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

You might need a latte/tea/coffee/beer

It has been a while, so I thought you might want a coffee and a little cookie.  We were in Saskatoon for nearly a week and there has been kitchen reno frenzy since we got back.
So maybe I'll start where I left off.  The extra laminate samples proved to be a disappointment, more of the same.  The bathroom vanity top is ordered and the kitchen counters are in a holding pattern.  That is my catch phrase for now.

One lovely summer day prior to our Saskatoon trip and we were sick of being inside. We (Pat) decided to work on water management and our road.  We shaved off the turf, dug the ditch and put the turf back down.   I was part of the "we" but someone has to take photos. 

We need to extend the trench a little farther and then plan to build a rock lined culvert affair that will carry the water to the other side of the road then down into the ravine.   There is another place we plan to do this but who knows when.  We do try not to have too many projects going at the same time but a person does need some variety.

We had a great hectic visit in Saskatoon. We took the girls to supper one evening while Zachary and Heather had a free evening.  I had forgotten what a meal in a restaurant with a 3 and a 1 year old is like.  I knew I had eaten as my plate was empty but it is a little harrying.  A one year old with a very tight grip on a "dilly bar" bears watching.  I know if it falls off the stick there will be a lot of tears. We also had a barbecue with longtime friends and dinner with friends in a nice restaurant courtesy of our real estate agent. Pat spent three days in the office, I did some reno shopping and another day Edna, Brooke and I had did a little shopping and lunching, we had such fun.  We rounded the week out by helping Carmen move.  We arrived Sunday and left Friday of the long weekend. 

No time to rest, the land of renovating awaits.  Carmen and her pooch Teddy arrived Friday evening for a bit of a rest and to help.  As all of you know Pat can't imagine why you would want to sit and visit when you can work and visit.  As it turns out Carmen takes after her Dad and was a godsend when it came to assembling Ikea cupboards.  She figured out the drawing and directed me, we were a great team and it left Pat free to work on other tasks.  

  

The photos in order of appearance. Teddy making sure no mice or squirrels came near the garage.  2x4"s added to the existing beams for extra support. Dry walling done, Pat did the plastering (and did a very nice job), walls painted.  I must digress here for a moment.  As I was painting I recalled a chat with a friend who through the course of the conversation stated "we don't paint".   I am so envious of her, I really don't like painting.  I have had quite a few opportunities ( while painting) to contemplate why.  I think it comes down to no matter how careful I am I am a messy painter, it gets everywhere and I hate that.  Back to the photos, floor installed, Carmen assembling and Pat installing rails.  Last photo, our kitchen as of last evening about 8:30 when we discovered how much our floor slopes and we would probably have to take all the cupboards out and start again.  We decided tomorrow is another day and we would start fresh in the morning. The morning has come and gone as I write and I will tell you that the cupboards are back in,  are level and there were neither tears nor angry words.  Not bad.  I may wash dishes in a kitchen sink tonight.  I will have more photos of the kitchen next time.  To tantalize you for next time I will tell you  " the mudder hath cometh"  and we have purchased   "equipment".  

The mist in the ravine in the morning is beautiful and the wild flowers are glorious.

    

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.