Colonnade, China or Book Shelf? (pics)

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Roto Rooter Rescue

(See previous entry) My husband came home this evening and called Rotor Rooter and they came out in just a couple of hours. They kept us informed on their progress to our house with two different phone calls. That was nice as we could do other things and not just be on the look out for them to arrive.

From the sound of things, we weren't the only ones having this problem with the basement drain today.

The water is all gone but I'll still have the cleanup tomorrow. I'll probably be throwing out the area rugs we had down there. I'd just as soon have exposed cement anyways. It would be easier to keep clean. Plus the rugs were a lint trap near the dryer and hair magnet from our lounging cats.

Even though it costs a lot to have these guys come out, I can't imagine having to have to auger the drains ourselves even if we had the equipment. Yuk!

The Black Lagoon

We haven't been home from our vacation for 2 days and something goes wrong in the house. I'm was getting all the laundry done from our trip and was just greeted with black water standing in part of our basement. The basement drain isn't working. In fact, I can pretty much swear the water was coming up from the drain....and from the bottom of an old toilet that hasn't been used in 7 years.

At first I thought the toilet was leaking along the bottom. I tried to turn off the water and couldn't budge the faucet. I took a vice grips to it and managed to turn it slightly. Either it is already off or it is permanently fused from non use. But there is no water in the inside of the bowl of the toilet so that means it is coming from under the ground and backing up out of the bottom of the toilet and floor drain.

It is black, like ink, and on the edge is movement. I looked closer and saw little worm-like things moving. Maggots? I can't smell anything, thank goodness, because I'm so miserably sick with a bad cold. I've been complaining about my cold but now I think my cold is a blessing!

I just phoned my husband at work to give him the news. I guess it could have been worse and happened while we were gone. At least I can move things to higher ground as the water is rising. Or I could have come home to a copper caper like what happened to my sister's house in Pittsburgh. Someone broke in (destroyed 2 antique doors to do it) and stripped all the copper pipes and even the water meter out of her house and left the water gushing into the basement. Luckily, her floor drain worked.

Please Make It Stop! (pic)

We complain if it doesn't snow (global warming!!) and then we complain when it does, oh, that's global warming, too?

My husband came home in what I call a "blizzard". I wasn't raised in these parts (California girl) so every time
a little snow falls I think I need to stay in the house. He looked
outside and my dear husband, born and raised here in Erie, asked if I
wanted to take a nighttime walk in the snow (blizzard).

Oh, this brought back a fond memory of a midnight blizzard walk when we
lived, for a short time, in the Chicago area (Crystal Lake). It was so
cold that night (about zero degrees) that the moisture in the air froze
into bright little crystals and night had turned bright like day with
twinkling stardust everywhere. I took that walk so bundled up it was
hard to move. The moisture of my breath froze on my neck scarf that was
covering my face.

It was no where near that cold tonight but it
was extra bright out for being so late. The snow was piling up fast. It
was nice to bundle up and feel the cold snow hit my face and cause
frostbite. Really, it was fun and I got my fingers out of my gloves long
enough to snap this photo. Actually, it really was much snowier and
deeper than the picture portrays. Pictures lie with fish size and snow
depth. :-)

The Tiffany Exhibit at Carnegie Was Fabulous

Last Saturday (Jan 13th) my husband treated me to a day in Pittsburgh to visit the Tiffany Gallery that ran through last Monday at the Carnegie Museum of Art. I was so impressed with the color. The depth of color of the glass just takes your breath away. Printed pictures just can not capture it. There were paintings by Louis Comfort Tiffany, too. I didn't know he was such a good painter. The jewelry, glass and metal work was so beautiful. He definetly had good taste and demanded quality. There was a large floor lamp that looked like an outdoor light post with the most beautiful metal and glass work on it. You should really go and see his work if the exhibit comes to a museum near you.

At Carnegie they still have some of the Tiffany desk sets there until April 29th. Also in the museum was Rembrandt's etchings through Feb 11th. You can see the schedule at the above link. What a great day trip it is.

You could take pictures in the other parts of the museum if you didn't use it for the internet or to be published, but they didn't let you take pictures in the gallery where the Tiffany exhibit was. I'm glad I asked before I whipped my camera out. There was security everywhere. It would have ruined my day to be strong-armed out of there.

Is Your Old Erie Home a Sears Kit Home?

Is your old Erie, PA area home a Sears Kit home? If it is, I'd like to feature it on my blog. Email me pictures at thisolderiehouse@verizon.net if you'd like to share your pictures.

How do you know if you have a Sears Kit home? If your house was built between 1908 and 1940 you can go to this link Sears Kit Homes and check the pictures and the floor plans.

Remember, often there were later additions, remodels or porch enclosures done to a home. Sometimes the architectural features like the brackets on the eves are taken off and the eves boxed in so your house may not look exactly like the pictures. Sometimes it takes an expert to tell (and there are a few actual experts out there that do travel around the US verifying Sears Kit homes.) But for our purposes, if your house has most of the features for a particular model, please email me some pictures of your house and I'll feature them.

If you can't find your house in the Sears Kit catalogue, try this link for homes from 1908 to 1954 Aladdin Kit Homes. I'd like to feature those, too.