Our House

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." H.D.Thoreau, Walden

Summer 2001

Winter 2002

In my adult life, I had envisioned a time when I would build a permanent nest for myself lined with memories and artifacts collected during my nomadic years (around 30 addresses in 30 years). While I didn't picture giving up all of my roaming, as I love to travel, I did picture staying put at one address longer than I had previously. I have achieved that. I have lived here over six years.

This house is my mother's last material gift to me. I feel she would be glad of my choice.

The house is a bungalow style, strongly built in 1917. Real wood used throughout its construction. Plaster walls, hardwood floors and high ceilings. While the house was in good structural shape, it needed some cleaning up. Namely the floors needed repair as every room, including kitchen and bathroom, had grungy, old wall-to-wall carpeting. Yikes!

Scraping off old, nasty carpet liner in the summer heat is not fun

Here's a brief tour:

The (then) unfinished 2nd floor: A former boss of mine once said that people buy a house because they fall in love with a single aspect that they can't live without. For me, it was this space.

It also has a view of the old millpond (Morning Light entry). And in the early days, it came with white geese who would wander across Main Street daily.

As was true of my childhood home, it is on the parade route, too.

Plenty of room for gardens, as well.

Since moving in, many changes have happened including getting married, buying sheep, new paths to explore. Also, Drew and I have expanded our living space by finishing off the 2nd floor. A lesson learned: staying put does not mean being stagnant.

Morning Light

This is a winter's view from our window. I love the way winter bares all so that I can see through to what lays beyond. The silhouettes of leafless trees make me think of naive folk paintings. The simplicity of the lines helps me to clear the clutter from my mind momentarily before the full force of day sets in. With cup of coffee in hand, I like to make my to-do lists for the day, update the calendar, write in my journal and otherwise tackle the world from a gentle, quiet, peaceful stance.

Since writing about clutter (January entry), I have gotten some comments from others and have also done more online searching on the subject. There is a lot out there about clutter, suggesting that it is a bigger issue than one who is caught up in clutter might realize initially.

As for my own material clutter, I have been taking a more active approach to breaking it down and clearing it away. I love recycling day, which is on tuesdays for us, because it gives me a goal to reach. How high can I fill the mixed paper bins? What area has been cleared as a consequence?

If that tuesday is also the day when the cleaners come, I have a double incentive to work on it. Additionally, we have a great service that will pick up donated goods for their store to sell. So my de-cluttering efforts are easily rewarded. This means, of course, that the issue rests with me in my cluttered mind.

Sheep Eyes

So, where do you take your sheep when he has an eye problem? To an eye doctor, of course.



Who knew? I certainly didn't until it turned out that Slim's eye problem wasn't your everyday sheep eye problem.

Around here, the local sheep owners often do their own veterinary care as sheep doctors are hard to come by. When Slim started exhibiting an ongoing eye problem (watery eye, white cloud covering his cornea), we tried our usual contacts to see how to proceed. There is an ointment (Terramycin) that is commonly used. We tried that but to no avail. Then we did manage to contact a vet who does make farm visits and does like working with sheep. She had some thoughts as to what it might be but recommended that we take Slim to an eye doctor.

The next day, being full of rain, we loaded up Slim and Slam into the back of a borrowed pickup truck (with a cap). It was the same truck we had borrowed to bring them home last October.

We then headed down to Medford to see eye doctors, Drs. Clinton and Evans. The clinic was quited excited by our visit. They see llamas on a relatively regular basis (due to their tendency towards inverted eyelids or entropion). And they have worked on horses and monkeys, and cats and dogs. But they are interested in small ruminants (sheep and goats) and hadn't gotten many such patients.

Even though Slim was the one with the apparent eye problem, we took both Slim and Slam because sheep like to flock together. Slim and Slam are never out of each other's sight. Slam would have had a fit if we had left him behind. When we got to the clinic, we hesitated for just a moment about leaving Slam in the truck. He started getting agitated just by our thinking it.

After checking with the receptionist as to where they wanted us, we brought the sheep up the front steps into the waiting room.

Checking in


Here's what the waiting room looks like without sheep patients.

Here's the waiting room after there have been sheep patients.


It turns out that both Slim and Slam have a bacterial infection in their eyes, although Slim's left eye is the worst. We were given some new medicine - eye drops that need to be applied 3 times a day.



We're not out of the woods yet but Dr. Clinton believes that the eyes will recover without any permanent damage.