Life living in historic Dublin, GA and the Capt Hardy Smith House

2014-02-12T16:02:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year...2014....It has been a rather unseasonably cold winter here in the Southeast particularly Dublin, GA. Living in an 140 year old house not built to withstand below normal winter temperatures for long stretches at a time makes living somewhat challenging. About two weeks ago, the temperatures got into the teens, causing our pipes to freeze then thaw and burst. John, my resident plumber, fixed the problem. Then about 5 days ago, a crack developed in one of the pipes. It burst too..Off to the home improvement store to get supplies to fix it. We lost pressure with the result of no water however we do have our well. We can always draw beautiful clean and crisp water from the well for our needs...

Nearly two weeks ago, Dublin barely escaped a crippling snow/ice storm that impacted the Atlanta and Macon metro areas. I was unable to travel to work for 3 straight days. Today, right now, Dublin, along with all of Georgia are in the cross hairs of a crippling ice storm. We still have power at the moment, however as the day progresses and as the cold rain changes over to freezing rain, we may have to revert to early 19th century living. The office where I work, is closed today and most likely will be closed tomorrow as the ice storm progresses, making travel nearly impossible if not dangerous. So today, we will be hunkering down and staying warm and dry.

I went back to the corporate work world over a year ago, so my blog entries have been few and far between. I have updated a smartphone scan link to my main page of my blog so you can view my blog on the fly. Check it out!

Please be sure to check out John's blog for the most recent updates since my full time job limits me to post timely events going on at the Hardy Smith House. John's blog and Hardy Smith House Facebook Page

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Progress update on ongoing projects at the Capt Hardy Smith house.

2013-08-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

Good Afternoon and welcome to my blog! It has been a VERY LONG TIME since my last entry. I went back to work full-time late last year. So time that I could devote to my blog has been very limited. John has gotten very busy with his 'day job' work. We don't see each other much except on weekends. It is a cool, rainy day here in Dublin today. John has kept up with progress of projects at the house than I can duplicate here. Be sure to check out John's blog by clicking here: John's blog

John finally, after nearly two years, completed my office upstairs, above his office. Check out the before and after photos of the room by checking out John's blog. The completed photos I have captured below. My laptop crashed earlier this year and I lost all of my Hardy Smith House photos. I am so incredibly fortunate to have my own office as beautiful as this. I wanted to keep the elements as traditional as possible. All rooms in the house have fireplaces. Two out of the three rooms upstairs are now complete.

The room adjoining my office will be converted into a bathroom/dressing room/closet for my clothes. To communicate, if he is in the root cellar working and I am up here in my office, we use walkie talkies. Very handy. I still need to add furniture, pictures, window treatments but a far cry from the storage room it once was. The mirror above the fireplace was donated to the house. The back dates it to September 10, 1927. My birthday is September 10th. The things on the fireplace mantel are 'pieces of my past' and present that I wanted to display. The colors of the room were chosen by me to have a light, airy, breezy feel since we both love the sea. The floor was in relatively good shape but the perfectionist that John is, spent many hours getting it to what it is now. We have mini blinds in all rooms in the front part of the house only at this time.

The chair in the last photo belonged to my family. I got it from my mom to display in my office. My dad loved this chair. Just having it in this room adds a beautiful touch. Notice the results of the wood floor. Reminds me a little of home in Indiana.

John has completed the floor restoration in the hallway downstairs. The root cellar has been converted into another 'Man Cave' for John. John is building root cellar wood doors for the windows using 100+ year old timbers that he had milled several months ago. He plans to use some of that wood to build me a office desk. John restored the screen doors to the front door and breezeway and are up now. Outside trim work in the breezeway area has been repaired, restored and painted. We have a sunflower garden in the back part of the house that is growing and doing well now. We lost one of our dogs, 'Lady', to illness and age the end of May. She was 16 years old. She and Max, our other dog, have been buddies and were nearly inseparable in the years they were together. Our house is a little quieter. Maybe one day, we will get another dog.

Time to go do laundry and onto other projects ongoing at the house. Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Be sure to visit again and often.

Tour of Homes. The Capt Hardy Smith house

2012-07-26T12:26:00.002-04:00

The local TV station here in Dublin interviewed John about the history of the Capt Hardy Smith house recently. Click on the following link and enjoy the show. Tour of Homes- The Capt Hardy Smith house

Renovation Update- HSH- July 2012

2012-07-16T15:25:00.000-04:00

July 16, 2012 Capt Hardy Smith House

New gate on breezeway. Completed July 2012.

Good afternoon everyone. A typical warm, sunny mid July day here in Dublin, GA. The grass has been mowed and is green and beautiful. John just built from original wood, scraps from the house, a 'new' gate for the breezeway to keep our wandering dogs from escaping. It has a latch and handle to make coming and going easy. He may need to add more support to the side because of the weight. There are only 2 hinges on one side for support..

He is now working on repairing, caulking and priming the trim work on both sides of the breezeway (including all the railing) for the final coat of paint which will be an oil based semi gloss or possibly gloss white. After two years of attempting to get in contact with the owner to find out the paint color used on the exterior of the house that was once the president's home of North Georgia College up in Dahlonega, GA, success! John will be picking up a gallon of this very unique color in a couple of weeks. We want to duplicate the color on the Hardy Smith house. I think it will look beautiful. If things go as planned, the exterior paint work will start next year..Exterior trim work repairs need to be completed first. That will take some time to do. John wants to do as much work himself before we bring the pros in the finish the rest.

Exterior trimwork repair.

As you can see from the picture, John has been up on the ladder scraping off old paint, repairing and or replacing wood and sanding. I won't get up on that ladder. The railing on both sides of the new gate have been repaired, caulked, sanded and primed. I will help paint of course. That is the fun part :) . That is the progress report from the Capt Hardy Smith house for the month of July 2012. Keep checking back for more updates as the renovation/restoration continues.

HSH Update: 2nd Guest Bedroom

2012-05-15T23:45:00.001-04:00

Hello all. Spring has sprung and Summer is almost here. It has been several months since I posted my last entry. Life has been pretty busy at the Capt Hardy Smith house. The 2nd guest bedroom upstairs, except the floor is complete as of mid March 2012. It took many months of painstakingly hard work to repair the walls and floor boards to get the room ready to prime and paint. We choose seashell white for the walls and tan linen for the trim work. I look forward to decorating and moving my office in there soon.

We have had a very pleasant Spring so far this year. 'Mother Nature' has provided the much needed rain at the appropriate times for our new grass to green up and our Confederate Jasmine to grow and bloom.
The shady side of the house is still 'stubborningly' slow to grow grass in the bald spots we tried to eradicate last year. John planted new centipede seeds in March. We have had quite a bit of Magnolia leaf drop this year. Hopefully the cycle is about over. The two little Magnolia trees on the west side of the house are thriving. The 'Knock Out' rose bush given to us by our neighbor, Mary Townsend, is doing very well. I call it the 'Townsend' rose bush, in honor of Ms Townsend, who has lived across the street from the house since the 1940s.

A couple of days ago, John got under the house and started to clean out things out. He found a silver plated spoon from the early 1900s that perhaps a child may have used to play with.

He also found a cast iron cooking kettle that he just restored.

He found a gecko that changed color..It looked like a monster to me when I saw the picture of it. I told him to be careful with the black widow and recluse spiders under there. Who knows, the Confederate Gold may be hidden somewhere under the house. Time to get out the metal detector and other tools again...More treasures possibly await us to be discovered, who knows.

Our day business has picked up which leaves us just the weekends and a few hours during the week to focus on the house restoration. The money has to come from somewhere :) So that is all for now on what is going on at the Capt Hardy Smith house. Keep checking back for updates as the renovation continues. Thanks for visiting my blog.

The 'Gone with The Wind' room is done

2011-09-22T17:27:00.009-04:00

Hello all. The harsh, dry and oppressively hot summer has ended. The first day of Fall is officially 2 days away. For the past two days Dublin has been receiving much needed and steady rainfall. I can almost see our yard at the Capt Hardy Smith house 'green up' right before my eyes.

This weekend is the annual 'Possum Hollow Festival' in Dexter, GA. What fun that will be. If it rains, that is ok because we sure need it. Check out: Possum Hollow Festival or try this link: http://www.possumhollowfair.com/ C'mon out to the festival. What a way to kick off the first weekend of Fall!

The 'Gone With The Wind' room is 95% complete. The hardwood floor needs to be restored. That project will start once the cooler weather is in place. We have spent a year, on and off, repairing windows, mantel/trim-work, moving walls, painting the 'Gone With The Wind' room. The picture to the left is the room as it looks today. The picture to the right, taken about 2007, shows the room before renovation started. What a difference painstaking effort makes! The result is beauty and elegance. The owners of The Courier Herald Newspaper, Griffin & Diane Lovett and their daughter, T.J, came over for a tour last week to check our progress.

We have redesigned the upstairs first guest bedroom for a more traditional look. I have dedicated this room in memory of my late brother, Frederick 'Fritz' Robbins Fortner. May he forever rest in peace. His spirit will forever live on at the Hardy Smith house.

Next on the restoration list will be the floor work in the downstairs hallway, 'Gone With The Wind' room and John's office. That work will begin once cooler weather sets in. In addition, we have some work left to complete in the master- bedroom. The corner molding needs to be installed, primed and painted. The floor trimwork needs to be primed, painted and sealed. I will be in charge of the painting and John will do the installation. The next room on the list, will be what John calls the 'green' room. That room is in pretty good shape structurally. We are using that room for storage right now.

John's office is 95% complete. The hardwood floor only needs to be done. He has spent a little over a month painting, staining, repairing windows and a section of the floor that had rotted with air coming in from the outside. That patch work has been completed. He stained all the walls and ceiling and it looks beautiful. How many offices do you see that look like this?

That is all for today from the Hardy Smith house, restoration committee VP. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and continue to check back for updates as the renovation continues. Thanks for visiting my blog.

The painting in 'The Gone With The Wind' room has started

2011-07-28T13:15:00.019-04:00

We started to paint the 'Gone With The Wind' room 3 days ago. The colors we chose are: Cranberry for the walls and Ivory Lace for the trim-work, door and mantel. John put two coats of the Cranberry on..I was a little worried that it would be too cherry looking. After two coats of the Cranberry had dried, it dried dark and it looks nice. We are using semi gloss on the trim-work and satin on the walls. The ceiling will be a flat white.
Once the painting of the walls are complete, the gold, gilded border that was original in the room, will be put back up in its original location.

We are excited about the prospect of finishing the painting in that room. FINALLY! John has been so busy with making a living that house improvements had to be put on hold for awhile. Now, we are back on track for completing that room, (except the floor) within a month or so. After three days, we ran out of Cranberry paint to finish the walls. We will probably need 4 more gallons to finish all the walls with 2 coats. It is looking beautiful in there now. John discovered today, in the light, that the ceiling will need a third coat of white paint. We ran out of white paint as well, so painting will resume most likely next week. Check out the progress pictures.

Once 'The Gone With The Wind' room is painted, then John's office will be worked on next. He plans to stain the walls and ceiling instead of painting them to bring out the richness in the wood. He will need to insulate/plug any drafty areas due to the shifting of the foundation as well as seal/repair the windows. The floors in the 'GWTW' room, downstairs hallway and John's office will be worked on most likely this fall, when the weather is cooler.

Other updates. We had to re design/modify the driveway and remove the historical marker so that we can enter and exit to the street safely. The historical marker will be re-positioned to another area in front of the house. Aside from putting down gravel in the new driveway, the basic yard landscaping is pretty much complete. The very harsh drought situation in middle Georgia that we have experienced all summer so far, has taxed the growth of our new grass. There are bare spots in the yard that will have to be reseeded next spring. I am surprised water restrictions have not been put in place here in Dublin. The grass in the yard from the rain events we experienced Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, greened up the yard nicely. Hope it continues because Georgia is still in a severe drought situation.

That is the progress report for the Hardy Smith House for this week. Thanks for visiting my blog and check back as we continue home improvements.

Finally we have rain

2011-06-19T11:24:00.005-04:00

Hello all and Happy Father's Day,

It has been a few days since my last entry. We finally got some much needed rain after weeks of 90+ degree heat and no rain until finally June 15th. The last rainfall was May 20th, I believe. Much to be thankful for- remembering our dad's on this special day is all important. I am remembering my dad in spirit. He passed away in 2003.

The rain situation. About 75% of Georgia is in a severe drought alert. Our drought situation is pretty dire. It is almost like living in a desert except we have humidity. Before the rain came, I noticed that our mature, older trees in our yard, the leaves began to look droopy. Our magnolia trees have been dropping more leaves than usual. I don't remember them dropping this many leaves this time last year. Every night, I have been watering our newly planted flower beds with Mediterranean Vinca, Marigolds and Lirope. I use soaker hoses for the beds and part of the yard is getting watered too. The Vinca is spreading and looking beautiful. I applied mulch around the lirope also. John just needs to put in the edging on the other side of the front steps so that I can complete the mulching and the flower beds will be 100% done for the season.

John finished sanding/priming both sides of the front porch steps/ railing and the main section of the porch. He has some minor repair work to do to one of the porch ceiling support columns. It appears to be moisture not terminate related damage. There is an area in between the foundation supports that John also primed.

Friday (June 17th), we got some more rain. More of the steady kind not the soaking downpour we got on Wednesday (June 15th). The yard should rebound soon. Just as we were enjoying our evening meal tonight, (June 17th), I happened to look down and noticed ants, circling the area rug. As I investigated further, I found the source of the attraction, a dead bat! This is the second dead bat found in the bedroom this week and the third in the front part of the house, near the front door. The first dead bat was found on the bed, near Max, unbeknownst to me and John until I heard the squeaking noise that bats make. After seeing the dead one Friday night, that grossed me out. I don't know where they are coming in from. I thought we eradicated the bat situation, at least in the front part of the house.

John went back into 'The Gone With The Wind' room to continue caulking the corner and top moldings he put up as well as priming. He has just a small section left to do and the room will be completely ready for painting. He needs to add a couple of weights to the west facing window. Finally! We had to put the room on hold for several weeks because John was very busy with other things. Soon, we will revisit color choices for the walls..Yeah!

So that is the most recent update of the never ending renovation going on at the Capt Hardy Smith House. Thanks for visiting my blog and continue to check back for updates on the house restoration. Again, Happy Father's Day!

When will the late spring heat wave of 2011 end

2011-06-05T16:07:00.007-04:00

Hello all. It has been awhile since my last entry. I wish I was at the beach, right now. Those who read my blog probably thought I was. In truth yes, I have been to the beach a few times. Dublin and the Southeast have been stuck in a unrelenting heat wave with temperatures in the mid to upper 90s since about mid May and now we have been flirting with 100 to 102 degrees for the last week with little rain. The humidity has been bad too. We are finding ways to stay cool! I got a little misting thing that attaches to my garden hose to keep my Boston ferns from dying and to keep me cool while I sit and take a break from working in the yard, siting on the porch with the ceiling fan going. Summer is not officially here yet! My family and friends to the north have gotten all the rain we so desperately need this spring. The grass up in Indiana, where I traveled to about 2 weeks ago, is green, lush and beautiful. They got some pretty bad weather a few days after we left the state to return to Georgia.

All the grass in the yard has been planted but I am afraid we will have to replant areas of the east side of the house next season because it got hot sooner than we anticipated. The grass needs water so desperately. I have been watering the grass the best I can and it is actually burning up in places. For the past several weeks, we have been focusing on the yard, the flower beds and moderate landscaping. The driveway will hopefully have gravel in it before the season is over.

John removed the back stairs near the garden recently which will have to be rebuilt. They were getting too dangerous to climb up/down. The area where the stairs was is now occupied by our grill. The basic elements of my garden are complete. I would like to buy some stepping stones to put in there too.

A little fountain may be nice. We could probably rig the water source from the well for a constant flow with a nightly glow of solar powered lights. We have a couple of Tiki oil lamps near the Pindo Palm for the tropical feel when we grill out. We will need to put up a 6 ft privacy fence to surround the garden area when we entertain outside. A white picket one would be pretty with Confederate Jasmine or English ivy cascading all over it.

We planted 4 Confederate Jasmine, two between the magnolias on the shady side of the house, put cedar mulch and river rocks around them. They are thriving, growing quickly and the little white flowers give off the most beautiful, fragrant smell. They grow so quickly that you can almost see them grow right before your eyes! It is pretty amazing. Maybe I won't kill those plants. They sure love the shade. I can look out my bedroom window each morning and enjoy them.

John is working on the front steps. Sanding, priming then painting. The steps will be painted white as before. The Gone With the Wind Room is on hold for now because John was so busy with work and we need to finalize the colors for the walls.

The front flower beds are done. I planted Mediterranean Vinca, Marigolds and Lirope on both sides. We have to water at least once a day because the heat will kill them. Our selections are direct sun, heat and drought tolerant for our area but I don't think 95+ degree temperatures for weeks at a time was what they were bred for. The Med Vinca are ground cover perennials that bloom all season long which in middle Georgia goes through end of October before any hint of a frost occurs. I planted pinks, reds, whites, peaches and a mix of those colors. The combination is quite beautiful. I will have to nip the dead stuff in the fall and they will come back next season. They are also low maintenance.

That is all for now. Keep checking back for updates. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T13:09:00.000-04:00

A big thank you to our men and women in uniform. To those who served and passed on and to those who serve, we appreciate you and are proud of you.

Signs of Spring in Dublin, GA

2011-04-04T18:00:00.003-04:00

What a beautiful day in Dublin today. Bright, deep blue skies without a hint of what is to be an outbreak of severe storms heading in our direction from the west in just a few hours from now. Just a couple of hours ago, I saw twinkling stars but very breezy conditions, a hint of what is to come. The spring storms are coming to hopefully wash away all the pollen that has been flying through the air and landing on everything, turning to light shades of yellow/green. So we plan to stay safe here at the Hardy Smith House and hopefully not experience anything like my northern friends have gone through.

The first wednesday of every month in major cities and towns across Georgia, the severe storm siren testing is conducted. When I lived in Alpharetta, the testing lasted probably around 3-5 minutes and occurred around noon. Here in Dublin, the testing occurs around 9 am and lasts for a minute or two. So this wednesday, April 6th, you will hear another test. These tests are to educate the public of what to listen for if outside or in the vicinity of the listening area. When the sirens are blaring, that means bad weather is on the way, such as severe thunderstorms with dangerous cloud to ground lightning, hail and damaging winds with the potential for the development of tornadoes so take shelter and or other safety measures. When the barometric pressure drops, you know something is about to change such as an approaching storm..While the approach of bad storms may be fascinating to watch, always take all the necessary precautions to stay safe and out of harms way.

Beautiful azaleas lining a walkway across from Stubbs Park. The small white azaleas I planted last fall near the basement are full of white beautiful blooms.

It will take many decades for our azaleas to look like the huge pink and white ones. The two pink azalea bushes that nearly burned up in the hot sun last year, John transplanted them to the shade of the basement area and they are coming back. They may bloom later this summer.

Our only neighbor, Ms Townsend from across the street, gave us a lovely potted mini rose bush late last summer that I planted last fall near the white azalea bushes in the back part of the house. Today, I discovered one beautiful fushia pink rose. Looks like I chose the perfect location for this rose bush to thrive and grow.

Today, we went to our local hardware store to purchase corner and top molding for the "Gone With The Wind' room. The corner molding for all 4 corners of the room are in place with the exception of the top molding, the gold, gilded molding that will be put back in place below it, the floor board trim, then the fun part begins...the painting! A sign in the front window of the hardware store caught my eye, I could not help but take a picture...

Next week, new dirt will be brought into the front yard so the planting of new grass in the bare spots can begin. Be on the look out for updates. That is all for now that is going on at the Hardy Smith house. Keep checking back for more developments coming soon.

2011 Dublin, GA St Patrick's Parade and Festival are Over :(

2011-03-20T21:01:00.006-04:00

Today is the first day of spring, 2011. Came in like a lamb. The sun tried to peek through the clouds earlier today but the skies remained mostly cloudy. The temperatures got into the 70s. Not only was yesterday, Saturday, the super moon, the first in 18 years, but also the warmest day so far of 2011, with a high of 88 degrees with bright sunshine with light and variable winds.

We got to the parade at 10:00 am to get our yearly spot in front of the
Morris Bank sign. The parade started at 10:30 am and ended around 12:30 pm. It was a very enjoyable parade and longer than last year. About midway through the parade, someone got heat stroke and the paramedics were called in. It was a young man who probably forgot to stay hydrated. We brought bottled water with us in order to stay hydrated throughout the parade so we would not become heatstroke victims ourselves but to also prepare for our two tennis matches that we were scheduled to play over in Stubbs Park for the St Patrick's Tennis Tournament later that afternoon. Success. We made it to the final round of mixed doubles and went three sets of a nearly 2 hr match this morning however our old bodies could not outlast our younger, more fit opponents.

After my match today, I went home showered and came back to watch the finals of the other matches. The show of support reminded me of my Atlanta ALTA days less the enormous supply of food, fruit and drinks. Looks like everyone had a great time playing. The winners and finalists got trophies and all participants got a t-shirt. We went to check out the festival at Southern Pines. Most of the fun was under roof at the AG complex. Most of the vendors that came to Stubbs Park last year came to the AG complex this year with a few new ones.

All and all, a great weekend and perfect weather. Thanks for visiting my blog and be sure to check back often on what is happening in Dublin, GA and at the Capt Hardy Smith house.

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY...SEE YA AT THE PARADE

2011-03-16T17:21:00.002-04:00

2011 St Patrick's Day Parade and Arts and Crafts Festival

2011-03-15T00:00:00.012-04:00

Erin Go Braugh! The time to celebrate all things Green, Irish and Dublin, GA's history. As you drive down historic Bellevue Ave into the downtown area, you will notice huge green bows adorning homes and businesses. Are you ready to go 'Green'? We are. Come on down to Dublin with your family and friends and enjoy some good, old fashioned Irish fun with a Southern Twist. You will be glad you did. Bring cash for purchase of St Patrick's beads, toys and drinks because most mobile vendors moving through the crowds only accept cash. The mobile vendors will be easily accessible before, during and after the parade but selection is the best before the parade starts.

So get ready! Only 5 days to the 2011 St Patrick's Day Parade to be held in downtown Dublin. Parking is free and is on a first come, first serve basis. Parking fills up fast so be sure to get here in plenty of time before the parade starts at 10:30am. Seeing the parade is free. There will be about 100 entrants in the 2011 parade. Enjoy marching bands to various dignitaries to beauty queens and many beautiful and decorative floats representative of various community organizations in Dublin and Laurens County as well as other cities in Georgia.

Right mouse click on this link for all events happening this week: The Ultimate Dublin, GA St Patrick's Festival Guide 2011 Once you click (one time) on the link, you will see the actual link. If you have trouble with the link, copy and paste this link to your browser: http://issuu.com/thecourierherald/docs/big_green_guide_2011_issuu/1

If you cannot see the link while viewing my blog, position your mouse over the blank spot (after the words: '...for all events happening this week: ..') when it changes from a hand to a cross then click it.

A quick highlight of major events this week. The parade. Plan to get your spot on the parade route by 10:00am. From the courthouse to the history museum on Jackson street, on both sides, are good places to watch and enjoy the parade. Plan about 1 hr and 45 minutes from start to finish of the parade.

The arts and crafts events. After the parade, jump in your car and head out GA-441 towards I-16 to Southern Pines Rec Center Complex and enjoy the arts and crafts festivities. The arts and crafts festivities start at 9am and end at 7pm on March 19th. The entry fee is $5.00 for adults and children $3.00. Children 6 years and under get in free. Important tip: If you like to collect lapel pins, you can buy the 2011 Dublin St Patrick's pin for $5.00 which will get you into the arts and crafts festival for free. You must wear your pin upon entry. To purchase a pin, subject to availability, contact Andrea Payne at (478) 272-5202 or (478) 277-1500. The pin for 2011 is pictured to the right. For information about the parade, contact Civitan Club member Robert Drew at 478-277-5030. Be sure to check out the guide for other events you and your family and friends may be interested in. It is a .PDF file, so make sure you have Adobe on your computer to print out the guide to take with you.

Enjoy the Dublin St Patrick's Festivities this week. Thanks for reading my blog and check back often for things going on around Dublin and at the Capt Hardy Smith House.

Ten truckloads later

2011-03-14T21:03:00.003-04:00

A beautiful sunny and warm day in Dublin, GA today. The temperatures got into the 70s. We worked in the yard this past weekend in preparation for new topsoil that will be added for the new grass to fill in the bare areas. We removed about ten truckloads of leaves and debris from the yard and put it in a huge pile on the street for the city to pick up tomorrow. We raked most of the yard by hand using a rake and an electric leaf blower. Doing an 1/2 acre by hand like this is very hard. A riding lawnmower would sure come in handy. The city is charging us $19.00 to remove it. Isn't that what city and or property taxes are used for, to pay for debris removal?

For the first time in my life, I used an old bedding top sheet to rake the leaves onto to carry to the curb. I don't know if that is a southern way of how to remove a pile of leaves. Growing up on the family farm, we used the tractors for most of the hard work of leaf removal. I remember dad having a push leaf mower that had a catcher with a brush in front that would pick up stuff in the yard. We could sure use one of those now with the year around shedding of magnolia leaves and those black things that look like hand grenades that they drop.

The 'Gone With The Wind' room is now officially ready for the trim work (ie: crown molding, corner molding and the gold leaf molding) to go up. We will be making a trip to our hardware store probably this week to select the appropriate trim to complete the task. Then we will select the paint for the room. We will have at least two types of color on the walls. The final color selection has yet to be finalized. We are getting closer though.

The bee's and mosquitoes are out. Ick. I have my zapper nearby in case they try to want to bite me. My bug zapper looks like a miniature tennis racket with an electric string like pattern on the face. The zapper will take out wasps and hornets flying through the air. The best $10.00 ever spent. You can buy them at a gardening store. I got mine at Base Pro Shop in Macon. Kept the doors open with the ceiling fans running to let the warm, spring air come in. Since Day Light Saving Time began sunday, yesterday, my body is still on slow time. In a few days, it will catch up. The first day of Spring officially arrives on March 20th at 7:21 EST. The days and nights are 12 hours long and the sun is at a midpoint in the sky. As summer equinox approaches, the sun will rise higher and higher in the sky. On June 21st, the sun will be directly overhead, at around the 12 o'clock position.

The day is done, another beautiful spring like day has come to an end. Tomorrow is another day.

Looking forward to the official start of spring after a long winter for most of my northern friends. Thanks for stopping by and check back for continual updates on the Capt Hardy Smith House and the latest of what is going on around Dublin, GA.

Dublin, GA: Signs of Spring

2011-03-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

Good Afternoon All. A cool, sunny, windy day in Dublin, GA. This past week, the signs of spring were in full bloom. The Dogwood and Bradford Pear trees are in bloom, even the weeping willow tree in Stubbs Park is bursting out its green leaves. There are bee mounds all over the yard. They are starting to come out of hibernation. Come to think of it, those may be fire ant mounds. Fire ants here in middle GA are very aggressive.
Just nasty critters. I am looking forward to getting in the yard before it gets too hot.

Spring cleaning is in full swing. The kitchen is completely cleaned. It smells like Pinesol on the floor. A good thing. Went to our local home improvement store and bought a much needed freezer to store food and ICE in. Ice cold drinks will come in handy very soon as the weather will turn hot quickly. Spring is short in Dublin or Georgia for that matter. John racked the backyard of the leaves from last season by hand. It was too windy today to finish racking so he will finish another day. One day, we WILL get a riding lawn mower to mulch the grass and leaves. It won't be a 'Grasshopper' like my dad had on the farm to mow around the house but I will settle for a little riding lawn mower. Our leaf blower is about gone. We got it from a garage sale. Oh the supplies and equipment we need to keep our house and yard in good shape. John does not mind racking the leaves now nor do I, but was we get older, it will become more difficult physically. The tree directly behind John is our 300 year old cedar tree. Check out the trunk. Just to his left or to the right in the picture is part of the oldest graveyard in Dublin so you can get some perspective how close we are to it. That is where the dogs like to run and play. The church next door took down the fence in front of the graveyard. I presume a replacement fence will be going back up sometime in the near future.

To learn more about Dublin, GA, click on the link below. Keep checking back for updates for the latest in Dublin and the Capt Hardy Smith house. Thanks for stopping by. Erin Go Braugh!

We dodged a bullet in Dublin

2011-03-01T12:44:00.001-05:00

Erin Go Braugh! Another beautiful although cooler day in Dublin, GA. It is 65 degrees. After a series of severe thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and last night throughout Georgia, March for the Dublin area came in like a lamb. We got moderate rain and some wind but no thunder that I could hear. We got lucky.

March 20th is the first day of spring. I am already thinking about getting out into the yard and begin my planting. Until spring officially arrives, we could get a few more freezing nights. Banners and giant green bows have sprung up around town in preparation for a month long celebration of St Patrick.

Masterbedroom window at the
HSH looking out at the first
Methodist Church. The
windows have a wave look.
Photo courtesy of: Scott Thompson

Get excited....March is here and spring is a little more than 2 weeks away!

My Life in Dublin, GA blog has a new look

2011-02-28T17:44:00.007-05:00

The front porch/entryway
at the Hardy Smith House

Good Afternoon All. After almost two years working on 'My Life in Dublin, GA' blog, I decided it was time to update the appearance to more accurately reflect Dublin life, history and my life living in the oldest home in town, The Capt Hardy Smith House. I hope you enjoy the new look. If there is anything you like for me to add to make the blog more enjoyable to read, please send your comments along.

The metal bucket from the well at the
Hardy Smith House. Photo courtesy of:
Scott Thompson

As the month of February draws to a close, it is time to get ready for March and the St Patrick's Day festivities planned for the entire month in celebration of Dublin's Irish heritage. Check the local newspaper, The Courier Herald for the most up to date events.
For your convenience, copy/paste this link:
http://matchbin- assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/654/assets/4T2A_Big_Green_Guide_2011_WEBSITE.pdf
to your browser.
It is a .PDF file that you can save to your computer and print out). Be sure to bring your family and friends for a fun month of all things green and Irish. Don't forget to wear green or you may get a friendly pinch.

Spring is definitely in the air here in Dublin. Today was the second day the temperature actually hit 80 degrees. The Bradford Pear Trees with their white blooms are abundant all over town. Daffodils in white and yellow are blooming in the yard and at Stubbs Park where I played tennis today. Tomorrow will be sunny and in the low 80s. I am ready for spring!

Since my last blog entry, all has been quiet at the Capt Hardy Smith House. We have a lot of projects planned for the spring and into the summer, so be sure to check my blog frequently. One of the first things planned is to add more seeding of the grass to fill in bare spots in the yard with a completion date by the end of April. Last year, we planted grass seed into May, but found it was too hot for roots to take hold. A lesson learned. Don't plant seed after April if you live in the Deep South or there is a high probability it will burn up in the day time heat. Spring officially arrives on March 20th, so the work will begin in the yard around that time. The weeds are coming up in abundance in the yard so weed killer will fix that quickly.

Once the weather gets consistently hot, around the end of April, we will return to the inside of the house and resume work in 'The Gone With The Wind' room. Happy spring everyone!

Spring is in the air at the Hardy Smith House

2011-02-23T16:56:00.002-05:00

With most of the cold, chilly nights at the Hardy Smith House behind us, we can now enjoy the birth of new life that welcomes the start of spring. This has been the first week where days have been in the 70s with sunshine. Time to think about planting and preparing the yard for the long, hot summer season ahead.

We are making slow but steady progress inside the Hardy Smith House. The 'Gone With The Wind' room is almost ready for painting! All the priming, caulking and repairs are nearing completion. We decided on Victorian era colors..deep, rich and vibrant. We are almost decided on the color scheme but will withhold speculation until we are 100% decided. Once the painting is completed, work will begin on the flooring. Wallpapering of the room will be done at sometime in the future. Window treatments in the room will be going up this season.

The next room on our to do list will be John's office. The walls are in excellent condition. The flooring, windows and trim need work. Thanks for visiting my blog and keep checking back as the restoration effort continues on the Hardy Smith House.

Ice Storm of 2011

2011-01-10T16:32:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year from the Capt Hardy Smith House. Today is January 10th. Our first but a rare winter weather maker of the year, an ice storm. A major storm slammed the state of Georgia overnight Sunday and Dublin did not escape mother natures wrath. The city of Dublin basically shut down due to its inability to clear roads due to lack of snow removal equipment. Because winter events like this not to mention the 12/26/2010 snow Dublin received, are unusual, this holiday and post holiday season has turned out to be interesting indeed.

We are keeping warm at the Hardy Smith house. The 'Gone With The Wind' room or 'Parlor room' priming is finished, except for the ceiling. Cold air was coming into the room so John located the problem areas and used foam insulation to seal them. Once the 3 remaining walls are caulked, final touch-up repairs on the windows completed, then the painting begins. We have not decided on colors yet. Because there is so much light that comes into the room during the day, the color of the walls will be much darker/cooler than other rooms in the house. This will be the most formal of the rooms in the front part of the house to be completed.

That is all that is happening at the Hardy Smith house. Keep checking back for updates.

Day after Christmas Snow in Dublin, GA

2010-12-27T17:40:00.004-05:00

Welcome! Christmas Eve at the Capt Hardy Smith House. I love to decorate for Christmas. A tradition passed down from my mom. White candle lights in each window with Christmas music echoed throughout the house. The day was quiet, our dogs were happy and the house toasty warm. We went to Christmas Eve service at Christ Episcopal Church in Dublin at 11:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church is the only Episcopal church in Dublin and Laurens County. The church is the oldest public building in continuous use for its original purpose. It was built in 1898. Check out their website for more information on the church and its history.

http://www.christepiscopaldublin.org/

It was a fitting time to reflect about the past year and to those we love and hold near and dear to us. Both of us had recent family events that compelled us to worship at this little church Christmas Eve night. As the rest of the upper East Coast got buried in up to two feet of snow, such as NYC, on Christmas day, Dublin, got a dusting of the white stuff a day after Christmas. We will take it. Close enough. The last recorded 'White Christmas' in Dublin was Christmas eve 1994. Unfortunately, the snow melted before Christmas day.

In this picture, Max, John's dog, enjoyed post Christmas day fun by playing in the oldest graveyard in the City of Dublin. I believe 1819 was the first burial at the location. It is located behind the First Methodist Church, the land that was donated by Capt Hardy Smith, his family and descendants, over the years, that is also next to the house and the 1/2 acre of what remains of the Hardy Smith farm.

In other developments at the Hardy Smith house, the renovations continue. The second wall of the 'Gone With The Wind' room has been primed. The front facing wall (fireplace) has been primed and caulked. Only two more walls and the ceiling need to be primed and caulked then we paint the walls! The room will soon come alive with beautiful color. Keep checking back for developments.

Happy New Year from the Capt Hardy Smith House

A VERY COLD DAY in Dublin but a VERY WARM day at the Hardy Smith House

2010-12-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

By looking outside it would appear sunny and WARM. Mother Nature has thrown us a loop here in Dublin, GA. It is COLD and it is WINDY. What do I mean by COLD? Mid 30s with a wind chill index of 26 degrees! The high gusty winds are making it undesirable to be outside. Even Wi- Fi access is limited because of the windy conditions. INSIDE the Hardy Smith House, it is sunny and WARM. We are in the process of designing our 2010 Christmas card to be sent out to family and friends.

The Christmas decorating is done. John has completed priming of the front facing wall in the 'Gone With The Wind' room. He is working on sealing the wall with chaulk as he will do with the remaining walls in the room after priming. The windows in the room are repaired and ready to be painted. We are deciding if we should paint the walls first then wallpaper later or just wallpaper after priming. We want the room to look as period as possible as if it were a scene taken out of the 1939 classic movie with the name the room is named after. The walls will be adorned with beautiful pictures and furniture. Shopping for period furniture will be a treasure hunt in and of itself but we look forward to it. We want everything to be just right however long it takes to find just what we are looking for.

That is the latest on what is going on at the Hardy Smith house. Keep checking back for updates.

The very latest developments at the Hardy Smith House

2010-12-05T15:31:00.011-05:00

Our 24/7 Security, Max

Hello All. It has been a busy two months since my last entry. Now that I have a working computer with web access, I will make a great effort to keep the world updated with our renovation progress on a more frequent basis. It has been a lot of fun and work. As more work gets done to the house, the beauty becomes more evident.

Two days ago, I started Christmas decorating. The outside of the house is adorned with beautiful white lights and red bows. I even put a red bow on our beautiful mailbox. John and I are hoping that we make front page news in the Christmas decorating contest for the local newspaper, The Courier Herald. We have three Christmas trees up in the house. Today, I plan to put the final 'beautifying' touch on the decorating by placing a white electric candle in each window in the front part of the house just as I did last year. Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite activities to do. It is a family tradition. Because the days are shorter this time of year, we have to move fast in getting everything up so everyone who drives by on Gaines St can see how beautiful this home is. Even our dogs delight in taking part in the decorating. Lady, my dog, loves to be by my side every moment. If she cannot see me, she gets very nervous. Max, John's dog, keeps watch on our prized possessions.

The 2010 Christmas Parade in downtown Dublin was yesterday. Check out my Facebook page for 2 short videos on the event. It was a lot of fun. It was sunny, windy and relatively warm for this time of year. It was in the 60s. Very comfortable and pleasant. Both sides of the main route on Bellevue Ave were lined with onlookers. So a very good crowd showed up to enjoy the parade. The parade started like just about any other, lasting about an hour, with the police, then the bagpipers with the local elementary and middle school children displaying their various talents. The 3 local high school marching bands showcased their strength with West Laurens HS being the largest and most impressive in my opinion. The kids loved candy being thrown to them by float participants. Even John could not resist in partaking in the activity. The parade had fun for everyone to enjoy. The clowns, local politicians, businesses and even 'Mr. Pig' from our Piggly Wiggly grocery store stopped by to say hello to the crowd. Of course, John wanted me to take his picture with 'Mr. Pig' since we do a lot of our grocery shopping there. Check out John's blog or Facebook page for that happy moment.

Master BR closet, Before. That is bat/rat/squirrel poo.

Master BR closet, After. All poo gone.

As for developments at the Hardy Smith House, John has been working hard on cleaning, painting and restoring/enlarging two closets, cleaning behind fireplaces/putting them back together, repairing the huge windows in the 'Gone With The Wind' room and sealing walls, windows and flooring from cold drafts.

All this found behind 3 fireplaces.

When John took apart 3 fireplaces (the master bedroom, the 'Gone With The Wind room' and upstairs bedroom), what a treasure trove or time capsule of letters, buttons, stamps, cards and some old bills that he found. Check out John's blog for more pictures and detailed information on the finds.

Hidden behind master BR closet, Christmas stamps along with a signature on the wall.

When John is not working on CPA stuff, he is working on the house. Sealing the drafts has made a noticeable improvement on our electric bill. Next, on our house things to do list, is the 'Gone With The Wind' room. We plan to either wallpaper it with to as close to the original as possible or paint the room in colors reminiscent of themes from the movie. The furniture will be period, most likely Victorian, with pictures depicting the history of the 'War Between The States' or what the Northerners or Yankees refer to as 'The Civil War' as well as other related, interesting history of the house and the South. Looks like we will be doing a lot of antique shopping. There are a lot of antique places within a 100 mile radius of Dublin. I have already checked out some of them to get some ideas.

The sun is getting low in the sky, the light is dimming and day is about to end. Time to finish decorating for Christmas. Thanks again for stopping by and reading my blog today. Keep checking back for updates. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

HSH: Summer 2010 Update

2010-10-08T18:14:00.002-04:00

Hello All. You may have thought I have dropped off the face of the earth for the past 3 months. I am alive, well and continuing to make progress with John on the restoration efforts at the Hardy Smith House. We are down to one computer at the moment which is why my entries have been few and far between lately.This summer has flown by so quickly and it was a hot one, not to mention one of the hottest on record for middle Georgia. During the day in June, July and August, it was just too darn hot to get outside to do much during the heat of the day. I was struggling to keep our newly planted azaleas from dying. Unfortuateley, the two smaller bushes succumbed to the elements. I am not an expert when it comes to plants. I learn as I go. The grass on the east side of the yard was planted late so next year, John plans to add more seed to make it nice and full for next summer. At least we won the war of the weeds!

All the river rocks are out of the basement and are now lining the driveway, walkway or in the backyard, waiting to be used for whatever future project we choose. We need just a few more bricks to complete the walkway. John had to redo the front stairs but they look beautiful now. 1 coat of stain and 3 coats of polyurenthene should keep them shining for many years to come.

The walls are covered in a inviting yellow, similar to what was used previously by another family living in the house. All of the bottles that John unearthed in the basement this spring are on display on a ledge at the top of the stairs. A small railing needs to be built across the ledge to keep the bottles from falling off and breaking which one did unfortunately.

John repaired the west side windows in the 'Gone With The Wind' room yesterday. Being that the windows were very large and heavy, 5-7 lb weights, four total, two for the top window and two for the bottom window were used in raising and lowering them. The rope snapped on one side so John repaired it and we are back in business. Before the cold sets in, the floor needs to be sealed again. The wood putty cracked from the change in temperatures the start of this year. The master bedroom and John's office need to be sealed up to eliminate the drafts and reduce our electric bill.

Near the garden, a couple of weeks ago, we had a bunch of Red Spider Lillies bloom. I had no idea what they were until I researched them. They bloom shortly after fall begins and after the first cool rain, They are an herb, native of Asia, are toxic however they are an effective rodent deterrent. These lovely flowers were introduced in the 1800s in Georgia and are seen around old homes in the south. In Japan, the Red Spider Lily symbolizes death and mourning. It is better to leave them in the garden than to pick them. Well, I picked them before I did my research to make sure they were not toxic to animals and oops, bad luck has not come to me yet.

September and Oct so far have been quiet months here at the HSH. Since the first guest bedroom is complete, we had a few friends and family stay with us for a few days and left with nothing but memorable impressions of their stay. Thanks for your interest in the HSH restoration effort and keep checking back for updates.

The Bathroom at the HSH is FINALLY finished

2010-07-02T19:59:00.002-04:00

The bathroom is FINALLY finished! The crown molding and ceiling are painted and ready to showcase to the world! There are blinds in the windows too! Attention to detail is very important. The bathroom sure has come a long way since John bought the place almost 3 years ago. Look for additional pictures on the Hardy Smith House blog. Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on the Capt Hardy Smith House link. Updates to come soon.

Today, John is re-sanding,repairing and repainting the master bedroom doors because our dogs like to come and go. Looks like tomorrow, the new grass will need to be mowed for the first time on the west side of the house. The grass was not all planted at the same time so it is coming in in stages. It is a war between the weeds and the grass right now. I just came in from pulling weeds in the yard so the grass can spread out and grow. We have gotten some much needed rain on and off for the past several days which has helped grow the grass. I am in the process of locating about 300 more old bricks to complete the lining of the walkway to the mailbox and to purchase about 11 more bags of small river pebbles for the garden where the palm tree is.

We have visitors come by and check on our progress quite a bit. John's friend, Rusty, came by to see how things were going. Working on an old house requires patience, persistence and a lot of work. Just laying all the bricks in the walkway and steps area just about wore me out but the end result is beauty. A couple of nights ago, John's dog, Max, found a bat flying in the back room which one day will be the formal dining area. They are trying to re-home in the house and we won't let them. When John bought the place, there were hundreds of them and now they are gone. We have chimney sweep birds and the usual rodents that make their appearance from time to time. They can check in but won't be checking out.

Tomorrow, John will resume repair and second coating of yellow in the downstairs hallway so that pictures can be hung. I look forward to that. He will be working his way back upstairs to complete the yellow then he will begin the pale green accenting in the upstairs hallway. Then finishing the staining the floor.

Keep checking back for updates to the house..an ongoing labor of love.