Wallpaper, aye. We, to, are not removing-- painting over. (I know) it's a HUGE no-no, except in a house where 90% of the walls ARE paint over wallpaper.

In a house of that vintage, the paper is now part of what holds the house together-- as some folks find when they start removing, in a really old house-- ca. 1850's here maybe, we know for sure ca. 1880.

In those days this would have been the first farm in this valley, which is quite visible when arriving from a higher altitude and looking down the valley as it snakes-- you can easily see what was built first, and what sprang off from what else. It COULD be designated as a historic place, but then no one could change much of anything-- and so far all the owners and residents have voted for practicality. Us too.

Whatever-- the ground water on this property has been of variable quality since long before we arrived. Folks tell of a flood one year that poisoned the aquifer, and there are still consequences unfolding. "Just our turn for bottles," I tell myself as the fracking goes on all around us. Next county over survived it, in their "gas boom," and is still known nationally as "God's Country," meaning (in tourist-speak) unsullied and wild.

ALMOST as wild as the Native Americans whose land it was then, who melted, from here, up into the more-northern woods. Still, even now, almost as wild as the Undergound Railroad passengers found and took good advantage of, in its isolation and wildness, on the way to freer Canadia (tho I have been learning about Canadia and its founding-times racism of late).


In any event, the task at hand-- I am running out of pour-off bottles (have to drink up some cran juice for more). But I have established that my spring 2011 deadlift capacity is 50 pounds, one rep. Ouchies!

~Susan