40 Things

Gregg is an owner of Stonehouse Park and the mastermind behind the project. He doesn't live in the area but spends quite a bit of time here. When he went home last Sunday evening he left us a list of 40 things that should be done by Independence Day.

Here is what we have been doing to fulfill Gregg's requests:

Cutting down trees and shagging brush:

Putting screen up in the corn crib to reduce the amount of bat guano on the floor:
Moving pallets and other heavy stuff with the forklift:

Palletizing firewood (and yes, palletizing is most certainly a word):
Carting around small boys:

Repairing picnic tables (I'm supposed to be painting them, but I haven't got out there yet):

Clearing the area behind the pavilion:

Going on archaeological expeditions:

Walking on balance beams:
And of course, doing all the cooking, dishes, and laundry necessary to feed, care for, and clean up after those responsible for doing the 40 Things:

Hot and Tired Day

Outside: We have been tired every day since we came here, but today it got up to 100 degrees and we had lots of work to do, so it was Hot and Tired Day.

This site was originally a farm homestead which became a park and campground and eventually an RV park with seasonal campers. It got pretty run down over the years so it is now our job to resurrect it and make it nice again. Some days it feels like we might be washed away in a sea of garbage and poison ivy and raccoons and feral kittens. We are fighting the good fight, though, and soon we should start to see some real signs of progress. The goal is to do away with seasonal camping and turn the place into a large-group event site geared especially towards historical re-enactment (think WWII, Civil War, foam fighting, and live action role-playing). We have had one music festival here already and more are planned. There will be a commercial kitchen, nice cabins, a bed-and-breakfast, stables, and lots of other exciting things. That being said, we are still on serious clean-up duty.

The archaeological dig continues. Rob and Ken believed they had found the old cabin foundation but it turned out to be a solitary flat piece of limestone. Here are Rob, Beth, and Ken working hard. Most of the items they have found are nails and an old piece of pottery as pictured above.

On Sunday the furthest east entrance to the park was removed due to some safety concerns. Here is Ryan C. running the back hoe, pulling out the culvert that ran under the entrance, grading the culvert, and getting the excess soil moved out of the area, with my husband Ryan A. looking on and giving direction.

Last but not least, here is a picture of our humble abode. It is hard to take a picture of the Stonehouse itself from the outside because there are too many big trees in the way, but we will keep working on it and have a good picture to post soon.

Archaeology Day

Inside: Carissa and I have been trying to declutter the house and mop the floors all day, but doing that is like doing anything else around here - difficult to start, nearly impossible to finish. I say that in the kindest of spirits, of course - I do actually like it here.

Outside: My brother-in-law Rob arrived with his friend Ken to start digging up the foundation of the cabin that the Nisbet family lived in while they built the Stonehouse, meaning it would have been occupied from about 1848 until about 1863. The cabin was then used as a corn crib until the 1940's. Rob and Ken are going to excavate the foundation, which means they have to find it first. We know the general location but not the specific site.

Rob used the new workshop to build sifters out of 2x4s and wire mesh with 1/4 inch holes. He and his apprentices (my children Owen and William and two camper kids named Bobby and Ian) began the excavation by finding out how many paces each had to take to go 10 yards. Then they paced off 10 yard sections of the area and placed flags to mark specific areas to dig.

Finally the digging began. Here are Rob and William putting the first shovels in the ground.

They dug a hole about 2.5 feet deep and used the sifters to sort through the material they pulled out of the hole. Owen dug like a mole while William helped pull out any items that got stuck in the sifter.

So far they have found nails, charcoal, and this - an arrowhead! The digging will continue as soon as nap time is over.

Barn Day

I am going to post this quickly because the internet has been up and down because of the weather.

Inside: We went to Sam's Club in Batavia and came home with 75 lb. of ground beef, 37 lb. of chicken, 25 lb. of cheese, 7 dozen eggs, 40 lb. of fresh fruits and vegetables, and a mountain of other items needed to feed a small army. We are currently feeding about 12 people.

Outside: The barn cleaning continued and a nice workshop has begun to take shape in the big barn. We found a croquet set, a 1936 fifth edition Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, an old milk pail, and a lot of crap.
Here are Scott and Joe installing lights in the new workshop.

Look - it's clean! And nearly organized...

Baking Day

Outside: Today it was either raining or threatening to rain for most of the day. The guys cleared brush while the weather was clear and cleaned out the barn while it rained. Our Construction Manager Scott arrived yesterday and much time was spent in discussion with him as to how construction should proceed.

Inside: We put together an ad-hoc office space in the upstairs dormer room of the Stonehouse. The Stonehouse has a porch, kitchen, dining room, living room, downstairs bedroom, three bathrooms, and three upstairs bedrooms that I call the small bedroom, the big bedroom, and the dormer room (because it has a dormer-style ceiling).

My family and I moved here 8 days ago from Champaign, Illinois. We now live in the Stonehouse itself. The house has been very hectic since we arrived, with various staff members coming and going as they arrive to work for the summer, two kids and a baby, half-unpacked boxes, cleaning supplies, construction equipment, two dogs, and lots of mud making for a lovely mess.

Up until yesterday the house had a working stove but no working oven. I am happy to report that the kitchen is now fully functional. Carissa and Baby Lexi and I made a successful trip to the store yesterday. Today we made dinner for 13 people (mostly successfully). On the menu were brats, roast chicken which refused to get properly roasted and nearly ruined my evening, delicious cornbread casserole, green beans, and Gooseberry Pie made with some very tart berries from my garden in Champaign.

This move has been a big change for us but there is so much going on that there hasn't been much time to take it all in. Today felt like a good settling-in day. We are expecting more staff to arrive at the end of this week and the beginning of next week and will need to adjust once again to fit them in - feeding upwards of 17 people will take some practice!

WWII Tactical

German re-enactors at the March 15 tactical at the park.

Neat Pictures of the Park

The 3-bay barn after a mid-spring snow storm.

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