The Dog Days of Summer

July and August at the Molette House were marked by extreme heat and thunderstorms, cotton growing in the field, repairs on basic systems, and exciting news on the furniture front! The days were so long and hot that we only ventured out in early mornings and late evenings. Watching the thunderstorms move in provided us with periodic entertainment and the ever-present hope of cooler temperatures. The fields and woods are beautiful in the summer, but to be honest it is probably our least favorite season at the house because it is almost unbearable. It doesn’t help that we have no shade to speak of, and none forthcoming in the foreseeable future. We have plans to plant trees in the future, but as the saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. Of course, the second-best time to plant a tree is today. 😊 It didn’t help that one of our two air conditioning units broke, and we had to order a part for repair, which took a couple of weeks. One unit was able to cool the house, but it was touch and go at times. Bain got the fields planted with cotton, and we loved sitting on the porch in the late evenings and looking out over the green fields. About twilight every night we were visited by a distant wanderer in the form of the planet Venus, which was by far the brightest object in the sky every night. In addition to the air conditioning repairs, we had major plumbing problems and we were lucky to get Jabo the plumber to be able to bring out a remote camera and figure out the issue. Everything is working perfectly now. One disappointment was that we lost our new-found friends, the purple martins. One day we had hundreds living in the house David put up and the nearby trees, and then one day they left and never came back! We are not sure why, but we will try again next year to be more accommodating as hosts for them. Our contractor and neighbor Tripp did a phenomenal job restoring the pump house for us, after it was ruined by a busted pipe in the winter. He installed plywood with decorative molding, a new door, and painted everything. Even though it was a pain, it looks better than it did originally! We got some exciting news from our furniture maker, Marty Weck, on the restoration of the original Molette bed, which Eleanor’s cousin Betsy was so gracious to let us have. The original posts were in great shape, as were side rails. However, the tester was missing, and the headboard did not appear to be original. Also, we wanted to convert the bed to a queen size, to make it more comfortable. We showed Marty pictures of beds we liked from the 1830s and he did a phenomenal job renovating the bed and adding the missing pieces. He used all mahogany, and many elements had to be carved by hand, such as the headboard. When went to see the bed for the first time, we were stunned at how well it turned out! It far exceeded our highest expectations. It looks so grand now, that we hope it doesn’t make our other furniture pale in comparison. 😊 All that is left on the bed now is for the bare wood to be stained and finished, and it is good to go. Lastly, Eleanor’s cousin Will was able to get a large section of the main driveway re-graveled with crusher run, and it looks amazing. Instead of swerving and dodging pot holes, we now sail down the driveway as if we were in downtown Orrville itself! Our total focus right now is getting everything we can finished for the Selma Pilgrimage, which the house will be on and open to the public on March 15th. We’d love to see as many of you there as are able to make the trek!