How it all began....

So, times are tough. And when times are tough, the tough start writing. 

This is a journal about the restoration project my husband, Silas, and I have taken on. As of this post, we are two years in. When I say every square inch of this 1/2 acre property has been touched, that is no exaggeration. Built in 1850 in a hamlet founded in 1812 on the Hudson river, the place has a deep, but shrouded history. When we took ownership in 2008, it had been neglected for 23 years. Though Mr. Rowland loved the place, he couldn't bring himself to pull a weed, stop a leak, set out a mousetrap, or clean. Ever. For real. When the wall between the kitchen and the dining room came down (installed in 1920, per the newspaper we found), a little family of mice ran for their lives. Needless to say, the bathroom was also promptly removed.

Even before the bank would lend the mortgage, the shingled roof needed replacement, city water hooked up (the well still provided stinky though potable water), and all peeling paint removed....