A New Place

We’ve moved.
Off the hill, onto the next chapter in our life.

It is one of the reasons that I haven’t updated this blog in quite some time. I simply haven’t been in front of a computer. Me. Can you imagine?

The past several weeks have been spent in a world of boxes and questions about where to put things. As moves go, it was about as easy as one could hope for. That said, they always suck.

I also have no DSL at the moment, which is killing me. I was able to get the satellite up and running, rewire some telephone lines to the office, and get the theater set up. These things make me feel more in touch, however, with no internet, I am truly lost. I wonder what my email will be like when I finally get back on it?


The Crawl Space

This new house has a crawl space that goes under the entire house. I was pleased to find this because it meant that running cables and wires would be easier. Squatting at the entrance though, with my halogen light shining into the depths, I was reminded that I really don’t like spelunking, or caving – whichever word you like - and this was going to be pretty similar – approximately three feet of height to crawl around in, extremely powdery dirt floor, and the remains of thousands of spiders hanging above. After about ten minutes of staring at this, psyching myself up and trying to figure out the best way to find an audio cable I had dropped through the living room floor, somewhere down here - I started in. Even though the temperature was cool, it still got hot fast. As I crawled deeper into the space, the three foot height became two, and criss-crossing pipes caused me to have to figure a route out. I pulled myself along on my stomach at some points, hoping I wouldn’t have to back out. Without much problem though, I did find the wire I had run through the wood floor above me. The modern cable was easy to spot in this otherwise dusty world. Then, as I swung the light around to go back, something caught my eye. An area of the crawl space about twelve feet away seemed to be walled with old packing crate wood. I pulled myself toward it with the work-light and as I neared, saw the dirt ground drop off into what looked like an old cellar. With the bright work light casting harsh shadows, and my face being only two feet from the ground, I couldn’t see the floor of the old room, so I had no idea whether it was two feet or ten feet deep. Several old cast iron water pipes prevented me from getting any closer, but I figured that with a different route, I could get there. Having inhaled dirt for about twenty minutes, I was getting in desperate need of fresh air, so I turned toward the distant entrance. As I swung the light away, I caught a glimpse of one of the inner walls of the ancient cellar. Hanging from them were several art deco paintings - women, in ethereal settings, wearing little clothes.

I crawled back to the entrance and sunlight and was very happy to stand up and stretch my back.

Later, I told Marianne about the mysterious room I had discovered underground, and immediately she wanted to see it. Moments later, we left the sunny day, entering the crawl space entrance and the dusty underbelly of the house.

We edged toward the area and figured out a route that would not be blocked by pipes. The bottom of the cellar slowly became visible as I got closer with the light, and finally I was able to see that it was about five feet deep. I crawled over the edge and jumped down. Marianne followed. In the cellar, we were able to stand with no problem, and thus were able to examine it at leisure. It was not large, maybe ten feet across. An old wooden staircase led up to where the office now was. A light switch was mounted to a beam and the old wire led to a fixture hanging from the ceiling, complete with an old bulb. And the pictures -- It was now possible to look at them closely. When touching them, it was plain to see how old and fragile they were. The coolness of the ground had preserved them, but they were still ready to turn to dust.
Some had fallen from the wall to the floor, which we gingerly picked up. After studying the space for a while, the dusty air started to get to us. We climbed up the ledge and then began the crawl back, following the extension cable as our return path to fresh air and sunlight.

With us, came the pictures that had fallen to the floor. We left the rest below for someone in the future to discover. I think we’re going to frame them. It’ll make for fun conversation. In the meantime – here they are.






































It is interesting. Even though this house is new on the surface – recently redone, it has already exhibited a more interesting past then the one in which we made a ghost story.

Sometime, I’ll tell you the story of the devil-dog statue I found when I was in high school.

Now, I must unpack some more boxes, or perhaps try to clear some more brush out of the backyard.