A Snowy Night in Chilton

We got socked with almost a foot of new snow last night.  Steve got home from work and spent a long time snowblowing... not just our house and long drive, but also the neighbors on each side of us.  To the north is an elderly gal in her 80's, spry and energetic, but Steve feels he can help a bit by doing her yard.  Then to the south is a nice lady who undergoing chemo, and can use a hand too.  Her family comes to help, but if Steve can clear the main parts of her yard, it helps a lot.


I went out and snapped a few shots before bedtime, trying to capture the softness, the quietness, the serene feeling of the flakes falling down.    The street was absent of any cars, and it was just like a
Winter Wonderland in a snow globe.

The snow has piled up on the front steps, and on the cedar hedges that line the porch.   I think we need to shovel those steps off before the post man comes to put mail in our little door slot, huh?

Yes, that is our poor motorhome, sitting out in the cold and snow.  It is shivering    We are planning to head south for a vacation soon, but in the meantime, it has to be patient and wait for us to load it up and head out.   Eerie light effect from the yard light I think... make a yellow glow.

I shot this facing south down our street.  Although it's a state highway route through town, it is posted to be slowed down to 25 mph.  The street was bare of traffic at 10 pm.  We heard a few plows through the night, and once in a while a car.  Otherwise all of the sounds were muffled by the snow... and later the winds kicked up and started blowing all the snow into bigger drifts overnight.

This morning Steve got up early to do battle with the drifts.  The plows were out and the salting of the roads brought it down to bare wet pavement.  The temps will be in the high 20's today so it shouldn't freeze over.  Here is my guy, doing his thing.   Then he has to go to the park and plow and snowblow and shovel all day long today!

You can see a tiny corner of the "mansion" across the street from us.  It takes up half a block.  It's for sale:   Chilton mansion for sale   Wanna be my neighbor?  It's only 6,000 sq feet! 

Oh well, I like my "little mansion" instead.  We have done some more things to make it feel like home.  2 weeks ago, I attended an estate sale in a closed art gallery down the road.  You had to go an hour and a half early to sign up to be let in by number.  I went primarily to get a box of weaving supplies and shuttles that I saw in the preview photos the estate company posted on Flicker. Once I got let in the door (number 12 on the list)  I looked and looked all over for that box, asking the sales staff on both floors of the building to help me find it.  Finally, after an hour of searching, elbowing around other eager buyers...   one of the staff called the seller for me.  The out of town seller then informed the caller that she had pulled the box of weaving stuff in advance, deciding to keep it!   ARGGHHHHH

Another thing I was looking to purchase was a cute little wooden bench; the type you would see out in a potting shed or a back porch.  It was paint splattered and cute, and I was thinking of it for setting plants on out back or setting my table loom on.  On my tablet, I showed the photo of it from the Flicker site to the same estate sale gal...   Turns out that too had been taken out of the sale in advance by the seller before she left town!   Oh my .. both things I had been specifically looking for were taken away by second thoughts of the seller.  Not fair~!

But, in the other goodies for sale, I found some great bargains.   Best of all was this rug!   It's a Karastan wool rug in immaculate condition.  Not a single wear mark or flaw.  It's like new!  I don't think the estate company had any idea what it was worth when they priced it as to it's value.  (I have found it for over $1,000 on the net)  I got it for.....  $35.   YES~!   $35 !!!!!

I wonder if the estate sellers thought it was a cheap polyester rug from a big box store?  Even then, if it was a cheap rug, even at $35 it was a good deal because it was so lush and thick.  The fringe is in perfect shape too. I am not even sure it had been walked on or even used.  LOL   But for a 5x7 knotted wool woven rug, it's a tremendous bargain!


Here are some of my other treasures.  The people selling out were art collectors and had gathered items from all over the world.  They had quite a bit of range of tastes as I dug through their estate sale.  The 2 story building that housed their gallery is going up for sale, and not only their household items but the gallery items were up for grabs.

(the silver forks are used to make sockknitting machine weight tools that I sell) 

When Steve got home from work, we went back before they closed to look at some framed artwork.  Most of it was priced out of our comfort range.  But I found a lovely wicker basket for storing my spinning supplies, and a stack of weaving art books.  Some are in the $50-75 range when purchased, and I got all the books for $2 each!   They had shelves and shelves of art books, some large coffee table sized books and many interesting topics.  I can only imagine the amount of money spent on them, as many looked brand new and not even cracked open.  $2 each was a bargain, and some folks were going out the door with armfuls.  I also found a few 100+ year old books that I might put on Ebay.  Steve didn't find much of anything he liked enough to buy.  There were some very elegant stained glass light fixtures, but nothing that would "fit" where he wanted them to go. 

I am curious to see who will buy that building and what they will put in it.  It had originally been a Masonic Temple, and later years was a community center and then an art gallery.  It's only a block away from us, so I will be watching and hoping something interesting will move in there.

Well, time to get a move on here... my coffee cup is empty and I think my boots and shovel are calling my name to clear those front steps!