Windows on the World

From Redmond we headed north, stopping for lunch (and a couple caches) just across the river into Washington at Maryhill, picking up another essential county in the process.

Our destination was Glory Farm. We've been here several times before, always enjoying the friendship of the hosts and donating a bit of time for house restoration projects. In fact, my first project (six years ago) at Glory Farm was window related.

This farm house has always intrigued me. Local lore said it was built from multiple buildings. Now, they removed a section in preparation for a new kitchen. While they patiently (?) wait for the contractor to set footings, I couldn't resist a photo to document at least three of those buildings. (As always, you can click on any photo for a larger version - check out the foundation to clearly see each of the three sections.)

I always ask if they have a project I can work on, and they always laugh because the list is always long. This time, we worked together to get four of the upstairs windows changed out. Unlike the downstairs project years ago, these windows got the replacement treatment.

No telling where the old windows will end up - likely in another project somewhere.

The new windows will look appropriate, but they feature dual pane construction. Now the windows may be more energy efficient than the walls.

Obviously, some of the trim had to come off to remove the old windows,

But with the trim back in place and the labels removed, the improvement in function isn't immediately noticeable to passers by.

And to top off our fun at Glory Farm, we had a beautiful sunset on our last evening of a way too short visit. We'll be back at least once more this year. Who knows, maybe I'll get to come back and help with the kitchen project.

A huge thanks to Ellen and Pat for sharing their farm with us. It feels like home.

My Favorite Place

I debated about the title - is it "A" favorite or is it "The" favorite? Certainly there are lots of places in the running for "The" title, places we keep returning to like Utah's Green River, but the place and people that pull me in and makes me feel like home is Glory Farm. There's something in the hustle of a small farm, the smells in the kitchen, and the creaking floors that reminds me of my childhood, but it's the love that emanates from that place to everyone around that keeps drawing us back.

This is the third time that we've been back to the farm to 'help' with the continuing house restoration. We weren't there last year which was good timing on our part since it was the year of the house painting - an massive project if there ever was one!

This year, the puppies are the center of attention.

Not exactly what you'd expect to see in the kitchen of library staff, but then Ellen's a farmer, too.

The house is filled with history reused, and colorful crafts abound.

The garden is guarded by gates that served a different purpose in a prior life, and a scarecrow welded from farm 'stuff.' Seeds were planted while we were there, and another famous pumpkin crop is anticipated.

The chickens rule the roost in more ways than one. Turk, the City Dog, continues to avoid them!

The farm has its picturesque buildings, and a place for woodworking out in the shed.

The farm backs up to Washington State's longest State Park. Iron Horse State Park is only 1,612 acres, but spans 110 miles of the former Milwaukee Road. BJ, Turk, and I went out to locate a cache along the former railroad while we were at the farm, and the following week we were on a different section of the same park at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass.

This year my projects revolved around filling some holes in the new upstairs bathroom. The first project was a shallow bookcase to create a hinged, hidden door to the attic.

It was assembled with glue and brads, and then got a coat of primer before it went upstairs.

The other project was to glue up some tongue & groove cedar to make a door blank for the bathroom closet.

The bookcase is hinged but rests on a pair of swiveling casters that carry the weight. The door was made to match similar doors used in the upstairs bedrooms. One more hidden door was framed out to close the plumbing access.

I got to make sawdust and enjoy the farm. Can't ask for more! I am certainly blessed!

Wandering East & West

With the projects finished a day early, we decided to drive to Kellogg, Idaho just to see what we might see. My brother loves to visit car dealers and my sister-in-law is always up for a drive, so they picked us up and chauffeured us to Idaho. I was very surprised to see what looked to be a Spanish style mission along the way so we had to stop for a picture. Turns out, the mission is the oldest building in Idaho, built in 1850.

We'd introduced my brother to geocaching early in our stay. When we stopped at the mission, he said there ought to be a geocache around here so we checked online and then went to find a cache less than a mile away.

Our destination for the day was the famous Dave Smith dealerships in Kellogg. We spent a bunch of time with a measuring tape, and then discovered the RAM 1500 could be lowered 2 inches with a rear spring change which moved it to the top of our list. In spite of having nearly 500 RAM 1500 trucks in stock, they didn't have the combination I wanted. Most are configured for mileage instead of towing ability.

My brother was most impressed with our experience. Helpful without being pushy. I think the thing that really did it for him was the barbecued burgers that they serve every Saturday. The GM side of the street even has the grill built right into the face of the building.

While we were finishing up our free lunch, the phone chirped with e-mail announcements of new geocaches that we would pass on our way home. Turns out, we got the First To Find on both caches. They were challenging hides which made it even better experience for my brother.

Sunday, we pulled up stakes in Spokane and headed towards Ellensburg in the rain. Along the way we stopped at one of the rest stops to take advantage of the free dump station. The sign was nice, but the view was much more Western Washington style - low clouds and drizzle.

We tucked into "our" spot beside the garage at Glory Farm, returning for our third week-long visit. I was excited to see what projects they had on the list for me this year.

Adios to Ellensburg

We had a wonderful time at Glory Farm and got a couple projects done for them. Since we were in Ellensburg, I decided to try to meet up with a high school friend. I'd first thought about contacting them when we drove through the small community of Rice on our way here. Rice is about the same size as Milltown. Neither "populated place" is apparently big enough to have census data.

Since the friend works middle of the night hours and goes to school, it was a bit of a challenge to find a logical time to get together but we decided to have breakfast at 5 p.m. in deference to the shifted schedule.

BJ and I arrived a few minutes early at the appointed place and took a seat at the bench in front to watch for people arriving. After a while we checked our watches and then I double checked our correspondence, just to make sure of time and place. Finally, I sent a message...

Yup, we'd been stood up, by a high school friend. ;-) At least our friends at Glory Farm welcomed us and made us part of the family, even if they do have this thing about cows, even on weather vanes.

As photogenic as the barn is, it's the people that keep drawing us back here. It's fun to help with house restoration projects, but that's really just an excuse to enjoy people that we've claimed as family.

And meanwhile, I promised the high school friend that we wouldn't disclose their name. I hope we can get together next time we're in town.

One View of E'burg

Ellensburg is a town of about 18,000 people located in the center of Washington State. It's a university town with an economy based on cattle and hay. The Ellensburg Rodeo is held Labor Day weekend and is considered one of the top 10 professional rodeos. For a small town Ellensburg has more than its share of saddlery shops - at least five.

Ellen's Loving Spouse was looking for some leather off-cuts to practice tooling leather, so we rode along to visit a custom saddlery. They had lots more than just saddles. In fact, I didn't see any of their custom saddles on display - just some consignment saddles and one or two new stock saddles.

Do you need new stirrups?

How about a bit for the bridle? I had no idea there were so many choices. We just used the only one we had when I was growing up.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see the stock of lariats, but I didn't expect to see pink and blue ones.

Couldn't help noticing the display rack.

When you looked around, they even had packs and saddle bags for pack horses. I suspect that would be popular in the fall during hunting season.

I was surprised to see that they stocked a rather complete selection of clothing and boots - in all sizes.

But what intrigued me most was this beautiful pair of custom spurs. Just like a jewelry store, the price tag was upside down.

Glory Farm Project #2

Actually, it started out as project #1 but took longer so it ended up being project #2. Over Easter weekend, the Glory Farm muscle moved a cast iron bathtub up the stairs, around the corner, and into the room that is in the process of becoming the upstairs bathroom. In doing so, they dismantled the balustrade. Reconstruction became my project.

The dismantled pieces and parts had lots of 2 1/2" finishing nails and three cut nails sticking out, so nail removal became the first step. Of course, that resulting in large chips of five layers of paint being dislodged by each departing nail.

The bottom rail featured mortises that were hand cut, and not completely uniform. At first glance, the individual balusters were uniform but closer inspection revealed slight differences in length, tendon size, and bevel features which indicated the components were all hand made.

Some of the pieces remained in place when the balustrade was disassembled. The top rail didn't have mortises - the balusters were retained by finishing nails through the top rail. It made it easier trying to guess which baluster went where when I only needed to match the mortise size and baluster length.

The end baluster was broken off on the bottom, but was able to match up with the mating pieces with some glue and 20 ounces of encouragement.

I reassembled the top rail to the balusters with screws rather than finish nails,

and then filled all the chips and and screw heads to get a smooth rail.

A coat of primer and two coats of oil based enamel later, the balustrade is steady and good for another 50 years of service. Here's hoping they don't ever replace the bathtub!

I learned lingo on this project. I would have called it a stair rail and called the vertical pieces spindles, but apparently balustrade (the complete assembly) and baluster (the vertical pieces) is most correct.

A Glory Farm Project

I worked on a couple projects while we were at the farm this week. The one that got done first was a former school supply cabinet refinished and re-purposed as a fabric arts cabinet. It was an unusually deep cabinet and a bit taller than a standard counter. Likely built in the 1950's or 60's based on the construction techniques and materials.

The face of the drawers had been marked, perhaps by splattered ink or paint. The original finish seemed to be a very light stain on beech (I think) lumber and plywood.

A close up of one of the file drawers showing the stains and the condition of the original finish.

I sanded the cabinet and all the drawer faces and then stained the whole thing with a medium brown stain that we had left over from last year's window project.

A coat of clear semi-gloss polyurethane over the stain sealed the deal. The original hardware and drawer labeling brackets were reinstalled.

Number Four Son (or as I call him - Nephew Number One) came over for dinner and was shanghaied drafted asked to help carry it in the house to the sewing studio. Looks like it was meant to go there.