Farm Houses

Part of living on a farm is living IN a farmhouse. It took me awhile to get used to. I think I am still getting used to it. The hardest factor to accept was the outside-access basement. In my twisted, over-analytical, excessive worrying mind, I was like "okay, if there is a tornado, I have to go outside to get to safety?!" Can you say The Wizard of Oz or the movie Twister? And, once you get down there, you don't feel too much better. Let's just say that when I have new visitors come over, the last thing I am about to show them is the basement. If you have been down there, then you understand - its creepy. There is a gaping hole in one wall and creeks and cracks everywhere. Luke has been able to make one room quite nice by turning it into our sprout growing room, but otherwise, I don't like to go down there.

Another part of farm-houses is weird angles and steep slants. If someone had a little too much to drink, then they probably shouldn't walk down our stairs, because they will fall. Seriously, a steep slant right into the wall or down the stairs. I was working out and dropped a little weight - it literally rolled away from me. It was like my house was telling me I wasn't working out hard enough. In the book "Coop" by Michael Pollan, he joked how an afternoon sporting event is to put a marble down and see if it rolls to the front door. I tried it once while I was in the bathroom - the marble made it out of the bathroom, into the dining room, and then angled to the kitchen. It stopped on the way, but still, it was quite impressive.  I'm used to the slants now, but in the beginning, I felt like I was tripping all the time - but that could just be because I'm klutzy.

Next, leaky windows! It isn't even that cold yet, but our curtains our blowing, not because the windows are open, but because they are that drafty. Our dining room window is particularly bad - it whistles because so much air comes through. It makes for a chilly house. Fortunately we have a cozy pellet stove to heat it up, but that is only the main floor. In the dead of winter, our bedroom is a blustery 50 degrees - that doesn't make it to easy to get out of bed and get in the shower. Plus, our shower takes 10 minutes to warm up. You can call that a wake-up call. But, it is good sleeping conditions. And it does cause me to bake a lot so that the oven heats our house. And I drink more tea - which is good for me, so I suppose that is a plus as well.

The last part about farm houses, the mice. I'm not going to detail this quite yet, because I have a lot to say about it, so I'm going to save it for another post. However, I think you will really enjoy that one...
And I must say, even if farm houses are cold, blustery, tipsy and creeky - I love it. I love how cozy it is, I love the history in the walls. The columns with paint drips of many years gone by. The cut-out in our wall showing the original wood the house was made of. Showcase of Homes was this weekend, and while our house will probably never be on the agenda, it is our home, and because of that, its awesome. (And it will be even more awesome when Luke finally lets me paint my two front doors bright green!!!)