Well there has been a lot of activity here at Sugar Run. Mom and I have been very busy. After we finished her bedroom we started working on the office so mom would have a place for her paperwork, computer, crafts, and sewing. We finally got it finished. Here are the before pictures...I didn't get pictures of the full scope of the before but it was basically 35 years of receipts, bills, floppy discs, and family pictures. The best part was pulling out the hideous green carpet!
Before pics & the empty room pics
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| Dad's old desk |
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| Empty office with shelves removed |
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| Office before with carpet pulled out |
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| Office before with green carpet. |
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| Office empty |
Here are the after pictures. It looks a little messy but it is organized chaos. Mom is working hard on organizing all the stuff she wanted to keep. It is coming along really well and we have the desktop computer up and running.
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| We painted the walls a beautiful "evening glow" yellow to brighten up the small room. |
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| Mom wanted a hard floor so it would be easy to clean after craft projects. |
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| These are the old shelves dad built 30 some years ago. We pulled them off the wall, I stained them, and you put them back up so she has a wall of shelves. |
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| Beautiful view out the window! |
Another project we worked on last week was cleaning out the fruit cellar and bringing all of mom's canned food out so she can use it. For those of you that don't know what a fruit cellar is here is a little history lesson and clearly dating our house back pretty far.
A cellar is a type of basement primarily used for the storage of food and drink (especially
wine) for use throughout the year. A cellar is intended to remain at a constant cool (not freezing) temperature all year round. Cellars are more common in the UK in older houses, with most terraced housing built during late 19th, and early 20th Century having cellars. These were important shelters from
air raids during
World War II. In parts of the U.S. that are prone to
tornadoes. Cellars still serve as shelter in the event of a direct hit on the house from a tornado or other storm damage caused by strong winds. Cellars were also used frequently used as safe houses during the Underground Railroad during the 19th century. Here is one map showing several routes through Indiana.
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| Underground Railroad Routes through Midwest |
It took several trips and one hot afternoon but we got the cellar emptied. It was always one of my favorite places as a kid and I remember it like yesterday when we would run to the cellar during tornado watches. But now it's just too dangerous to store food there and run outside in the storm. Mom has a great closet under the staircase that is safe for bad weather.
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| From here it just looks like a small hill in the backyard. |
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| Doorway into the cellar. |
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| Dark and cold. |
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| Dad built these shelves to store food on them. |
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| Steep stairs to climb out of. |
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| All of Mom's empty jars. |
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| We have more pickles than we know what to do with and Mom's pickled asparagus. |
We also got into a patriotic mood and decorated for Memorial Day. We are leaving everything up until after 4th of July. I also got a little crafty and spray painted some old milk jugs gray. They are now flower pedestals on the front porch. Mom has all her flower beds planted in the front yard. She was weeding the other day and didn't realize there was a snake about 5 inches from her hand. Could have been ugly but a neighbor friend came over and took it away for us.
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| Patriotic Porch |
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| Flower bed where a snake was living. |
Well that's all for now. I'll have more soon.
