Apr
15
Written by:
Sherri
4/15/2009 7:30 PM
There have been some adjustments, that's for sure. I liken the house to a grand old lady who has seen many things in her time and survived many storms of life. Before we moved in, the boys were concerned about where we would go in case of a tornado...like we had a shelter in Denton??? I told them she has been built very well, having surely survived many tornadoes.
I feel the need to constantly remind my 3 ambitious boys to treat her "with respect". When they stomp and jump upstairs, it shakes the ceiling fans down below and sometimes even the light bulbs don't survive. They thought it fun at first to go sliding across the room on the laminate floor (we've always had carpet in other houses), until they realized that it was difficult to stop AND they were tearing up the "recycled" laminate floor in the family room (it's already seen life in another house and we got it for a steal at Habitat for Humanity in Denton).
Of course, being built in the late 1800's she certainly didn't come equipped with indoor plumbing and electricity. We're not sure when or how those were added, but we have them now 
. The first night after we moved in, we found out about one of the upstairs bathrooms. All three boys had taken a bath and James was in our downstairs bathroom for some reason. He excitedly came out and told me there was water dripping on our wardrobe boxes that were in the bathroom! I looked up and saw many water droplets dripping from the recessed ceiling molding around the ceiling fan. I did a quick calculation and realized their upstairs bathtub would be about right over our downstairs bathroom. I ran upstairs and found water all over the floor...we never could get them to stop splashing out water of the bathtub in Denton! I am happy to say that they are now much more careful and we haven't had another incident....yet 
. Another time I was in our master closet, which adjoins the master bathroom and I heard water running VERY close to me. I realized that the corner in our closet contains their water pipes from the upstairs toilet. That's one place they found to put the drain pipes!
While we enjoy electricity in our old farmhouse, she doesn't have central air and heat. We're adjusting to gas wall heaters and window units for cooling. It takes a bit of judgment to decide what level of heat to leave the wall heater on...both during the day when you're out and before retiring for bed at night. Too much heat and you come home to a sweltering house. Not enough heat at night and it takes most of the next day to feel warm again. Then there's the difference in temp. between upstairs and downstairs. The boys don't have any heat upstairs (except for one small window unit) and usually there is enough rising from below to keep them comfortable. But I think we will have to invest in a space heater for the north bedroom....it can get pretty chilly. Then there are the times when I've got the heat turned on downstairs and the boys have their windows open upstairs...I think this is going to take a bit of coordination to work out. I will have to say we really enjoy going to a wall heater and being able to warm up nicely without having to heat the whole house like you do with central air/heat. It's a bit like the house I grew up in with wall heaters and floor registers...though we eventually did get central air/heat.
Another thing that I've almost gotten used to....the levelness, or "un"levelness of the house. She sits on Bois d' Arc stumps....which I have learned are about the best thing you can use. The wood of the Bois d' Arc is so hard that it naturally resists water and insects. And wouldn't you know that this is Bois d' Arc country! We visited the Commerce Chamber of Commerce recently and learned quite a bit about this native tree and saw several items made from the wood. And, bet you didn't know, Commerce, TX has the second largest Bois'd Ark tree in the state of Texas! That tree, named Max, has a circumference of almost 20 feet and an estimated age between 200-250 years...now that makes even this house seem young! Next time you're in Commerce, stop by the Chamber of Commerce and pick up the little booklet about the tree. After reading it, I had a great peace of mind that these stumps our house is siting on are going to be around quite a while longer. I have almost perfected the art of cooking fried eggs on a cast iron double griddle...and managing to keep most of them in place...though one or two seem to want to go the way of the slant of the floor at times 
.
So even though our grand old lady is older than any person I've ever known (my dad missed it by just 3 years, being born in 1901), I am enjoying getting to know her better and better.