Merry Christmas! It is serene and silent and 27 degrees F today after about 6 inches of snow fell on the 19th. The Oil man had come sometime that day (before the snow) and put 174 gallons more of oil in the tanks. There was a notice in the door. Now they're 3/4 full. Bob Naughton plowed the road after the storm so it was easy for us to get up the driveway. I'll send him a note to thank him! Hope everyone has a peaceful and joyful Christmas Holiday!

The house is a toasty 50 degrees F and outside is 18 today.

• watered plants
• 47 degrees in dining room, 50 in living room, 46 in basement
• oil tank is 9/16
• door to basement from LR is sagging so latch is very hard to open. I left it undone.
• saw 5-6 fish swimming under the clear ice!
• picked up two small branches on the driveway hill
• stood still in the living room and absorbed the silence for a few minutes

Here is a picture of the branch semi blocking the driveway. I had to go back down Monday to get my camera which I had left in the living room! It has been in the 40's the past two days so the snow is mostly melted. But it is COLD today!

There's still snow and it's 25 degrees at Thicut! A branch of the big pine tree by the driveway broke and is partially blocking the driveway, ironically near the cedar tree Bob and I exposed last time. I was able to pull it off the road, but it's still attached high up in the tree. Next time we'll clear it away. The house was a toasty 50 degrees compared to the outside and the furnace was running when I went inside. There's a glazing of ice on the pond. I met some folks from Middlesex Land Trust out to make a trail on the east (our property side) side of the brook past (north of) the falls. I think the leader's name is John something, we've walked with him before. I warned them of hunters and they put on their orange gear. No sign of hunters or their trucks this time, though. I think Eric V. and Anna Ruth have only cleared two guys to hunt: Steve LaRosa and the garbage guy. The oil tank still reads 5/8 so the furnace is being efficient in this cold snap.

I returned Anna Ruth's 'history bag' after making a copy of a transcription she did of information she had from Nanny about family history on Nanny's mother's side. It includes names of her mom (Anna Barbara Schlecht)'s, parents and siblings and a bit of history about each of them in Brooklyn. Some quotes: "Barbara married John Kruger on October 1, 1893...and had 9 children... only Ruth [Nanny], Eva, Lillian, and Paul lived to be adults, marry and have children.""The year before my Mother [Anna Barbara] died they [Nanny's mother and father] bought some property in Haddam Neck, Conn. because my father wanted his children to enjoy country living. They spent only the summer months there often with members of the Schlecht family. " The last bit of transcription says: " Eva, Lil and I as well as Paul's wife Betty, are all alive in May of 1992."There is also a handwritten 3 page list of where Nanny and Poppa lived from when they were married to Poppa's retirement from Lycoming College in Williamsport.

Alex S. joins the 'through the ceiling' tradition during their visit at Thanksgiving. Conor couldn't fit!

Bob and I checked out the first snowfall at Thicut. Alas, I forgot the camera! About an inch of wet snow, grass still poking through and driveway dry. we spent about an hour and:

• checked the house
• furnace 5/8 full: house at 50 degrees, dining room is at 48 with all doors/kitchen door/curtain closed
• cut down three small birch trees around the old cedar tree (I'll get pix next time)
• hauled the brush and cut the trunks for sweet smelling firewood: does anyone remember chewing on birch bark? that's what the fresh cut smell of these trees reminded me of!
• borrowed ARM's bag of history to try to scan for you to see.

Who can tell us what this is?

It is in the barn attic as well.

The 'Sleigh' in the barn attic

Today, Paul, Conor, Alex, Daniel, Jenny, Bob, Betsy explored and reminisced at Thicut.

We explored the attics and took pictures of the 'top' attic ceiling, remembering Paul (and Eric A.?) re roofing and painting the house about 35 years ago (?). We found old stationary in the 4 drawer file cabinet up there. It is letterhead from John L. Kruger: "Electrical Construction Co., Inc. : Electric wiring for light, heat and power, 137 Grand Avenue, near Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, NY" It also says: "we repair, rent and sell motors" "domestic-commercial refrigeration"

Conor and Daniel climbed up to the 'attic' of the barn and took pictures of the sleigh, about 20 telephone pole glass insulators (from Chuck Masters?), and various camping equipment (also from the Masters I think) In the process Daniel opened up a 3 burner gas camping stove and found 4 mice. He then handed it down (mice and all) to Conor who passed it to Bets, who passed it to Bob, who took it outside. There was a huge nest inside. We all got a good look at the mice; Alex really wanted to bring them home for 'wild' pets. Paul said 'no way'. The mice refused to run out, so we closed it up and handed it back up to Daniel, mice peeking out as it was handed from person to person... Lots of snake skins in the barn attic, too. Before the boys climbed down, Paul discovered a crack in the middle beam. (for reference: it's near where the bird feeder is hanging as you look in the small door.) Conor and Daniel made it down safely...

We:

• inspected the water pipes at the bottom of the basement stairs that go under the dining room (new plastic from the renovation) to affirm that the kitchen pipes are less likely to freeze if power goes off in winter
• fuel gauge is 11/16ths full
• watered the plants
• fed the fish since it was a balmy 55 degrees
• counted 13 fish still swimming around
• turned the water off
• wandered up to the piano lyre/harp to show the boys: Daniel thinks it would make an awesome headboard for a bed

Bob, Anna, and I stopped by for a few minutes to check on things. Anna is home from college for the week! Everything looks good at Thicut.

• watered the (few) plants
• turned OFF the water
• checked the lights on timers
• borrowed 2 pillows for the Sandin/Sandin visit for Thanksgiving
• borrowed a flat iron from the living room fireplace for Bob to use to 'clench' nails on his current project to redo an old wooden framed kayak
• took home wood for Thanksgiving fires
• as we left, we passed a family coming from a hike down the Grassy Lane

Bob and I had a good week visiting Bob's parents and sister and niece in the warm (and rainy) south. (Hilton Head and Atlanta) On the way down, we stopped at Anna Ruth's new home! It is cozy and close to Carlie and Rick's in a nice neighborhood. She invited Eric A. and the Williams for dinner and we had a great time!

I stopped by Thicut today to check on things and all is good. The weather has been mild, so the house is not cold, no evidence of mice (or snakes!). The leaves are all down, but the wind has blown most off the yard and road so I guess we won't have to rake. YAY!

Here are some highlights from the last two weeks during Anna Ruth's visit:

• moved things around in the barn to make room for the adirondack chairs and the metal chairs
• did some raking
• took out big rock (possible headstone for Chuck M.) from truck bed and placed next to stone wall in front of barn/near driveway
• had lunch with Anna Ruth, Eric V., Ann
• sold truck to Bob Naughton (Phyllis Kruger's son in law): payment 'soon'
• Eric Allen came up, Anna Ruth and he walked to falls (Grassy Lane)
• Bob, Bets, Anna Ruth and Eric Allen walked to slide/sword factory and discussed water power generation (the men) and the beauty/history of the area (the women). We rediscovered the remains of the dam that went across the brook at the slide. Do you know that there must have been a large pond that stretched all the way back to the bridge?! Imagine what that swimming hole would have been like.
• found more Tree of Heaven in the sword factory foundation, we'll get that in the spring
• put one twin bed (including mattress, box spring, frame), Christmas boxes, etc in Eric A.'s car for Bethesda
• Anna Ruth and Betsy looked at a copy of an old picture of the house from an historical book from the E. Hampton library. It talks about the Sexton mills... The house has only had the two families as owners: Sextons and Kruger/Sandins. I'll try to duplicate the article and put it into the blog...
• found a Creswell tea set in the parlor, Ann says she lent it to Nanny to go with the oriental theme in the parlor when Nanny was living there, it comes from Aunt Alberta and before that Paul and Alberta's parents wedding from a cousin who was a missionary in Asia (I think this is right...) Its been handed down to the eldest daughter.

Today I:

• finished up pictures by taking pix of the basement. Next time you're here, look at the size of the foundation stones, above the rock foundation walls. They are huge!
• checked the oil tanks: 3/4 full
• There was a message from Mary LaRosa (Connie's daughter in law). Her husband Steve would like to hunt the property again this year. She will work it out with Eric V.
• Walked up behind the barn where the old chicken coop was and found the iron frame (and some strings!) of the old piano. Do you remember David S, John, Kathy, Paul, Betsy, possibly Eric V, (were there Masters there, too?), having a funeral for the old piano when we moved it there? All that's left is this frame. The foundations of the coop and two other buildings are still there. I'd like to know some history of what they were for.
• called Anna Ruth and will bring towel rack, indian girl picture and Eric A.'s beer to Bethesda when we come next week
• the leaves are mostly down, the air a beautiful 50 degrees, sunny and quiet.

Since many of us are called by multiple names, depending on who is talking to us, we've decided to use birth names in this blog. We'll add middle names or initials for those of us who have the same first name.

We're sorry to report that the flower never opened anymore than what you see in the pictures. I got up at 12:45am and it looked the same, in the morning the stem was straighter down but the flower didn't appear to have changed... It's disappointing, but we'll hope for another chance!

I wanted to post a memory to get us started: Do you remember the knoll? that 'huge hill' in front of the house with the dead cedar tree marking the opening and the path up to the top? The cedar is still there: hidden by upstart beech trees now and the knoll virtually hidden by brush and growth. Bob has cleared the underbrush so you can see the shape of the 'hill' from the front door. We'd like permission to cut down the 2 (maybe one or two inch in diameter) trees that hide the cedar. That dead tree 'used' to be a sentinel close (but not on) the edge of the yard. Now you'd never know it was there.

Do you remember making fairy houses and playing house up there when you were little? I remember pretending that the crevasses in the rocks up there and the holes in the tree trunks were fairy houses. We'd make mud cakes and twig forks and leaf plates and have tea parties. Sometimes in the fall we'd rake and rake and make floor plans for houses up there (and in the rest of the yard). We'd have to use the 'doorways' and yell at each other if one of us forgot. "You just walked through my wall! go back through the door!" or "This is MY bedroom, the bed is here, the closet here..." then we'd get called to come inside and swish our feet through the walls, laughing 'all the way' down to the brightly lit house. It always seemed so high and far away!

--Betsy

It begins! After a productive day pruning the kiwi and cleaning up the gardens a bit with Anna Ruth and Ann, the night blooming Cereus is in G'bury to chronicle its opening. As per scientific upbringing, we are taking pictures every hour to show the progress. Here are the first two pictures!

How long???

As I get ready to publish this blog, I thought I would give an update on the status of Thicut. I feel that since Bob and I are keeping an eye on the place, you'd like to know what we're doing when you're not here.

So far this fall, we've done things like:

• mow the lawn
• water the plants
• feed the fish
• replaced the screens with the glass doors
• turned on the furnace and left it low
• used the sickle bar mower to mow the front field one more time
• sprayed Roundup on a few more barberry from the old well to the brook

To have a record of the place, I have taken pictures of all the rooms in the house and some outdoor pix as well.

Poppa Sandin, Bob, and I walked the property with Rob Rocks, the Nature Conservancy representative. There is work to be done on the property boundary near the main road: the neighbors are still encroaching and driving four wheel ATV's into the woods.

Bob and I cut and put Roundup on a grove of ailanthus (tree of heaven: they look something like sumac) , an invasive plant we discovered on our walk with Rob Rocks. It's growing in the SE part of the property near the spring that's in the stone wall on a hill. Bob and I, shall we say, wandered, a bit before we relocated the trees. But it was a BEAUTIFUL fall day so we didn't mind! We'll probably have to reapply it in the spring to get rid of it.

The night blooming cereus has a bud! Don't know if we'll catch the blooming or not. Hopefully someone will!

Welcome to the blog for Thicut. Robert Frost, one of Poppa's (EVS Sr) favorite poets, inspired the title. Please read "The road not taken" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" when you get a chance.

We plan to post entries of what's going on at Thicut, our thoughts, and hopefully pictures. We would love to post your thoughts, comments, reminiscences, pictures as well.

Enjoy!