DAR to have holiday tea Sunday at Scribner House - Adjust your schedule and go

From the Courier Journal:

The Piankeshaw Chapter of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution will hold its annual Victorian Tea and Scribner House tour from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the house, 1606 E. Main St. in New Albany.

There will be tours every half-hour. Tea and refreshments will be served, and The Underhill Trio will perform. Proceeds go to providing resources for prizes for history projects and essay contests and the patriotic activities of the chapter.

Admission is free but donations will be accepted. For more information, call kkessinger@juno.com or call 987-2132.

Installment: # I've lost track of the numbers - Don't Fear the Windows

The folks in the replacement window industry hate me. They spend millions annually to try and trick me into replacing “my old drafty windows”. They're wasting money on me because I know the truth.

The reality is my 100 year old windows are much higher in quality than plastic replacements and nearly equal in efficiency (in conjunction with an effective storm window).

If all goes well today, I’ll share some photographs with finish coats of paint. I’ll also provide some helpful links for window restoration information.

Twas a night about 10 days after Halloween

It’s Saturday, 1am in the morning and I’m sleeping well, when from the front porch there arose a clatter, I sprang from bed to see what was the matter. What to my wondering eyes should appear? It sure as hell wasn’t Santa Claus….

Pretty Plump Pumpkin Pulverized

It was stupid of me to leave it out past Halloween. I was tempting fate and I knew it. It was such a nice, plump pumpkin. I’d seen the looks on the faces of punks walking past my house. They wanted it. It was the Siren pumpkin, singing to them to be smashed. They could not resist.

This episode took me back in time, to October 2002, when I first moved to New Albany. As a proud new homeowner, I’d purchased a pumpkin and placed it on my front porch. Twenty four hours later, I was shoveling pumpkin innards from the middle of the street.

After five years of intense counseling, I had decided to take the plunge again. I’ve matured in the past five years. I will handle this loss better. That pumpkin had a good run on the porch. It was just his time. It’s just part of the circle of life for a pumpkin.

My porch - a place of comfort for me and skinny inebriated women

In what appears to be an unrelated event (and the reason I noticed my pumpkin was missing) a drunken woman was pounding on my front door at 1am. That’s actually what the clatter on the front porch was.

Police were called. The little lady has been removed.*

Oddly, the skinny drunk chick had initially started pounding on the door and then took a rest in one of my comfy porch chairs. Stunned, I simply gawked out the window for a few moments. But then she started pounding again. By that time, the police had arrived.

It’s been an unusual night on the Bough.

*Note: It was only a couple months ago when my sister, who lives in the suburban mecca of Plainview, relayed a very similar story to me. A distressed woman had awoken her entire family one night banging on her front door. I only mention this because stuff like this happens every where, not just urban neighborhoods.

Haunted Houses are Historic

At work I get teased a bit about my passion for preservation and historic homes. It’s playful stuff. Like anytime I take a vacation day, the assumption is I’m going to chain myself to a building. It’s amazing how much funnier that joke gets every time I hear it (not!).

So it was no surprise when I came in to work this Halloween and saw this:

I thought it was hilarious.

Input for Preservation Month Requested

Each May communities across the country celebrate preservation and history. It’s a national effort, led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The New Albany Historic Preservation Commission and local preservation partners have been organizers of many events in the past few years.

*Walking Tours
*Workshops for Window Repair, Painting, Masonry Repair, Researching Historic Homes, etc.
*Public Forums for discussing issues in our historic neighborhoods
*Nationally recognized speakers discussing preservation related topics

Planning for these events is a year round job and it really heats up in November. Now is your chance to provide input and suggestions.

Are there topics you’d like addressed? Issues in our historic neighborhoods you’d like to discuss in a public forum? A particular workshop you’d like repeated or a new one to add?

Post your comment here or email me directly at the address listed in my profile.

Does this house look familiar to you?

A friend sent this to me about a year ago wondering if I knew the location of this home. The photograph was purchased in an Antique shop near New Albany.

It sure looks like it could be New Albany to me. But I've not been able to locate it. Email me or post a comment if you can identify.

Installment 14: Long hot Summer and long hot Fall

This has been quite a gap in postings. When I last reported in, I talked about how fun painting can be. After painting five days in a row, it wasn’t so much fun anymore.

I’m a really slow painter and freely admit to driving myself a little bonkers. But I’m usually pleased with the result. The front of the home (porch, columns, foundation, entire façade) is done. If all goes well it will be 10 to 12 years before it needs painting again. The exception is the concrete porch floor – which will probably get a touch up every couple years.

At the end of a long hot summer I can reflect about significant events and plan for the future. Roof and box gutters are done. The verdict is still out on their ability to repel water since it only rains once every five weeks now. It’s going to take some hard rain for me to gain confidence.

Roughly one third of the house remains untouched – in the original condition it was in when the vinyl came off two years ago. The entire south side of the home needs some final prep work and then the finish coat of paint. Just about all the windows require some TLC. So there’s still plenty of work to do.

I’ll also admit to feeling a just a tiny bit of listlessness and even occasional annoyance as the summer has ended. The listlessness is the result of being tired. The annoyance is the result of my poor organizational skills. For example – over the span of two years I’ve purchased four tape measurers. Every time I need one it seems the tape measurer black hole has swallowed it up.

The need for one usually results in the search, which can range from five minutes to thirty minutes if I’m feeling really stubborn. It usually starts in the garage, where any sensible person would store their tools. I check in boxes, on shelves, under the lawnmower, etc.

Can’t find it in the garage? Did I take it inside the house for some reason? The search turns to kitchen drawers, the basement, the attic, etc.

Sometimes the search is successful. On four occurrences the search has failed and I’ve made the short trip to ACE and/or Home Depot and just bought another one.

There’s a reason for this painful routine. It’s all in how my work day normally ends. I get tired and all I want to do is take a shower and drink a beer. Whatever I’m doing at that particular moment ends. All the stuff I’ve taken out of the garage during the day gets taken back in as few trips as possible. It gets dumped in the first empty spot I can find.

It’s a problem and I am working on it.

Installment 13: Progress Report on the House - Painting is fun

There haven’t been many updates on the house because there’s not been much going on. Finally, the weather has gotten somewhat normal. Some vacation time will be spent soon doing something I don’t really do that often – paint.

So much time goes into prepping an area that painting can be quite the anitclimax. It’s the easiest thing to do in regards to the restoration work. It's easy and I find it relaxing and enjoyable.

One interesting tidbit that I can share is a connection with the Cardinal Ritter Birthplace, which is two blocks down the road from my house. Earlier this summer I was desperate to find crown molding for the exterior of my house. I had some small areas that had rotted and were not salvageable.

The crown is not stock stuff and I could not find a match anywhere. Weeks went by. Enter Greg Sekula of Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. During work on the Ritter house, they’d removed some of the exterior crown molding. He’d told me I was welcome to what they had if it was the right style.

It was. So I grabbed two six foot sections. A small part of the Ritter house is now permanently attached to mine. This section of crown (what is white in the photo) is from the Ritter house. It’s a little beat up and dented. I could have spent time filling in the divots, making it look like new. But instead I left it exactly as is.

I’m pleased with it and will make sure I bore everyone who comes by with the story of my piece of the Ritter house.

2nd Annual New Albany Historic Home Tour Concluded

It was a terrific day. We (tour coordinators) and homeowners were thankful for no rain. The forecast was not a promising one. We were fretting. In the end we fretted for nothing as the rain never arrived.

We were definitely on the north side of 250 tour goers. Foot traffic downtown was high. Jazzy tunes filled the air. Eateries were full at lunch time.

While selling tickets, we met folks from all over, including some that had flown in from out of town. We got a lot of direct feedback and it was all good.

Thanks homeowners and volunteers. It’s a lot of work but well worth the effort.

Mark your calendar now for September 13th, 2008 for the third Annual New Albany Historic Home Tour.

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Sadly, although I had my camera with me, not a single photograph was taken.

Dedication of The Floyd County Historical Society Padgett Museum

Seating for 150 people wasn’t enough for the dedication of the FCHS Padgett Museum. It was standing room only this Saturday.


The dedication committee of the Historical Society did a fantastic job. There were a lot of highlights – an energizing speech by Society Vice President Vic Megenity, accolades for Beverly and James Padgett and their generosity and a resounding group singing of New Albany’s official song “Indiana, My Home Sweet Home” led by the local singing group the Silvertones.

Did you know we had a song? I sure didn’t.

My Indiana, my home sweet home
I’m always dreaming day and night of you
The old Ohio, your silv’ry moon
Your hills that seem to kiss the skies so blue,
Your gorgeous autumn I’ll always love
No matter where it’s mine to roam
The place that I love is New Albany;It will always be my dear old home sweet home

View the entire gallery of photographs here: Floyd County Historical Society Dedication

Picking the wrong week to live without AC – Exposure for New Albany

Occasionally I take stock during my home restoration because not everything has gone wrong. For example, at least my air conditioner has worked well. I’d been able to work hard on hot days and have comfort in the fact that I’d have refuge in a cool home.

It worked swell until last Friday, when it stopped working. It’s been hot. A part was in transit. It was Wednesday at 7:30 before we had cold air flowing again.

I can’t complain too much. Thanks to a lot of travel during past jobs, I’d accumulated massive reward points for Marriott hotels. For a couple evenings I made the short drive to downtown Louisville and slept comfortably in a “chilly” hotel room.

I was downtown Sunday as Ironman triathelete’s were finishing the punishing day of swimming, biking and running. It was an electrifying experience. I even had trouble sleeping that night. I wanted to start training for something immediately. Another marathon may be in my future. And to think I have my broken AC to thank for it.

Back to the house – I’m running out of things to be thankful for. I guess I can be thankful the refrigerator has continued to perform well. It keeps my beer cold. Beer has never let me down.

****************
Pick up a LEO this week and you’ll see a spread on New Albany eateries on page 26. Flip to the back page and you’ll see an ad for HistoricNewAlbany.com. That’s some darn good exposure for our sleepy little river town.

HistoricNewAlbany.com hits its stride

It’s been a while since the numbers have been shared. Visits have leveled out and are consistent. Preservation events sponsored by Develop New Albany have helped raise money to place ads in the LEO and print two thousand post cards promoting the website.
It’s working. That fact has been slammed home to me in the last two weeks. 844 Cedar Bough Place was recently listed on the site (the home is next door to me). It’s a HUD foreclosure. The home has been vacant for well over a year.

There has been flood of interest. I’ve witnessed a dozen showings, and I’m not at home that much. I’m certain there have been dozens more. When I see people looking at the house I usually run out to introduce myself. I’ve met folks from the Knobs, Jeffersonville and Clarksville. Most have been aware of HistoricNewAlbany.com. It’s how they found out the home was for sale.

What’s the point? The home didn’t move through the foreclosure process in obscurity. It wasn’t only questionable investors, ready to pounce on another old home and make minimum investment, who had interest it. We’ve got a process in place that I assure you is envied by many other communities.

Thanks to Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Halo Applications, Develop New Albany and the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission. The site requires a lot of maintenance and attention. The work is paying off.

Learning more lessons the hard way

Why aren’t you supposed to paint in direct sunlight? This is why:

That’s my finger pointing to a blister. When painting in the sun, the paint dry’s fast on top while it still wet underneath. That can lead to puffy little air blisters. I’ve got a couple to fix.

I can imagine myself in the future as a one of those know it all old guys giving unwanted advice to a novice home restorer; “Hey young fella, you shouldn’t be painting in the sun like that, you’ll get paint blisters. Why I remember way back in 2007 when I was restoring a house on Cedar Bough and it was hotter than the dickens, blah, blah, blah…”.

I don't want to play anymore

This posting contains language that may offend some. If you are one of those people, don’t read it.

Restoring an old home is not easy. That’s not new territory for me to cover on this web log. I know that most people reading this have probably had experiences much worse than mine. Feel free to share. I’m sure sharing in your misery will make me feel better.

Interior waterfalls. Broken windows. Falling off ladders. Smacking my head on things. Getting stood up by contractors. It’s all par for the course. I know this now. I knew this when I got started.

But there’s only so much that I can just shrug off. Everyone has a breaking point.

I think I hit mine this morning at 4:00am.

The Breaking Point Setup:

Removing artificial siding from a home is no simple undertaking. You just don’t know what you’re going to get until you take it off. When mine came off there were issues. Trim had been hacked off. Crown molding had been removed. Wood was rotted in places.

To be frank, the house was full of holes. Because of this, I’ve been battling birds and squirrels constantly in my attic. But there’s only so much I could do. The approach to my restoration has been slow but steady. One section at a time.

The Meltdown:

Fast forward two years after removing the vinyl. Progress has been made. I’m generally pleased. The end really is in sight but there are still many miles to travel. I’ll admit getting a little tired. The bank account is getting lower. There are second thoughts being thought.

Then it’s 4:00am Thursday morning August 2nd. I’m sleeping soundly but suddenly startled by a fluttering sound. I think, “Is there something wrong with my ceiling fan?”. “What the hell is that sound?”. “What’s that dark object doing laps around my bedroom ceiling?”.

It’s a f-king bat. In the absence of coherent thought (remember it’s 4am) I pull the covers over my head.

What am I thinking then? I just don’t want to play anymore. I’m done. I just want all this to stop. What’s the starting price for a home at Norton Commons?

Long story short, I get up. Open the front door. I think he flew out. I’m not really sure. At the time, it really didn’t matter. I just started slamming coffee and watched news about the bridge coming down in Minnesota.

I went to work and the day sucked. But as the day wore on, settling took place. I’ll not be deterred by one flying mammal in my bedroom. In fact, I love f-king bats. They eat a ton of bugs. That's great.

Based on research I did on the internet, I’m prepared to live with bats in my attic until September, when the young ones are able fly. Only then will I take steps to remove them.

I broke, temporarily, but now I’m back. And tonight, if a bat buzzes my head, I’ll smile knowingly that his residence is temporary and I’ll have a great conversation starter the next time I get together with friends.

Installment 12 – progress report on Ted’s house – Doing battle with a gable - update on 1746 Ekin Ave

The gable on the south side of the house is finally getting some attention. It started last weekend, when my carpenter replaced clapboards that were unsalvageable.

My job? Make it look pretty.

It takes time. Removing failing paint. Repairing damage. Sanding. That’s how I spent a large part of this weekend. We’re almost ready for priming.


If you’d read my previous update on the house, I had said I’d be working on windows next. In case you haven’t noticed I tend to get sidetracked easily. So the windows will wait. They’re not going anywhere.

Update on 1746 Ekin Ave:
I just had to share an updated photograph of 1746 Ekin Avenue. The exterior looks great. Click here for the rest of the story originally posted in June.

Here was the starting point:

Historic Marker Dedication – Ritter Birthplace

A perfect day was ordered up for the historic marker dedication at the Cardinal Joseph E. Ritter Birthplace. Over a hundred guests were in attendance.

In case you missed it make sure to peruse the gallery of photographs at Ted's photo website.

The Marker

Pictures just for the heck of it in downtown New Albany

Here are few photographs taken on a recent stroll around downtown New Albany.

Why?

Why not?

Installment 11: Flat roof and box gutters “dried in”. And this time they’re dry.

It was the Sunday before last when the tear off of the flat over the front porch took place. It was probably 15 to 20 years old. Flat roof’s can be problematic, especially when maintenance is deferred. I had two trouble spots that had leaked at various times over the last four years.

There are no leaks now. In fact, you could say it’s “dried in”.

The last box gutter got lined this weekend. As far as the roof and gutters are concerned – Ted is happy.

The dumpster has departed. It will be missed. I’ve rather enjoyed having it around for the last couple weeks. It comes in handy for purging unwanted items. I’ve purged quite a bit.

Some window work is next on the task list. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t break one.

Installment 10: Pandora's Box Gutters - progress report on Ted's house

No tack on aluminum gutters for me anymore. The project for the last the couple weeks has been to restore the original box gutters (aka “built in” gutters). This has involved:

*Tearing out the section of roofing that had been covering them
*Removing the old metal that had lined the gutters
*Replacing rotted wood
*Relining the gutters

This task is the last of what I consider “major” work that needs to be done. Once the roof and guttering are done, the remaining work is purely cosmetic – scrapping, repairing, sanding, priming and painting clapboards. There’ll also be window reconditioning to do. And then there’s the pending new driveway and grading around the home to remedy water issues in the basement. And of course there’s the new landscaping that will be done and a courtyard/deck area in the back of the house. Oh, and I can’t forget about the ceiling repairs that need to be done after the recent water damage.

I just need another decade or two and it’ll be perfect!

Progress on 11th Street - revitalization ain't easy

Last week I visited 1746 Ekin Ave as work is getting underway for the restoration there. This week I strolled a couple blocks from my home to see the progress at 921 E. 11th Street. Here are the before and current shots:

The story is the same here as it was at 1746 Ekin – steady decline, upset neighbors and a home scheduled for demolition. But Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana intervened, worked with the owner and helped find a buyer ready to start work immediately to stabilize the home. Mr. Greg Doty purchased the home and the work is underway.

Residents of the S. Ellen Jones Neighborhood Association are pleased that the home will not become another vacant lot.

This sign of progress was tempered with an act of senseless vandalism at the Cardinal Ritter Birthplace. One of the large storefront windows was broken this week.

This act occurred the same week that the original, restored front door was added back to the home.

In the short term, the broken window means nothing. In the long term, the steady reclamation of the Ritter home is what is most important. Perseverance is a quality Cardinal Ritter was known for and a quality the neighborhood is going to need.

Nobody said revitalization was easy.