DeJoux House

This weekend DeJoux House was exploding with growth. Apple blossom, cherry, all sorts of yet to be identified trees and bushes were busting into flower. Along with this desired growth came undesired browth. Brambles and Vines were beginning to grow back. Poison ivy was poking its little red leaves out from under the earth in quantities that defy belief. (I got the Round-Up/poison ivy killer out but it was an endless task to try to spray it all). We worked hard to clear more trees and cut back the under growth. Something tells me all our hard work will be undone by the time we get back to the house in two weeks time. 8 Point Construction had been working hard too. They are digging the basement to put in the concrete slab. The ground was pretty wet and the soil is very sandy, making for a pretty unpleasant task in our basement. The soil had to be put into a metal bath tub like object and dragged up the basement stairs to get it out. They had to trench a pipe to the wall a

It seems that every week there are new discoveries at Dejoux House. Now, admittedly that is partly because the property is totally overgrown and we are slowly uncovering things that have been lost to the undergrowth, such as the wells and the walls. We dug up a whole trailer load of red bricks under the spring house. These were marked "LOWE" and it turns out they were 19th Century bricks made in the New Paltz area. But, there are also natural discoveries every weekend. Last week I stood under one of the flowering willow trees, by the lake, and heard what sounded like a hornets nest close by. I couldn't see one in the tree but could hear the really loud sound of millions of bees. Then I realized that every inch, and every flower on the whole tree had an insect in it/by it. The whole tree was buzzing. Yesterday we went to look at our handy work to the north of the house. I notice on the ground a row of new growth. When I looked closer it was a clear rectangle

Before the spring really kicks in we spent a lot of time in the garden. Eight Point Construction can't start in the basement as it is too damp. They have removed the boiler and the oil tank so the basement is empty, except for the sump pump that is working over time. After pulling apart the porch to leave only the vertical supports, Daniel and I started clearing the front of the house and the north side. This was a jungle of bittersweet vine, poison ivy (judging by my arms) and dead trees. We started cutting all the vines and then removed them to a pile. We then piled all the branches on the piles too. Before we knew it there were piles of wood everywhere. As we worked along the wall we discovered what looked like the remains of a small shed. Under the debris was a well head, with a big bluestone top. There seems to be a pipe in it running down through the water suggesting the well is quite deep. We wondered if the structure around this may have been a spring house.