Friday, February 26, 2010

This post brought to you by the letter W





This weathervane is one of my favorite features of the house. Until recently I have not been able to get a good picture of it. I borrowed my father-in-law's telephoto lense and was able to get some good pictures even though it was a very overcast day. I have known for a while that it needed to be restored since it actually is part of the roof top. I knew for sure that is was in rough shape when one day during a wind storm the letter W fell from the sky.


Monday, February 22, 2010

Millie in Blizzard of 1983


This photo is courtesy of Bob Graham who is Millie Shugart's great nephew. Millie is standing on the front walkway with Jeff and Trudy's house in the distance. The picture was taken after the blizzard of 1983 which totaled at 36 inches. Bob was kind enough to send this snapshot during our last snow storm. Its amazing how something as simple as weather can unite us...

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Snowpocalypse Damage


The massive amounts of snow have not been kind to our house! The other day I was working on the computer and heard (and felt) this soul rattling crash. It was our gutter being pulled off by big chunks of ice. As you can see the gutter was not in good shape so it was no surprise.
The weight of the snow has also proved to be too much for the front fence. The wall was unstable to start with but now its actually crumbling. We need to have the walls rebuilt, which will be expensive and complicated since they are retaining walls. We are going to include this project in the grant application, but there is little hope for getting funds for it since its not attached to the house.


On to some good news. Roxane Shugart's daughter Sue dropped by last week. Millie was Sue's grandmother. I gave her a brief tour through the chaos. She had only a few minutes to reminisce since she was driving back to New Jersey but it was great to meet her.

We are working on the grant application, so now is the time for you to make a difference! Please send us a letter of support to include with the application. The more community support we get, the more likely we'll be granted matching funds to complete the exterior restoration.

Thanks for reading!
Charity



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Scout

I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. Right after Thanksgiving we learned that our beautiful husky Scout had terminal cancer. The cancer showed up as very aggressive mast cell tumors. She declined quite rapidly and passed away a couple of weeks later.

Scout was 11+ and saw us through college, many moves, dating, engagement and finally marriage. She loved everyone she ever met and brought to our lives a spirit of playfulness, enthusiasm and love. When we moved to Charles Town, obviously our pets had to make the sacrifice with us and no one handled it better than our Mama dog, who greeted the challenge with excitement. She even welcomed a new family member into the pack, when Millie, the world's most cuddly cat found us.

Scout quickly made friends with all of our neighbors and being the escape artist she was, made many surprise visits to folks that lived blocks away from us! Who knew that an old dog could squeeze herself through a cat door? It took a while for us to realize how she escaping. She always amazed us with her intelligence and determination.

Since Scout passed, we have felt out of sorts and the energy in the house has been somber. Kahlua, our black lab mix, has been having the hardest time, so even though we don't feel quite ready, we have begun looking for a new friend. We are trying to find a rescue dog, and have applied for a couple and are waiting to hear some news. In the meantime, we are still meeting more tail waggers.

Winter is a slow season for the restoration, but we are working on our grant application which is due March 31st. We have gotten a very late start on the application, so we hope we will be successful in getting it completed in time. More on this to come shortly!