isn't he helping? He can dig?

Yes, we are leveling off the area under the deck, before it is built, so hopefully it will be close to the same elevation at each side of the house. There is always something to do before you can complete the task at hand. We are using the dirt to fill the big hole in the back yard where a tree fell years ago. The night work continues, and slowly progressing.

This ladder is our back steps for now.

Historic Time-Line (so-far)

Yesterday, after lunch at a local downtown southern buffet, I thought I would walk next door to the Local Archives (photo below)to see if they had any info on ThirteenEleven. I walked in and there was my High School AP history teacher. (That's what it is like living in a small town.) He flipped to the directories they had on file and found out some interesting stuff.

Time Line so far. (we need to research the first 19 years)

1938

The first Directory that contained information on the home was 1938. (The other directories did not state information as far down the road as our house.) In 1938, Richard J. Willis owned the house. Richard owned a grocery store. His wife's father built and lived in the house next door. R.J. Willis's phone number was 796-J. (wonder where that phone jack was? hall maybe?) Richard was married to Emma Bradfield. ( How did one dial a "J" on a rotary phone?)

Ebay 1938 phone

1941

Vacant

WWII- no information available

1946

Owner Lord H. Morrison he owned the local Nehi Bottling company located closer into town on the same street. His wife Edna G. worked at Nehi also. The location was probably the block next to the old Coke-Cola Building. Too bad we didn't find any old Nehi Bottles. Only about 45 new beer bottles.

1948

Harold W. James and his wife Helen owned the house. Helen was the dance teacher. In 1948 Harold was a salesman and in 1950 he was an accountant at JK Boatwright.

1950
James H. Wynn Jr. ia listed in the directory as living in the house. His phone number was 4253.



1952
Robert C. Worthy a mail carrier owned the house. The Worthy's had two daughters and we bought the house from the estate of one of the daughters. After Robert and Blonde Worthy died. (more on that later)The Worthy family rented the house out for a number of years. Which explains the poor lack of up keep and condition of the house. Actually a friend of mine lived in the house in the early 90's.

In 1952, the Worthy's phone number was 3835.




Ebay 1950 phone. I am SURE they had pink!


More exciting news is our house is officially on the National Register with out us having to do a thing. The whole street is a Historic District and all the homes are included. 130 acres. The paper work states that "the area is significant as a rural residential area that was originally developed along a country road at the outskirts of town and was gradually incorporated into the urban development of the city." On the map our property is included.



Everyone was helpful at the Archives and were glad we were restoring this house. I just hope everyone has patience with our mess.

Dreaming of a Kitchen...........

I just saw Camping with a Mortgage's '06 post about their kitchen.
Can, I say WOW ? ! This is what is in my mind for the counter tops and cabinets. I just love how the cabinets go to the ceiling, and the DYI soap stone counter tops.

Technically, we really are not with out a kitchen. We have a stove and a refrigerator. (Plus a refrigerator on the front porch. Lovely!)) However, we haven't installed the sink. Oh.........we've had the sink for almost a year... but all the delays with the total rebuilding of the floor joists, supports and basically everything in the kitchen area, that of course we haven't planned.....the cabinets... just haven't been finished. They have been 1/2 built since June......the framing of the cabinets are finished. But, that is all. I am not sure why they aren't complete. I guess it got old and the project had to be postponed to start another like the middle bedroom, but then the middle bedroom had to stop to work on the deck. Who knows when any project will ever be finished in this house. I have threatened take out the 1/2 finished cabinets and drag them to the road, and start over. But, last time I took out a cabinet, the floor fell in....

Back to the dreaming of a kitchen. I am so tired of eating out and TV diners. I guess they really aren't TV diners anymore, but you know the yucky frozen kind in black plastic. Call me stubborn, but I refuse to bring the dishes to the tub to wash them. I know we are having extreme water shortages and taking a shower while washing dishes would save water, but again yuck. ( Wasn't this a Seinfield episode?) So until, we have a kitchen sink ( installed), we will continue to be environmentally unconscious by using all that black plastic diners, plastic cups, forks, and spoons. I would really like to cook some chicken and dumplings, a casserole and biscuits. It is Apple Cake time of year. I want to sit around the island with friends and family and a couple of bottles of wine. I want all the wonderful smells of home made food filling ThirteenEleven's air. Oh Well. One day.... Until them, I am heading out to get a soup and salad at Chick-fil-a.

Also, check out this post about that dreaded big box retailer known by their orange color. So true....I will say our local store's manager was good to me when I had a problem. I let him know how often I was in there and he remembered me, I am a high maintance (blonde)customer, and gave me a store credit.

Did you notice something?.... I learned how to link.