Did You Know?

The average hen lays 260 eggs per year! That would leave us with 780 eggs with our three ladies - that's alot of omelets! This adorable Farm Anatomy Dishtowel also came with a cute cheat sheet on a fresh vs. old egg. Helpful when you have a refrigerator bursting with them!
*Thanks M&D for the present*

Light!

The pendant lights are installed and functioning!

This project was the first one inside 765 that required serious commitment. Paint can always be changed, but we cut a whole in the ceiling here. Those things weren't moving once that happened. Of course this is all thanks to Travis who did the real work, including spending more time than he wanted in the attic and putting his nail gun to work. 765 is lucky to have such a handyman.
The lights hang perfectly over the dining table, giving us a well lit evening meal or just a smidge of light while watching TV, thanks to the dimmer switch! Another added bonus of the project? The brass lamp that's been hanging around since we moved in can go into hiding until it finds a new home!

 

Lights: Installing

Our pendant lights I found while market hunting finally arrived, so we got busy installing them while master electrician Uncle Dennis was in town. Of course, in an old house nothing actually goes that smoothly, so a few trips to Home Depot have since ensued. We've got the three foot extender for the drill and hole in the wall for the switch - you know what we'll be doing this weekend!

Vintage Botanical Prints

The landscape architect in me has always had a soft spot for botanical prints. Then last week Curbly posted about free vintage botanical prints that could be downloaded. Does it get any better? It does: A free vintage botanical print of an orange tree. I immediately downloaded and ordered a 12"x18" print that I'm anxiously awaiting arrival in the mail. Our big bathroom has an empty nail that's been waiting for something to hang from it. Done and done!

A Souvenir

I don't generally buy the classic souvenir when I'm traveling, but I like to pick up something as a reminder of the trip that I can regularly use. I still covet my bright pink tweezers from Paris and fear traveling with them at the thought of losing them in luggage.
Our trek from Las Vegas to Idaho, and back to Vegas was a great two weeks and I needed something to remember it by, when I stumbled upon this quirky Hoola Hooping plate from Anthropologie. The perfect momento to remember a hoola hoop contest won and a great weekend with friends. It's sitting on the shelves near the sink and I laugh every time I look at it.

Market Hunting

One of the perks of my job is that while I'm off hunting for treasures for our store I'm also eyeing all of the perfect things for 765. Last round I scored two stools for the kitchen bar. This time I was on the search for pendant lights to hang over our dining table. (Because that brass lamp is still around) After days of sending photographs back to Travis I finally pulled the trigger and bought two of the globe pendant lights. But what that really means is a new project: electrical. 

And maybe next time around the other bottom light will be purchased for the shed!

Man Cave

It was undeniable that the shed would become the Man Cave once it was rebuilt. It's where the men automatically retreat to when they are at 765, where Travis' organizational skills shine, and where ladies can be kicked out. (Even my mom.) To commemorate his space I had the '765 Man Cave' bottle opener made for his birthday from here. It doesn't get much more official than that.

Paper

Can you believe it has now been over a year that we've been married? Time flies! I liked the idea of making our anniversary gift something for 765 that we could have forever.  To follow with the traditional paper gift I found these typography maps of our home states from CAPow! on Etsy. Hung on our 'sides' of the bed, they make the room feel personalized and a little more complete.

Looking ahead to next year I'm already liking the potential for a home gift with cotton. Maybe some towels?

1,000 Words

Pictures are worth a thousand words - even more when it's a painting of your home. Travis and I couldn't think of a more perfect gift. It found a place on our wall immediately and I smile every time I walk by it.
Thank you Sam.

Bathrooms

We seem to have a continuous battle going on with our bathrooms. A leaky faucet, a clogged pipe, another leaky faucet and a stripped pipe. Not to mention the knob and tube wiring that gave up, leaving us with a desk lamp in the window sill to light our showers. But then again, that's why we bought this house. The floors just don't creek the same in new construction.

Our failed light in the back bathroom was replaced by a light and fan (thanks to Uncle D!) No more hot, stagnant air. The faucet leak has been fixed, even though Travis was told it would be a $300, wall-ripping-out repair. Luckily the guys at Lowes seem to know what they are doing and told him otherwise. Now all we need are some fancy new faucet handles, a new shower curtain rod and we will have won the battle with the back bathroom.... for now.

A Year in the Making

I don't think there could be a much more appropriate post for the beginning of Year Two at 765. Last year our first project post (here) included removing warped fan blades from our porch ceiling fan and a trip to the Habitat ReStore to buy new ones. Sadly the new ones didn't fit and we've spent the past year with a blade-less fan adorning our porch. Not too enjoyable on those stagnant Louisiana nights.

{out with the old}

...Until now!

Thanks to Dennis "the man who taught Travis everything he knows" Moore, we have a brand new, energy efficient ceiling fan. And can I tell you, when you are the main target for all mosquitoes within a 5-mile radius this fan is imperative for survival. Evenings on the porch can officially commence!

{in with the new}

Big thanks to Uncle D for the fan and preventing further mosquito scars... And of course thanks to Nic for helping install it!

1896 Fruit Jar

Since nobody was able to guess what exactly we found in our yard....

Our little piece of history found in the dirt is: the lid to an old fruit canning jar. It sounds like these jars are dating sometime between 1896 and 1908 when the Illinois Glass Company (or De Steiger Glass Co.) produced their last of that style. So, at the very youngest this lid is 103 years old! The advertisement says:

          "For ease in sealing and opening without wrench, its absolutely hermetic joint, durability 

           and elegance, this package has no peer. "

It's pretty crazy to think the dirt we just turned over has been hiding an object for over 100 years. If only we could dig a little deeper...

Moving Dirt, Finding History

There hasn't been much action at 765 as far as house projects go as of late. Any extra minute seems to be spent doing something for the wedding.This isn't much exception. A friend of ours that has a landscaping business happened to have a job on our street that included a dingo, a machine that turns ripping out grass from a day-long job to just a few minutes. Major score.

In place of grass? Flowers for the wedding. At least that's the plan, but for now we're waiting for a few days of no rain to lighten the load of the dirt.

{Cosmo wanted to help}

In the midst of tilling up the dirt and adding some good soil 'eagle eyes' spotted yet another historic treasure in the mound, but what it was exactly we were all stumped. After a bit of google research we found out not only what it, but also how old it really is. Before I post what the gem is I'm interested to see everybody else's guess is... (But please not cheating, googling or phoning-a-friend!)

{mystery object}

Living Room Lived In

Finally, an interior update!!

If you've had the opportunity to visit 765 you know that our living room is one long, big space. We've been lucky enough to have some gracious family members give us furniture to help fill this oversized space. But no matter how we organized it, the space always felt more like a furniture show room than a place to plop down and enjoy company.

{living room - before moving in - this is only half}

Our latest furniture addition however, changed that. Deborah and Mark gave us their old dining room table that was the perfect length to fit right in front of the fireplace. After the table was in place we started playing musical sofas until we found a layout that worked - for now at least. The long green room has now become a dining room and a living room with plenty of space for a dinner party or the monthly Spanish Town Beautification meetings.

{dining area}

{living area}

{chicken pillow}

We also had a chance to put our Anthropologie gift cards to work on some amazing deals. I scored a large area rug for in front of the couch and tv, (yes I said tv!!) along with a funky pillow that pays tribute to our late Gumbeaux and Pot Pie. Add in a few free house plants I got from work and it's really starting to get cozy! As always it's still a work in progress, but in the past two weeks we have used the green room more than we had in the past eight months, combined. I call that a success.


p.s. See the gold lamp in the before picture? If anyone is interested in it please let me know. I despise this lamp (it came with the house) and can't manage to sell it on craigslist. Anybody, anybody?

Random Little Things

Halloween night we had a very big event at 765. Travis carved his first pumpkin! With the pumpkin carving kit my mom sent us (thanks!) he finished it off in probably less than 10 minutes and made me, the one that carves religiously every year, look like the amateur. The pumpkins have spent the past week sitting happily on our porch and lasted this long with some help from the cold snap. Until Saturday. We came back from the LSU game (did you see the score?!?) in the early evening to find this guy sitting in the corner of the front yard as if he was staring at his buddy still on the porch. It gave us a puzzled chuckle and we've left it sitting there to see if it might venture somewhere else. That's Spanish Town for you.

{watching over 765}

I've mentioned it a bit in the past few blogs so I figured I'd show off what we see nearly every day: hatching butterflies. As caterpillars they covered our passion vine on the fence and have nearly devoured it to sticks. Now cocoons are gracing nearly any surface they can find and butterflies are popping out daily. Way more exciting than the butterfly box we kept in kindergarten.

{just hatched}

Check back soon (and I really do mean soon, because we FINALLY got internet!!!) for an interior update!

Gumbeaux

Last Sunday Travis and I hosted the monthly 'Spanish Town Supper Club' at 765. The hosts cook the main meal while all guests bring a side or dessert and something to drink. With the theme being "From Your Hand" it was obvious we would make the chickens a part of our meal. Saturday morning at around 6am Gumbeaux made his last "cock-a-doodle-doo".... For those of you that find this terribly gross and inhumane you might want to stop reading right now. (and add Food Inc. to your Netflix queue immediately)

{Gumbeaux}

While I was in the house preparing everything else Travis caught Gumbeaux and put his duck hunting skills to use. By the time I got outside most of the feathers were gone and nearly looked like a whole chicken you buy shrink wrapped at the grocery store. After plenty of cleaning and trimming he made it directly to the BBQ. Travis headed off to the neighbor's house to pick up Pot Pie. Same process again. 

{prepped and ready}

{getting there...}

An hour or two on the pit and it moved its way to the dutch oven for a day of cooking up as gumbo. When we tell people where the chicken in our gumbo came from most seem disgusted and saddened that we have 'eatten our pet'. Simply put, we named our 'pets' after food with a wholehearted intention of raising them for food and eggs. Not only do these chickens have an enjoyable life in our backyard, but they live off the food a chicken is supposed to live off. Not antibiotics, steroids or hormones in these two guys. And they lived to be the ripe old age they should for cooking, unlike a storebought chicken that is about that same size in just a few short weeks. If that isn't enough reason to know where your meat comes from I don't know what is.

{mmmmmmmmm}

With plenty still in the freezer this meal will be lasting us a while. Honey and Cosmo are happily pecking at the yard without a rooster constantly mounting them, laying eggs daily and learning to fend off a bounding puppy. Hopefully little chickies will be popping up in our yard sometime soon to add to our farm.

{Juju Bee says hello!}

A Bit of Press!

We made the newspaper!! The Advocate, the newspaper for Baton Rouge, periodically features articles on historic neighborhoods throughout the city and discusses their culture, community, and why they are so successful. Today's front page of the People section featured 'Spanish Town Thriving' with Travis and me on the front cover painting our orange door!  View the article with all of Mr. Moore's quotes, and be sure to check out the multimedia link to the left with all the pictures.


     "Moore, a landscape architect planner, is even getting married a block outside the neighborhood, at St. Joseph Cathedral. “We live, work and play downtown,” he said.

      "Moore loves the fact that he can walk or ride his bicycle to his downtown office. “We share a symbiotic  relationship with the state buildings and downtown,” he said. “I made a lifestyle choice not to sit in traffic 30 to 40 minutes a day.”

He has an edible garden and is raising chickens in his backyard.

“We trade with our neighbor — cucumbers for blackberries,” Moore said. “That’s the way a neighborhood should interact. Spanish Town is not some cookie-cutter development that tears up some tract of land. We’re investing in a home some 90 years old that has a lot of work to do. That’s right for the environment and the lifestyle that comes with it.”

 It does a wonderful job of explaining why we all love Spanish Town so much. Thanks to our neighbor and Advocate photographer Liz for coming by to take the pictures!

{Spanish Town residents! Photo by Liz Condo from the Advocate!}

In other news, we are loving everybody commenting on the blog and interacting with us as we document our projects. The other day we received two surprises in the mail: chalk and eraser for our chalkboard from Deb and Dwain, and a giftcard for Home Depot from Boppy and Reggie. THANK YOU!! We are preparing for our next big project and that card will surely come in handy! 

{We love the chalk!!}

Tropical Depression Bonnie passed over us last night. Our emptied rain tank gained 150 gallons and the thunder and lighting shook the house a bit in the early morning hours I'm told, but all in all it was fairly uneventful being that I was snoring away. Not that I want some huge storm, but hey, for someone that is used to earthquakes, these storms are new territory and kind of exciting. Maybe next time it could come by during they day so I could see it??

Added Color

Between the daily afternoon thunderstorms and the heat there haven't been too many large projects going on outside right now. We did however, get a chance to add a little bit of color to some spots around the house. I may not be able to paint that wood, but I will find a way to get some splashes of bright in the house. And for those of you that remember my bedroom third year of college, these color selections should come as no surprise.

Our shed door was barely covered in paint, and what little was still remaining would wipe off like chalk as we walked through it. A little coat on the door frame and we might be able to hold out on shed renovations for a bit longer?

{orange!}

The chalkboard window frame FINALLY got finished and hung! Sadly, I still haven't made it to the store to get some chalk to actually test it out. We'll get there....

{blue!}

And our eggplants got a little growth spurt  and have added some anticipation for meal cooking next week. Jackie, I bought everything to make your Eggplant Parmesan recipe!!

{purple!}

Just wait until I get to paint a room....

200 Gallons

The rain tank is up and running! And thanks to tropical storm Alex we got enough rain to load up our 200 gallon tank with about 150 gallons, even with the faucet being left open for the first 20 minutes of rain. It was more of a process than I expected, getting the stand strong enough to hold the weight of 200 gallons of water, level, and drained, and a couple trips to Home Depot for the right pipe fittings. Using some perforated drain pipe we picked up at Habitat ReSore, we trenched from the downspout the tank is attaching to all the way to the drain outlet along the side street to keep the extra water from the tank and roof from piling up under the house or turning the back yard into a mud pit. Of course the minute the trenches were dug an abnormally large storm came through and turned the yard into a slip & slide that left me flat on my butt, all in an effort to keep the chickens from getting soaked. (No pictures necessary of that) The trenches were filled back in with the concrete and brick walk that we broke up, instead of buying any new materials. We've still got some more work to go, but finally we have a big project completed! Now if only we could get that shed door painted...

{see, I do more than take pictures}

{the chickens approve - drain out to the street}

{trench}

{faucet attached... getting closer}

{complete.}

Now we'll see how long it will take us to pay off this thing. With a montly water bill of around $10 I think we've got a ways to go. 

On another note, we attempted The Wednesday Chef's latest post for roasted chicken with mustard  only with a slight variation by cooking it in the BBQ, because quite frankly turning on the gas stove in July is just miserable. It was DELICIOUS. Finished off with some chocolate chip cookies with a little something green hidden inside (nope, not what you think) and we were stuffed.

Let the inside projects begin.

Poor Blog

I know, I know. It's been way too long since the last post, but I promise we didn't forget about the blog. In the past few weeks we have been VERY busy, and the list just keeps on growing. Let's see if I can remember everything we've done:

• Planted a mini-garden with some of our vegetables.
• Got the front doorbell working.
• Backyard security light sensor is up and running. 
• Cleaned out the gutters only to find the concrete elbow completely packed with debris. Fixed just in time for a downpour.
• Finally received our very own recycling bin!!
• Raided the back shed with a bug bomb while we left for the weekend. We came home to a cemetery of roaches. (For someone that grew up where roaches were a sign of a restaurant that didn't pass its health inspection rather than just the southern humidity, the roaches HAD to go.) The mosquitoes somehow figured out how to survive :(
• Bought a rain tank! 
• Picked some tomatoes, blueberries, and peppers from our yard. Watched our oranges get a little bigger.
• Discovered it's about time to begin projects inside, as it's certainly not cooling down anytime soon.
• And.... we got CHICKENS!!!

Yes chickens. Little tweeting baby puff-balls that are beginning to look like real chickens now.  Two brown ladies and one black chick (named Cosmo, in honor of Kwaaammmiieee). They hang out in their coop while we are at work, then come flapping out to peck around in the yard until it gets dark, where they like to roost on the handrail to the backdoor. Pretty darn cute. Countdown begins until the Fall when we will hopefully have a daily dose of fresh eggs!!

{baby cheep}

{getting bigger}

{cheeeeepieeess}

The 200 gallon rain tank will hopefully be installed this weekend, raised and with a drain so we can get some pressure to water our plants and keep excess water from piling up under the foundation. Plus it couldn't hurt our water bill. 

{200 gallons of awesome-ness}

{veggie garden beginnings & the rest to come after the shed destruction}

All of our tomatoes seemed to ripen at the same time, so I ended up making a pizza with our garden prizes. And I have to say, the crust rivaled Trader Joe's herb crust pizza dough, it was THAT good.

{mmmmmmmmmm}

It is finally raining again downtown. I say that because it can easily be a torrential downpour at work 15 minutes away, and not a drop will fall at home, and because I have somehow gotten used to a daily afternoon rain, instead of SLO's 3 days/year. Time to watch the lightning over the river.