OK - first I must out myself and offer my apologies...it's been more than two weeks since I took ownership of SALO Farm and spent my first (and since then my second) weekend at the property. And in my last post I promised to keep documenting my journey. But it has been an exhausting and wonderful and insanely busy couple of weeks and I just haven't been able to sit down and organize my thoughts and write down the events of the adventure (and the lack of internet/wireless service at the property yet hasn't helped). So now I will try to re-tell the tale as I remember it now. Pour a glass of wine or grab a beer or whatever - this will be a long one!
Driving up to SALO Farm for the first time as owner, I think I was literally shaking with anticipation. The adventure which was about to begin, not just long term but even just this first weekend, had my mind absolutely whirring with big and small ideas, fear and joy. When I finally arrived on Thursday, March 26, 2015, I was greeted with grey skies filled with rain and sleet and the gravel/dirt of Darfler Lane leading to the property was soaked and a mine field of mud holes, fallen tree limbs, melting snow, ruts, etc. It was a beautiful site. And the Subaru held up like a champ!
I was grateful that the property caretakers for the former owners were kind enough to meet me for a quick lesson on the mechanicals of the White House: water shut offs, electrical panels, etc. They are a charming couple, with so much institutional knowledge of the property and the surroundings that I hope to continue to work with them in the future. They are just too valuable a resource to lose! Our conversation brought us to the fact that the ownership of the property was remaining in Scandinavian hands (one of the former owners is Dutch), and they also told me a tidbit about the area: there is a small town nearby named Shushan which apparently originally was a Finnish settlement.
And then they left, and then I was alone, and then my first weekend adventure really began...
The property overall was actually extremely kind and welcoming, all things considered. But the majority of that first weekend was spent in the White House without heat or hot water, spending endless time climbing up and down the ladder into the basement as I learned on the fly how the house was constructed, what kind of love it needed, and what kind of love it was going to give back. She is a very kind older lady, with lots of love left in her.
The heat was a known issue and accounted for during the purchase process - the furnace flue had been damaged at some point, so running the central heating meant venting the carbon monoxide fumes directly back into the house. That fix needed to be Job One since using the wood stove was also out of the question as it was a very old model and had not been fully inspected as safe/operational and had its own flue issues (one of the more major upcoming projects is to relocate the stove to better spot in the house for maximum heat efficiency). That Job One ended up taking me two days of removing a course of cinderblock wall, several runs to local Salem True Value and Greenwich (pronounced Green-witch up here!) Aubuchon hardware stores and a run to Lowe's for materials - all of which were actually nice to do as it meant being in a heated car for a period of time. Thankfully also for nights 1 and 2 I had a space heater in the bedroom to keep me warm for the night.
And of course those first couple of nites were not at all restful. Like any new space, every creak, whirr, snap and crack of the old house woke me up. I slept with lights on just in case I needed to get up in the night (not to mention having shoes, coat and a GO! bag ready in case I had to leave in a hurry). Since there was no heat in the house, I had to use space heaters in the basement and leave the faucets running slightly to ensure the pipes wouldn't freeze, and I would do a watchman's walk every few hours to check on things. 2 am and all's clear... 4 am and all's clear...
The hot water was a surprise and a learning experience. Almost all the water supply lines were working fine, but there was a hot water pipe under the kitchen sink that had burst at some point over the last winter season due to freezing. I managed to do a down-and-dirty repair with epoxy weld and plumber's tape to get the water running, but for some reason there was no hot water. Between the calls to my father and again the advice from the absolutely kind gentlemen at the Salem True Value, I determined it probably was a fried heating element, and that is was an easy DIY fix (so much better than trying to get a new hot water heater down into the basement!). OK great, add a replacement heat element to my True Value shopping list. Get home to discover I don't have a heat element wrench. Rush back to True Value before they close. Get the wrench. Get the element replaced. BUT STILL NO HOT WATER. AARRGH!
And thus night 2 without a shower and continue boiling large pots of water to wash dishes and my face. And at that point still no heat yet. And then starts snowing. Perfect
The next day the True Value guys teach me that I probably changed the wrong element (day 3 no shower - sorry guys!). I changed the lower element after not being able to get a read on it with an electric tester. But the lower one only fires up when the upper one tells the lower one that the upper one needs help. Okay, drain the tank again and change out the upper one (sidebar - twice I also did not drain the tank enough, started to change the element only to be greeted by a gusher of icy water. Fun!). Get the new element in. Fill tank for the fourth time that weekend. Fire it up. HOT WATER!!!!! Angels sing....Get me in that hot shower so I can make another run to Lowe's to get the last few pieces I need to fix the heater and all will be right with the world. But wait...
By the time I finish up in the basement, etc., I walk into the kitchen to discover the patch on the line now filled with wonderful hot water is not holding and water is pouring onto the wood floor of the kitchen and ultimately draining into the basement via the wall. ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? Fine. Take really quick hot shower. Shut down all the water. Go to Lowe's with note to add torch, flux, solder and copper pipe pieces to the list for repair, only to make a new discovery - they now manufacture no solder, quick-repair snap-on pieces for copper piping. How often do grown men cry in the aisles of home improvement stores?
So finally, on my last night at the house, I managed to get both hot and cold water working with no leaks and fix the furnace venting. And with 4 new Carbon Monoxide alarms stationed throughout the house, my last night of my first weekend was a warm, fully showered and restful one.
When I woke up on Sunday morning, the skies were absolutely clear and bright blue. The early morning sun was streaming into the living room through the huge windows overlooking an expanse of soon-to-disappear snow. Coffee on the couch and taking in the view was blissful. As the day wore on and I was able to complete a few more projects, I remembered something my friend and artistic colleague Pete McCabe wrote to me after I sent around word that I bought SALO Farm:
...It may seem gargantuan, even sysiphian at times but I've found that if you accept that the properties need to be managed and maintained and that there will be a steady flow of minor irritations involving water fire guests neighbors government agencies banks etc and that if you get zen about it and leave mental time for it, you start to feel (and be treated) like The Lord of the manor...
And so, once I packed the car for my trip back to my NYC apartment, I took a walk around the property and introduced myself as the new lord of the manor to the chipmunks living in the stone fence.
I don't think it mattered much to them. But it did to me....
Driving up to SALO Farm for the first time as owner, I think I was literally shaking with anticipation. The adventure which was about to begin, not just long term but even just this first weekend, had my mind absolutely whirring with big and small ideas, fear and joy. When I finally arrived on Thursday, March 26, 2015, I was greeted with grey skies filled with rain and sleet and the gravel/dirt of Darfler Lane leading to the property was soaked and a mine field of mud holes, fallen tree limbs, melting snow, ruts, etc. It was a beautiful site. And the Subaru held up like a champ!
I was grateful that the property caretakers for the former owners were kind enough to meet me for a quick lesson on the mechanicals of the White House: water shut offs, electrical panels, etc. They are a charming couple, with so much institutional knowledge of the property and the surroundings that I hope to continue to work with them in the future. They are just too valuable a resource to lose! Our conversation brought us to the fact that the ownership of the property was remaining in Scandinavian hands (one of the former owners is Dutch), and they also told me a tidbit about the area: there is a small town nearby named Shushan which apparently originally was a Finnish settlement.
And then they left, and then I was alone, and then my first weekend adventure really began...
The property overall was actually extremely kind and welcoming, all things considered. But the majority of that first weekend was spent in the White House without heat or hot water, spending endless time climbing up and down the ladder into the basement as I learned on the fly how the house was constructed, what kind of love it needed, and what kind of love it was going to give back. She is a very kind older lady, with lots of love left in her.
The heat was a known issue and accounted for during the purchase process - the furnace flue had been damaged at some point, so running the central heating meant venting the carbon monoxide fumes directly back into the house. That fix needed to be Job One since using the wood stove was also out of the question as it was a very old model and had not been fully inspected as safe/operational and had its own flue issues (one of the more major upcoming projects is to relocate the stove to better spot in the house for maximum heat efficiency). That Job One ended up taking me two days of removing a course of cinderblock wall, several runs to local Salem True Value and Greenwich (pronounced Green-witch up here!) Aubuchon hardware stores and a run to Lowe's for materials - all of which were actually nice to do as it meant being in a heated car for a period of time. Thankfully also for nights 1 and 2 I had a space heater in the bedroom to keep me warm for the night.
And of course those first couple of nites were not at all restful. Like any new space, every creak, whirr, snap and crack of the old house woke me up. I slept with lights on just in case I needed to get up in the night (not to mention having shoes, coat and a GO! bag ready in case I had to leave in a hurry). Since there was no heat in the house, I had to use space heaters in the basement and leave the faucets running slightly to ensure the pipes wouldn't freeze, and I would do a watchman's walk every few hours to check on things. 2 am and all's clear... 4 am and all's clear...
The hot water was a surprise and a learning experience. Almost all the water supply lines were working fine, but there was a hot water pipe under the kitchen sink that had burst at some point over the last winter season due to freezing. I managed to do a down-and-dirty repair with epoxy weld and plumber's tape to get the water running, but for some reason there was no hot water. Between the calls to my father and again the advice from the absolutely kind gentlemen at the Salem True Value, I determined it probably was a fried heating element, and that is was an easy DIY fix (so much better than trying to get a new hot water heater down into the basement!). OK great, add a replacement heat element to my True Value shopping list. Get home to discover I don't have a heat element wrench. Rush back to True Value before they close. Get the wrench. Get the element replaced. BUT STILL NO HOT WATER. AARRGH!
And thus night 2 without a shower and continue boiling large pots of water to wash dishes and my face. And at that point still no heat yet. And then starts snowing. Perfect
The next day the True Value guys teach me that I probably changed the wrong element (day 3 no shower - sorry guys!). I changed the lower element after not being able to get a read on it with an electric tester. But the lower one only fires up when the upper one tells the lower one that the upper one needs help. Okay, drain the tank again and change out the upper one (sidebar - twice I also did not drain the tank enough, started to change the element only to be greeted by a gusher of icy water. Fun!). Get the new element in. Fill tank for the fourth time that weekend. Fire it up. HOT WATER!!!!! Angels sing....Get me in that hot shower so I can make another run to Lowe's to get the last few pieces I need to fix the heater and all will be right with the world. But wait...
By the time I finish up in the basement, etc., I walk into the kitchen to discover the patch on the line now filled with wonderful hot water is not holding and water is pouring onto the wood floor of the kitchen and ultimately draining into the basement via the wall. ARE YOU EFFIN' KIDDING ME? Fine. Take really quick hot shower. Shut down all the water. Go to Lowe's with note to add torch, flux, solder and copper pipe pieces to the list for repair, only to make a new discovery - they now manufacture no solder, quick-repair snap-on pieces for copper piping. How often do grown men cry in the aisles of home improvement stores?
So finally, on my last night at the house, I managed to get both hot and cold water working with no leaks and fix the furnace venting. And with 4 new Carbon Monoxide alarms stationed throughout the house, my last night of my first weekend was a warm, fully showered and restful one.
When I woke up on Sunday morning, the skies were absolutely clear and bright blue. The early morning sun was streaming into the living room through the huge windows overlooking an expanse of soon-to-disappear snow. Coffee on the couch and taking in the view was blissful. As the day wore on and I was able to complete a few more projects, I remembered something my friend and artistic colleague Pete McCabe wrote to me after I sent around word that I bought SALO Farm:
...It may seem gargantuan, even sysiphian at times but I've found that if you accept that the properties need to be managed and maintained and that there will be a steady flow of minor irritations involving water fire guests neighbors government agencies banks etc and that if you get zen about it and leave mental time for it, you start to feel (and be treated) like The Lord of the manor...
And so, once I packed the car for my trip back to my NYC apartment, I took a walk around the property and introduced myself as the new lord of the manor to the chipmunks living in the stone fence.
I don't think it mattered much to them. But it did to me....
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