Away

  I seem to lose momentum when we have been away.   We were in Saskatoon from the 4th till the 9th of September. Our kids with Heather as the driving force organized an anniversary celebration for us.  We spent a wonderful evening at Zachary and Heather's with family and friends enjoying their company, a beautiful evening and fantastic food.  Carmen and Heather even had peach roses for us, both a bouquet and on the cake.  To be politically correct I use us, but I am sure if Pat ever knew the significance he wouldn't have remembered. They were my choice for my bridal bouquet, but due to an airline strike they didn't arrive, I was lucky to even have flowers. 

 Their gift to us was a family photo shoot. A party and family photos what a fantastic memory of our 35th anniversary, what fantastic adults our kids have become.

  We spent Saturday morning with the girls at the Broadway Street Fair, what fun.  By 10:00 we were eating ice-cream and the girls were having their faces painted by a very talented young women.
  Sunday Pat helped Ian with a couple of house owner projects and Carmen and I did one of our favourite activities - Lunch and browsing at McNally's.  We also took the girls to a park on Sunday.  There is a play space by Lathey Pool.  Wow have they changed from our kids day.  Climbing, running and swinging seems to be the focus. Plus, this whole play structure is on a spongy rubbery kind of base.  Much softer and safer than sand and  perhaps more important unsuitable for animals.

  I must bring you up to date on the baseboards/trim.  They are in our garage.  Delivered two weeks plus a day from the day they were ordered.  The problem now is that we have moved into the rooms, we are not in a rush to get the trim on and have decided that there is outside work that needs doing and will do the trim work when the ground is frozen. So now, after waiting so long for them to come, we have to store them.  Each time we clear floor space in the garage with the idea that we will park both the car and the skid steer in there; something interferes. 

I am including a couple of photos of my studio.  It still needs some more storage and I need a more sturdy table for my machine, which a trip to Ikea should take care of.  We received an Ikea gift certificate because we ordered our cabinets during their kitchen event.  It is burning a hole in my pocket.

Today is the full moon and the autumn solstice is Saturday. When the equinox and the full moon are close together you get a harvest moon.  That means there will be a huge golden orange orb rising over our ravine tonight. That is if the clouds clear off.  The forecast is for clearing and of course low temperature's.  We can deal with the cold I just hope it clears.  We have half of our Slow Book Club arriving this afternoon to spend the weekend and watch the moon rise with us.  We also have a little work lined up for them, because as you know, why just visit, when you can work and visit.  They did offer, although perhaps we should make work bees a part of the Twin Oaks experience.
  
  

Watershed Weekend

  I couldn't decide whether to call this post A Long Weekend 4 or Watershed.  I decided on watershed because we have had a number of trickle down events.

First the bathroom counter top that has been in the works since mid July.  It came, with a backsplash.  My order specified no backsplash.  The vanity is an old organ that Tom and Val refurbished and is narrower than a standard counter.  A back splash makes it tight for the sink. Another 4-6 weeks, I'll let you know when the next and hopefully final new one comes.

  Our contractor measured the house for baseboards sometime in June and placed the order.  Once the mudder started his work we started to think about them again. We wanted to install the baseboards upstairs before we moved everything in. Pat called the local lumber yard to see where we were at with them.  The baseboards/trim would be delivered the next day.  He phoned on a Monday, they would be delivered the next day.  They didn't come. They were supposed to come everyday that week.   When he phoned on the Friday of that week he found out that they hadn't actually placed the order, which they would do and they would come on the truck the next Friday. ( It only comes once a week).  He called the next Friday, the truck hadn't come.  (Yes, I do have bald patches on my head). Monday still no truck, we asked would they please try and find out when the truck was coming, they assured us it would come.  We have now been waiting three weeks. To sum up this dismal tale,  Pat went into Esterhazy on Thursday the 28th of August.  THE BASEBOARDS HAD NEVER EVER BEEN ORDERED!  We told them not to bother.   By now I am sure you are asking yourself why they let this go on so long.  We wanted 14 foot lengths, it makes installation quicker and looks better.  Fourteen foot lengths are hard to haul in a little utility trailer.  So going to a larger centre and bringing them home ourselves didn't seem like a reasonable option.  Esterhazy only has the one lumber yard and we are told the other close one (Whitewood) is just as slow or worse.  Maybe they would have at least placed the order.  There is a light in this window.  I was in Big Lou's to see if they could order sheets of laminate to make the kitchen counters.  While I was there I found out they could order baseboards.  They are not really a lumber yard but will order most items.  They gave us the websites of the two places they order from.  We chose a profile and have sent a email about placing the order.  We will followup with a phone call Tuesday!  We plan to use the same material to trim the doors and windows so we are talking about an order of about 2000 board feet.  I am hoping Big Lou's will be interested in making some money.  We have successfully ordered material from them in the past so I am hopeful. This is a first world struggle but I am used to being able to look at my options in person and if the service is not reasonable at one location you can just go down the street to the next.  I am starting to understand why people just go to Regina.  A conundrum for people who try to support local business.  I will end with the paragraph with the thought that if you are here visiting sometime in the future and there is no trim you will know we have been beaten.

  There is always an upside.  Knowing that your baseboards are in fact not coming tomorrow can be liberating.  You might as well start the moving process. I had started filling my studio a good week ago deciding that I didn't really care when the trim went in.  By  Wednesday the 27th I was humming in tune with my sewing machine.  I was so happy!  It was a bit of a revelation for me. I know creating with fibre is important to me but I hadn't realized how much I was missing it and how important it is.  I have a beautiful spot and it makes me so happy.
  
This is going to be a pictureless post (almost).  The whole house is turned upside down while we move and reorganize so I will include pictures later.

  We moved ourselves into the bedroom upstairs Friday. We now have a closet, such luxury.  We spent yesterday setting up the guest room. We also pulled many boxes out of their resting place and unpacked them.  That gave us a place to store an extra bed.  By the end of today there will not be any beds in the veranda.

  Both the electrician and the plumber came last week so there is electricity and water upstairs.  Water upstairs means we have a bathtub.  I had a bath last evening for the first time in 4 months too tired to really appreciate it but come winter it will be wonderful.  I must say I have been enjoying the shower on the main floor but options are nice.

Pat started his day with the brush cutter on one of our trails below the house and encountered wasps.  Ten stings later he was unhappy for awhile.  Hot cloths, antihistamines, Advil and topical corticosteroids have done their bit.  He is feeling pretty good now, thank goodness,  Long Weekend 4 is not over yet, more shifting of goods and a range hood to install.

Thirty-five years ago today Pat and I were married, those years that have gone by in the blink of an eye.  

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!