Tuesday, July 12, 2011

50+ years of memories! Wading in (Part 1)


Becky saying good-bye at the Aalen train station on Wednesday, June 29, always prepared to man the home front while I'm off on the next adventure. This time to Worthington, Ohio to clear out our parents' home of all their personal belongings and prepare it for new renters to move in.


After a routine flight, a stop at McDonalds before taking on the project. Thanks, Clara and Nick, for bringing your mom and dad along to pick me up at the Columbus airport.




337 Schrock Rd. What a wonderful place for kids to play!


The Varner family arrived on Thursday and wasted no time getting down to serious work. The first project at hand: build a front for the carport with two large swinging doors. This would be the storage area for all the items we wanted to save. Steve was more than capable for the task.


We loved the gun that literally fired nails into the concrete.



Meeting the new renters, Mike and Molly Kremnitzer and their 4 teen children. They stashed their belongings in the house and graciously headed off for a week's vacation giving us time to clear the house.


Erika was in from Marion, Indiana for the duration. She and I pulled the door shut on July 7 before she dropped me off at the airport.


Entertaining the Varner kids for a minute.


Elizabeth and Erika carefully packing all the items from the beautiful oak corner china cupboard.



Framing in and getting the doors placed.



Max and Henry offering expert counsel.


Chris Day brought his two boys, Tyler and Bradley, and we quickly took advantage of the muscle power to begin getting the large wood-working machinery out of the basement. These young guys did man's work!



Maybe we should have removed this door BEFORE we tried to maneuver the band saw out into the garage!


During the first days, master chef Freya took over the entire food service for all the workers - planning menus, shopping, food preparation, serving and clean-up. With many willing hands to help.



We ate like kings to keep our strength and motivation up.


Nobody had to go home hungry.


Starting to look like a wall.


Chris managed to get the mower running, but alas the mowing deck was in need of more extensive repair than we could accomplish in the time we had available.



So much to see and do . . . on various days there were anywhere from 4-5 on up to 10 or 12 kids exploring the place, re-connecting with one another and having the time of their lives. They added a delightful dimension to the whole project.


Hinges in place, the doors are ready to open wide and receive the first items for storage.


A surprise visit from friends Sy and Renessa Belohlavek.


Lots of delicious fruit and healthy vegetables.




Organized chaos! With only 1/2 day of rain (thank you, Lord!), we were able to use the driveway as the processing area for sorting and repacking dozens and dozens of boxes. Items to be discarded were placed on piles waiting for the dumpster to arrive.



With the enclosure completed and the doors hung, there was one last structure to be built. Thanks to Sy's encouragement and practical help we received the necessary motivation to press on into the night Friday and construct a loft on the back half of the carport to allow for more efficient use of the available space.




In the end, without the loft we would have been hard-pressed to finish the task.

50+ years of memories! Getting serious about disposing of items (Part 2)


Due to Elizabeth's superior and persistent negotiating skills, she accomplished the almost unheard of feat of ordering a dumpster on Saturday morning that was delivered that very afternoon - on the 4th of July weekend - at the best price in town! That girl's going to run the country some day!




It was so very damp in the back basement pump room that we discovered these creatures thriving in the darkness on the floor and gingerly removed them.


Now for some serious trash removal.


Time to begin clearing the basement of nearly 60 years of accumulated treasures.




Kara, after missing out on the "fun" on the previous day brought the girls along and joined Monica and Erika as they sorted and packed box after box of items pulled out of drawers, boxes and cupboards.


The first items for storage - the heavy machinery from the basement and garage.


Fearless budding young naturalists.



Beginning to fill up.



With plenty more needing to go in.



What in the world are these things? Grampy creations.


At the end of a good, hard day's work, lots of smiling faces.



Daniel and Elizabeth along with Erika performed the amazing feat of emptying the attic in a single day . . .



. . . under the watchful eye of Lena Mae.



It soon became apparent that we were going to have to conserve on dumpster space. Taking the sledge hammer to bulky items.




Christmas in the air.



I'm pretty sure the attic hasn't looked this way since the fall of '57, the day we moved in.



As quickly as things are sorted, packed and stored, more items appear for processing.


The only way to eat a piece of garlic bread: smash your face into it.


Homemade pizza - like I said, we ate like kings.


Max sculpturing patterns into the lawn with the mower.