Gnome Sweet Gnome

One of three and one more to go

Gnome Sweet Gnome

This is a story of an old house on Route 5 South heading towards Wilder that has kept the owner busy for a while, but what a transformation it has become. The gnomes and many bird houses that are displayed on the property caught my attention and I needed to find out more.  

"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful"

A gnome for each grandchild

Just a few of the bird houses on this property

I had a very nice visit with the owner, Linda T. Tuck, and here is her story . . .  

Linda had been driving by this house for many years on her way to visit her sister, and always thought, what a neat old house. The property was in pretty tough shape as it was overgrown with brush, barbed wire and other debris.

Linda's position as a nursing home activities director for 33 years was starting to become a job with more and more paperwork and less time with the residents.  Linda's sister informed her that the property was for sale.  What an opportunity.  The inside of the house was pretty rough but Linda saw what it was at one time. With the help of her sister, the property was bought in 2015.  Along with her husband, son, and grandsons, Linda and family moved into the home and have been working on it ever since and they could not be happier. 

The front of the property had four spruce trees that were bug infested and needed to be taken down.  When it came to cut them, Linda asked for the tree stumps to be left at ten feet high as she wanted to see if there was someone to carve them into 4 gnomes, one for each of her grandchildren.

Front of the house

The stumps were there for a year when a man came by and said he heard by word of mouth that she was looking for someone to do carving. She showed him an illustration of what she wanted, gave him some money and he said he would have to cut the tree down and take it with him.  One year later and after many phone calls, he returned the gnome.  Needless to say, she was not pleased with the results and decided to purchase a chainsaw and do the carving herself - all the while knowing that worst case scenario, she would at least have a nice wood pile!

According to Linda, she has had a blast working on them and is now finishing the third one.  Each is labeled with her grandsons' name, the year they were born  and the animals they like.

And still another or should I say the third of four?

Her hope is to find one more log so she can complete the project.  Linda says that in a way, she is glad things turned out the way it did because she found she could do this herself.  She has also met many people who have stopped  to talk to her when she would be working on the gnomes.

In fact, one visitor was the grandson to the man who planted the trees in 1900, one for each of his children.

The story about the bird houses goes back to Linda's father who lived in West Fairlee, Vt.  He enjoyed woodworking for a hobby and would give Linda the bird houses so that the residents at the nursing home could paint and sell them or give them to their loved ones.

Bird houses are attached on the fence that surrounds the property

Just a few more

She has always loved birds and in addition to the bird houses, she has bird baths and bird feeders.  The houses you see in the yard were all built by her father years ago and each time she paints and cleans them out, she feels her father is there with her.  

The 'Tucks Clucks' are Linda's chickens and they all have special names and a special house!

Please enjoy the photos and see for yourself

A chicken house or a storage shed (where are the chickens?)

Oh here they are!

Movin on out

Recently painted and smartly decorated

Nice colors

 and each one is a different color

Pastel or green?

And another side of houses (sort of looks like condos.)

Thanks, for reading

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I love writing about people and events in Norwich, because everyone has a story to tell, and some do not wish to tell it, however those that choose to know that I will be caring...