The Old House

So, there are a million things I want to say about the old house, grandma's house, dad's house, our house, little Matthew's house but I don't have it all collected in my mind yet. Its entire history is (was *sniff*) with our family. The house was built by my grandma and grandpa with the help of their kids when they were just that, kids. As I dig through the photos in the guest room I promise to share more old photos as I know they're there somewhere, just not in the box I'm currently processing which was full of gems like this:

which to confuse matters is NOT a Pozun or Majdic at all, but my great-great grandfather Jacob on my mother's side. To me there's something iconic about this . . . the hat, the dog, something. Anyway, how it was in the middle of a box of photos with various funeral photos from dad's side of the family, I have no idea. But back to the point at hand, the old house.

A basic summary (and relatives are always welcome and encouraged to correct me where I am wrong) is that the house was built over 2-3 summers, using the lumber from an ice cream parlor/bowling alley from Superior. The garage was built first, which is where the family would stay as they came to Hudson to work on the house (they were living in Superior, WY at the time, 2-3 hours south). There is a scale model of the house in the attic that Papa used as his plans. I was told at one point, he would sometimes measure the model then multiply by the scale as he worked.

Anyway, there's a primer on the house. I'm working to flesh out more of the history (let alone the memories). This week however, I found this great item in one of the boxes of paper. It was a landscaping project my uncle completed for 4-H, showing the addition of the spruce trees and some other shrubs around the property.

Anyway, so in our absence of living in the house, we found a great couple to rent it and my poor father, mother and brother spent their 4th of July "vacation" fixing it up with little Matt's "help". First up was new flooring in kitchen and laundry areas. Here's the work in progress (note that fabulously large cupboard that holds more than my entire new kitchen and that I sorely miss!)

Finished.

New carpet was put down in the living room. It really helps lighten up the space. A big thanks to the renters for sharing the pictures with us as the installation occurred after we had all left.

New carpet in the bedroom.

Amidst all the emotions of seeing other people's stuff in grandma's house which is unnerving at best, depressing at worst, it's nice to see the house being loved and used. I think it would be far worse in my mind if the house were sitting alone and empty or not being taken care of. Though I'll admit to a rocky love/dislike relationship with the property, I miss it. There were still times it smelled like grandma and there were always many quirks of grandma's left to find hidden in the closets and cubbies.