When Tommy and I die, I have no clue what the girls will do with this place. I doubt if anyone except Tommy and me could or would live here. I don't think the house would want anyone else to move in here...neither the house nor the people would be happy. This house and the Carter's have a history together. We built each other. We grew up and old together. It has been a long on going process.
The house was fifteen years old when we bought her; a mere teenager with an itch to grow up. She sat on six acres of land; she had a pond, a stable for horses and no existing neighbors. The house was too small from the beginning. That fact was fine with us. We had all sorts of ideas concerning how we were going to remake this home. We began our construction the following year.
The first thing we had to do was enlarge the living room. We had all winter to make plans for this. In February of 1979 we found out we were pregnant. We had two bedrooms for four existing people and soon a new person was moving in...so we knew sooner or later we would have to build a third bedroom. Our main plan was to do all the construction ourselves. We had great friends and they were more than willing to help create our home. We all helped each other for years.
Bill and Joann Richardson gave us a huge, almost new, wood stove. Bill even helped us remove the porch and extend the living room out ten feet. That made our living room 16x16. We built a chimney for the wood stove and placed the 'picture window' back in the north facing wall. During that project we learned how to work with cement, lay concrete blocks and add a floor to an existing structure. It was a first for both of us. It was almost level...it is still 'almost level'! No one but us and now you could tell the difference. It is just a 'tad' bit off. It suits us fine.
I knew absolutely nothing about building anything. My building skills were on the job training coupled with an active imagination. I was in charge of making sure everything was level. That was an adventure in the making. I didn't know I needed glasses. I soon found out the hard way that I could not see 100% accurately up close. When Tommy yelled that he wanted the 'bubble in the center of the level'...he was serious about that 'center' part. My bubble tended to move around from time to time. If the phrase 'half a bubble off' had not already been coined...we would have made it up!! Our house may not be 100% plumb but there is a great story to go with every half inch that is a tad off!
Several years later we decided to square up our home by knocking the kitchen walls out and replacing the carport with a den and a laundry room. That gave us plenty of space for our growing family and friends. During that time frame, I had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. When I was admitted to the hospital, I told the doctor I couldn't stay long because it was 'supposed to rain and the whole front of the house was open.' The doctor laughed and told me to get ready because I was having surgery the next day. Tommy filled the space with black visqueen plastic. AND it did rain for two days. I was miserable!!
This is how it looked while it rained. I was out of commission for a few weeks so I tried to stay out of everyone's way. It was a huge cluster smuck. We couldn't find anything. At one point we lost our phone...literally! This was twenty years before cell phones were invented. Soon everything was filled in and the new rooms were usable. That is about the time the bathroom and septic tank had to be replaced...again. We hired someone to replace the septic tank while Tommy and I replaced our bathroom for the second time. We completed that job in a weekend. I hope we never, ever have to do it again.
Tommy wanted a garage for the car, his truck and a place to put all his 'stuff'. We built a 30x30 garage. The hardest work I have ever done was help lay the concrete floor. A truck delivered it and we spread it. Rich McClure and his sons helped. Never have I ever worked as hard as I did that day. My hat is off to anyone who does that work daily. My back went out a couple of days later.
Tommy and I both worked the 11-7 shift while most of our construction was being done. We would work each day until around 3 or 4 p.m. People were in and out on the days they could work. When the guys were putting the roof on, I had already gone to bed. It was Tommy's day off and I had worked a double that day so I came home and went to bed. Tommy told me when I woke up the roof would be on the garage. I woke up early and peeked out the window and the above photo is what I saw. I knew this was so wrong from so many angles! I remember I took two Aleve and went back to bed hoping everything would look different when I got up the next time...and it did.
Somewhere in the late 90's we built a huge bedroom on the end of the house for Tommy and me. It was 16x26 feet. We had our bedroom and a den for us. We added sliding glass doors to open onto a patio. We continued to work nights and this was our space. It was the bedroom we always wanted...sort of. After this room was completed we were done building or so we thought.
About this time all three girls moved back home... at one time...and for various reasons. We put a petition up in our bedroom for Tami to have a room. When the girls all moved out we changed things around and one of them lost a bedroom. Since Tami was the last to move back home, she had to share our bedroom. We put a wall and door up for her. None of us saw each other. Tami and Lisa worked 3-11 and I think Melodi worked days and Tommy and I worked 11-7. Soon the girls once again moved out; leaving us with a wall and a door I did not want. Tommy liked the idea. Our dream bedroom was turned into a hunting room ... and things have never been the same!! To say it is a scary place to walk through is on the polite side. It is still a work in progress. Tarps, tents, deer sheds, guns, knives, and every piece of hunting clothing Tommy has ever purchased is somewhere in this room. I shut my eyes and go to bed . It all seemed like a good idea at the time...and it was. We just need to finish the room. It has been 25 years and it still isn't done. Which leaves me to believe this is the way it will remain.
Tommy and I enclosed our patio for me two years ago. I love it. It has become my favorite room in the house. It is where I write, daydream and paint. It is filled with all kinds of things I love.
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We have added all the additions we need to our home. I really think we are through building...not creating but building. The house will be painted for the last time...all over, one color. Light yellow with green shutters to match the roof and flower boxes under each window. The flower beds need to be redone and I want a container garden instead of our usual garden. We tossed around the idea of raising chickens but I think it might cost more to raise chickens than buy eggs and meat. This is debatable...still.
Our home will always be a work in progress. Both of us are beyond the building process. Now we are down to 'fine tuning' our 37 year old 'project'. Not a day goes buy that one of us doesn't throw out a new plan... just in case !!!
Congratulations to you and Tommy! I would be dead by now with all the work you put into your house. I am sure all the love you put in it is and was worthwhile!
ReplyDeleteIt was a long adventure for sure. And it is still a half a bubble off:)
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