Fall at the Homestead

Fall has descended on the Reinke homestead. We feel it in the cool morning air, as we pull on our sweaters. The deciduous trees have made a wardrobe change, too, with their splendid yellow and orange leaves. After months of blending in with the conifers, they now triumphantly stand out from the crowd. 

Steaming mugs of coffee seem even more inviting these days. And soup? Well, even Campbell's will suffice when there's a chill in the air. 

I enjoy all the autumn signs here in Estes Park, but the one that stirs my heart the most is the Fall rut. There's nothing like it. To see our magnificent bull elk this time of year is breathtaking. 

Tuesday morning Dennis and I took a short drive and discovered this bull grazing in a field east of town. Dennis whistled at him, hoping he'd look up so I could get a good photo. Mr. Elk kept right on eating. Then Dennis honked the truck horn. That did it. The bull raised his head and began sniffing the air. Content that no opponent lurked in the area, he returned to his grazing. But not before I got this photo. (The dark areas on his body are wet spots from an apparent dip in a nearby lake.)

Smoke from the barn's chimney is another sign of Fall's arrival.

Workers installed the new wood-burning stove in the studio yesterday. The blue and white square behind the can is the top of an empty milk carton. Dennis says waxed cartons are great for kindling. I had no idea, but I'm glad since Estes doesn't accept these for recycling. (One of these days I'll do a blog on the bag trash program we employ at the homestead.)

I'm just as excited about the barn's rebirth as I am the cabin remodel. Dennis' paintings seem to belong here. . .

Studio Entrance South Wall

Studio Entrance North Wall

North Wall

North Wall

Southeast Corner

South Wall

Southwest Corner

West Wall

Is it just me -- or do these photos suggest "Fall"?

I think I need to add some pumpkins. Maybe some cornstalks and Indian corn, too.


We'll be ready for the Estes Park Art Studio Tour this Saturday.



"Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees." --

Faith Baldwin


Nancy

Aye, 'Twas a Fine Week

The 2011 Longs Peak Scottish-Irish Highlands Festival is over. Dennis and I were there on Sunday, he painted plein air and I volunteered in the Cultural Arts Council tent. In honor of our celtic friends, I offer these photos taken that last day. 

"Captain, there be camels!"

This gentleman and his Irish wolfhound were very dignified.

A Scottish Royal Guard posed next to his portrait. Fine looking lad, wouldn't you say?

This handsome couple in tartan plaid graciously allowed me to photograph them.

Irish entertainer Seamus Kennedy caught me readying my camera for a shot and stopped in the middle of his performance for this photo. A good sport, funny and very talented.

Another talented artist -- my husband Dennis Reinke -- painting "Bill Colby" plein air.

Here Bill stands beside the finished portrait.

This was the first year the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park was asked to participate in the festival. Dennis joined other artists in documenting the event with paints and canvas. We had a wonderful time and hope it will be the first of many more to come. 

Work continues on Dennis' studio. The carpenters re-sided the area around the front window, using the boards from the old barn doors. . .

Dennis' hard work in salvaging the boards paid off. . .

Drywall around the storage room has been completed. . .

Electrical and lighting installation is finished. . .

Now Dennis is applying a textured finish to the drywall. The new wood-burning stove is scheduled for installation on September 23rd, just in time for the Estes Park studio tour on the 24th.

Even with all they had to accomplish on the barn this week, the carpenters still found time to install the new door on the front of our cabin. . .

Remember how the old door looked?

Big improvement, don't you think? The glass in the door opens up the dining room, making it appear larger. . .

New trim around the door will finish it off. 

Thanks for checking in. I leave you with this Celtic blessing. . .

Blessing Of The Three

The Sacred Three 

My fortress be 

Encircling me, 

Come and be round 

My hearth, my home.

Fend Thou my kin 

And every sleeping thing within 

From scathe, from sin. 

Thy care our peace 

Through mid of night 

To light's release.

Nancy

Make Time for the Hummingbirds

"And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still."

Robert Frost, A Prayer in Spring

Getting things done is fine, but sometimes you have to make time for the hummingbirds. After dinner Friday night at our friends' home, we sat on their deck watching the petite birds drink from the feeder. It took several tries, but I managed to get a descent photograph of one darting bird. 

Here in the mountains most people keep a feeder near their house to attract the tiny creatures. Unfortunately, the sugary liquid in these feeders attracts bears too, so conscientious residents, such as our friends, take the feeders in at night. 

Hummingbirds fly at approximately 25 mph and flap their wings 60-80 times per second. (Yes, you read that right. 60-80 times per second.) They've been clocked at speeds in excess of 50 mph during courtship dives. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "falling in love."

Even with time out for the hummingbirds, we still completed several projects here at the Reinke Homestead this past week:

When we designed our kitchen, we made room for a wall mounted pot rack. The one I had my eye on retails for $60 -$90. I found the exact one I wanted on Craigslist for $20, hooks included. It was a gray color that didn't really work with our oil rubbed bronze hardware, so I spray painted it with RustOleum ORB. It looks great and saved us at least $40 (spray paint included). . .

The money I saved on the pot rack paid for the kitchen cabinet pulls and knobs Dennis installed. . .

Several months ago I ran across a very cool DIY project at the Serendipity Chic Design blog. Lisa had made nightstands from an antique vanity she found at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. They were tall and narrow, just what I needed for our tall bed and small bedroom. One day I wandered into Furniture Connections, our little used furniture store here in Estes Park, where I found a small 1940's vanity for $25. It looked similar to this one. . .

I bought the vanity, took it home and stored it in the barn. While we were moving things around in the barn a couple of weeks ago, we came across my find. I knew I had to do something with it, so I asked Dennis to help me take it apart. He graciously obliged and I went to work. First I lightly sanded the pieces. Then I mixed up some colors from the miscellaneous leftover paint we have, ending up with a pretty close match to the buttercream and pink in our bedspread. Several coats of paint later, my nightstands were ready for their new home. Since there's no room for a nightstand on Dennis's side of the bed, I placed both nightstands next to each other on my side. Each one is only 12" wide, so there was plenty of room. I think they turned out pretty cute, and I like the extra drawer space I have now. . .

The Plein Air Rockies 2011 event has begun and Dennis is once again participating. I can't wait to see what he paints this year.

"Let every skillful man among you come, and make all that the LORD has commanded" Ex 35:10

Nancy

Homestead Vision

Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. -- Jonathan Swift

We moved out of our apartment April 30th and are now staying in our friends' condo until our house is habitable. We're very appreciative of their hospitality and the view from their deck. . .

Finally, warm weather has arrived. Dennis took me to one of my favorite breakfast places for Mother's Day, the Meadow Mt Cafe in Allenspark. . .

Meadow Mt Cafe, the inspiration for the cafe in my novel, is a true neighborhood gathering place, where the patrons help serve coffee when the place gets busy. The food is great and the atmosphere is pure mountain rustic. 


My son called me in the afternoon for a nice, long chat, which made my Mother's Day perfect.


Work on our homestead continues. Although two weeks have passed since I last blogged about our home remodeling project, with all that's been going on in the world I doubt that anyone has really noticed. 


When last I posted, we had just demolished the bathroom walls. After that, Dennis took out the floor and began reframing. . . 

You can see the water heater in the back of the crawl space. More about that later.

We're holding off on the inspection and subsequent drywalling until we have more work done.


We've hired our friend Will to help us with the project. He climbed up on the roof and took down the useless chimney. . .

and helped Dennis frame and put down a new floor in the bathroom. . .

remove the north mudroom wall. . .

and put a new floor over the stairwell. . .

The stairwell leads to a very tiny basement that houses the water heater. We decided we needed storage space on the ground floor more than we needed a teeny basement, so we're eliminating the stairwell. Our new washer and dryer will be stacked on the left side in the photo, with a closet on the right. A small aisle will separate the two spaces. 


Today the plumbers are cutting the concrete wall between the crawl space and the basement to provide access to the water heater.


I cleaned the ceiling and painted the accent wall in the living room. . .

The color, Benjamin Moore Sedona Clay, reminds me of some of the red rocks I see between here and the front range. 


Most days we leave our homestead exhausted, but the vision of our completed home, along with a good night's rest, keeps our spirits up.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. -- Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) 

Nancy

We're Floored!

All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them. -- Erma Bombeck

One thing's for sure, there will be no white carpet in our new home. In fact, there will be no carpet at all; just area rugs here and there. Our floor guy finished the refinishing on Wednesday. After he started working on the wood, he discovered it's not fir after all. It's all southern yellow pine, also known as heart pine, which according to him is a rare find here in Estes Park. I'm pretty happy with the way the floors turned out . . .

His team finished up on Wednesday, and on Thursday we placed Ram Board over the floors to protect them during the rest of the remodeling. . .

Ram Board is a heavy duty non-corrugated breathable fiber that allows the flooring to cure while protected. It took us about four hours to roll it out and tape it down over the three rooms: kitchen, living room/dining room and bedroom. It's worth the effort, though, when we consider the expense of refinishing the floors. And it's reusable.


Notice the ugly paneling? I'll start painting it this week. I'm looking forward to covering up those very unattractive walls.

A big snowstorm came through Wednesday night, with snow continuing through most of Thursday morning. I took this photo from the north window of our living room. . .

I love the way the snow covered the pines and the corral. It was beautiful. And the best thing about living here when it snows like this, is that within a day or two it's mostly gone. I snapped this photo yesterday (Saturday) of an elk in our yard. . .

We're waiting for the electrician to place the outlets in the kitchen, then Dennis will cover the walls and ceiling with drywall. That should happen sometime next week. 


In the meantime, he's begun the demo work on the porch. . .

Eventually this will accommodate a larger bathroom. 


I really appreciate my husband's hard work. The first meal I cook in our new kitchen is going to be whatever he wants.


But remember the root command: Love one another. (John 15:17 The Message)

Nancy

Our New Homestead

I have just dropped into the very place I have been seeking, but in everything it exceeds all my dreams -- Isabella Bird 

In my last post I mentioned that Dennis and I had purchased a home, and I promised photos and more information. Most of the images I'm posting were taken today, including the above photo of a primitive cupboard we found in the barn. You can bet this will show up in the house somewhere, after we get the piece cleaned up.

Allow me to introduce you to our new homestead. . .

(Don't be fooled by this photo, taken in January. There is no snow on the ground today. We're enjoying 60 degree weather under sunny skies.)


Dennis and I have debated whether this little house is a cottage or a cabin.  Webster defines cottage as "a usually small frame one-family house", and cabin as "a small one-story dwelling usually of simple construction". Hmmm, is it just me, or are these two definitions  remarkably similar? 


At any rate, the house, built in 1926, sits on 1/2 acre with nice mountain views. . .

and a 150 year-old log barn. . .

The barn came with all the trappings you see in the photo, adding to its charm.


The first thing we're going to tackle in the cottage/cabin is the kitchen. . .

Believe me, these before photos make the kitchen look a lot better than it actually is. In a few weeks I hope to be able to post after photos, with new cabinets, sink, faucet, countertops, paint, light fixtures. . .the works.


We'll be pulling up the carpet and vinyl, and refinishing the hardwood floors throughout the house. . .

Dining/Living Room. . .

Well, I've run out of patience with the slowww upload of photos tonight, so that's all I'm posting for now. 


Counting it all joy in our continuing mountain adventure. . .

Nancy