The Light

Last Saturday we finished the caulking.  We had finished the siding the week before and plugged away at the caulking through the week.  On Saturday we had time to finish, put away the tools and clean up before the 36 hours of soaking sheets of rain started.  Great timing I would say.  
Over the last two days Pat took down the chains for the old windows and we tidied and cleaned.  There is still trim to put around the new windows. We need it to cover up the expanding foam we used to keep creepy crawlies out. It is an inside job and will get done a little later. We have the veranda back and it is great. Just in time for visiting family this weekend.

Next on the list is making the area off the verandas back door a little larger and putting on a railing.  A one point we were going to put a large set of steps across the whole back but have changed our minds and without the steps it is a little crowded.  So make the top area larger and then put on a railing.  

The platform will be another 30" wider with railing on three sides.  It will make sense when I show you a done picture.

Now that I am finished with the renos I thought I would spend the rest of the post on a couple nature pictures.

The last week or two we have woken up to mist in the ravine, I will fall back on my usual line, " it is hard to describe". There is not one sliver of poet in me so I will rely on a photo that my photographer took one morning.

I have three more that I hope illustrate the incredible light we encountered on our walk Monday evening around 7pm.  This is what enthralled us as we walked down the road.

I swear no enhancing or altering other than I cropped the first two a little.  The light was golden and it was so calm the reflections are almost as sharp as the original. 

As we walked we noted that 24 hours earlier the rain had been falling in sheets and we couldn't see across the ravine.

I am loving "weather" in the country.

I Like Grey

A bit of an odd statement for me right.  Because I like colour, a fair bit of colour.  But there is just something about grey autumn days that I love.  We have had a few lately.  I love a walk on those grey days, hopefully out of the wind so the ravine is a great place. Then home for something hot and a little chocolate.  

This was the view from the veranda early one morning last week.  You will hear me say it many times.  I love the architecture of the oaks.

We have seen Blue Jays here before but saw something quite interesting in the last few days.  There would be 5 or 6 that would swoop in and busy themselves finding acorns.

If you look carefully you can see the acorn in his beak.  We watched, trying to figure out whether they ate them whole, were carrying them away or were stashing them.  They moved so quickly twisting and turning so we couldn't see the whole procedure.  The most likely seems that they would take the acorn somewhere where they felt safe and proceed to crack it open and eat it.  

Pat has been very busy outside.  He and his bobcat have become one.  Our driveway sits low so he has been busy moving earth. He has built up the driveway to the garage, lowered others spots and added berms to reroute some of the runoff that will come next spring.  He has a number of piles of beautiful topsoil that we will use for gardening areas and he has prepped some of the areas where we will hopefully plant into next spring.

He has also spread a fairly large load of gravel and will spread another large load this week.

We have been in Saskatoon the last few days, a whirlwind as usual dividing our time between kids, grandkids, appointments and shopping. We are coming to recognize this routine as a part of our new life.  I spent the better part of Friday at the quilt show.   Brooke and I had a great time Saturday afternoon going for tea and doing errands. The roof on the playhouse is shingled, Ian's gate is fixed and the leaves in his yard are raked. I have new jeans and am still on the hunt for shoes. I think we have purchased the last of the light fixtures and that has not been an easy task. 

We finally made time for the Farmer's Market Saturday morning, the first time since we moved and we have just passed the six month mark.  

I usually try and finish with a great photo this time you get mundane. 

Harvest Moon

In previous years we have been have been awe struck watching the full moon rise over our ravine. Last spring before we moved we invited our book club to come for a visit, timing their visit with the full moon.  As it turns out this year the full moon and the autumnal equinox were a day or two apart.  When this happens you get a Harvest Moon.

Half the book club was able to come.  They arrived Thursday the 19th.  We missed the moonrise that evening due to clouds.  Our timing was off the next evening.  But, by Saturday we were ready sitting outside with beverages and a fire waiting for the moon to rise and it was worth the wait.  It was spectacular.

  
The photo is a little grainy because of the zoom but this gives you an idea of what we saw.

While the Slow Book Club was here we did a little hiking on the trails the Esterhazy bike club has developed

But they were also eager participants in Pat's work crew.  We have a pond at the bottom of the ravine that is fed by a creek that runs in a torrent in the spring and then diminishes considerably through the summer. Beavers had built a large dam and we built a bridge over a portion of it to make crossing easier. The beavers are gone now, so there is no one to do the maintenance on the dam for us.   The opening in the dam has become bigger and is now in a different spot.  I tell you all this because Pat led the work detail which moved and refurbished the bridge.  A bridge is much better than a couple of slippery logs.

This post has taken me a while to get to.  I intended to post Monday the 23rd, but another side of rural life interfered.  In one week I was in Yorkton 3 times ( a family member in the hospital) Moosomin once ( quilt store open house), Regina once ( to pick up Pat's mom at the airport) and Winnipeg once (Ikea).  I swear after I take Maureen's van back today ( we traded vehicles for the trip to Winnipeg) I am not getting in a vehicle for days.  I am still not used to spending so much time in a vehicle.  In Saskatoon we walked or biked using the car very little.  Once we are settled with most of the renovating done I am hoping a weekly trip to Esterhazy will suffice. 

It has been a glorious autumn and I thought I would share a couple of photos of ravine.

The last one is sunrise Sunday.  Moments like this make up for the hundreds of kilometres I travelled last week.

A Boy and His Toy

I thought I would start this post with our equipment purchase.  We went back and forth in the decision making process as to whether we should buy a skid steer or a tractor.  We decided on a skid steer for a couple of reasons.  There is a second hand market in skid steers and there isn't much of one in compact tractors and Pat's brother Bruce has tractors, but no skid steer.  Also we decided it would handier for landscaping than a tractor.  We have had it about a week and Pat has been doing a little driving.  I will take the sticks (there are two I'm told) at some point but for now we need to get one of us reasonably competent.  For those who don't know, you drive with the lever and operate the bucket/snowblower with your feet.  It has a cab, heat for winter and air conditioning for summer so we will be in the lap of luxury.  
I must note how naive I was.  I had no concept of some of the uses for a bobcat.  We were getting organized to take the old cupboards to the dump, when Pat informed me that he was going to break them up to make it easier to transport them.  Silly me I thought he was going to use a hammer and elbow grease.

I did tell him to smile and wave for the camera.

Remember the tomato plant or two.  Planting the garden was one of our better ideas.  I know sunshine is important for growing most vegetables but with a lifetime of gardening around big trees I didn't really realize how important it is.  With lots of sunshine you get studier, bigger vegetables with not much effort.  

The beans are a type of pole bean that did get fairly big at 213 but not 10".  We grew carrots but never had any this long and there is still a couple of weeks at least of growing time.  No picture but we had a beet that weighed in at a pound.  Cucumbers not so successful and I am still waiting on the Roma tomatoes

The kitchen is in pretty good shape.  The kitchen faucet arrived Monday so I was happy to have Pat replace the bathroom one he had installed temporally.  Although, it doesn't matter as much now because there is a dishwasher!  We seemed to have adapted to the induction range without any mishap.  Pat still has to do the counter plugs so we are running extension cords for now.  I will include a picture when we have that done.  This whole process has taught me how much of our modern world I take for granted and how much I do like those conveniences.

As I said the mudder came and did his thing. We spent last weekend painting and had the floor installed Monday/Tuesday.  We are waiting for electricity and bathroom fixtures to be installed.  But, it seems to me that I can unpack my studio stuff. A bathroom doesn't matter for that and as for electricity well if I do it during the day there is lots of light and if I get totally desperate there are power bars and extension cords.  I can hardly believe it, some of my fabric/yarn etc has been in boxes since February. 

Evidence that I do paint. If you don't want to do the top(ceiling) you get to do the bottom.  Again I will include a picture when there is a little more to see.

The 50's has brought insomnia issues for both Pat and I.  Sunday we were both awake about 4am at 5:00 we gave up and decided to go for a walk.  The upside of insomnia is sunrise. 

The first two photos you will recognize as the ravine, the last two are from the pasture as we returned home after the walk.
As I do the blog entries I have wondered what I will do when I have shown you all the nature there is to see here.  But, I have a feeling that Mother Nature will continue to put on a varied show for us for as long as we are interested

Incredible Light

A slow day for me yesterday.  Motivation was low and the internet was slow.  Pat and I wondered about kids on summer holidays hogging band width and it was cloudy, we know cloudy days slow down the internet.  We have another signal booster ordered so we are hoping this one will work better than the last version although that will not give us more band width.

The flax is blooming and it is beautiful.

When we sit at the dining table in the veranda we look out over the ravine.  The flax is in bloom on the other side. 

I was out yesterday morning to take flax pictures I thought you would enjoy this one.  The flax and the water are almost the same colour, textural differences separate them, the band in the middle is  the water.
Eureka!  With the help of my tech support I now know how to make pictures a decent size.  No more squinting and large enough to do them justice.  

The final stucco coat is done on the basement.  As I said we will now be able to seriously think about what we are going to do outside.  The first order of business will be to work  on grading and water flow.

You will notice the absence of siding on the dormer, the contractors will do that.  On the other hand the siding for the veranda is our responsibility.  We have been having trouble with water coming in the windows so are considering replacing them.  A " while we are at it" situation.  If we are going to do the windows we need to do them before we put on the new siding.

Next reno update is the kitchen.  We took the ceiling down on the weekend and added in the extra support.  We both agreed that it was a job that went smoothly and was done fairly quickly.  Could it be that this was the third room we have done?  And I add the last room.   Pat is working on the wiring as I write.  We ordered the cabinets from Ikea yesterday.  They gave us a delivery date of August 6th.

We have been having thunderstorms in the early evening, they pass over fairly quickly and then the sun shines.  The light is hard to describe and there is usually a rainbow.  I have some photos to share but I must tell you the pictures are good but they cannot really do justice to the light. 

Okay, I did preview this and I realize the pictures are now bigger than the body of the blog.  I don't know how to fix this yet and I don't want to make the pictures smaller.  I will try to either figure it out myself or enlist tech support.

Friends and Family

Last week and through this week will be for friends and family.  We had been invited to join friends ( eight tenths of The Slow Book Club ) in Regina for Dimensions, Bazzart and visiting. On the Tuesday I decided that it was time for a break.  Friday after work we were on our way. Renovation dust billowing behind us.  After a short stop at Home Depot we met part of our group at the hotel and surprised the other two at the restaurant where we planned to meet.  We had a great visit at La Bodega catching up with everyone's news over beer/wine and tapas.  The next stop was the opening reception for Dimensions a juried craft show where our friend Trent was one of the award recipients.  On Saturday Trent and Cathy carried on with their journey and the remaining six took in Bazzart  ( an annual art and craft fair in Regina). After a little look in one fabric shop and one yarn shop we had a very nice lunch at 13th Ave Coffee shop. We had a great time!

Saturday Pat's youngest brother and family arrived from California and Sunday we entertained and fed a crew of 16.  The numbers had me looking through my stack of boxes for more dishes.  I have only a few out ( the fewer to dust drywall dust off the better).  The weather was okay no rain but the lbbf  ( little black bugger flies ) kept us in the veranda.  You will note that I mention the veranda  a lot.  It is my favourite place.  

Back to family we had a wonderful evening.  Maureen had all her children home as well as some daughter-in-laws, grandchildren and her brother and sister-in-law.  Ian will come today, he missed the big event but will be here most of the week. 

Our garden is up and was mostly successful.  A few empty potato spots but perhaps they will show up yet.  I will thrill you with photos when there is more to see.

The pantry is moving along.  The flooring is in and we spent Thursday afternoon making shelves.  They need paint which will happen later today (I hope).  I should be filling them by the end of next week. 

The opening you see in the top photo is the doorway to the hidey hole, cave or fort depending on your needs.  Our nephews made good use of it yesterday. Affirmation that is was worth getting a crick in my neck painting the ceiling in "the fort".

We have had lots of rain and the countryside is lush and green.  The cattle are happy grazing in the ravine,they are the little specks you see in the centre of the photo.

Bread

I spent part of yesterday afternoon in the veranda, hand quilting and listening to a book tape. The very best part was when it started to rain. Rain on a metal roof, thunder, the smell of rain through open windows and a latte with a little chocolate.  Could it get any better?  You will note I started the sentence with I.  Where was Pat?  He was sanding the pantry. An unpleasant job, I didn't get a picture but he went straight from the pantry to the shower when he was finished.  He did make it into the veranda for the rain.  Today we will prime.  Tomorrow, install the red marmoleum floor?

 The rain we had yesterday afternoon and evening will be great for the garden.  A shadow of green in the lettuce bathtub.  The tomatoes, parsley and basil all seemed to have survived being whipped around in the wind.  A different gardening environment here.  We have never seen deer in the yard, rarely in our quarter so we are hopeful they won't be a problem.  I am a little concerned about the egg eating squirrel that we frequently see.  We are hoping row cover material will keep him out. 

I love Robins.  This fellow sat high in this oak tree one evening and sang his heart out for the longest time.  Long enough for me to enjoy him, figure out where he was, (he was at  the very top of a forty foot oak swinging in the breeze.) Then I went to get the camera and took many pictures. Necessary because he was at the end of the telephoto range and swinging.  I was pleased to get a picture that was not blurry and his beak open for singing.  He was still singing when I left.

I have gotten used to bread from Earthbound or Il Secundo for my breakfast toast.  My frozen supply is about gone.  We have purchased and tried bread from local sources and Superstore.  They are not what I am used to for a number of reasons.  On a Yorkton Superstore stop we bought some rye and sourdough from their bakery. The rye tasted tangy/salty. But my great thirst after eating their products had me checking the sodium content. Wow! A 50 gram serving had three times more sodium than the equivalent size serving of nachos. And honestly if I am looking for salt I would rather eat nachos.  Interestingly enough I came across an article about 10 foods with the highest salt content.  Bread and rolls were there.  I don't know the sodium content in the breads from the local bakeries but the taste is certainly different, the tang in the Superstore rye was from salt. It would be interesting for everyone to check the sodium in their bread.
The great long paragraph is leading up to this.

   
In the past I have ventured down the bread making path with varying degrees of success. Generally falling back on the expertise of the local bakeries.  With that option gone it was time to try again.  I found this no knead recipe that is very simple and I must say successful.  I forgot to slash the top before baking,and did it after consequently the odd looking slash. I am quite excited to try different flours and additives.  If anyone is interested I searched no knead bread and found a few options. I also found a site called The Fresh Loaf.  They describe themselves as a news and information site for amateur bakers and artisan bread enthusiasts. They have a lot of interesting sounding recipes and an online handbook which looks very useful.  I will keep you posted.

Friday was another important day!  I was invited to the first meeting of a quilt group.  Similar to my Saskatoon groups.  Seven women who will get together for sharing, visiting and a little nibble.  I didn't get a chance to find out if any of them knit.  A group of quilters with some who also knit, perfect.

We have taken walks in the ravine it hasn't been all work.

I still haven't had a latte at the beaver dam.  We now have very small black flies that are present in swarms. They don't bite they just hover around your head and crawl on your face. I was in the veranda yesterday for more than one reason. The locals tell me they only last a few days. 
The ravine is lush and green and the oaks finally have their leaves.

    

And So We Begin

I had planned to sit down and do a quick post. But, there remain computer skills that are not in my long term automatic memory yet.  So 30 minutes later I begin.

Today is Pat's first day of work.  As some of you know the plan is for him to work half time from Twin Oaks using the internet with occasional trips to Saskatoon to be present in the office.  One of our goals was to get the lower level in usable condition as that is to be Pat's office.  We did that, but this morning the young men from R Thompson Construction are making their joyful noise so we relocated Pat to the veranda.  Please note the lovely curtain, the veranda faces east and is very bright in the morning and the blanket on his knees it was also a little nippy at 8:00 am this morning.

Thinking

Thinking or resting?

 The two photos were taken moments apart so I assure all that he is thinking in both photos. 

The weekend work schedule was focused on the pantry.  It doesn't look like much yet but a lot of work does go on behind the drywall.  It is going to be BIG by my standards and will include a little hidey hole for small children to play in.

The hide hole is under the stairs in the lower right corner of the photo.

When I posted on the 13th I included a photo showing the faintest tint of green in the ravine.  I had intended to take a photo last night to show the difference a week makes. I was too tired so opted for a week and 12 hours.  This is the ravine around 9 this morning.

The aspen leaves are brilliant and green and tender. And I brought some in to enjoy inside.

I had hoped to cast on a pair of socks for a 65th birthday gift before I return to my carpenter assistant role so I best get to it.