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Awesome job. We had a 1908 Victorian home years ago. Do you know what year that your was built in?
Sort of-tax records say 1890, but that's the year the property was subdivided off from a neighboring farm and the structure was converted to a house. Prior to that it was a barn, year built unknown. We guess that the center part of the house, which sits upon four rubblestone foundation walls was the original barn and then everything else was added over the years.
Sort of-tax records say 1890, but that's the year the property was subdivided off from a neighboring farm and the structure was converted to a house. Prior to that it was a barn, year built unknown. We guess that the center part of the house, which sits upon four rubblestone foundation walls was the original barn and then everything else was added over the years.
Our house had a "rubblestone foundation"! It was one of 4 buildings of an existing estate in North Jersey. The Main house , the Maids quarters and the Butlers quarters(our house) and the Carriage House all were designed by Stanford White ,not one four sided room in any house .Our home had a "Holland Furnace" and the only man we could find to work on it came to NJ from Brooklyn.When we moved in ,in April of 1962 the house was already 97 years old .
Got in a little bottle hunting between snow storms over the weekend-this is what we've found in the hedgerows/stonerows over the last year and a half:
From left-the brown bottle looks like maybe medicine? Here are the bottom markings:
I'm not sure what the next item is-candle holder? Ink well? It's brown glass with a grid type design around the outside. I found it when a tree uprooted in the hedgerow-it was pulled up out of the ground with some old bits of tile and brick. There are no other discernible markings. The clear bottle doesn't have much in the way of markings at all. The shorter brown bottle is marked "CERTO" which is a type of gelatin used in making jams and preserves. I found one on a bottle forum and it seems to be from the 1940s. The brown bottle on the end is interesting because it has a lot of air bubbles in the glass, which is usually indicative of age. This is the bottom:
It says "SEITZ" "EASTON, PA." Some quick Google searching revealed that SEITZ brewery closed in 1938, so the bottle is at least 80 years old. This is just what we've spotted on walks in the fields, etc...we haven't really dug for anything yet, and this is only what we've been able to find whole. I'm hoping to find an old trash dump site on the property eventually. No bottle hunting for a while-this stuff will be frozen solid by tomorrow morning. Lots of tractor work to do when I get home today so that we don't have a skating rink to deal with:
Of course these two will want to go sledding first:
In rural Jersey there are two seasons: Indoor fire season and outdoor fire season. With indoor fire season drawing to a close and outdoor fire season just around the corner, it was time to start work on the propane tank fire pit. Found an old 420lb tank and paid scrap value for it, vented what was left of the propane and removed the valve-these are easy to come by out here as once they reach a certain age they can't be filled any longer. From there, after scribing a line 10" up from the bottom weld I used a $5 abrasive blade to work my way around the tank going a little deeper each pass. Still more work to do, stripping, painting, and putting a grate in the bottom, but the end product will be a 3/16" wall fire pit with a nice heavy pedestal for the patio that will never burn or rust through in my lifetime, unlike the $200 pieces of sheet metal junk they sell at box stores:
7-1/4" blade which lost about 6" through the cutting process:
First penetration into the tank:
Completely cut through-I plan to make two fire rings out of the barrel and another bowl out of the top to sell:
Worked on the edges with a file and then emery cloth to make it nice and smooth and get rid of any sharp edges or burrs:
Still have to make a grate to hold the wood/coals off of the bottom and strip it/paint it with BBQ paint:
A little more progress on the firepit (in between downpours)...
Sanded and acetone washed:
One coat of Rustoleum black BBQ paint:
Can't wait to cook over an applewood fire:
And another little taste of rural Jersey-our "friends" the coyotes. I went to go see a friend play at a local bar Saturday night while Mrs. Yankee stayed home with the little ones. She sent me this video around 9:30 of the crazy sounding little bastards. I have yet to run across them while hunting (coyotes can be legally taken during deer or turkey hunting), but when I do I'm going to get a nice hat made. A neighboring town down the mountain from us was having a fireworks display and after that they went nuts-turn up the volume:
Is that from Lakota wolf preserve not far from you?
I'm in Hunterdon County. Lakota is up in Knowlton in Warren County just outside of Worthington State Forest. It's a good 25 miles away and north of Route 80 to boot. These are just common shoot-em-on-sight canis latrans var, otherwise known as Eastern Coyotes:
From the sound of them they were probably running deer in my neighbor's back fields about 150 yards away.
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