Even something as simple as a board to divide two floors can have a story behind it. This one has several, some we know, some we can only guess at.
The flooring levels between the existing living room floor and the new sun room are different. In the under five feet opening for the doorway, from left to right, the change in floor level in the living room is over an inch. The sun room floor is level. Normal means of fixing this problem was not going to work. The first story in this picture is how our house was built and has changed over the years.
The second story is a mystery story, entitled, “How do we fix this one?” The hero is an artist who works in wood, able to shape this board with a plane and sander to compensate for the differences in the floor heights so that the door closes properly and visually this whole problem disappeared. Optical illusions can be a truly beautiful thing to behold!
Two stories told already!
The third story involves the origins of this board. It is recycled from an original beam used to construct a house down by the river, in 1908. This board was milled over 102 years ago from a Larch tree which grew near here, by the river, less than five miles from its new home up on the mountain. The stories the board can tell about the life lived in that first house are unknown to us.
1908 was the last time the Cubs won the World Series, before the smallest crowd ever to see a World Series game. Perhaps this board listened to the game on a radio, or heard the news read from a newspaper. There was a perfect game pitched that year. And the Yankees lost 103 games to finish the season 51-103. Trees and boards listen to baseball games historically, since their brethren are the bats.
A giant fireball impacted Siberia, the Tunguska Event (Enckes Comet). Trees talked about the event in whispers on the wind. Word spread across the Northern Hemisphere.
It was the first year Mount Erebus in Antarctica was climbed, and the wooden snowshoes and climbing poles celebrated. A 46th star was added to the American flag for the state of Oklahoma. I was born in Oklahoma so another circle is closed with my acquaintance with this board.
The first passenger flight in an airplane took place, and wood had a place in the construction of the first planes, and the trees discussed. Henry Ford introduced the Model T car, and wood played a part in the cars; now there are solar powered cars and we live in a solar powered house with this board.
The fourth story involves the original tree, a huge tree hundreds of years old when it was cut down to be made into beams and boards to shelter the family by the river. That tree was towering over the river when word spread of a group of strangers crossing south along the mighty Columbia River. Trees whispered of changes, on the winds. Trees still whisper of change, and descendants of this trees are towering over the river. Changes happen, and some things remain the same.
A new chapter in the life of this board has begun, on the mountain, and new tales will be told.
This now famous, or not, “board” has given me a whole new perspective on life on your mountain: Way, way, way too much free time is on your hands! Where did the glass come from? Where did the gravel in the concrete come from? What’s actually buried on that property? Haha.
What can I tell you about my house? It was here when I went looking for a place to call my home. I shudder to think what this house talks about!! Hahaha.
While it may not be “the house that Jack built”, he certainly did an outstanding job of creating a creative threshold!
102 years old is looking mighty fine!!!!