DeJoux House

Forgot to mention that the Smoketree has been officially measured and the details have been sent to Albany for verification.  The height of the tree was measured by the DEC at 50 ft.   The national champion is in Kentucky and is 42ft tall.   So it looks like we might be able to claim that the tree is the tallest Smoketree in America. Our measurements put the tree at 82 inches around the trunk.   Due to a "swelling" at the normal measurement height the measurement had to be made slightly lower down the trunk....  The official measurement was 76 inches in circumference.   We are not a contender for the National Champion, which is 101 in circumference.   The crown of the tree - the third measurement that counts towards the 'championship'.  Our crown is 20x33ft.  (Narrowest and widest) averaging 26.5ft. The calculation for "championship" points goes something like this: Height + circumference + (average crown x 0.25) = total points. 5...

I know everyone has a love hate relationship with a contractor and ours is no exception.  He is so damn slow and never does anything he says he will.  We are so far behind in the process and everything that was promised remains undelivered.   Thankfully the Plumber has been here.  Jason is fantastic.  Fast, neat and very professional.  Takes real pride in his work.  I would recommend him to anyone.  His girlfriend is also a falconer which is cool too.  He brought a Peregrin falcon to the job site one day...we were not here to see it.   Jason's handy work for the master bathroom vanity The in wall toilets are all in Even the point for the washer drier upstairs has gone in As you can see we are still only at framing phase because patching the floors and building the doors has taken 4 weeks.  Yes that's a lot longer than it should have taken but we have to admit that what he has done he has done well.  The back door ha...

Campsite now on the Peninsula Half glamor, half camping.   Well that at least was the plan.  Three days off (and the weekend) at the house.  Chasing down the contractor, making sure progress was made and enjoying the property. I organized a "Porta-potty" so at least now we have a toilet on the property.  The well water is very clear if a little cold and we have a fridge in the "Map room" next to the garage and two grills.  We arrived on Wednesday morning and had to move the tent because the cats were practically hyperventilating in the sun.  Putting the tent in the shade, under the trees on the peninsula was a brilliant idea.  The tent remains cool all day.  As you can see from the picture we brought down the umbrella and the grills and had quite a little set up. The contractor was collecting the wood floor boards so obviously wouldn't be at the house today. Once we got settled , swam in the pond,  cooled down and I did a little bit of...

Another week with no progress...yes we are frustrated.  The plumber can't do any more because the framing isn't finished and no-one at the house Friday, or any day this week as far as we can tell. We met the plasterers and the plumber without the contractor..who was "shopping".  Funny I tried calling him and he couldn't answer the phone and didn't call me back because he was "up on the roof"...I now realize it was someone elses roof or that's the name of a pub round here! Nevertheless, the house is wonderful.  Again we sat by the pond in the star light and with billions of fireflies lighting the trees and the grass, spotting satellites in the clear sky.  I'm beginning to like this camping thing.  I just wish you could capture this on the camera.  It's something everyone should see once in their life.   It is spectacular. The morning sun shone on the front of the house this morning.  Making me realize that the porch will be the idea...

Mornings view from the house  Writing two entries today.  This is the second of the two.  The previous entry called "Progress..." covers the renovation news.  This one is what might be called the  "lifestyle segment". The vegetable garden has been planted and we now have potatoes, beets, kale, beans, tomatoes, strawberries as well as basil, rosemary, thyme and parsley.   I discovered an asparagus in the weeds and moved it into the garden and have had some edible asparagus this year. The vegetable garden started small Found asparagus Found in the field We've sold the house in Stone Ridge and do not have a place to stay.  I thought it might be interesting to see what it was like to stay in a tent for a couple of days ( I keep telling myself this is a choice... There's a hotel up the road!).  I bought a tent on the way up two weeks ago and pitched it on my own. It's called "Copper Canyon Cabin Tent"  and it's huge.  Two roo...

Well, a lot has happened and in the same breath a lot hasn't happened that we thought we would have had done by now.   Progress is very slow indeed and a little frustrating.  Since the last post we have been updating the facebook page with pictures as they happen but my guess is that you are all waiting with baited breath for the back story of some of those. I'll give you the full back story on the renovations.  The big hole that you saw in the floor some time ago is now filled with beautiful Douglas fir.   We were able to find some old beams in a warehouse in Brooklyn that were between 9 and 14 inches wide.  The outside edges of these beams had a nice patina to them and because of their age the grain of the wood was thin and matched very closely what we had in the master bedroom.  These boards were 20ft long, 1.5inches thick and very heavy...i know because I lifted them in through the Mow door with the help of Brian our contractor. Structural floorin...

In a  Previous Blog story  we were trying to identify the tree in the front of the house. I finally contacted the local Department of Environmental Conservation who were amazing.  I was put in contact with a great guy called Michael Pogue who is a Senior Forrester at NYS DEC who not only looked at several photos but also went to the house and identified the tree as an American Smoketree. "Just got back from your property.  Smoke tree it is.  This is the largest specimen I have seen and the first one I have actually looked at at "close range".  It's out of its native range but obviously quite happy. " I must say I had not expected the support and help that Mike at the DEC provided.  Obviously in the grand scheme of things this is not a big priority for them but Mike not only took an interest but went out of his way to help me learn more about the tree.  If part of DEC's responsibilities is education and garnering community interest in trees an...