We moved into our new home in September. I started a new job in July, but we were unable to come east to look for a new home because of the pandemic worries. But in the end we found a nice house, built in the ‘60s, near enough to downtown Ridgefield and with enough new space for our multi-generational family. The house certainly needs some updating and we have begun the process. Notably we put up a fence around our large backyard more to keep the dog from roaming too far than to keep the wildlife out.
We’ve seen plenty of the latter in the few months we’ve been here with deer and some foxes and plenty of mostly-new-to-us birds at our feeders. The house is big for us, but allowed us to have a first floor bedroom suite for my wife’s folks, and plenty of room for guests and offices on the second floor. We found room for the product of my wine buying spree that followed the move, and added a pool table. Someday soon when life gets more normalish we’re ready to entertain.
Along with the garage the lower level includes about half of an unfinished basement. The previous owners had a rudimentary bench set up in a nook there back in the corner beyond the furnaces and oil tanks. that’s the space, about 200 square feet, that I’ve taken over for a small workshop. The plan was to keep the power tools to a minimum. But as you’ll see, I've already re-evaluated that plan as I felt hamstrung by the lack of some basics.
I started with some hand tools and other supplies I brought with me and have been adding as quickly as I felt I could in a thought out way. the budget is not unlimited, and it will be a process.
