Steve Rossi

01/30/05

Well, plans changed again. It was brought to my attention that if I replace the ceiling of the kitchen before removing the walls I'll be left with a gap between the kitchen and living room ceilings. So, with that in mind, I started taking out walls. I started with the hall that is going to become part of the living room, had to take out yet another false ceiling. Found out what I suspected, that the cedar closet is nothing more than a box built into what was part of the dining room. Also discovered this wallpaper was on the dining room walls (picture on the right). Beautiful stuff, think I'll try to match it and do the whole dining room with it. Nah, maybe not. Anyways, these walls are all added in after the house was built, so there's no worries about them being structural, but I'm still going to get into the attic before I take out the wall between the kitchen and living room just to make sure that one isn't structural either. Way too much fun.....

01/29/05

Math problems for Lisa.....

01/27/05 Supplemental some more :

Taking a break from ripping down the ceiling. Got that 1' lip over the sink taken down. The layers (and layers) of wallpaper just peeled off the wood. Counted them. Ten. 10 layers of wallpaper, and that's on the newer part, there's more on the older part behind that. The lip over the sink created a 1' x 1'-6" box the length of the wall. It was filled with really dry and brittle wall paper that was peeling off the wall, dust bunnies and cobwebs. Good reason I started this mess #2 : fire just waiting to happen. (#1 is the black mold on the ceiling that it'll be good to get rid of.)

Well, time to get back to the mess. Remove a little more of the plaster and then clean it up so I can at least make coffee in the morning....... Anyone want to come over Saturday and help me rip down the lathe and insulation?

01/27/05 Supplemental :

Got some news from our e-mail service, we've all been upgraded to 25 MB of storage on our accounts, at no extra cost. There's also some information on anti-virus protection, some sort of folder manipulator called IMAP, and you can even get 750 MB of storage for $25 a year. If you're interested in the details, just click HERE.

Danny got a letter the other day that he say's should be filed in the "When Pigs Fly" file. You decide.

Jan 20, 2005

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing you regarding a property that you own in Duchesne County, Utah. I am interested in buying remote property in this area. I am currently paying between $40 and $125 per acre for acreage in this area.

Please consider this offer. If you are interested please contact me by email, phone, fax or mail as soon as possible.

Sincerely, blah blah blah

Since we paid $400 an acre for the land, and we wouldn't even sell it for the $900 or so that Don just down the hill sold his for, it's not very likely to happen for even the $125 he's offering.

01/26/05

For those who don't get around to reading the Guestbook, I got this today from Donald Giumetti of the East Coast Clan :

Hello all you ROSSIS west of the Mississippi river. I want to wish all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Everyone here is fine and healthy. Donnie got married in Nov.2003, two weeks before his 40th b-day. They are expecting an addition to our family this July. Susan got married on MAY1/04. She married an Irishman from the old sod. He has lived in the states the past eleven years. He became an American citizen 7/03. Eric has two children 9 & 7(still married) Ha Ha. Nana Grace is still going strong. She will be 97 this Sept. Those Rossis are very tough. Hope all is well with everyone. Keep up the good work with the web site Steve.

Donald

And again, thanks for all the nice comments about my site, it's nice to know that people are checking it out and like it. I love working on it, keeping it going, but it's always nice to also find out that people out there are using and enjoying it. Thanks.

01/24/05

Did you know? The Great Salt Lake has an average depth of only 13 feet, and at it's deepest is only 34 feet deep? I didn't know until Fox 13 news told me this morning.

01/22/04

Got a CD of pictures from Alex, click HERE to check them out (includes some pictures of Danny's)

From: "Lisa Wolfe"

IT IS STILL SNOWING!!!!!!!!!

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We have had two days of lake effect snow, which is very unusual for Green Bay. The wind has to be coming from the northeast to bring us lake effect snow. Now a front has pushed in and we are getting more snow. When are you guys coming up for a visit?

From: Danny Rossi

Now I see why you didn't go into marketing....

Danny

From: "Lisa Wolfe"

Actually, I am being considered for a job with the Wisconsin Visitor’s Bureau. Do you think I will fit in?

From: "Steve Rossi"

Maybe if polar bears went on vacation.............

01/22/04 @ 2:08 AM MST.

The fun thing about working on a 100 year old house is that you never know what you're going to find. I knew that there was a false ceiling in the kitchen, and while uncovering the rest of the brick, decided today to take out the ceiling so that I could uncover the chimney all the way up. Hoo-boy, did I not know what I was asking for. First, I discovered some really nice wall paper (look to the left) that is God-only-knows how old. Unfortunately I also discovered some water damage and basic dry-rot going on in the real ceiling. In places closer to the outside wall the plaster was falling down, and was already resting on the false ceiling, leaving the lathe bare and rotted, with the insulation from the attic coming through in places. Fun stuff. After some serious depression and stress, Randall convinced me that the thing to do was to pull all the plaster and lathe down (which will bring the insulation with it) and replace it with some brand new plywood, sheet rock and insulation, and that we could probably do it in a day. The fact is that although I really hadn't planned on doing that much work, it probably should have been done a long time ago anyways, and it does give the kitchen a really nice open feeling (picture above left you can see how much more height removing the false ceiling gives the room.) And with the nicely painted walls and nice kitchen below the extra foot and a half and the messy ceiling, it gives the impression of being a sit-com stage kitchen........

01/17/04

Randall learned about the chimney that goes up the middle of my house, and had a great idea of revealing it in the kitchen, give it that rustic bare-brick look. So, I decided to check it out, picked a spot that was covered by a picture incase I didn't like it and decided to cover it up. Well, as you can see, I liked it and got the top part uncovered. It was a lot of fun, had almost an inch of plaster and wallboard to take off to get to the brick. But I like the way the brick looks and it will be terrific when I get it all cleaned up and sealed. The next step is going to be to take out the fake ceiling, and then replace the wall with bare beams, opening up the kitchen to the dining room. Ahhh, the work never stops....