For us, Thanksgiving 2024 marks one full year here in Cooperstown and it has flown by. We have done so much and yet still have some projects to complete before we can be ready for the next baseball rental season. Last year at this time, we were barreling across the US in our Acura, trying to outrun a snow storm, enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner at a gas station in Wyoming, and spent the last few weeks of 2023 getting settled into our new home and community.
The first few months here consisted primarily of getting our bearings and establishing a new routine. We learned which grocery stores we preferred and discovered one of our local favorites, Jive Cafe which is one of the few local options that stay open during the winter. It was particularly helpful when in early December, a snowstorm knocked out our power for a day. We managed to get a Christmas tree up and had a quiet relaxing holiday. In February, we ventured out to the Winter Carnival and saw a glimpse of a more bustling town. In March, we were delighted to have Chris’ dad and sister come for a visit – it was so nice to spend time with them at the cabin and show them the new house.
When the weather started to thaw out in the spring, we ventured out more to and started to discover some of the activities that come up once the weather improves. This included the most epic pancake breakfast, the farmers market (technically open year round), and restaurants that began to open back up. We also dove head first into renovation projects getting floors refinished, painting, and getting new carpets installed.
We still had a big problem which was the mudroom – we had sealed it off to prevent the overwhelming pet urine smell from infiltrating the rest of the house. This took a high level of remediation so we brought in a contractor to help get things moving. By mid summer, we had a new sub-floor, drywall, and roughed in plumbing for our laundry and a new half bathroom there.
In between working on projects, we also had our day jobs, taking care of projects at the cabin and trying to fit in fun activities as well. We discovered antique stores, museums, a 4th of July parade, more restaurants – so many fun things and just not nearly enough time to enjoy them all. I also got connected with a knitting group and started to make new friends. We explored Otsego lake from a kayak and ate lots of ice cream.
As summer was speeding by us, we made a decision to focus on outside projects to make good use of the warm weather. This included getting several trees removed, power washing the siding and deck surface. Getting the first coat of paint on the siding and two full coats of dark stain on the deck. While this was happening, we were also getting new tile flooring installed in the mudroom.
Suddenly it was late September and more family was on the way to visit, this time Malley’s family – we got to show them the cabin and so many fun things around Cooperstown. We went to Fly Creek Cider Mill, the Baseball Hall of Fame, took a ride on the Glimmerglass Queen, took a spin on the Rail Explorer and ate lots of great food.
This was about the time we hit renovation burn out after pushing hard to get progress on big and small projects. That didn’t stop us from being busy though, we had some stuff to take care of at the cabin and this included an unexpected rush out there to pick up a stray kitty that had found its way to our place. Fortunately our guests were really sweet about it and enjoyed play time with him. We named him Preston (since we found him in Preston Hollow) and fostered him for a couple of weeks until finding him a new forever home. He lives nearby and is doing just great with his new family.
To help jump back into projects (inside because its definitely winter now), I pushed myself to paint the living room earlier this month. I was motivated to complete that so we could have a nice cozy space for Christmas and we were both tired of looking at the dirty pastel yellow walls. We chose a rich navy blue and it turned out perfect. Pictures are up on Instagram and I will post more here soon. Next up will be painting the mudroom and getting that set up more permanently, along with painting the new half bath and add some decorative touches. Then starting right away in 2025 is a full kitchen remodel.
With the summer being so busy, I didn’t get to share as many project details here as I’d hoped and will be using the slightly less hectic winter time months to share stories and photos from more of our summer fun and projects. I did put together an album of highlights of our first year in Cooperstown – check it out here.
Here’s to a great first year in upstate NY and more to come. Cheers!
