Floor Surprise...

Can you guess what this picture is?


and a good surprise this time! We have been getting up at 5 a.m. (probably because we fall asleep at 8 p.m. every night!) and yesterday decided to see what was under the laminate floors in the dining room and living room. Surprise! indoor/outdoor carpeting then nice hardwood ...actually two surprises - there are only 2 floorings rather than the anticipated multiples!
The front hall and living room however are the wide plank floors, the same as the ones found in the upstairs rooms. Still nice and once sanded & finished, should look great.
That project took until noon, at which time Bill(ie) the bush and tree removal guy dropped in to take out a few trees that the NB hydro requested in order to put a pole closer to the house. Very scientific request...the new pole must be 25 paces from the meter...now how do you measure that?! My paces? his? my grandson's? He determined that the pole needs to be placed right where 4 large poplar trees stand...fortunately they are poplars (hate 'em) and there are too many out front anyway.
We also cut out the old scraggly cedars that grew directly in front, so now more sunlight is allowed in the tiny windows.
Just as Bill(ie) finished that job, Lynn the realtor, pulled up and invited us to go with her on a tour of Fundy Park. I have seen the pictures on the web and Google Earth, but they don't do it justice, nor do the pictures here on the blog...incredible vistas! The park is HUGE and there is a bridge being built this summer for car traffic that will eventually allow for travel through the park from St Martins to Alma (again, our thanks to the "have provinces", your tax dollars are appreciated!). Currently it ends at the Big Salmon River (11 km in), which to me at least, isn't much of a river, but Lynn said that is because the tide is out. (They also tell me this is coldest spring anyone can remember...which is what they said about the winter, the black flies and the winds!)
At any rate, we bought a seasons pass ($35.00) as there are walking trails and look outs and picinic areas throughout the park. It is a world heritage park and I think one of the Canada's great unknown beauties.
By the time we got home, we were both toooo tired to cook supper, so off to the village restaurant for a bite...and there was Lynn with hubby Garry and 2 women introduced to us as the museum curator and genealogy expert for St Martins...and surprise! our house was built in 1877 and they used shipbuilding methods - something called ship's knees: apparently upside down tree roots that look like knees for the corners (gotta feeling this is another "yarn" I'm being fed) and something and tennon? for the foundation.

Huh!...here's a picture of a ship's knee from the internet...and it is indeed a root! go figure!
So, now knowing the age of the old girl and given that the latests residents at least, did very little to keep her healthy, it should come as little surprise that so much needs to be done to breathe new life back into her!
But it does beg the question: what else is buried back in the ravine "dump"?!

and what is the first picture in this post? Every space between the planks was stuffed with lengths of old coveralls and then caulked over (the picture shows the pile collected). The planks are only painted on the perimeter - what was showing around the edge of a carpet. Recycling and consumer conservation at its best!