Tuesday, March 4, 2014

All Sanded/Geschmirgelt

While our "floor guy" was working hard on sanding the floors, we escaped the noise by attending our co-op classes.  Jonathan practiced bird identification with his class, Miriam and Veronika made some cute art projects (sorry, no pictures today), Flora learned about animals in the rain forest and, together with the other children,  fed me and the other teachers/helpers with plastic play food during free play time.  Charlotte and Jonathan learned about personal safety (for health) and continued with "Animal Farm."  Veronika and Miriam also had a nature class and dissected owl pellets.  They found that fascinating.  On our way back from co-op, Flora played hide-and-seek.

Während unser "Bodenmann" die Fußböden geschmirgelt hat, sind wir dem Krach entkommen, weil wir Co-Op Klassen hatten.  Jonathan hat etwas über Vogelbestimmung beigebracht, Miriam und Veronika haben schöne Kunstprojekte gemacht (habe vergessen, sie zu fotografieren), Flora hat etwas über Tiere im Regenwald gelernt und während des Freispiels mit ihren kleinen Freunden viel Plastikessen gekocht und mich und die anderen Damen, die diese Gruppe beaufsichtigen, gefüttert, und Jonathan und Charlotte haben etwas über persönliche Sicherheit (Teil der vorgeschriebenen "Gesundheitsklasse" für New York State) gelernt.  Ihre Lektüre von "Farm der Tiere" ist auch fortgeschritten.  Miriam und Veronika haben auch in einer anderen Klasse Eulengewölle untersucht und interessante Funde gemacht.  Auf unserem Rückweg hat Flora Verstecken gespielt.  



Back to the floors.  Sanding is a very noisy business, I think I have mentioned that already, so it must be loud.  We are happy when we can "withdraw" to our living-room/dining-room/study combo upstairs.  This is actually Peter's study (which he never uses) and my ironing room (which I do use occasionally when the pile gets too bad), but also a place for books and art, sewing and handwork supplies.  Our dining-room table barely fit and now it is very cozy indeed.  I am also doing my cooking up there.  I feel like these old American pioneer women that only had one room.

Nun wieder zu den Fußböden.  Das Schmirgeln ist, wie schon gesagt, sehr laut.  Dann sind wir froh, wenn wir unser Refugium aufsuchen.  Dieses Refugium ist unser Wohn-, Eß- und Lernzimmer im Moment.  Eigentlich ist es Peters Arbeitszimmer und mein Bügelzimmer.  Doch ist es sowieso mit Büchern vollgestellt und enthält auch noch einen großen Schrank mit Bastel- und Nähsachen.  Platz war da nie, doch jetzt ist es richtig kuschelig mit unserem Tisch dort oben.  Er paßte kaum, doch eine andere Möglichkeit gab es nicht.  Kochen muß ich auch dort.  Ich komme mir wie die ersten amerikanischen Pionierfrauen vor.  Die hatten auch oft nur ein Zimmer.  


But the floors are starting to look very nice indeed.  The "floor guy" is a wonderful person to talk to.  I have always thought that professional craftsmen are very interesting people, and he is no exception.  I love to ask them about their work and like to learn about it.  It is also a good way to learn new words in English, most of these words I don't know in German either, though, because I have never had the need to deal with plumbers, painters, floor finishers, etc. in detail.

Die Böden sehen aber wirklich schon gut aus.  Der "Bodenmann" ist ein sehr interessanter Mensch, und man kann sich gut mit ihm unterhalten.  Ich habe mich schon immer gern mit Handwerkern unterhalten.  Man kann eine ganze Menge von ihnen lernen.  Ich frage sie gerne nach ihrer Arbeit und erweitere so meinen Wortschatz.  Viele der neuen Wörter kenne ich auch gar nicht auf Deutsch, weil ich mich in Deutschland selten mit Handwerkern so intensiv beschäftigen mußte.  





7 comments:

  1. Ahhh!!! The floor is gorgeous! I am envious! Living in this apartment we have to have rugs to help stifle the sound for downstairs. Our rugs are so stained. It's dreadful. (In the first year or so Morgana dropped the salad bowl with balsamic vinegar dressing on it three times! Each time she did it I thought to myself, oh, she can't do that AGAIN. Ha! I think it actually happened four times.) When we first moved in, I priced a cork floor, but it was more expensive than the wool rug, and definitely more expensive than a synthetic rug. But I think it would have been a lot cleaner. I don't think we can use a rug cleaning machine on the wool rug we chose. At least we don't wear our shoes in the home, but it still gets dirty. I vacuum everyday. With two cats, a dog and four long haired people, it's necessary!

    It's good you were able to get away for a bit. It sounds like a very nice day! The pic of Flora is precious of course :) as is the pic of everyone working together with the tea kettle on the small stovetop at the end of the table. How fortunate you have that room. It looks very cozy.

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    1. I know all about apartments and rugs! In spite of carpets people complained about us when it was just Peter and me. We were so loud we were told. Later it turned out that there was a problem with the ceiling and they had to come in to repair our floor and the ceiling of the people beneath us. Dropping a salad bowl four times! That seems to be impossible. I think cork has gone down in price quite a bit. Our kitchen will get cork flooring, but it is also sealed, so it will be easy to clean. Thanks to Peter's parents we are able to have the floors done. When the "floor guy" ripped out the old carpet, there was almost a beach of sand and dirt underneath. It is hard to imagine how much dirt lives in a carpet or rug. Disgusting! I believe that you have to vacuum everyday. Maybe there are some wool carpet cleaning machines now? I have no idea. Our carpet was not a fancy one.

      The "study" is actually the warmest room in the house, which is nice right now. Only the windows are too small for us to really enjoy the room. I wish I could put in different ones.

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    2. So many house repairs we would really like to do with the proper finances and space to move to!!!

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  2. A gnome in the woods, pioneering for sure and those floors look just like ours did when they were first put in six years ago! They are now due a re sanding !!

    Xxxx

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    1. Yes, she must be a little elf or gnome. Are you planning in having your floors done any time soon?

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  3. Oooh! Gorgeous! Enjoy thoroughly!!! Also, Flora hide and seek looks so cute and fun-- great job catching her on camera! B

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    1. Thank you, Barbara. The floors turn out to be in good shape and do look lovely. I was lucky to catch her peeking around that tree. About an hour later she started to complain about her throat and has now a bad cold. The first one this winter.

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