The Country Weekenders Get Hitched!

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

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

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...

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$

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!

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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?

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!

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

New Year's Resolutions

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

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

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

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

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

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