The Man, The Houses, The Renovations

Hubby was taking bids and interviewing carpenters to do the finish woodwork. At my father’s funeral we met one of my first cousins that was looking for some work.  We set a date for him to come out and see if this job was something he wanted to do. Joe drove up in a big […]

“You know the walls aren’t really that bad. We can patch them up, here and there, and then paint. I like the old plaster look.”  I suggest as Hubby and I were examining the house for renovation. “Uh-huh.” Hubby quietly responds. “The kitchen cabinets need a lot of scrubbing and painting, but we could make […]

When Hubby told me his plans for the basement, I was overwhelmed. He wears me out with his ambitions, intelligence, and knowledge. “How in the world are you going to dig down that deep in the basement?” I ask. “Plus, if you dig below the existing wall, how can you put in a footer? A […]

­­­­­­Drawing up the plans for the house took a whole year. I tell ya, finding an architect was hard. We interviewed three. One wanted “This Old House” TV show to come out and do the job. He contacted them, but they said they wouldn’t go to Ohio. The weather was too unpredictable with a renovation […]

A nice, elderly lady drives in our driveway gets out of her car walks up to me and says. “Hi. Could you please open your barn door. The Barn Swallows are in distress!” “What are you talking about?” I asked the lady. I was startled that someone would drive in and tell me what to […]

Searching for our dream house, we never thought we wanted a place with a barn. We were looking for a house, not a farm with four buildings. Once we bought the farm, we knew it had hidden potential, but we never imagined the wonderful adventure we would have. Our historical barn entertains family gatherings, garden […]

A few months after we bought the farm, I received a very curious letter in the mail. January 27, 2003, Att: Naomi Stutzman. My name is Leon Bennett. I was born in the house you own on Liberty Rd.  I have pictures of the barns and other buildings going back to before I was born […]

The only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys. After the barn was restored, Hubby said, “Hey Honey, I need a tractor. I need it to do work around the farm.” He gave me several reasons why and his plea was understandable. So, we took a day to go to the […]

There is a well-known saying; “Many a fine barn has built a fine house. But a fine house has never built a fine barn.” The barn was the farmer’s livelihood, if he had a barn he could then make money to build a fine house. But if he built the fine house first he didn’t […]

When the farm transferred September 5, 2002, Hubby sent me to the farm to take photos of all the buildings.  Then I took the film to a place that would develop in one hour.  While I was waiting I decided to go to the library.  I wanted to look for pictures, in books, of houses […]