The original barn on this farm (1780) has renovated loft space created for an ample office and then some. It is 20' X 20' which will allow our youngest son to practice physical therapy remotely here with a company based in Australia and Portugal...while living in the main house. His car is garaged below it and he is a lucky Leif.
Recently, the Nation's oldest collegiate debate and political union has voted to strip Senator Ted Cruz PU '92 of it's highest honor for voting to overthrow the November 2020 election. Princeton University's American Whig-Clio Society's Award for Distinguished Public Service has been awarded in the past to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Golda Meir, and it is the first time it has been rescinded. The society was founded 256 years ago by James Madison and Aaron Burr.
The Whig-Clio buildings on campus are iconic, mostly marble and grand columned structures situated behind Cannon Green and revered Nassau Hall itself. Since our PU Class of '75 celebrated it's 25th reunion in the new millennium year, I used architectural drawings from an architect/friend restoring their columns to create our "Millennium Moment" logo. ("Millennium Moment" referred to the moment the Class '75 was led through Nassau Hall gates by the Old Guard in custom made Class blazers leading the P-rade event 2000.) A cartoon version was completed by Henry Martin PU '48, New Yorker cartoonist, by adding a tiger and Princeton's famous fireworks to it. The logos were later used to create fabric for a reunion's shirt, belts, hatbands, bottle labels, etc. Henry Martin recently passed away while living among Princeton University alumni, who upheld high standards of service to the Nation and society we are proud of. I have counted six recognized Class '75 members who petitioned to take away Ted Cruz' award.
"Whig and Clio, like similar literary societies at other American
colleges, were the main focus of undergraduate life for much of the
nineteenth century. Elaborately organized, self-governing youth groups
(though often receiving advice from alumni and faculty), they were, in
effect, colleges within colleges. They constructed and taught their own
curricula, selected and bought their own books, operated their own
libraries (often larger and more accessible than that of the college
itself), and developed and enforced elaborate codes of conduct among
their members. Intense competition for members and for college honors
led to creative emulation between the two societies. Their libraries
afforded undergraduates easy access to the world outside; their debates
trained generations to consider the great public issues of the day, from
slavery to American expansion, from women’s rights to the dismemberment
of the union. Surviving the challenge of Greek letter fraternities in
the 1850s and 1860s, the societies reached their apogee in the 1880s.
Woodrow Wilson himself trained in the arts of speech and debate while
serving as Speaker (now President) of the Society. Then Princeton, like
many other old American colleges, underwent a rapid transformation. It
became a university college. In the process enrollment increased
enormously, while a network of social clubs, expanded library
facilities, and a widened curriculum replaced many of the functions once
performed by Whig and Clio. By the time of World War I, Whig and Clio
were only two among the scores of student groups that appealed to a wide
range of undergraduate intellectual, social, and physical interests." (excerpt from "The American Whig-Cliosophic Society History, 2021 The Trustees of Princeton"; Whig Hall below.)
Alex has had his old white oak floors in Charlestown, MA sanded and treated twice with Bona Nordic Seal before two coats of Bona Traffic HD were applied. The change is dramatic! Bona Nordic Seal is a waterborne sealer with a whitening tint; a green solution which protects and lightens giving a more natural look.
The stairs were rebuilt with a new runner, trim, steps, landing boards, balusters and post before treating the floors similarly. The sealer however was Bona HD Traffic Anti-Slip which is smooth to the touch, very effective and highly recommended. 
This thick slab of old ash wood was
drying in the big horse barn when the farm was bought. Christian has
added some walnut butterflies, sanded & applied three coats of
polyurethane to it. The hairpin legs are great and were $20 from ebay,
which is all this bench cost to build.
