Yes...looks much the same too! Nice work Brian...my stomach was perfectly happy until I seen the pic of those rolls and cookies! Now I'm all and ready to I think the wife is making blueberry pancakes and BACON! for dinner...and I almost can't wait now!
Yes, they checked it when they installed top sealing chimney dampers at the top of each chimney. I had to go upstairs to the bedroom directly above this stove to open the chimney damper from inside the fireplace in that bedroom. The fireplace and this stove share a flue. Wouldn’t be up to code now but the place was built in the 1890s.
My antique stove restoration days (i.e., fun) are now over at the community. I’m now essentially a bookkeeper/ accountant in the office, reconciling spreadsheets for software manipulation prior to taxes. I’m anxious about returning to a desk job. Sedentary work plus my bad genes is part of what contributed to my health troubles in the first place. Gotta figure out how to get exercise when I have no time (need 10-12 hours sleep a day already from the strokes) or place (too COLD outside!) to do so. This is my first ever dual screen work station though, never had a need for one, and a lot different working environment than my previous one. The antique cook stove is all covered up and taped off till renovations are completed this summer.
I’ve continued to work as a volunteer with this ministry in western Massachusetts. I’m mostly working in their offices with writing projects. Unfortunately the state of Massachusetts has tied up our renovations at the old country manor to the point they’re a full year behind schedule; instead of opening this past summer, it won’t be completed till next summer. Until then the cook stove I restored is simply sitting idle under a tarp. Since I’m a volunteer I scheduled a 9 week sabbatical for September 5 through November 10 to drive out to California to visit my oldest son, who is in an abbey in Southern California studying to be a priest. I picked up a 2005 awd GMC Safari cargo van with 88,000 original miles on it, and built it to travel and camp in on the trip. I insulated it, put 6” shiplap pine on the walls and ceiling and indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor. I built a little kitchenette with a 12v fridge, sink, 5 gallon water jug with manual pump, and a camp stove. I put a camp cot along the wall and installed a 150w solar panel on the roof with a lithium battery and usb, 12v and 110v power outlets with 1500w constant/3000w peak output so I had off grid electric supply for the trip. Along the way out and back I visited numerous parks and Catholic shrines, basilicas, and cathedrals. I’m at my last destination, Acadia National Park in Maine and I’ll be back home to Massachusetts on Sunday. I will have driven 12,500 miles on this trip by then, and passed through 29 states. I went out Interstate 40 through Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas, turned north towards Colorado at Albuquerque NM, traveled up to Denver, took Route 70 along the Colorado River gorge to Utah, visited the major national parks there, then the Grand Canyon, and on out to Southern California. I spent a week there, then drove north and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, then took the Pacific Coast Highway north till I had to turn inland to get to Humbolt State Park in northwest California to see the giant redwoods. I visited a friend in Portland then started back east on Interstate 90. I left Massachusetts on September 5 and visited Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad (steam engine narrow gauge train), Colorado Pikes Peak, Colorado Garden of the Gods, Colorado Arches National Park, Utah Canyonlands National Park, Utah Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah Zion National Park, Utah North and South Rims, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (and took an airplane tour of it!) Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, California Sequoia National Park, California Yosemite National Park, California Humbolt State Park Avenue of the Giants (giant redwoods), California Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Devils Tower National Park, Wyoming Mount Rushmore, South Dakota Acadia National Park, Maine It’s been an awesome adventure! When I get back to Massachusetts, I’m packing up my belongings and moving to Strasburg Virginia. A good friend and I are going to start a wood shop there. He still works full time and can only work in his spare time, and I still can’t work an 8 hour day due to chronic post stroke fatigue, but we’re going to start a business making simple inexpensive hand made pine wood caskets. We’ll support the business making some well designed and assembled chicken coops (believe it or not, there’s a demand for them) and work into developing the casket business.
Holy moly! You've had quite the adventure! That is awesome man! I hope you took some pictures! I'm glad I asked for an update. That sounds like an incredible couple of weeks you had!
Sorry the pics didnt load right away when I was reading the post...... On another note, how are you feeling? I would think that trip was good for the soul which in turn makes it good for the body IMO.
It’s been a quintessential bucket list adventure and I guess I’ve taken over a thousand photos. I got a new iPhone XR (10) before I left, and the photos it takes are just phenomenal!
That is great! I hope when you get settled back in to things you will start a thread about your trip. Those photos are fantastic! I especially like the one of the van with the rock face in the background.
I just added them to the post. This trip was incredibly beneficial for my psyche and my soul. I’ve been talking to this friend about making hand made caskets for ten years at least, but we figured it was fun to talk about but would never happen. I’m on the east coast and he’s always lived in San Diego. But he finally got fed up with California and moved his family to Virginia, and got a little inheritance that allowed him to put an offer on a house today with 5 acres and a huge garage where we can build the workshop. I always wanted to retire and do woodwork and it’s actually going to happen! They accepted his offer. I’m going to pick up a 30’ camper trailer and live on his property.
That was in a national park campground in Moab Utah, between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, on the Colorado River. It was a relatively “primitive” campground. This was the restroom:
You're amazing BrianK , what an adventure and talk about living life to the fullest! I have no doubt your casket business will be successful and know too well chicken coops are a big deal, atleast in suburban and semi rural areas here and Colo. Sounds like a wonderful plan
Congrats man! That is great! I hope it all works out for you. Dont take this the wrong way but I hope I dont do business with you anytime soon haha. Unless it is on the chicken coops side of things....
He’s a letter carrier. He was building chicken coops in his garage in his spare time San Diego and couldn’t keep up with the demand. Folks he’s met in northwest Virginia where we’ll be living told him there’s an even greater demand for decent chicken coops out here than what there was in California.
Wonderful, sounds like a recipe for success between the two Brian! I'm interested in the casket business too. Between your experience and the Hoarders here there is a nitch market in there at some point. How far is VA from your home and your brother's?
Fortunately it’s only about 2 hours from my brother TurboDiesel in west central PA, and about the same to my sister’s (where my mom now lives) near Harrisburg PA. I’ve always loved Pennsylvania and never wanted to live anywhere else. But my son went to college in Front Royal VA, only about 15 minutes from this property in Strasburg. This is the Shenandoah River valley and the beginning of Sky Line Drive, a beautiful part of Virginia. When my son was in college, I said to myself, “Yeah, I could easily live here.”
Thanks for the update on your adventures! Virginia sounds like a good move for you. Warmer in the winter, too! Good luck with your new business.
