Unwelcome Company

Went up to the house yesterday drop off some stuff and get the aerobed for the mission trip. Basement was fully airconditioned - haha. Middle level as warm, upstairs was HOT! But the lake and bedroom balcony were cool and pleasant. Brought back one surprise from the lake I hadn't planned on. One of the "Ashburnham Spiders". They are black, white, fuzzy, and have pincers at their mouth. It's bad enough they are on the porch screens, but this is the second time one has come home with me. What the heck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crawling on my arm, then on steering wheel as I drove. Good thing no one was around.

Meadow Lake

Front of House

Lake view of the house and porch.

On April 3, we bought a little piece of heaven. We're thinking of calling it Meadow Lodge - it's a cape on Stodge Meadow Lake in Ashburnham, MA. We were blessed to get this foreclosure at a good price and are working slowly to update it. We've taken our two kayaks up, and for Tom's birthday, he got a used rowboat. We'll keep you posted as we work on it. We have mallard ducks, Canada geese, Swedish blue ducks, fish including trout, and loons. Its a nice lake - not so big you get lost, but interesting. Lots to explore. See for yourself!

This is our dock, and there's a float that we will have out a ways to sunbathe on. This is an early spring picture. Now, in late June, with all the rain we've had, the water level is right up to the rock wall and steps. We have neighborhood dogs, which Maggie has met, and she LOVES going in the water. Hope you can come see it soon.

The first room we painted was the bathroom - free wallpaper from 'freecycle', left over paint, and curtains from Beth's room. We added color to the kitchen walls for now, and will add some stain to the cabinets to give it a fresh look until we decide to remodel. We are currently working on the two bedrooms upstairs. Beth and her boyfriend Kenny are painting her room while Tom and I work on ours. The upstairs has paneling. We've primed everything twice and are working on colors. We've begun taking up the rugs, and have bought a bamboo laminate floating floor to put down. I will have pictures soon of the progress. Our room has a balcony and overlooks the lake. Here's a picture of the master bedroom pre-work. Stay tuned for updates.

Master bedroom, before stripping wallpaper and priming paneling.