The Country Weekenders

Labor Day Weekend in the Country

2008-08-31T17:12:00.003-04:00

It was a gorgeous Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The last hurrah of summer. Clear blue skies. 80 degrees. A light breeze. Perhaps the most beautiful weekend of weather we've had since we bought the house.

So what did the Country Weekenders do?

Saw the 1:20pm showing of Hamlet 2, of course.

Shockingly, we were the only ones in the theater...

-- Posted by Evan and Lindsey

Fun with Danielle and Steve

2008-08-21T19:11:00.007-04:00

We had houseguests!

Last weekend, our good friends Danielle and Steve joined us for a Sharon weekend extravaganza. Festivities included a day trip to Kent, plenty of grilling, a hike, a visit to the lake, a few bottles of wine (including Tocai from Rick's, of course) and watching/critiquing the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Meet Steve and Danielle. Aren't they a cute couple?

This is Evan grilling and Lindsey supervising:

This is how we made s'mores by roasting marshmallows over a candle. As Evan will tell you, this is because we don't have a fire pit.

Thanks to Dani and Steve for a great weekend!

Posted by Lindsey

New Developments

2008-07-26T17:09:00.009-04:00

Okay, so it's been a LONG time since our last post. We've had a lot of non-house related stuff going on. Lindsey has been super busy with deadlines on a number of projects and Evan got a new job at Ideal Bite, a web site that offers tips about "light green living." Shameless plug: check out the site and sign up for the daily tips!

But we do have a very special house-related development: we got a dishwasher!

It has been WONDERFUL not doing dishes.

Oh, and this morning a deer walked around our yard and then had a staring contest with Evan.

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

Historic Connection: Meeting Our Home's Former Owners

2008-06-15T20:13:00.005-04:00

It's been quite a week for us: the bat, violent weather (worst thunderstorm in Sharon in over 22 years -- still no phone or Internet five days later!) and lots of home projects still to be done.

But the week started with a wonderful new connection for us: meeting the Holst-Grubbes. The Holst-Grubbe family owned and lived in our house for 22 years. They sold it to another owner, who sold it to us. They found our blog via Rick from our favorite local liquor store. (Thanks, Rick!)

George, Michelle and their daughter Allison visited us last Saturday and it was amazing to hear about the history of our house. George built and installed many of our favorite features. Michelle walked us through each room and gave us a detailed history. They told us about trees they had planted, secret storage spaces we'd never noticed and fun gossip about the local area.

We have a deeper connection to the house now and feel that as much as we love the house, we're also taking care of it for the people who will own it after us.

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

Batgirl

2008-06-10T17:52:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend we enjoyed a lovely visit from the Holst-Grubbe family, who owned our house for 22 years. We will blog about that visit soon.

During the visit, George Holst-Grubbe asked a seemingly innocent question:

"So, have you had any bats in the house yet?"

"No," we said, chuckling. Of course we wouldn't have bats in the house. We have an ADT security system, a caretaker and a cleaning person, for goodness sake!

Well.

Today at approximately 11:00am, I decided to bring my laptop out to the porch for a change of scenery from the dining room table, where I've been working a few days this week to avoid the brutal heat wave in Manhattan.

I sat down in my chair with my laptop, power cord, cordless phone, headset, Diet A&W root beer, highlighter pen and a stack of papers. As I plugged in, I noticed something moving in the corner of the porch.

It looked like a frog.

A very dark, creepy, ugly, beady-eyed, evil-looking frog.

I opened the outside porch door and tried to use a chair to nudge the little critter outside. The froglike thing hissed at me and... shot out a wing. A definite, no-doubt-about-it bat wing.

(Cue Batman theme song.)

I immediately closed all the doors, ran inside and put a towel under the porch door to keep the bat from getting inside the house.

Then I took a nap. (Hey, it's really hot and I woke up early this morning.)

After my nap, Evan called and I told him about the bat. While I was telling the story, I looked up and there was the bat himself (or herself, who knows?), climbing up the exposed brick in our dining room.

Country lesson: Towels are not an effective tool to keep bats out of one's house.

With Evan on the phone, I grabbed my laptop and cord and barricaded myself in the mud room.

"Do you have enough water?" Evan asked, in full emergency mode.

I did.

While Evan called Country Caretaker, I then proceeded to do exactly what one should never do in a situation like this: I Googled "bats and rabies."

Here is the first piece of information I found: Rabies can be confirmed only in a laboratory. However, any bat that is active by day (like, say, at 11:00am?), is found in a place where bats are not usually seen (for example, in a room in your home or on the lawn) (or, perhaps, your porch and dining room?), or is unable to fly (and, therefore, is crawling around behind a chair?), is far more likely than others to be rabid. Such bats are often the most easily approached. Therefore, it is best never to handle any bat.

I decided to leave the house and go outside.

About 10 minutes later, Adam from Country Caretaker arrived. I have never been so happy to see that big burgundy truck. Adam heroically went into the house. I heard some commotion and then he came out with the bat caught in his hands between two baseball caps.

You will be pleased to know that he asked if I wanted to take a picture of the bat for our blog.

I said no. Sorry to disappoint our loyal readers, but I just couldn't do it. Instead, I thanked Adam, called Evan to report the good news, went back into the house and poured myself a very large glass of Tocai from Rick's Wine & Spirits.

So, that is the story of Lindsey and the bat.

The End. (I hope.)

Posted by Lindsey

One For The Road...

2008-06-06T20:01:00.008-04:00

One of our favorite local businesses is Rick's Wine & Spirits. Located a mere mile and a half from our house, Rick and his staff have helped us keep the good times rolling.

They also carry a nice selection of local wine, like the four bottles of 2007 Tocai Friulano by the Millbrook Vineyards & Winery we picked up this evening. It went very well with the grilled Halibut I made tonight.

I urge all of our visitors to stop by Rick's and pick up a few bottles on your way to see us.

--Posted by Evan

Things That Go Bump In The Night

2008-06-01T17:28:00.007-04:00

Last night, just after we went to sleep, at around 12:45am, we heard a loud crash. We were both half asleep, so we heard it but didn't know what it was. I turned on the light and grabbed the ADT Security Alert remote that I keep next to my side of the bed.

Lindsey asked me if I was going to go downstairs to check it out. In this situation it's really hard to tell your new wife that you want her to come with you to check out the loud noise. But I did. I figured if it was an intruder, two against one gave us the upper hand. So we went downstairs (side note: I grabbed a pillow as a weapon. In retrospect this was not the best choice. But I was half asleep). We saw nothing, everything was as it was when we went to bed and the alarm was working fine.

So we went back upstairs and went back to bed. Of course we ended up lying there for about an hour, scrutinizing any and all sounds. There is a fine line between the pitter-patter of a Chipmunk out for a late-night snack and a chainsaw wielding homicidal maniac. At least to me there is. We fell asleep around 2am.

At 4:30am I heard Lindsey say "What is that?" at the same moment I heard what she was referring to: the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw. "So this is it" I thought. I survived 33 years in New York City without a scratch, only to be ripped limb-from-limb by a deranged killer in the quiet little town of Sharon, CT. As I contemplated the irony, Lindsey told me to go check it out. Well, one of us had to go first. So I went to the upstairs landing (sans pillow) and immediately saw a very bright light out of the window. Every recent Hollywood horror movie flashed through my head ("Saw XVII: Death at the Farmer's Market").

And then I saw the answer to the whole evening. There was a massive thunderstorm on Saturday. It must have damaged one of the trees on the periphery of our property because part of it broke off and crashed to the ground. That explained the noise we heard. And now the guy who owns the house next to us was out there cutting up the part of the tree that fell onto his driveway with his chainsaw (our property is next to his very long driveway, but we can't actually see his house).

My only question is why was he doing this at 4:30am? Why not wait until morning?

With the mystery solved, we went back to bed. But we kept the light on downstairs, just in case.

--Posted by Evan

Cool Britannia!

2008-05-26T22:48:00.005-04:00

One of my closest and dearest friends, Duncan, came from London to our wedding party. As an extra bonus, he and his partner David spent 10 days at the house. It was the first time we had guests in the house while we stayed in the city.

They were terrific house guests--and it was so fun to be picked up at the train station for the first time! They also gave us a WONDERFUL wedding gift...this amazing picnic basket that they carried with them all the way from London:

We can't wait to use it!

--Posted by Evan

Signs of Spring (Finally!)

2008-05-04T17:04:00.005-04:00

It's been a long winter. Not a terribly cold winter, just LONG. But it looks like relief is finally in sight. Here are some pictures we took this weekend:

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

The Country Weekenders Get Hitched!

2008-04-07T08:17:00.008-04:00

Well it's official...we are now Mr. & Mrs. Country Weekender!

Click here for the New York Times announcement.

See you in a few weeks!

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

Animal House

2008-03-23T08:48:00.009-04:00

Last night as we were watching TV we saw a tiny mouse scamper around the dining room. It ran around, checked out Lindsey's computer bag, then fled into the guest room (we hope he liked the new sheet set we bought).

Being city folk, we are trained to view mice as very, very bad. They are dirty, carry disease and being from the city, they are just as likely to rob you as bite you. But our country mouse did not really bother us that much. After the Ladybug attack the night before, we're ready for anything.

We both remained very calm through throughout the entire episode, although Lindsey did arm herself with a small broom to "help shoo him outside." Once it ducked into the guest room I poked around looking for him but we did not see him again.

The fact that we were able to remain so calm is testament to what the house has done to us. If this happened in the city, we would have called the super and immediately bought $400 in traps, poison and various anti-mouse paraphernalia.

But here we just watched it run around, got up to look for it, then went back to watching TV. We have a more defined "live and let live" attitude towards nature when we're up at the house. That being said, I think we're done with uninvited house guests for this weekend.

--Posted by Evan

Invasion of the Ladybugs

2008-03-22T10:26:00.005-04:00

Our house has been invaded by Ladybugs. And we have no idea why. We feel like Ladybugs are the quintessential summer insect, yet they are here--in force--and it's March 22nd and still very cold.

They love to hang out on the skylight in our bedroom. Last night as we were going to bed a different Ladybug fell on each of us. We think it was a coordinated attack. But they don't bite, so we think they just want attention.

They also seem to love the power cords for our computers:

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

This Weekend...

2008-03-19T17:34:00.003-04:00

Will be our final weekend at the house before our wedding and honeymoon. We are getting married on 4/5/08 and will not be able to visit the house for over a month!

This makes buying the Premium ADT security system (and all of the ribbing I got for doing so) totally worthwhile!

And as much as we love the house, we also love to travel...which is my subtle way of segueing into a pitch. One of my good friends just started an AMAZING new travel company offering trips to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. Here is the link:

http://www.nativeescapes.com/

Check them out!!!

We'll do one more post from the house this weekend and then we'll be off for a month!

--Posted by Evan

Ga$ and Heating Oil Price$

2008-03-15T09:21:00.015-04:00

Being a city dweller for 32 1/2 years before we bought a country home, oil and gas prices really meant nothing to me. Once in a while prices would go up, the TV news folks would air those "shocked at the pump" pieces featuring angry people complaining about what it takes to fill their tank, and I would happily go put another $25 on my MetroCard (more than enough for a full week of commuting) with a profound sense of urban pride: "I don't need a car! Gas prices have no bearing on MY life."

Flash forward to today, and things are very different. We bought the house and a car (a 2007 Toyota RAV4 that we LOVE) within two weeks of each other and our days of not caring about gas and oil prices are over.

It costs us about $50 for a full tank of gas for the car and about $600 to fill our heating oil tank at the house. It's crazy. I know I'm a little late in getting to this issue what with the possibility of $4 a tank gas by this summer, but this is just when it hit us.

I really don't have anything else to say, I just felt like complaining. I'm not sure what can be done to fix this. My guess is that even with a new administration in Washington next year, prices are still going to rise. This is an economic issue that will not easily be solved. As much as it pains me to say this, I think the only solution might be the one advocated by Thomas L. Friedman: a national gas tax. This will foster energy innovation and help the environment; it will also make Americans and American businesses fundamentally change their habits. And yes, it will be painful...but maybe a little short-term pain is needed for our long-term stability.

--Posted by Evan

A Wonderful New Connection!

2008-03-03T13:25:00.009-05:00

We love writing this blog. In addition to being a great way to keep our family and friends (including one person who reads us from Russia!) informed about what we are doing, it's been a great way for us to maintain a record about our house.

And now we have a new reason to love our blog. The couple who sold the house to the woman who sold it to us found our blog and sent us an email! And so did their daughter! They told us so much about the house and its history in just a few short emails, and we plan to meet in May to learn even more about the house and the community of Sharon.

There is a real sense of history and narrative now connected to the house. And we look forward to adding our own history.

--Posted by Evan & Lindsey

Evan's Spot

2008-03-01T15:05:00.005-05:00

We are so happy to be back at the house after a few weeks away. We arrived to a snowstorm last night and are housebound today, still in PJs at 3:15pm and having a perfectly relaxing Saturday. It's still snowing on and off -- gorgeous and peaceful.

I've just woken up from a blissful nap (one of my favorite Sharon activities) and found Evan in his favorite spot: the porch.

Evan loves his comfort, so note the space heater in the corner, set to a tropical 70 degrees. Gladys, the goose lamp from his childhood, sits watching over him, and he is enjoying wi-fi on his laptop, along with his iPhone and Diet Coke nearby. It's Evan Heaven.

After I write this post I might go out there and join him. Or, I might not. Since we live in a pretty small apartment in the city, it's exciting for us to be in separate rooms.

Posted by Lindsey

"House Hunters" = The Real America

2008-02-19T10:25:00.003-05:00

We are addicted to HGTV’s show House Hunters. We started watching HGTV after we bought the house, and House Hunters quickly became our favorite show. If you don’t know it, it’s a reality show where people are shown three different houses and they have to buy one by the end of the episode.

You learn about their lives, why they are moving, what they are looking for in a new home and what their budget is. It is a lot of fun, and extremely addictive. We have 15 episodes in our DVR right now, and we tape four a day (we get a lot of repeats).

The best part, of course, is when the buyers must make their selection. We find ourselves yelling at the TV, “number one, number one…are they nuts???” And, “well, number two did have the hardwood floors she wanted, but not the finished basement he was hoping for. They should go with number three.” Inevitably, people make their choices based on budget, but sometimes there are surprises and decisions are made based on location, yard size, dog-friendly condos, etc. These are the most satisfying episodes.

One of the things we love about the show is its diversity of buyers and locations: House Hunters features married couples, gay couples, single-moms, single-dads, young people, old people, white people, black people, Asian people, Latinos…pretty much everyone. Budgets range from $100,000 to $2,000,000. And the locations are from all corners of the US: from New York to Portland, from the deep south to the Rockies, from a hippie community in Sante Fe to the oil-rich suburbs of Dallas.

Recently we noticed something: all of the buyers on the show want the same thing (in addition to more closet space): they want to raise their kids, wake up next to someone they love, carve out a little piece of the world for themselves and maybe leave a little something behind for those who come next.

From the gay couple in Boston buying their first home together with their two dogs and two cats to the military family in North Carolina looking for that perfect three-bedroom house in anticipation of new addition to their family, everyone is pretty much the same. And they all say the same things.

Which got me thinking. This country is much more alike than the politicians and media would have us believe. I know it’s a popular thing to say right now, but this really is a Purple nation. I think our elected representatives and media organizations have done us all a great disservice over the past 16 years. By trying to retrofit us all into a “red” or a “blue” state of mind they have distracted us from what we should really be focusing on.

While we have spent the last 16 years debating frivolous ideas from the fringes of both political parties, we have not been able to focus on what really matters: our families, our neighbors and our communities.

House Hunters gets to the core of what really matters in life. It epitomizes our collective hopes, dreams and fears. And it is one of the best examples of what it means to be from the United States of America.

--Posted by Evan

Second Crisis...

2008-02-09T23:03:00.001-05:00

Lindsey really wanted to see the movie "Once." She's been talking about it for a few months now. I heard it was about musicians in Dublin, that it was a love story and that it had a lot of singing. So not really my kinda thing. But she REALLY wanted to see it so we Netflixed it and watched it tonight.

Worst. Movie. Ever.

I found myself hoping for the basement to flood again so I would have an excuse to go do something else. Anything else.

But it's over now and we're back to watching election coverage on CNN. Go Obama!

--Posted by Evan

Kevin Saves the Day...

2008-02-09T18:24:00.000-05:00

So Kevin from Country Caretaker came by and fixed everything. Turns out a cinder block (brick?) fell on our Sump-Pump (say that five times fast) and flicked the switch to "off." And this caused a back-up of water and hence the flooding. Anyway, Kevin fixed everything and now all is well in the basement.

So thank you to ADT and Kevin!!!

First Crisis...

2008-02-09T13:52:00.000-05:00

So we arrived at the house this morning (in much need of some R&R after a particularly long week for both of us) and the basement is flooded. We would not have even known it was flooded if not for our trusty ADT House Monitoring System (this is how often we go into the basement).

I'm kinda handy (for a Jew from the Upper West Side) but three inches of standing water is out of my league. We called our Country Caretaker people, and they are on their way.

Stay tuned...

Is Owning a House Like Having a Kid?

2008-02-03T11:02:00.000-05:00

I saw a statistic the other day that said the average age of first-time parents in the US is 25.1 and the average age of first-time homeowners is 35.7.

We don't have kids yet, but this year we got a house. Will it prepare us to be parents? So far owning a house has been fun, scary, exciting and while it has not been a drain financially, there have definitely been expenditures I didn't anticipate. I'd say we've spent about 75% more (post-close) than I planned for.

Based on our friends who have--or just had--kids, "fun, scary, exciting and financially interesting" seem to be the same range of emotions they associate with child-rearing. This got me thinking: is owning a house anything like having a kid?

The house inspection is like applying to schools: will it/they pass? Will we need to hire a contractor/tutor to get everything in shape? Closing day seems to be like leaving the hospital after the birth: sign a lot of forms, write some checks and bang, you're on your own. Good luck.

Then there are the day-to-day worries. Is the temperature right? Have we put the right fluids in the right places? Is the house/child properly insulated? Who is the house/child hanging out with? We have a security system for the house, but what about the child?

We think about the house a lot when we are not there. It is a source of joy, but also of worry. I imagine having a child will be much the same thing. My hope is that by having a house before a child, we will be better parents than if we did it the other way around.

--Posted by Evan

New Year's Resolution #2 Complete!

2008-01-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

I think Lindsey set a new speed record for achieving a new year's resolution. She cooked us a terrific dinner on January 1st (with minimal supervision).

She made turkey burgers stuffed with mozzarella (so good!), sweet potato fries and steamed broccoli. And the microwave wasn't used once.

Everything was delicious...and she didn't use a microwave or a take-out menu! I think this is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives!

Posted by Evan

Let It Snow

2008-01-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

New Year's Resolutions

2007-12-31T14:54:00.000-05:00

We thought we'd do something a little different this year. Instead of the same old new year's resolutions (lose 10 pounds, read more, exercise, be more green) that get lost in the shuffle sometime around January 15th, we have decided to have joint "house" new year's resolutions. And we are going to track our progress to make sure we keep them. So, with nine hours to go before 2008, here are our "House New Year's Resolutions":

1. Spend less money on house.
1 (a). Do more of the home maintenance and landscaping ourselves.

2. Lindsey will cook one meal without using the microwave.

3. Replace bathroom fixtures because Evan hates them.

3 (a). Evan to convince Lindsey that we should replace bathroom fixtures.

4. Replace mudroom floor.

5. Install dishwasher (this is Evan's number one 2008 goal, after world peace and redemption for his beloved Mets).

6. Lindsey will try and go one weekend without checking email (this resolution does not apply to Evan, as he is physically incapable of not checking email).

7. Memorize our CT phone number (Evan had to call his mom the other day when he needed to give someone our phone number).

8. Invite more friends up for the weekend (with preference to those who comment on our blog).

9. Lindsey is going to learn how to plant the flower box.

10. We are going to mine all of our professional and personal contacts to try and get on one of the HGTV design shows that we recently discovered and are now addicted to.

11. Lindsey is 100% committed to finally buying rugs for the living room, dining room and master bedroom.

12. Blog more often!

Thanks to all of our readers and happy new year!

Posted by Evan and Lindsey

Sad News

2007-12-24T15:57:00.001-05:00

Oscar Peterson, the great jazz pianist, died yesterday. He was 82 years old. Here's the article from the New York Times announcing his death. He was one of the few heroes I have.

I guess you're wondering what his death has to do with this blog. His 1964 CD "We Get Requests," specifically the songs "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars," "Days of Wine and Roses" and "My One and Only Love" are my Madeleine (apologies to Marcel Proust). No matter where I am, hearing these songs instantly takes me into my parents' living room when I was a kid. It was their go-to CD for cocktail parties, dinner parties and other grownup functions. I used to love it when that CD came on, because it meant something fun and adult was about to happen.

And then I got older, and it became MY go-to CD for pretty much everything. And then I learned more about Oscar Peterson, the music he made and the technical master he was. And studying him brought me to others, like Herb Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge and one of my other heroes, Bill Evans.

Which brings me back to the house. I wonder what, 20 or 30 years from now, will remind me of this house and right now. Will fire remind me of the way the house smells when Lindsey makes a fire? Or will random typing remind me of the sound of Lindsey typing in her office, writing her next book? Or perhaps it will be rain, which will always remind me that it rained almost every weekend during the first summer we owned this house.

Either way, I know I'll be listening to Mr. Peterson, and I will be grounded--perhaps even comforted--by the history his music represents.

Posted by Evan

Snow is Less Fun When You're 33 and Own a Weekend House

2007-12-22T16:34:00.000-05:00

I just spent an hour and a half shoveling snow. My back hurts, I have a blister the size of Connecticut on my thumb and my feet are freezing.

When I was a kid I used to love snow...there was sledding, snowball fights, no school and hot cocoa - much like one of those new animated Starbucks commercials, but without the hugging bear or penguins serving lattes...does anyone else think those commercials are a bit creepy or is it just me?

Now the only good thing about snow is that I can skip the gym on Monday because of the workout I just got.

But I did get to buy a really cool shovel at the Tractor Supply Co., so not a total loss.

Posted by Evan

The Sharon Pile

2007-12-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

We didn't go up to the house this weekend. A combination of factors kept us in NYC: I came home late Friday night from a business trip to Boston, there is a big storm here in the northeast and Lindsey has a few deadlines so she has a lot of work to do this weekend.

Which brings us to the Sharon Pile. During the week we collect all of the things we want to take to the country that weekend in a pile next to our printer. Hence, the "Sharon Pile." This week's pile includes replacement filters for our water filtration system, individual K-Cups for our new Keurig single-cup coffee maker, an extra warm sweater for Lindsey, running shoes, a nice Bordeaux and a new Pinot Noir I've been looking forward to trying, this week's Economist and a few books.

The Sharon Pile is more than just a pile. It's a way for us to remember that no matter how bad the week gets, we are always a day closer to our refuge in the country.

Posted by Evan

Come Live Near Us

2007-12-08T15:14:00.001-05:00

Our friends Jane and John recently moved to a new property and are selling their former weekend house. It is a cute, three-bedroom Cape Cod in the charming town of West Cornwall, CT, right next to our town of Sharon. (The towns are connected by a covered bridge...how cute is that?)

Here is the listing:
ROMANTIC 3 BD CAPE W/ FIREPLACE IN LIVING ROOM, Built-in bookcases in library & BR. A screened-in porch looks out on the garden-filled 4 acres. 1.5 bathrooms, full basement complete with pantry, 2 utility rooms for recreation, and a one-car garage. $399,000

Click here to learn more about the house!

Baby It's Cold...INSIDE

2007-12-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

So we just got to the house. It's Friday at 10:30pm. It's 24 degrees outside and only 52 degrees inside the house. We've turned on the heat, plugged in the portable radiator and started a fire. But it's still freezing.

I am writing this post in my jacket, hat and gloves. Linds is upstairs buried under three blankets (and still in her coat, hat and previously mentioned mittens).

It is so cold right now I am thinking of getting back into the car until the house warms up. Is this what other weekenders do? Are we doing something wrong? I have to end this post so I can put my hands back into my jacket pockets. If you have any ideas for us, please let us know.

Posted by Evan

A Weekend of Firsts

2007-12-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

It was quite a busy weekend for us--one of "firsts." Here is a list of things that we experienced for the first time this weekend:

1. First snow. Only a dusting, but still exciting.

2. First time it was colder than 13 degrees...it got down to 10. Evan is already upset about our heating oil bill.

3. First time we (Lindsey) set off the alarm. It was so cold that she tried to punch in the numbers with her mittens still on, and she could not do it fast enough so the alarm went off. The ADT guy contacted us through the ADT intercom system and asked for our security password. I forgot it for a minute so it took a little while to convince him we were the owners. Fun was had by all.

4. First local dinner party. Lindsey's friend Betty invited us to her beautiful home in West Cornwall (7 miles from our house) for a dinner party with her friends Jane and John (who have been coming to West Cornwall for 20 years). We had a wonderful time, and it was great to meet other Country Weekenders.

5. We made our first visit to the new Target in Torrington. Lindsey was ecstatic, because she only used to go to Target when she visited her friends Danielle and Steve in LA (there is no Target in Manhattan).

Land$caping

2007-11-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

By now it should be apparent to our readers that we became homeowners with very little knowledge about what it means to be a homeowner. And I think we've done a pretty good job. We got the septic tank cleaned (lesson here: never look into the tank), we figured out how to put in storm windows, we learned what everything in the basement does...we take pride in the fact that two life-long renters figured out how to run the house pretty quickly.

But there is one thing that neither of us anticipated: the outside. We have a big lawn, trees, bushes, flowers (and flower boxes), more trees, a raspberry patch (well, not anymore), an herb garden and some large plants that just look like bigger bushes. And all this stuff needs to be taken care of or it will grow out of control and take over.

In the past two months we have spent a small fortune on landscaping. Maybe we were spoiled because the house was in perfect move-in condition when we bought it. We thought we could just show up and bang, enjoy life in the country. Well all that "country" around the house needs to be managed, and it is not cheap.

I guess the point of this post is that if you've never owned a house, and you're thinking of buying one, and there is some land, set aside some additional money...especially in the fall and spring.

Posted by Evan

PlayStation 2

2007-11-24T22:16:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am playing "Transformers" on my new PlayStation 2. But that's because PlayStation 2 was $89.99 at Wal-Mart yesterday. And we don't have an HD TV here, so I needed something to do that was not in HD.

And it was 13 DEGREES here yesterday, and 24 degrees today. There is absolutely no good reason to be outside.

Posted by Evan

I made fire!

2007-11-24T20:19:00.001-05:00

We have a beautiful woodburning stove, and today I made a fire. I'm very good at arranging the logs in a diagonal, stacked layout so that air is flowing and the flames are pretty and bright. It smells wonderful and makes cozy crackling sounds.

While I am making fire, Evan is playing "Transformers" on his new PlayStation 2.

Posted by Lindsey

Our Other Weekend Visitors

2007-11-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a VERY busy week for both of us, so we're just now getting to this post. Evan's parents visited us last weekend (before the deer). We picked them up at the train station and had a fun day showing them around Sharon and the surrounding towns.

They gave us a quilt that used to hang in their old country house. We hung it up that day. So it's now a weekend house hand-me-down.

Weekend Visitor

2007-11-11T23:26:00.001-05:00

You should be reading a post about the lovely visit we had from Evan's parents this weekend. But yesterday we had an unexpected visitor, so the parental visit post will have to wait until later this week.

We were upstairs winterizing the house (more on this later as well) and a deer walked into our yard and started grazing. We were shocked. It's the closest we've been to wildlife since our last trip to the zoo (Evan, 6th grade, Lindsey about 10 years ago). We were able to get some great pictures, and even a video (thanks Sony digital camera w/video!):

We also took some still shots:

My Kingdom for a Cappuccino

2007-11-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

As far as we know, this is the only cappuccino machine within 20 miles of our house. Except it's never working. It's in a small diner-esque restaurant called the "Wandering Moose" about five miles from our house. Every Saturday we would wake up and drive to the "Moose" (that's what the locals call it) in hopes of a cappuccino or latte, and each time the owner told us it was out of order. He always seems angry when we ask, so now we just get regular coffee. It's not very good, but given the lack of options, it's the best we have. Lindsey is working up the courage to ask him for Splenda.

Lindsey's Cow

2007-10-31T20:03:00.000-04:00

We went to the Sharon Summer Craft Fair this past August. We got a couple of small things for the house, but this is by far the best. Lindsey found this at a stand that specializes in wood carvings. It's the closest we're ever going to come to owning cattle.

City vs. Country

2007-10-29T20:38:00.000-04:00

So, a lot of people saw the New York Times article on Friday, and were shocked to hear Linds and I got a place up in the country. More to the point, they wanted to know how we were adjusting to life up there (even if only on weekends).

It gave me an idea for a post: I thought I'd compare (through pictures) our life in the city vs. our life in the country. First up, the kitchen junk drawer:

In the country, we are prepared for anything. In the city, we order in a lot.

Next up, the entertainment center:

New York: 52" DLP HDTV, surround sound (B&W speaker system), powered subwoofer, Xbox, Apple TV, DVR...and of course, always tuned to the Simpsons.

Sharon: 27" TV for $113 and a $39 DVD player, purchased at Wal-Mart. Never on.

And finally, laundry:

We bought this HUGE washer/dryer set from the previous owner. As for laundry in the city, it's the opposite of dinner: we send it out.

So that's a brief snapshot of our city life vs. our country life. Watching TV on a 27-inch screen and doing laundry took some getting used to, but I think we're adjusting pretty well.

We're in Today's New York Times!

2007-10-26T06:52:00.000-04:00

Exciting news! We're featured in the article "Home Sweet...Yikes!" in today's New York Times, on the front page of the "Escapes" section.

Thanks to reporter Dan Levin for interviewing us (and calling us "urban sophisticates!").

Check out the article: "Home Sweet...Yikes!"

Ten Things We Love About Country Caretaker

2007-10-24T09:15:00.000-04:00

A few days after we closed on the house, we realized we needed some help. Thankfully, there is a service in our area called the Country Caretaker, which specializes in helping city people manage life in the country (or, as they call it, "property management and personal service coordination").

Adam Manes is the owner of Country Caretaker. From the minute we met Adam, we felt safer. Thanks to his services, we know that someone is watching our house when we're not around and we always have someone to call if a project is too big for us to handle (or if we just don't feel like doing something...like cleaning the gutters).

Here are our ten favorite things about Country Caretaker:

1. Adam has a very big truck. It's an F350 from Ford and it's almost as big as our house.

2. Kevin built us the best fence in New England.

3. Mary Ann writes lots of comments on our blog. (Thanks, Mary Ann!)

4. We're pretty sure Adam's entire wardrobe is from Orvis.

5. If our alarm goes off accidentally, we don't have to drive up from the city to turn it off. That's part of Country Caretaker's services.

6. Adam says "Don't worry, we'll take care of it!" a lot.

7. Adam is totally unfazed by bugs.

8. They just started online billing.

9. Adam had Lindsey's dad as his high school English teacher (seriously!).

10. Who do you think removed the hot tub?

Posted by Lindsey

Obligatory Fall Foliage Montage

2007-10-22T13:50:00.000-04:00

These shots were all taken within a five mile radius of our house. The water you see is Lake Sharon. Let the foliage fest begin:

New Restaurant!!!

2007-10-20T14:54:00.000-04:00

We found the most amazing restaurant. Well, we didn't find it. We just finally decided to eat there.

Serevan is in Amenia, NY, on Route 44 on the way to our house. We've talked about stopping in for a while now, but we never had time. Luckily we tried it this weekend. Serevan is an absolute jewel, serving the freshest, highest quality food we've had outside of NYC. The restaurant is run by Serge Madikians, an Armenian who grew up in Tehran and was the Executive Chef at Chez es Saada here in NYC.

We had an extraordinary meal. Serge peppers his food with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors that are surprising and delicious. And the wine list is quite manageable, with selections perfectly matched to the food.

We had a wonderful evening. We ended up staying pretty late, so Serge gave us a tour of his kitchen and introduced us to his staff. They also serve brunch on Sundays, so I think this is going to be our new spot.

I highly recommend a visit to Serevan if you are ever in the area. You will not be disappointed.

Posted by Evan

Bye Bye Hot Tub

2007-10-19T20:58:00.000-04:00

As promised, here is our yard minus one hot tub. I'm thrilled with how it looks, although I expected the grass that it was built on to be green immediately. It was explained to me that the grass actually has to GROW back. We'll also be getting rid of that random bush.

Posted by Evan

The Hot Tub

2007-10-16T14:12:00.000-04:00

Our house came with a hot tub. The previous owner told us how she liked to relax in it naked.

This freaked Evan out, so last week he had the whole thing removed.

Next week we'll post a photo of how the yard looks post-tub.

Posted by Lindsey

The Basement

2007-10-14T22:00:00.000-04:00

The basement is by far the scariest part of our house. Growing up and living in apartments my whole life, the basement was a place with three functions: laundry was done there, garbage went there and the basement provided the perfect place to win hide-and-seek.

But in a house, the basement is home to crucial systems: heating, electrical and water. When our broker first took us down into the basement, the first thought that went through my mind was, "Well, this was a nice day in the country, I hope we don't hit traffic on the way back." If you've never seen a boiler or a water-heater or a fuse-box before, your first time can be...intimidating.

The basement is like Mission Control. Everything important happens down there. And as much as I wanted to never, ever go back down there, you really have to. I know it's cliche, but information is power. The more I learned about each system, the better I felt about going down there. They key was our home inspection. The inspector explained each system and what it did and why. That was VERY helpful.

The basement is still my least favorite place in the house. But with each passing week I'm getting better about going down there. Some things to keep in mind:

Get a dehumidifier. I recommend the Whirlpool 75 Pint Energy Star Dehumidifier. Moisture is the enemy of basements and this baby has an Auto setting that's perfect for weekenders--turn it on once and you're good-to-go.
Make sure you have ample lighting. Too much important stuff is going on down there and you need to be able to see everything.
Get the service contract for the boiler. You don't want to mess with that thing, and the service contract will save you money in the long run.
If you have a water-softening machine, be warned that the salt pellets only come in 40 lb bags, and they are a pain-in-the-ass. Remember, lift with your knees and watch your eyes as your pour in the pellets--the salt dust stings.

Posted by Evan

A Tale of Two Fridges

2007-10-14T09:06:00.000-04:00

This is our fridge in Manhattan. We order in a lot.

This is our fridge in the country. Because there is no takeout in Sharon and only three restaurants that all close by 8pm, we go shopping and we--okay, okay Evan--cooks. This is the most full refrigerator either of us has had (well, since moving out of our parents' houses).

Posted by Lindsey

Home Depot vs. Dill's

2007-10-13T23:31:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about this post for a long time. Before we bought the house, I'd never been to a Home Depot or any kind of home superstore. But I always thought that Home Depot was the kind of place where a guy could go and automatically feel at home. I had this idea that Home Depot was like a universal Cheers, and when you walked in, not only would they know your name, but you would just fit. And I so wanted to fit in there. I assumed I'd walk in and immediately be able to put up dry wall, handle a clogged drain and know things about lumber. The reality was quite different.

When Lindsey and I walked into our first Home Depot, we made it about 20 feet into the store, looked at each other with equal parts horror and fear, and left.

Not a great start. But we needed stuff for the house, and Home Depot is the only game in town (or so I thought at the time). So I went back. I convinced myself that a store with the motto "You can do it, we can help" can't be THAT hard to navigate. It took me about 20 minutes to walk up and down every aisle, and ask a few questions along the way. I have an idea for a new Home Depot motto: "You can do it and we really don't care how things turn out. In fact, just get what you need and leave as quickly as possible."

Home Depot is just not a place for a novice homeowner. It's a place for contractors, professional builders and homeowners who really know what they are doing.

The experience at Home Depot forced me to drive around and look for a different option. And boy did I find one. It's called Dill's Best Hardware, a locally-owned hardware and lumber shop. Yes, the prices are about 10% more than Home Depot's, but the guys there are so helpful.

It's funny, the staff at Home Depot are clean cut, all wear bright orange aprons and look very friendly, but they're just not that helpful. The guys at Dill's are dirty (in that I-just-built-a-shed kinda dirty) and seem to wear pretty much whatever they want.

I have to admit, the first time I went in there I was sure they'd immediately peg me as a weekender and ignore me. I could not have been more wrong. For each item I needed, they explained how to use it correctly and they showed me multiple options based on price, steering me towards the right purchase, not the most expensive (turns out the $40 electric screwdriver is just as effective as the $125 version). And they actually talked me though each project.

I never thought I'd be this guy, but now I make excuses to go to Dill's. It's where everybody knows my name.

Posted by Evan

How Evan Relaxes

2007-10-13T20:32:00.000-04:00

Evan told me he was going to sit outside for a while and relax. When I went outside to check on him, this is what I found:

E-book
BlackBerry
Bug spray
Water
Diet Coke
Phone

Posted by Lindsey

Country Time vs. City Time

2007-10-12T23:23:00.000-04:00

Having lived in Manhattan for all of my 32 years, I am used to being able to get what I want FAST. I can pretty much order anything from sushi to an Xbox to duct-tape, and have it within an hour or two. The country is...different. Things just take time. The line at the grocery store moves slower, people don't drive very fast, clerks move at a slow (but determined) pace. It's like everyone got together and agreed to function at 60% capacity 24/7.

It's not a bad thing per se, but it takes some getting used to. We've been having some work done on the house and what I thought would take a week has taken seven. It's been a good lesson in patience for me. Perhaps now I will be kinder to the tourists in NYC who wander around aimlessly staring up at the tall buildings (are there no tall buildings in other countries???) and walking four across on the sidewalk, making it virtually impossible for me to get where I'm going (kinda like cattle in Sharon).

Maybe I'll bring Sharon's lack of urgency to my life here in the city. Although next time it takes the sushi guy more than 30 minutes, I'm sure I'll be on the phone demanding to know where my sashimi deluxe is, and how much longer will I have to wait.

Posted by Evan

A word about mortgages

2007-07-23T21:09:00.000-04:00

ING DIRECT. I guess that's two words. I already had two accounts with ING, and on the same day I found the listing for the house, I decided to apply for a mortgage. I remembered that ING had a special mortgage product with only $895 in closing fees. The application and approval took six minutes. And the $895 is the real deal; there were NO additional costs at our closing. The lawyer hired to represent ING (who had never represented them before) actually said, "Wow, most banks I represent tack on $4k to $5k just because they know they can." We were shocked.

ING rules. They make the closing process, which can be stressful, a breeze. Thanks to ING our close lasted 20 minutes and we saved over $5,000. Which went right into my brand new, 42,000 BTU, 60 burger capacity Weber grill.

Picnic

2007-07-23T20:59:00.000-04:00

Our first dinner at the house...before we had furniture.

Trash

2007-07-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

In the city we throw our trash down a chute in our apartment building. In the country we have a big blue bin.

Our favorite local restaurant: Pappardelle

2007-07-23T20:45:00.001-04:00

There are only three restaurants in Sharon and this is our favorite. We love the owner, Tina Paradise, mostly because Linds loves her last name. They always remember us and they serve Monty Python beer.

Tina says friendly, non-city things like, "If you want coffee in the morning, just give us a call and come by and we'll put on a pot for you!"

The Virgin Homeowner

2007-07-23T20:34:00.000-04:00

This is the book Evan bought Lindsey when she was freaking out about owning a home. We both loved it and learned more about septic tanks than any person should really know.

We officially became homeowners on June 20, 2007. Yippee!