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February 14, 2025 Not the happiest of days, though I do still love my husband dearly.  It is Valentine’s Day.  Have I gone through the normal progression of a long-time married person or am I just lazy, not planning well, or taking too much for granted?  I went from making a romantic pencil-drawn Valentine years ago…a beautiful woman in a long dress, sitting on a tree branch dreamily thinking of her love, a drawing on white paper, surrounded by red construction paper cut to form a heart, with a border of white lace paper.  My future husband was very impressed.  I wonder if it is in the bottom of a box somewhere?  Would it be like I remember it, if I could dig it out?  Most likely some yellowing, a couple areas bent or folded, possibly soiled by mice, no longer pristine.  I saw a great cartoon yesterday- a couple, each on their own couch- sprawled exhausted on their backs.  The caption says “The state of our busy lives these days” (or something like that).  The man, without looking up, says, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”  The woman, also not moving, responds “You too.” I did get a bag of heart-shaped chocolates a couple days ago.  And the day is long…I could still rally. Anxieties pervade my life right now instead of gentle musings on love.  I am now convinced that our American democracy is ending as we know it…those 1776 declarations and 100- and 200-year anniversaries proudly celebrated as though they were going to go on and on. We are AMERICA after all!    But a Nobel Laureate economist, Paul Krugman said yesterday that his biggest fear is for our democracy.  He said he thinks the last legitimate election may have been November 2024.    I will use a borrowed phrase- the beginnings of 2025 have provided ‘a perfect storm’ for the undoing our 1776 experiment.  An elected president who told us he would be a Dictator on Day 1, a Congress with Republican power that follows that Dictator completely (with fear or what must be blind faith), a favorable Supreme Court put in place by said Dictator, a South African white man who is a billionaire and knows how to change code on U.S. government systems to stop payments to promised people.  Like magic they have Made America Great Again.  Poof!  No checks and balances anymore.  My only hope is the economy is as blind as half of the American people seem to be.  Or at least ‘slow’.  So, with that hope, I move forward with the Ridge Road house plans.  Real estate is always a good investment, right?  Over the long-term it tends to retain its value.  So, while we have money, I want to go full steam ahead with our building, rather than wait until 2027 as planned.  Our money might not buy us a house by then.  Starting this year in April, our excavator/civil engineer will build our septic system!  How appropriate to start with that system at this time in our history.  I could come up with analogies and inappropriate words, but I won’t.  This is a family site.  This young man who is a genius with an excavator has already been at the site and shot the topography for the septic and will draw it up in CAD. We’ll move on to the well.  Same excavator.  Then he will pull out the old stones from the foundation site and save them for us, to use as we see fit later.  He can prepare the new foundation hole.   The builder can then do the cement, full-basement foundation this year as well and cap it.  I want to research more about proper insulation and risks of cracking and heaving cement foundations in a Vermont winter.  Then in 2026 the builder can go ahead with the house building!  This is a year earlier than planned or needed but it would put our money into the house rather than the stock market.  Time will tell how well we weather this current storm.

Thank you.  You are the unsung angels of the middle class.  You are there for us when we need you.  This past year I have often thought of Greg The Carpenter (his name, not mine…I believe he does this because people can’t remember, and definitely can’t spell his Greek last name Perchemlides.). He is from down our way in Montague, Massachusetts.  We currently live in Western Mass, which is much more like Vermont than the rest of Massachusetts.  We thought we had bought a new house here in 2015 only to realize in 2023 that a 20-year-old house is not new.  It was newer than anything we had ever owned.  We learned that houses built a little too quickly in 2002 on a budget start to wear out right about at 20 years old.  Windows (which were a lovely wood frame) were starting to rot, siding seemed to be letting in the rain, ceilings would start to drip.  A family member recommended we NOT call one of those window chains to do the work.  They sound tempting.  They come in immediately simply pop out your old window, reinsert the new window quickly.  Not much mess, not much in-your-way down time.  And the photos on their websites look so glossy and professional.  Just what you would want.  But… Instead, this family member said- find a reliable, good contractor and buy high quality windows separately for installation by this contractor.  As many people know in the 2020s, contractors are already busy and mostly unavailable (not helped by Covid and people staying home during quarantine times and wanting to upgrade their abode).  Stay strong, recommended this family member.  Even if you have to wait, it is worth it.  The time will go by fast and voila!  You have your windows, done professionally with products that will last.  He was right.  We did have to wait from the fall of 2022 until the spring of 2023 but we found Greg the Carpenter, recommended by locals. Use those services!  We have “Leverett Connects” down here where neighbors write about everything from lost cats to astrology.  In Randolph Vermont, they have “Front Porch Forum.”  These emails lists are the best way to get advice from neighbors.  They can list recommendations, describe the work the person did for them, what they liked, and give you their contact information. Neighbors don’t mislead neighbors.  Many contractors these days can’t be found by Googling “Contractors near me.”  They don’t create websites, they don’t advertise, they don’t even paint their names on their trucks for fear of too many annoying phone calls while they are trying to get work done.  Greg was a good communicator.  He explained the work that needed to be done.  It isn’t a simple pop out/pop in of windows.  To make things truly fit, be insulated around the opening, be finished off properly on the inside, it takes a lot of careful, detailed work.  Yes, your house is a mess for a while.  There is dust.  There is sanding and repainting the entire wall where the window was and now is.  There are people in your house with your dog barking.  But Greg became like family, congratulating our dog on a “job well done” being the house protector.  It was fun watching him work.  He would talk out loud to himself or run everything by his well-trained assistant (and step-son) Ben.  He wasn’t afraid of me overhearing or thinking he was incompetent, because he wasn’t.  He is a highly capable carpenter who is careful and knows mistakes can be made. He thinks and plans first, then acts and builds.  He would say things like “if we did this…then this…but if we did that…then that…”. Looking at his options, choosing the best way forward.  We now have almost all new windows and doors in our 2002 house.  We have new siding.  We have a new roof.  Our house feels truly new now.  It is protected and tucked in and taken care of.  During climate-change downpours of 2024 that went on and on, our house was water-tight.  Never just light rain, but instead a deluge leaving ponds around the yard, but no drip dripping in the house.  I thought of Greg The Carpenter.  “Thank you, Greg! I would think, but never say it out loud or write it.  So today I am writing it and letting Greg know.  He saved this house.  He gave us peace of mind.  He gave us a functional house.  And by the way, it is also a beautiful home.

My AI image should not have neatly placed backpacks, or tidy pencil cups. Instead imagine many adult-sized High School students clustered together ignoring the teacher who is digging through piles of disorganized papers on her desk up front and desperately trying to get the class quiet so she can at least take the required attendance. Yesterday I got a shocking email from my builder’s wife letting me know that her husband had passed away suddenly, unexpectedly, at the end of December.  Just days later, she was dutifully and painfully going through all of his work emails to let clients know.  I wrote back letting her know how sorry I was for her and her family.  What a shock for her, what a loss.  He was a wonderful father, I could tell from only meeting him once. I liked him right away.  As we stood looking at the view in Randolph Center, he told me about his family.  We talked houses and I really appreciated the approach he would take.  He was above all else, flexible.  He was patient.  He emphasized understanding the process and realizing that things don’t always come out the way they are imagined.  He talked about being able to shift gears and change things up for the owner as the building evolved.  This was not something I asked about or was even looking for, as I am a newbie to a house-building project. Of course, I was assuming that I am sure what I want, have already thought it all through and my plans are set in stone, so-to-speak.  But he must have known this is not realistic and brought it up which was really generous I thought. What builder wants a homeowner who constantly changes their mind or heads off in a different direction, mid-build?! He was not only a knowledgeable craftsman, he was a designer, problem-solver, and just a nice person to spend time with during the building process.  He was going to work on Charles Cooley’s barn for me starting at the end of March, beginning of April:  add a fully enclosed east side with barn doors, new ramp to hayloft, just get the place truly equine-ready.  Another builder can take over for me, but for his family it is a different story entirely.  I went to bed last night unsettled.  I had done the math with another builder who told me to count on $450/square foot.  32’ x 40’ Ridge Road house x 2 stories = 2560 square feet  x $450 = um….over a million dollars.  $1,152,000 to be exact and this didn’t even include the screened-in porch, deck, garage. My brain went into my usual dream sequences when I feel like life is out of control.  I am a teacher again but this time I have all new students and even taking attendance turns into a nightmare.  I can’t find an obvious list of students I’ve been assigned and have to try to glean this information from a large classroom full of unruly hooligans, large adult-sized bodies (being in High School), and full of themselves, laughing, talking loudly, listening to loud music, ignoring me as if it is a sign of victory.  I dig through disorganized piles of paperwork on the front desk, I work at getting them quiet so I can speak and ask who they are.  This appears impossible as I get one person listening and talking just pops up in another quadrant of the classroom. Many students are in small groups with their backs turned to me, huddled together, completely enjoying themselves. When I am able to get their attention, they laugh and give me false amusing names.  And this doesn’t even include the part where I need to fill their young minds with important scientific information.  I woke up exhausted.  God there are so many hard parts involved in teaching.  It is truly a miracle that there are many accomplished, creative, truly great teachers out there.  I am glad to be retired.  But then this morning I got an encouraging email from Builder number 2 who said (regardless of the $450/square foot potential costs) that a simple Cape Cod, three-bedroom house in Vermont indeed should not cost a million dollars to build.  Instead $600,000 was a figure mentioned.  OK, we’re good. Rest in peace, Matthew and thank you for our short partnership.  I will hold your family in my most positive thoughts for the difficult times ahead for them, navigating their new world without you.

I will definitely put this old light exactly where it was, at the foot of the stairs near the front door. Question...Should I use the old doors with the old paint still on them (regardless of one being a light green and another gray and not early-original paint) or should I strip the old paint and see what is underneath?  Then stain or paint white?  I plan on them going to each of the two upstairs bedrooms.  The smaller door with the latch will be for a closet door.  I could use it upstairs as it was in the south bedroom, or maybe in the mudroom downstairs.  Here's that original closet door in place in the original house: I thought the tiny door could go in its original spot as the door to the secret passageway upstairs.  Behind it when you open it I am thinking of having a painting on the wall showing a magical passageway which won’t be there (since there will be no saltbox second house and therefore no connection between the two houses like there once was). See photo below. Or I could use it for a small closet/storage door upstairs or in the mudroom.   Originally, I thought of removing the old wavy glass from these windows to use in a new piece.  But I am concerned about breaking the panes and thought keeping them intact might be the safest?  And obviously they can’t be used as exterior windows and still have an energy-efficient house.  One idea is to use them intact, keeping each section of 6 panes in its original wood frame and putting them above interior doors to allow more light from room to room.  It would be an unorthodox look.  Most likely strip the old paint off or leave it? I have two of them with 6 panes each. I do have 2 more sections of windows where 3 panes of glass are broken so I could take the remaining 9 good panes of glass, try to remove them and use them in a new frame.  Ideas? Finally, this old green leather recliner was not on my ‘must save’ list…it was pretty well invaded with mice, dust, dirt and I thought “green?!”  But of course, absence makes the heart grow fonder and I have thought about replacing it with a similar one for a remembrance of Grampa Cooley.  Here is the old and a couple of new possibilities.  It is fun to dream.  I have three options below:

I want to write this as a place marker in November 2024.  I want to remember how I am feeling and see what comes true and what doesn’t by 2028, our projected move-in date to the Ridge Road house.  I am essentially an optimist.  I don’t know how much of this was programmed at birth and how much was instilled in me via my life experiences, but an optimist I am.  I remember just last month agreeing with James Carville (an ornery man who can be foul-mouthed yet speaks the truth, starting as a comedian and becoming someone who could speak out to the media about political truths).  “James Carville: Three Reasons I’m Certain Kamala Harris Will Win” Oct. 23, 2024 NY Times Guest Opinion Essay I saw Kamala’s consistently huge crowds, enthusiastic Americans cheering her on.  She was tireless, moving state to state to talk with everyday Americans.  I saw Trump barely trying to campaign.  I heard her plans for helping people, I read about Trump’s agenda to cut government programs using Elon Musk’s ideas for an efficiency plan.  People had to see the writing on the wall and vote for her right?!  Why wouldn’t they?! Then November 5th arrived.  My 6-year-old granddaughter had asked me, “Grammy, when we wake up in the morning will we know who the president is?”  I told her that it might take a few days of counting since the polls showed that the election would be very close.  Nope.  We knew right away on November 5th, probably before she even went to bed.  What had happened?  Many folks had warned the polls have been wrong before, don’t listen to polls (and believe me I wanted to believe that the polls would be wrong and Harris would win in a landslide).  Trump and his people are calling it a mandate.  Nope again.  After many days of counting, it turns out less than 50% of Americans voted for him, but he is still what we are stuck with.  And as the days progress (it’s been about 2 weeks) it is clear that he will move ahead with his choosing of MAGA supporters into cabinet positions, inexperienced, wealthy, and with one thing on their minds, to make American great again for themselves. Other Trump voters just want a simple, conservative dream- get government out of our lives.  Even though economic experts in this country had said the economy as of November 5, 2024 was doing exceedingly well, the voters who chose Trump said they did so because the economy is bad.  Yes, groceries are expensive and yes, many Americans who are first-time homebuyers are finding it near impossible to buy a house.  But Harris wanted to help with both of those items- stop price gouging and find ways to help first-time homebuyers.  Now we’ll never know if her ideas would have helped. If Elon Musk’s plans to slash the government are enacted, he has said Americans should “brace themselves for hardship.”  He seems to think that the good stuff will eventually happen, but not at first.  Economists have warned that if Trump’s “most beautiful word” Tariffs are put into place- consumers will pay higher prices, it will cause inflation, lead to higher unemployment and lower wages. I am selfish like those wealthy Republicans out there and don’t want our family’s nest egg to be destroyed.  I differ from them on how our economy should be handled.  I don’t want more tax breaks for the rich that only benefit the rich.  I don’t want cuts to programs that help my fellow Americans.  I don’t want the economy to backslide and cause the chunk of money we have now to be erased from the books.  Am I being alarmist?  Time will be the truth-teller.  As much as I am an optimist, I am also an alarmist.  I remember when Covid first hit and ambulances were lining up on streets of NYC, bodies were piling up and morgues were running out of space.  I was an alarmist then, thinking it might cause civil unrest.  It started with toilet paper hoarding, but how bad could it get?  The normal U.S. delivery system was a mess.  I even thought about ways of securing our house, would we need to put in a wooden 2x4 across our French doors to make them impossible to force open?  My questions today are- will we get to move forward with our house project in Vermont?  Will our funding be gone?  Will our current house be worthless since there will be no one who can afford to buy it, virtually erasing our equity?  By 2028 I think there will be bigger things to worry about than just building a house.  But then again, I am an alarmist.    (As I said, this is a place marker for myself.)

I want to make sure Charles Cooley's barn that he built in the 80s is taken care of. I plan on using it for my equines when I move there in 2028. It is smart to take baby steps when moving forward on a big project, so starting with the barn makes sense. Smaller amounts of money, preserving the value of what is there...this is a perfect smaller project for the here and now. Thanks to a friend of a friend who lives in Randolph, Vermont herself, I got a recommendation for a Vermont builder Matthew Greene who will start work on the barn in March/April depending on the weather. Here are his plans: I love this barn. Mostly because my father-in-law built it himself. He thought about what would work on this site. He lived there. He knew the site. He grew up and farmed just down the road. What better designer could one ask for!? I love that the horses are below with direct run-out to a paddock area. I love that the hay loft is above, yet accessible as if on the ground level since it has a road that goes up above and around the barn to the back, straight into the loft! A barn built into a hill. Thank you Charles. Photo of Charles Cooley by photographer Jack Rowell Let me add one more item...paint that rusting metal door red or maybe a new door with a window. This will be the view that horses get again some day. Below Lippitt Morgans Fern Hill Alexandra (my <3 horse Lexa) and her mom Suzanne Royalty (Charles's <3 horse) in that same barn's pasture.

The date is set for test holes for the septic system... Halloween! October 31st! We went up today to check on the site, empty the well pump to winterize it, and enjoy the fall foliage on the drive up.

I have narrowed it down to two great builders...waiting for their estimates which I will get any day now which will help my final decision. Then the real process of building will begin! I would ideally like to do the septic next summer and maybe get the well checked (drill a new one if needed) and another possibility is to start refurbishing the barn right away. Then the following summer start the real build, at least with the garage. I am excited! The Cooley Ridge Road House will reemerge. Phil Godenschwager will be doing some interior elevations soon as well...that will give you a sneak peek and help you imagine the inside of the house. What will you see as you enter that dining room door and look towards the kitchen? What will the mud room look like? When you are in the living room and look over at the stairs and this beautiful front door, will it look familiar? That is my hope.

Today I got to meet with Matthew Greene a builder from Topsham, Vermont. I am very encouraged that he would be an excellent fit with me as someone who is experienced and flexible (willing to do the project in sections, not insisting on going in/doing the whole thing/moving out), and able to suggest easier, better ways of doing things. I learned just from talking with him today. He is also willing to make changes as he works...if as the homeowner, you see something you didn't realize or quite understand as he builds...and you want to change it or adjust it, he is understanding and willing to do that. For example, a window could be moved if the view is better from that new position. I don't forsee doing too much of that since, I was able to be in this house in the past. I saw how the rooms were laid out, I saw how the sun entered the windows at certain times of day, etc. My sister Sharon met with me at the house site and luckily took photos for me since I neglected to take any. We walked through the barn to see what needs to be done there. What I had thought would be my summer project (working on cleaning out the barn) has not happened. Between having all of my equines get sick this summer, requiring extra care and attention, and so much rain creating constant mowing back here in Massachusetts, I didn't manage to work on the barn. Luckily I think Matthew Greene might be willing to help with any repairs or improvements to the barn that are needed. There is a lot to do.

Thank you Phillip Godenschwager for these drawings. The only changes in the front of the house are- A view of the south side covered deck/porch sticking out on the right in the above elevation, and a peek of the screened-in porch set back at the far end of the deck/porch. Also- the chimney is no longer centered. A hard decision for me, but it made more sense to get comfortable with the chimney being off-center since the wood stove will be in the living room, (rather than centered in the house's kitchen or front hallway). The kitchen was always an awkward location for the wood stove and if it was in the hallway, the heat would tend to just flow up the stairs. I am very happy with this rendition. It will have wooden clapboards, painted white, and a gray metal roof. The south side of the house will be the most visible as you come up the driveway. The changes are- The side deck/porch running all along the south side (30' long and 10' deep) with a shallow/flatish room to make it more out of the weather and sun. I wanted to keep it simple, no flourishes, not too many posts, not hiding the south side of the familiar house. The door to enter the dining room here is now centered (and doubled, glass French doors) between the dining room and living room, with a straight shot across into the kitchen. The screened-in porch towards the back of the house is on the far right in this elevation, actually lined up with the big deck/porch. A door to enter the screened-in porch is not visible here but is located off the deck/porch on the far right. You can also enter the porch from inside the house via the dining room. I love that this inside door position is in the exact location that the former door used to be- connecting the Cape Cod house dining room to the Saltbox house fireplace room. The screened-in porch takes the place of the large Saltbox style 'second house' that contained the fireplace room, the garage, and the upstairs 2 bedrooms. The back of the house that showed the side of the Saltbox house to the left (previously jutting out to the left and overlapping the main Cape Cod style house slightly), now has the screened-in porch, also overlapping the Cape Cod house a bit. The entry into the kitchen remains on the back of the house here, along with the same double windows above the sink. The 'Room to Nowhere' on the far right which contained a workshop bench in the past, still has a door (moved slightly to the left with an added window to its right). This door now leads to the mudroom. The mudroom will lead to the kitchen (see floor plans, previous post). A big change to the back of the house is the upstairs dormer over the upstairs bathroom. I wanted to limit the size to only accommodate the necessary head space in the bathroom without changing the whole back of the house. (See East Elevation above.) This is a view of the house from the North side. You can see the upstairs bathroom dormer from this view, but I think it balances the front dormer. Remember, it is actually small and tucked in. Instead of the back of Saltbox house to the left with its one living room window, you see the screened-in porch and a small landing to enter the kitchen door on the back of the house. The two typical-sized windows on this side are in the downstairs bedroom and the smaller, higher windows are in the downstairs bathroom. Upstairs of course a guest room matching the guest room on the south upstairs.

I am excited to preserve the basic original floor plan of the Ridge Road house with a few changes. Guests, instead of just entering the dining room door on the south side, will see a covered deck along the entire side (the really old renditions of this house had a porch there). The porch/deck roof will be fairly flat to still let light in during the cooler months when the sun's arc is lower. The dining room entry door instead of being on the far-right-hand corner on that side will be centered off the porch with French doors. From the dining room instead of having a half wall into the kitchen, it will have an island separating it from the kitchen, so hopefully a similar feel. I will maintain the dark lower kitchen cabinet bases (mostly drawers), using oak which the older 1920s kitchens often had. I am hoping this will be reminiscent to the 1960s kitchen Harry created but with oak instead of the plywood cabinets. Above the base cabinets will be a few shelves instead of cupboards to try and preserve an older house look. One tall (but not deep) oak cupboard will hopefully make up for a lack of upper cupboards- sort of a pantry cupboard. This tall floor-to-almost-ceiling cupboard will be near the island against the adjoining living room wall (about where the refrigerator used to be for those 'in the know.') The living room which was always fairly open to the dining room will now be completely open with only the small wall behind the wood stove separating it from the kitchen. The stairwell (oak to match kitchen cabinet bases) will be open and seen from the living room (which used to have a wall separating it from the stairwell hallway). Stairs can be beautiful and this will also make the living room larger and let in more light from the side lights surrounding the front door. I want to keep the shape of the original banister in the house, a squared off post with sloping sides at the top. Remember it? (I will post a photo below.). I want to also reuse the charming glass 'bubble ceiling light fixture' from the original house at the base of the stairs. The downstairs bedroom (our master bedroom) will be in the same place as it was in the original house, on the north/west side, with a similar bathroom off it which can also be used by visitors via the kitchen (same as it always was). It will be a little more spacious than the original bathroom, with double sinks and a wide walk-in shower, oh and a window. One of the best changes will be using the original space in the house that I called 'the room to nowhere' which held a work bench (in the north/east corner of the house). You could not get into the house from that room in the past. It will still have a door on the back of the house so you can enter it from there, but will be a mudroom/laundry which connects now to the kitchen. Ha! what an idea! Another nod to the past will be a doorway that went from the dining room to the saltbox house (which had the fireplace room, garage, and upstairs two bedrooms). Instead of the saltbox house which we don't need and can't afford, we will have a screened-in porch there. It will have windows on 3+ sides- one side facing south, one west, one side east, one side north, and be a 4-season room with its own entry off the southern deck as well. This will give us extra living space, a little more shade than the south/west deck provides, and screens to exclude the mosquitos. We can sit out there at night with comfy armchairs and lamps or have our morning coffee there. The back door to the kitchen from the driveway will still be there but with a small covered deck entryway. You can pull up along the back and enter either the mudroom or the kitchen/dining room off the back of the house. The upstairs will still have the spacious hallway with two bedrooms on either side- to the south and to the north off the hallway. The bathroom will still be straight ahead but will have a very small (about 12') dormer to create head space there. Instead of just a toilet and small sink, it will have a tub/shower, double sink, and of course toilet, and again, an improvement- windows. The beloved 3rd bedroom will not be walled off but will create a space for extra guests to sleep or Danny's work desk while he gazes at the fields and mountain view from the upstairs two windows of the house. I am calling it the sitting nook (thank you Sara Tucker for the inspiration). I wanted to maintain that wonderful upside-down V shaped big dormer off the front of the house and these windows are great for light in the hallway upstairs and a beautiful space to sit. Definitely a room with a view. I will reuse the original upstairs bedroom doors for the same purpose, one closet door, and the door to the secret passageway up here for storage space.

Completed floor plans and elevations almost ready to share. Stay tuned! Sara Tucker recommended Phil Godenschwager for architectural drawings and I have not been disappointed. He has made great suggestions, really discussed the design with me, and done such detailed, exacting work. The second house, the saltbox section that held the garage, fireplace room, and two additional bedrooms would make the house too big for us and unaffordable as well. But I'm excited that the very same door that went from the dining room to the saltbox section will now go to a 4 season screened-in porch. This has been such a fun process, a back and forth with Phil, looking at old photos, researching materials for the new house, meeting with potential builders. Now moving on to getting estimates. Cross your fingers for us that we can afford it.