Where in the world did the months of December and January go? Last thing I remember, I was getting out the Christmas decorations and dishes. Then today’s calendar shows it’s the end of January. How did that happen?
First, let me apologize for the lack of posts for the past 2 months. December is always a busy time in our family. This December, however, was even crazier than usual. The same week Eric got off his crutches, Amanda got hit in the knee and had to begin using hers. She is doing OK without her crutches now but still must be easy on her knee. If we can continue to keep her in the office and not in the field, she should be on her way to a full recovery. Eric’s ankle is continuing to heal. His limp was getting much better until he slipped on the ice last week. Fortunately, it was just a twist rather than any worse damage. The swelling went down after a couple days and he is getting better again.
Our survey business is unusually busy for this time of year. New contracts generally get slow in the early winter and don’t pick up again until mid-spring. Our plan was to use this slow time to get the bungalow fixed up for the move. While being busier than usual is great news for the business, the time we expected to be able to spend on the bungalow is quickly disappearing. When the business is keeping us working long hours 6 to 7 days a week, there is not much time for anything else but sleeping. We’re certainly not complaining but we’d like to be much further along with the property than we currently are.
We did have several very exciting experiences in January. The recorded deed to the property arrived in the mail. Amanda and Eric are now officially part of the history of the Horner House and the city of Indianapolis. This has certainly made the dream of owning Toad Hall much more real.
We found out that Ron’s first cousin is married to Janet, a former occupant of the Second Empire house at English & Emerson (the Buford-Ward-Riches House). Janet and I were discussing the Horner House recently and she told me she grew up in the other Second Empire. Sounds like there are some similarities in the two houses. Janet said her house had a 2 story front staircase where the Horner House is only 1. Janet’s father recently donated the abstract to the Irvington Historical Society. We’re hoping we can get access to it and see if there are other commonalities. What irony!
In addition, we knew that Indiana Landmarks was including an article about the Horner House in their Jan-Feb Indiana Preservationist publication. Imagine our surprise when the article was on the back page! They even mentioned the blog which makes me more chagrined that I’ve been so remiss in posting.
As a final note, we’re proud of Indianapolis and the great job they are doing as the Super Bowl hosts for next weekend. At this point, it even looks like the weather might cooperate with milder than normal temperatures. Hope our city makes a good impression!
And speaking of the Super Bowl, Ron's Great Aunt Florence was mentioned in the Super Bowl XLVI Official Visitors Guide on page 40. We have to brag because she's really 102!
