All fired up!

Normally, I don't exercise such largesse outside of Mother's Day or special occassions. But, on this particularly auspicious day I just couldn't resist the $10.00 price tag. OK, so it didn't run. But, it had compression when you pulled the string. A good carb cleaning brought all 12HP back to life.

BEFORE
Miss Nora really seems to appreciate power equipment. For instance, there was the Mother's Day when I bought her the chain saw. It turned out to be a real asset for her. Now, when she sees a neighbor labouriously hand cutting a limb, she cheerfully offers the loan of her chain saw. It's been the beginning of more than one friendship.


AFTER
There were other lawnmowers on Mother's Day, but never one with the big rear wheels. Look carefully and you'll see the right front wheel is off the ground. Yep, it's doing a wheelie. STANDING STILL! Now, that's power and it doesn't go unappreciated. She can now whip out the lawn in a fraction of the time it previously took with her old, wimpy-wheeled, 6HP rig.

Sure, she said that she never wanted another gas-powered present unless it had a leather interior. But, a few flames and a Tweety Bird decal shouting "I'm All Fired Up", really made this one special.

But, what to do on Mother's Day?

Turquoise Cracker, finally ours!

After nine months of peeling the onion, discovering and correcting errors in the deed and survey, losing two tenths of an acre, today we finally closed on the Turquoise Cracker.

The scrub has grown up since this photo was taken, but the house remains solid (imagine 6"X8" rim joists of heart pine), dry and ready for work. But, wait, I can't start this new project yet, I haven't finished painting the Deux Chauteaux.

You can see that I finally got the front of Fiasceaux painted and finished painting the front of Wineaux too. But, that still leaves three more sides of each cottage to go!

While we were peeling the onion, an architect designed additions, the engineer an engineered foundation, the lawyer engaged the town's attorney in discussions on buildabililty, the house mover looked it over, the electrician applied for a temporary power permit and the new building official raised an endless succession of issues we continue to address. So, it's not like this project has been stuck on dead center. It just seems that way.