Windows

Gratitude 3/9/2026

I am grateful for the gift of a new day.
My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings I have.
I will appreciate the small joys and express my thanks in all circumstances.
Let my attitude of gratitude bring joy to others.

I’m so grateful for windows that protect me from the wind and temperatures but let me witness and observe the outside world.

I never thought a whole lot about windows until the summer of 1975 when we moved into this house built in 1837. There was no air conditioning so I wanted to open the windows on hot days, but there were a couple problems with that. Many were stuck and would not open no matter what. There were just a few I could pry open and prop up with a stick. Screens were another problem. The old screens that still existed from my grandmother’s day were brittle and many had holes. Lots of bugs got in the house, although those screens did keep the birds out. The putty on with windows was also brittle and some was completely gone, so the window panes rattled on windy days.

In the winter, they windows were so drafty, I bought 3M window kits and stretched plastic film to cover the windows and then used adhesive tape to secure them in place. But on a cold windy day, the plastic would billow in and out. One time it was so cold the water on the upstairs toilet froze.

In December of 1983 we had an electrical fire in the kitchen. We were planning to go to Florida to visit Stewart’s parents and had asked our friends to come up to take care of our goats, chickens, cats, and dogs. I spent the whole day cleaning up, preparing a meal, and getting ready to leave. Our guests arrived and we enjoyed dining together. Then we went into the living room to play Trivial Pursuit. While we were playing we began to smell smoke. We had a fire in the fireplace, so we first tried to put that out. Then someone noticed smoke coming from the electrical outlet. That’s when we called the fire department.

They came out very quickly and found that the source of the fire was in the attic, above the kitchen. The house had been wired for electricity about 40 years before and some wires were laying across the beams in the attic. Whether it was rodent damage or aging, having the lights on all day had created enough heat that a beam started smoking. When the fireman opened the door to that attic, it burst into flame with the infusion of oxygen.

Luckily they quickly put the fire out, but there was a lot of smoke and water damage and the ceiling in the kitchen was destroyed.

We got some insurance money and took out a loan to remodel the kitchen. We had a chimney built for the wood stove the coal stove, and a space for the oven. We gutted the room and put in fiberglass insulation and new drywall… and replaced the windows in that part of the house, which was one story with an attic. The house had had single hung 6/6 windows, and our contractor replaced them with single hung double pane windows that came with screens.

I still have the old windows in the barn hayloft. At one time we thought if we won the lottery, we would restore them and put them back in. It turns out that in order to get on the National Register of Historic Places, you can’t do much to the exterior of a building. That means you can restore, but youcan’t replace old windows.

We replaced a large picture window my grandparents had put in the kitchen that did not open or close, with a bay window with two casement window sides. I had wanted a bay window we could sit in, but the contractor ordered another style, and it was going to be really expensive to replace that, so I decided to just live with it.

The next summer after the nightmare of the construction, we really enjoyed being able to open with windows and not invite so many bugs into the house.

Those big panes of glass, though, do confuse birds. We get several that dive into their reflections in the glass. And last spring there was a female cardinal that for weeks would flutter around a window in the kitchen.

A few years later after the children were born, with the aid of another loan, we decided to replace windows in the rest of the house, the 1 1/2 story part. I asked and called around to get bids and references. The first two contractors lamented replacing the old windows as we had done in the kitchen because they were so historic and had such character. The last contractor, who had been recommended by our doctor (who also had an old house) begged us NOT to replace the windows. He pointed out how distinctive they were with the small square wooden corners on the tops, and the wavy glass panes. He said he would “restore” and build screens and storm windows that would be an energy efficient and cost about the same as replacement windows. That was just the right thing.

Over one summer a pick up truck would arrive at about 7:45 am. At 8:00 an older craftsman, Fred Strauser, would come to the door and announce that he was ready to start for the day. Every day, he would remove a window and carefully cover the opening. Then he took it into the garage and took each of the 12 panes of glass out, repair any damage to the wood, and then replace the glass and reputty it. Then he built custom wood framed window screens and storm windows. He added these spring locks with two sets of holes so we could open the windows and lock them in place.

Upstairs we have six very distinctive “eyebrow” windows in the 1 1/2 story upstairs.

Every fall over the Thanksgiving holiday, we have had a routine of me washing all the windows and removing the screens. And Stewart carrying the storm windows out and putting them in for the winter. Sometime in April, usually around Passover/Easter holiday time, we remove the storms and reinstall the screens for summer.

But now it’s 40 years since those windows were restored and the putty is crumbling and many of the spring locks have broken. After we got geothermal heat and we seamlessly moved from heat to AC, we did not take the storm windows in the spring. It was like the old days when we just opened the windows in the kitchen when the weather was right.

The front door window was a whole ‘nother thing. My mother’s cousin, A.C. Metzger who lived next door passed away in 1998. He was such a kind and wonderful human being! He had been born in this house in 1915. Then his family moved to a newer old house next door. Except for a stint working for the military hospital in Bath, England, he lived there with his mother and after she died in 1981, by himself, farmed, and raised milk cows.

When he died, his house was beyond repair and the family decided to burn it and the barn. The neighbor who lived across the road from A.C. called me to let me know what was going to happen. I recruited a couple friends and we went over and removed doors and some interesting hardware from the house and brought it back to my place. One of those items was the front door, which had a large square glass window in it. When my grandparents restored this farm, they had replaced whatever door was here with a 1950s style door with three tiny cascading windows, which I still have in the barn. We were so happy to be able to fit AC’s front door on the house where he was born. It lets in so much more light!

It turns out that you can date a house by its windows. Early homes multi-paned windows (6-over-6 or 9-over-9). The are “true divided light.” Larger panes were used in the later part of the 19th century and the early 20th century. The double panes, big picture windows, and double hung windows are found in modern homes. A lot of homes use 6 over six or 9 over 9 treatments, but they are not individual panes of glass. Instead there is a frame dividing the light between two large panes of glass.

It brings me such joy to watch the seasons change from inside looking out my windows. I can get mezmerized watching the birds coming to the bird feeders.

I am so grateful for my windows on the world.