Welcome to the Pitcher Family Web Site!

Here you'll learn all about us: our interests and hobbies, the people in our family,and more. We've even included a list of our favorite links to other sites.

On this Home page, the "doorway" to our site, We'll introduce ourselves and talk about our reasons for wanting a web site. We might put a picture of ourselves on this page...or just a picture that we especially like.

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We hope to update this page often with new photos.

What's New? We are just getting ready to begin a long overdue renovation project on our kitchen. Our home is 110 years old, and it has been beautifully cared for over the years by all the families who have lived in it. There comes a time every few years when even the best looking of us needs a little "restorative action", and that's the case here. I'll try to add pictures to this site as the project begins and progresses so you can see how we are coming along. I have to warn you though, that since we do almost all the work ourselves, we're SLOW! Bear with us to see the end results.

The Kitchen "Before". Date 6/29/00

July 3, 2000

Well, work has begun, and "it's a bad day at Blackrock". The wall paper stripped easily enough, but beneath it we found ANOTHER layer of wallpaper that we'd forgotten about. It had to be scraped off, of course, and what a job! Anyway that has been completed, and I've begun work on the cracks and dings in the walls and ceiling with plaster patch and a trowel. It's time consuming, but will be worth the effort once the new wallpaper is up and looking good.

We began work on the ceiling wallpaper today. We're using the highly embossed kind that resembles an old fashioned tin ceiling, and it's making quite a difference in the way the ceiling looks! Because the ceilings are almost 9 feet high, just getting the wallpaper in place is quite a chore, and past experience with this stuff lets us know that it s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s! Because of this we have to work on scaffolding and apply the wallpaper from the center out to either end. Not an easy task! Anyway, it's now half done and the completed part really looks neat.

Progress on the installation of the over-the-range microwave and range hood combination has not been so good however. Jim had a rough time getting the new supporting cabinet in place just as he wanted it, and now has just learned upon opening the microwave box that he is going to have to install a plug-in in the cabinet to hook up the unit. He knew, of course, that he would need an electrical source, but he thought that the unit would be direct wired, not plugged in. At any rate, the installation is on hold until he has more time to do the added work of installing the electrical outlet.

Meanwhile the house is a shambles!!! We can hardly move from room to room because everything is out of its usual place and in the middle of another room. Then there's the dirt!!! But I'm not going to go into that just now...

Here's another picture to let you see just how things are progressing.

Sunday, July 9

Finally, the ceiling paper is up! It has been a real bear but definitely worth the effort. As is normal, it got easier as each piece went up. (That's nature's way of fooling you into trying it again in another room in the near future.) At any rate we are happy with the results. Now we must wait for the sidewall paper to arrive.

There are several other projects that still must be completed before we paper the sidewalls. There are new wall recepticles to install, woodwork to renew, cabinets to repaint, a microwave/hood combo to install, and a small amout of plaster smoothing to be done. We just hope to get this all done in time for the Christmas holidays. Wish us luck!

August 1,2000

Jim's in Canada for a 10 day fly-in fishing trip so all work on the kitchen has ceased. I have plans to do a little clean-up work on the wall in preparation for his return and our return to this fix up project. There are too many summer trips and activities that are getting in our way. We can't seem to find 2 days in a row to concentrate on getting something done here.

The range hood/microwave combination is up, BUT I've discovered that it is too high above the range to be really useable. Jim will be just delighted to find upon his return home that he is going to have to build another cabinet from which to suspend the unit . There's no way to get around it, however. It has to be done. Ever onward...



FEBRUARY 2002

The kitchen was completed before Christmas as we had hoped and we are very happy with the end results. We had problems with the refrigerator icemaker after we moved it back into place...something to do with a bent piece of tubing...no doubt done sometime in the moving process. Anyway, after 6 or 7 visits by the Sears repairman, it is functioning again. The new microwave Jim installed over the range was also recalled by the manufacturer due to a defect that could cause it to catch fire. The manufacturer repaired it in due time, and now everything seems to be working as it should be. You would think that we would be happy with our new kitchen and sit back and relax for a while, wouldn't you? Well, no.......

Our next project is the dining room. This room was paneled by the previous owners, as was the living room and stairway. The time has come to take the paneling out and see what lies behind it. I know there's lathe and plaster, but I'm not sure of the condition of the walls. The ceiling has also been lowered by at least a foot, we will have to make a decision on whether to raise them back up to the original height or leave it where it currently is and re-do it. No doubt it will be another long drawn out process, and I dread the mess again. We do have a vacation coming up in a couple of weeks, so the actual work will probably not begin until after we've returned. I think we'd better rest up while we can.

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