Holding Pattern

I did figure out how to redefine the width of the actual blog.  So the pictures will not not hang out over the edge. Next how to resize the picture and text in the blog header.

We are in a bit of a holding pattern.  Still no mudder to do the upstairs as I write.  I think we have been waiting about six weeks and it feels even longer. I believe I am suffering from "no sewing" withdrawal and have started to consider where I might set up.  I am also tired of thinking," I know I have that, but it is in a box somewhere."  We hung all the drywall in the kitchen and Pat and I have decided he will start taping this afternoon.  I cannot be in a holding pattern in the kitchen. Crankiness will rear it's ugly head.

I have been bread making again, trying a smaller baking pot. I also added raisins, I love raisin bread toast.  It was mostly successful, I put the raisins in at the end, next time I will put them in at the beginning to see what including them in the 12 hour ferment does.

I went to a u-pick near Yorkton with three other women and picked 4 pails of strawberries. Some for the freezer and some to gorge on. They were delicious.           The u-pick, Prairie Dome is beautifully maintained, a parklike setting.  They are very organized, requiring you to book a picking time and number of pails, Pat and I have booked picking times this Saturday for Saskatoons and Raspberries.  

Last week was flax, this week canola and Pat was the photographer in this case.  He was out very early on his bike on the weekend and captured these.

 

I am off to Esterhazy to look at more laminate samples for a bathroom vanity top.  I started this process about three weeks ago and nothing is even ordered.  Discontinued samples and distance creating the delay.  There is supposed to be a whole sample book for me to look at so I have decided that the bright side of this will be lots of samples to choose from and hopefully there will be something that will work for the kitchen counters as well as the bathroom.

Enough of the somewhat boring details, a glorious day here today. With all the rain the hillside below us is lush and full of wildflowers. 

Enjoy your week and we will all hope for sunshine.

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.

Garden Update

As I mentioned last week, here is a garden update.  It needs work and probably will have a different location as we figure out the yard but this is it as of July 8.

You can barely make out the pole beans climbing the trellis but they are there and a little yellow looking so I gave them some liquid Miracle Grow.  Oh for the compost we left at 213.  We learned that you can't transplant garlic, it has all died.  But, I have ordered some for our consumption and to plant in the fall so we will hope they have a good crop.  The rhubarb transplanted very well.  It is starting to fill the grave Pat dug quite nicely.  The pots near the house are also doing well.  We have been eating lettuce from the bathtub, also the basil.  Lots of blooms on the tomato plants so we will keep our fingers crossed.
The men were here Monday to do the first coat of the foundation parging.  They said they will be back later in the week for the top coat.  Next we will be able to start landscaping.  A mixed blessing!  We don't plan to tame too much of the wild but there is still a lot to consider.  I have been rereading permaculture information but I expect there will be a considerable amount of trial and error.

As I said last week the pantry freed the shelving in the dining room so here is where we are at now.

We had another trip to Ikea yesterday, a long day.  We left at 7:00 am and arrived home 15 hours later - at midnight. The distance interestingly enough is almost exactly the same as the drive to Saskatoon.  A little more looking for the kitchen, we will get it ordered this week.  But also some purchasing of shelving for my studio, mattresses for the bunk beds and more stuff I won't go on about.  The car and the roof box were full.  Unfortunately most of it will stay in the boxes and go into the garage.  No activity upstairs. The mudder has at least one job ahead of ours on the list.

We have decided to get started on the kitchen ceiling this weekend.  I am really hopeful that it will go smoothly.  It involves taking down drywall, increasing the supporting beams for the second floor and reinstalling drywall.  Which means drywall dust.  A large part of me would just like to leave it as is but I know the extra support is important and we are moving the light fixtures so it is much easier to take down and reinstall than to patch as much as we would have to.  The other part of this is having a nonfunctioning kitchen.  I am not thinking about that yet.  Ordering pizza is not really an option.

Pat was up early one morning and caught this fellow having breakfast.  A male American Goldfinch.

We were out for a short bike ride one gorgeous evening and took this picture of a flax field.  I am including it because next time I will post one of it in bloom!

The Weekend Was Long 2

I  had to read my last post, I needed to orientate myself.  A lot happens in two weeks.
We have been to Saskatoon and had a chance to visit with some friends. There were a number of items on the agenda.  Staying with Bailey, Slow Book Club windup potluck,  trips to home reno centres, Pat to Rabbit Lake and Key Lake, spending time with children and grandchildren. It was a whirlwind kind of trip.
Zachary, Heather and the girls were out of town for a wedding for the first couple days.  We stayed with their dog Bailey.  Bailey loves Pat. 

Zach et al returned Sunday evening.  Monday and Tuesday Pat went to the lakes and I spent time with Brooke and Norah.  Brooke is big enough to sit in a booster seat in the car now and loves to go places with Nana.  So Monday Brooke and I did errands and took Auntie Carmen out for lunch.  We had a great time!  Tuesday was Story Time at the library, it has been awhile since I have been with that many young children and it was wonderful to watch the dynamics and their play.

Norah is of the age that she changes quickly.  During the six weeks between visits she went from a chubby baby to tall lean toddler. She is walking but remains cautious, reverting to crawling if she needs to get somewhere in a hurry.

We drove home Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning I was a flurry of activity. The pantry was ready to fill and I was in heaven.

  

There is still tweaking to do, it will change again when the kitchen is done.  But I am in heaven. Did I say that already?  I have places to put food and dishes and stuff. 

Pat started his weekend Thursday at noon and the focus was the basement.  The plumber installed the drain while we were in Saskatoon so we were able to what we needed to do.

The before picture is really Pat's way of keeping track of where pipes etc. run but it does give you and idea of where we started.  It is still what we call the mechanical room but the difference is huge. The Dirt floor is covered!  The floor is a rubber side walk block made from recycled tires.  It was a lot of work particularly for Pat.  A loader bucket of gravel wheel barrelled in and tamped by hand. I was in heaven (filling the pantry) while this was going on.  I did participate in rubber block installation and again did some reorganizing. We were able to move the chest deep freezer to it's permanent home, I will move some food into it today and then the upstairs freezer won't be so stuffed.  
The pantry made shelving available so I was able to put shelving in the cold room and put some food on those shelves.  That has left a book shelf with nothing on it and so it goes. My ultimate objective is to get to the point where the only items we will have in boxes  will be Christmas decorations!  It was a long weekend but we felt a real sense of accomplishment at the end.  A couple of key jobs off The List.

We started the work week with a walk this morning.  It was glorious!  Pat had the camera and got a couple of nice photos of Yellow Headed Blackbirds male and female.

Next week I will give you an update on the garden.  Between Friday and today the potato plants grew 6-8 inches.  I can taste those new potatoes.

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.

    

A Tomato Plant or Two

 I believe I have commented to a few people that we weren't going to have a garden this year.  Too much other work and where would we put it.  First I bought a bag of seed potatoes to just "stick in the ground", new potatoes are like candy and can be expensive.  I had talked about a tomato plant or two in a pot, also some basil. Basil plants were sold out at the local Co-op but I am going to Yorkton tomorrow, not just for basil there is a bathroom vanity involved in the trip.
Not to digress any more. On Saturday we decided we needed gardening space.  

  Give a man tool and he is able to do a lot.  We borrowed Bruce's front end loader!
The cows we pasture provided some dry pies for a little organic material.  While one person drives the loader, the other gets to break the "pie" into smaller pieces.  I think I should learn how to drive such equipment!

By the end of the day Saturday, this is what we had.

Sunday we planted potatoes, beans, carrots, parsnips, beets, two cucumber plants and moved the garlic Pat had planted last fall.  Where are the tomatoes?  They are still going into pots along with some peppers and one planter worth of flowers.  The yellow bathtub is awaiting lettuce seed.The garden soil is a bit heavy for the pots and bathtub so will need the addition of peat moss.  We are off to Esterhazy today for a special farmer's market and barbecue. We will take the opportunity to buy peat moss.  Maybe someone will have basil plants!  Oh yeah, there is also a bed big enough to bury me on the left side of the photo for rhubarb plants.  It is hard to do small with a loader, so with a loader  sitting waiting to be used  why would you use a shovel. 

We had company Sunday.  Believe it not I have never seen a Thirteen Line Ground Squirrel before.

  
She made me laugh while I was snapping the standing photos, she just stood there like this and watched me the whole time.  Now, I do admit there is a huge advantage to having a good telephoto lens.

Remember the field of crocuses, this is what it they look like now they have started going to seed.  I  am not sure which I prefer, the flower field or the seed head field.

The last image I will leave you with is the view from a log bench down by the pond.  I have dreams of taking a morning latte there for breakfast.  To date I am not sure if it has been 10 degrees at that time of day.  Pat saw frost in the ravine yesterday morning.  I am hoping for a window between frost and mosquitos.