Daylight’s Waning: Musings of a Catskill Builder

  |  November 5, 2014

Woodstove

Summer’s fading fast.  Technically, though I didn’t actually note it, it’s already long past. Trees are mostly leafless although some stubborn ones are still preventing “seasonal views,” but most likely one good wind and rain storm will strip them bare for good for this year.

Going quick are the farm markets, the Octoberfests, the organized bike rides over the Gunks, the summer First Fridays of Saugerties, the street parties of Kingston and Rosendale, the car shows, boat shows, kayak clubs and sailing adventures.

But you won’t catch me mourning for long, since there is nothing better in my mind than a cold, frozen, shivering, white winter season. Where the gardening, home improvements, kids’ activities, landscaping epiphanies, bike riding, mountain hiking, fire-pit-smore-cooking pressures are released and the best you can do is grab a good book, heat up the wood stove and spend some serious time under the dark, shadowy, early evening lamp light.

The changing of the season is a serious time in the building business. When once November hits you know you’re living on borrowed time, since any day the seasons may change for good, and any foundation not in the ground won’t be going in, and lack of preparation of job sites, offices, or equipment will soon to prove more difficult to remedy.

When you break out the under armor for good, and it becomes a constant partner, providing a believable excuse of why the winter pants feel tighter this year. Gloves, hats and boots are always nearby.

Having a lot on my plate, fall is always a challenging time of year for me in terms of clothes and fashion. In the Catskills in the fall, temps can easily swing from 30 degrees in the morning to 70 by mid-afternoon. Layer upon layer of clothes sit in my offices, cars, homes — to where each and every Friday I’m collecting what seems like an entire wardrobe of peeled layers and bringing them back home to their respective hooks, where the process starts again the next week.

— Charles Petersheim of Catskill Farms

About Catskill Farms

Charles Petersheim founded design/build firm Catskill Farms in 2002 in Sullivan County. Continually inspired wholly by regional architecture, his over 275 new old homes dot the Hudson Valley, including Sullivan, Ulster, and Dutchess counties. His 20 years of Catskills building have given him broad perspective on how to succeed Upstate, be it with farming, building, small business, or just relaxing on the front porch.

Read more from Catskill Farms

Read On, Reader...