There are tons of trees we are not cutting down. I have maples, elderberry, poplars, I think cottonwoods, and some others. There are also old stumps and nursing logs that we will be leaving for the wildlife...I am just cleaning it up a little so that things can actually navigate back there. Right now I think the racoons and such are even having a hard time getting around from the looks of all the old burrows and nests we have found...no sign of antying living back there now. Our goal is to create a great bird refuge.

My wonderful, treasure packed parcel arrived from Annie this AM. There were two candy bars with a note that sharing was optional. Since Jack is taking me for a steak dinner tonight, I thought I could spare him some Chocolate. It is Yummy dark Chocolate with almonds and sea salt. Never tried this before but love it! A pretty kitchen towel with a chili pepper design, A packet with reblooming iris. A first time item that I look forward to seeing for years.. A nice big chunk of a NOID daylily. I love em all and enjoy surprises. I'll plant this and label it as "Annie".... also my Mother's name.. I got a micro planer, something I have thought I wanted/needed several times but never remembered to buy. So, That is a big plus for that item. In the bottom of the bag I could hear/ feel something I expected to be hard candies...... but Ahah.......It was more REAL treasure. Some coins and a lot of shiny pebble shaped marbles. These will become part of my planned Fairy village. Not sure yet how I'll use them but they have lots of possibilities . Such fun AND I'm going to the Master Gardeners Spring Plant Sale tomorrow. I want to see how far I can stretch the coins at the sale. Annie this package is SUPER and I'm enjoying all the adventure of a treasure hunt with the goodies you sent. Many many thanks.

Trail, your floor is Gorgeous, but I was howling in my seat at the before pic of your kitchen; I've admired it on the kitchens forum, but never saw the humble beginning...very impressive! Actually I like to show my kids pictures of gutting like that so they don't freak out when we do it (minimally, we don't want to gut the whole house, just a couple of walls). I will have to figure out how much beadboard I have before we reno, so I think I'm going to be doing a lot of exploratory pre-demolition. Poor dh. But I want to know what I've got so I can plan. Hopefully it goes all around the kitchen under the ubiquitous paneling. I think what you said about the floor guy is so true; for the pros who have to make a living in a day's work, it can be hard to do preservation demolition and make it pay, especially if they're tied to their original estimate. Pulling out nails without doing damage can be very slow going. The last time we had pro work done on our house, I was amazed at the lightning pace and quick decisions; really, it was too much for me. Guess that's why I'm on this forum. Karinl, it it will be interesting to see what the beadboard does come summer, as the humidity here is so low right now. If I had my druthers I'd finish all my raw wood in the winter, when it's smallest, but then the fumes...you can't win. Your 8 layers of paint has me grateful that the beadboard has been covered for at least 50 years. Ditto the floor too. There will be annoying nail holes to fill from the plywood, but it's a small price to pay for avoiding 50 years of wear, tear, and sanding. The carpet and linoleum fad may well have done us a favor in that regard :-)

we've discovered almost the same! we pulled up an edge of old lino (on all the floors) and underneath was the original tongue & groove wide plank floors. the lino wasn't glued down just tacked in a few places. the boards have all been painted, but no glue. In the living room we lifted the area rug - there were the boards, they only laid 1 1/2 foot strips of lino around the edges of the rug!!!