Greetings to You.
Here's hoping you had a wonderful Christmas season and are looking forward to a great New Year!
We've been a mix of busy and relaxed.
Christmas brings it's own work but we were able to set aside house construction for a bit and have a little holiday fun beginning with a visit from my mom. She was here Dec 12-19th, so that's when Christmas started for us.
This year we enjoyed an experience we've never had before, we hiked out to the back "35" with a sled and a saw and harvested a couple spruce trees for decorating. Kinda cool to get your Christmas tree from your own property!
The Youngest got one for her room, partly since she has the biggest bedroom which can accommodate a tree, but also because we were trying to make the house as festive as possible for Gramma's visit.
There is a third reason.. we are the proud owners of two Christmas tree stands.
Being I knew we would have a real tree this year (our "backyard" is full of them) I snatched up a stand as soon as I saw one at the Salvation Army thrift store. All the stands were priced $4.99, except the one I picked. Of course it wasn't until I got to the cash that I realize that there is no price tag. I apologized and told her that all the rest were priced for $4.99. She gave it to me for $3.99 since I was honest. Cool! Discounts at the thrift store, I'm OK with that!
A couple days later, I am in the second level of the wood-shed outbuilding. One half of the flooring up there seems a little rickety and so I have "barred" it off with some orange, surveyor tape. All of us have walked across it at some point but I don't need guests falling on through and injuring themselves. Well, I guess I have only ever been up there in the late afternoon when the sun shines in through the west window making the East half look even more dark and scary and so between the rickety floor boards and the darkness I haven't explored that area of the building. Imagine my surprise and slight annoyance after just purchasing a tree stand, when I ventured up there in the morning with the sun shining brightly in the East window and what should I see at the far end of the rickety floor?
A Christmas tree stand!
Well, I didn't stay annoyed for long. Instead I quickly came to the thrilling decision that we'd have TWO trees and left it at that.
Along comes the prepping for Gramma's visit. The newer and much cleaner stand gets used in the bedroom. We'll clean up the dirty, wood-shed one when we put up the main tree later.
All goes well with tree number one. Although I gleaned from that experience that "installing" a real tree is much more work than one might guess.
The day comes for tree number two to grace our living room with it's beauty. I begin to clean the second tree stand only to discover that it had a hole in it and wouldn't hold water. Blah.
That'd be the reason John Smith left it behind in the first place I reckon! haha.
Well, we weren't about to take the first tree down to use the new stand and neither were we about to go without a tree in the living room. So we Macgyver'd a milk-jug into that leaky stand to hold water and after a little bit more "work" (albeit fun enough work) we had a not-quite-Charlie-Brown-but-almost-tree in our front room.
We were ready for Christmas.
Almost ready that is. I still had to put my wood-stove and skills to the test for Christmas baking. Thankfully my list of goodies has considerably shrunk over the years to only three or four special things that we are pretty sure Christmas can't be done without. I am of the strong opinion that far too much sugar is consumed at Christmas and being it comes at us from every which way, I refuse to be the main source, but I will make a couple things to keep up special traditions.
Well, the wood-stove complied. Christmas was safe again this year even with the challenge of making cookies in an oven that is 200 degrees in one spot or moment and 450 degrees elsewhere.
The trick? Small pieces of wood added frequently. DO NOT leave the oven and it's contents unattended. Make use of the timer. Rotate trays often. It was kinda hard not to be overly proud of myself as the baking was turning out. :)
Christmas brought another first for us. It was the first time in 26 years that our family was divided for the celebrations. I can't deny, I shed tears. Thank goodness for Skype and Amazon. Gifts were delivered and we could visit using today's amazing technology.
I had planned to have a Christmas greeting and walk-around video of the house to post on Christmas day, but turns out I had a doozey of a headache and even had to miss the festivities at the S.S.I.L's
The grand tour will have to wait.
But the place is shaping up. We had the neighbours in for "a bit of Christmas" and they were blown away by how much we have accomplished in such a short time.
I'm glad they were impressed. I'm still looking forward to the day we'll have a shower and bathroom sink.
Until then? We are becoming experts at packing our stuff for having showers at the S.S.I.L's. We rarely forget the deodorant or towels anymore and it no longer feels strange to brush my teeth at the kitchen sink.
But here's to the up-and-coming New Year and the day when we'll have more then one source of running water in this house!
And may your 2017 be blessed with something wonderful that you have been anticipating as well!
Cheers!
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Older than Canada eh?!
According to John Smith, the fellow we bought from, this house is supposed to be 170 years old with a hundred year old addition.
If that's so, part of it is older then Canada!
Canada became a country in 1867. So for almost thirty years before legal papers were drawn up making Canada a true country, people built, lived in this house and farmed the land. Sweat, laboured, bled, laughed, cried, hoped and dreamed. They probably worried about things like crops, having enough wood and food to get them through the winter and prayed for sick loved ones and ailing animals.
Babies were born.
Children grew.
Folks died.
And all the while, it was in the works for the country of Canada to be born.
Wonder how long it took for the news to reach this farm way out East?
Wonder if the people working this piece of land thought it would be a good idea or bad?
Turns out we can't believe everything John Smith told us. He did say after all that this place was "Tight" and that we "Wouldn't see many mice" in this house. Well, not only have we trapped close to twenty we just saw one running across the living room floor the other night! Twenty minutes later the Man-Son saw one up-stairs! So either that was the same mouse with teleportation abilities, or we have more than one.
So, although we want to believe John Smith was correct about the age of our house so we can brag about how OLD it is.....his facts don't add up to the story we heard from our neighbour regarding this place.
The great-grandparents of East and West Neighbours lived here. They are a little unsure whether Great-Grampa built or bought the house, so maybe it was twenty or thirty years old when they moved in? But this is what they do know.....
William & Mary McMillian married, lived here and started a family. Then sadly William died at a young age leaving Mary alone to raise four children.
(Now this next bit of history is where the claims of John Smith don't add up.)
Shortly after the death of her husband a Ship's Captain approached Mary and made a proposition he, being a widower with children himself, needed a "helping hand". He would double the size of her house if she would care for his four youngsters. Being he was "away at sea" for long periods, the children needed a mother. Mary agreed to the arrangement and the addition was built.
See how the seventy year gap between the main house and addition don't jive. If Mary and her husband built the place, she would have been an elderly lady before the addition was built, I don't think she would have taken on anyone's orphan children, no matter how well behaved they may have been way-back-when!!
So either William and Mary bought this house when it was a few decades old or John Smith was embellishing. Being John is on a "drink-daily" plan, he isn't getting my vote!
It's been suggested that we could possibly find out the age of our house at the local governmental offices....but I haven't the time for that.....I'm OK with just saying and knowing that our house is OLD.....over a hundred years old.
I do sometimes wonder about the eight children that were blended together to make one family. How many were girls? Boys? Their names? Who got what rooms? What did they do with their days?
When the Youngest mentioned one day that she was having a hard time organizing all her stuff I suggested she look back to the original children of this house for inspiration. They wouldn't of had much, maybe she could narrow down her belongings? She didn't jump at my suggestion, but it is kinda cool living in a place with history.
Even if you are unsure of all the details it's still inspiring to know that years ago people did with this land the very things you hope to do, live off it.
If they could keep this place up-and-running for well over a hundred years, in the days before running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, refrigeration, gasoline, motor vehicles, grocery stores and fast-food: then there is a good chance, with a little determination and lots of hard work and learning we can figure out how to be less dependent on those things as well.
We have become Stewards of a bit of earth where there will be a mutual caring for one another. What we put into the land will be given back to us. It's part of God's plan and provision.
Round and round goes the circle of life.
It truly is a marvel, Earth, this creation of God's.
It's been recycling long before blue and green boxes and government up-pick programs.
After all this was God's promise to man-kind after the Flood.
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22
We believe God's promises to be so reliable that we have big plans for gardens and orchards! And we have all winter to map it out.......
If that's so, part of it is older then Canada!
Canada became a country in 1867. So for almost thirty years before legal papers were drawn up making Canada a true country, people built, lived in this house and farmed the land. Sweat, laboured, bled, laughed, cried, hoped and dreamed. They probably worried about things like crops, having enough wood and food to get them through the winter and prayed for sick loved ones and ailing animals.
Babies were born.
Children grew.
Folks died.
And all the while, it was in the works for the country of Canada to be born.
Wonder how long it took for the news to reach this farm way out East?
Wonder if the people working this piece of land thought it would be a good idea or bad?
Turns out we can't believe everything John Smith told us. He did say after all that this place was "Tight" and that we "Wouldn't see many mice" in this house. Well, not only have we trapped close to twenty we just saw one running across the living room floor the other night! Twenty minutes later the Man-Son saw one up-stairs! So either that was the same mouse with teleportation abilities, or we have more than one.
So, although we want to believe John Smith was correct about the age of our house so we can brag about how OLD it is.....his facts don't add up to the story we heard from our neighbour regarding this place.
The great-grandparents of East and West Neighbours lived here. They are a little unsure whether Great-Grampa built or bought the house, so maybe it was twenty or thirty years old when they moved in? But this is what they do know.....
William & Mary McMillian married, lived here and started a family. Then sadly William died at a young age leaving Mary alone to raise four children.
(Now this next bit of history is where the claims of John Smith don't add up.)
Shortly after the death of her husband a Ship's Captain approached Mary and made a proposition he, being a widower with children himself, needed a "helping hand". He would double the size of her house if she would care for his four youngsters. Being he was "away at sea" for long periods, the children needed a mother. Mary agreed to the arrangement and the addition was built.
See how the seventy year gap between the main house and addition don't jive. If Mary and her husband built the place, she would have been an elderly lady before the addition was built, I don't think she would have taken on anyone's orphan children, no matter how well behaved they may have been way-back-when!!
So either William and Mary bought this house when it was a few decades old or John Smith was embellishing. Being John is on a "drink-daily" plan, he isn't getting my vote!
It's been suggested that we could possibly find out the age of our house at the local governmental offices....but I haven't the time for that.....I'm OK with just saying and knowing that our house is OLD.....over a hundred years old.
I do sometimes wonder about the eight children that were blended together to make one family. How many were girls? Boys? Their names? Who got what rooms? What did they do with their days?
When the Youngest mentioned one day that she was having a hard time organizing all her stuff I suggested she look back to the original children of this house for inspiration. They wouldn't of had much, maybe she could narrow down her belongings? She didn't jump at my suggestion, but it is kinda cool living in a place with history.
Even if you are unsure of all the details it's still inspiring to know that years ago people did with this land the very things you hope to do, live off it.
If they could keep this place up-and-running for well over a hundred years, in the days before running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, refrigeration, gasoline, motor vehicles, grocery stores and fast-food: then there is a good chance, with a little determination and lots of hard work and learning we can figure out how to be less dependent on those things as well.
We have become Stewards of a bit of earth where there will be a mutual caring for one another. What we put into the land will be given back to us. It's part of God's plan and provision.
Round and round goes the circle of life.
It truly is a marvel, Earth, this creation of God's.
It's been recycling long before blue and green boxes and government up-pick programs.
After all this was God's promise to man-kind after the Flood.
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 8:22
We believe God's promises to be so reliable that we have big plans for gardens and orchards! And we have all winter to map it out.......
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
When You Live in a Very Old House
There are things in old houses that you won't find in young ones.
Floors that are so slanted, children could race marbles on them.
I have a bag of marbles, just gotta find me some children!!
Round things, like tubes of chap-stick, will roll off the nightstand if you don't stand it up-right and will keep on rolling as if in competition with those marbles!
Almost every piece of furniture needs a shim or wedge to stop it from rocking. But even then it doesn't prevent it from looking like it belongs in the "crooked little house owned by the crooked little man". This dresser is so slanted in "person" that my OCD-self has to refrain from paying too close attention. If you look at the right side of the dresser you see that it is closer to the wall at the base of the mirror than higher up.
Square, hand-made nails. How mind-crushing boring would that job have been? Making hundreds of nails by hand! Enough to build a two-story, four-bedroom house!!! I think folks were made of tougher stuff back then....
Door hinges that were made back-in-the-day when there was "pride in workmanship".
Evidence of the time when the house had hydro installed. There were two or three of these holes in every room that was papered. It's how they "fished" the hydro cords to the switches.
Pictures, kinda spooky ones, fall out of the "woodwork" literally.!!!
And when you Google the names on the tombstone you find this picture, the owner of the house, before John Smith, and husband of poor Nellie May (1919-1941) who died in childbirth.
You have the kind of basement that salamanders thrive in. We've found two healthy specimens so far!
The panes in the windows give everything enough of a warp that sometimes you are unable to identify the bird sitting on a branch just outside it. Also, plants may grow between the inside and storm windows.
You have extra chimney holes in the ceilings and floors.
The floor boards, for all that they look amazing and you love their days-gone-by appeal, have massive gaps between them. They were installed before the wood was dry. Now thanks to shrinkage you have to vacuum out the dirt since sweeping doesn't help much.
There are hooks everywhere....as opposed to closets.
Out of a dozen or more doors, very few latch. With the heaving and settling that happened over a hundred plus years, most of the face plates and latch bolts on the door don't even line up with the hole and strike plate on the door frame. (Yes, I had to Google "door knob parts" or else I would have being saying "the thing-a-ma-bob isn't connecting with the watcha-ma-call-it".)
See where the paint is scraped away? No latching there!!
There is horse hair in the plaster. Poor horses. Just how did they "donate" hair?
You call the always-on-the-ready collection of mouse traps throughout the house......
.... "The Trap-line".
The zillions of cluster-flies threaten to turn you into a crazy person. The evil pleasure and wicked laughs you give after a particularly difficult "kill" leave your family worried about your sanity. Having to deal with these flies means there is a fly-swatter on each level and vacuums with long hoses ready for service.
(I know!!! Christmas stocking stuffers!! Everyone can have their own personal fly swatter for their room!! Brilliant!)
There are "layers" and covered-over things. Layers of wall-paper, plaster, drywall, plywood and paneling that covers where doors and windows used to be. Seems like the front door was sacrificed to make room for the modern "water-closet".
The apple tree in the front yard looks older than the house.
Out-buildings are on-the-lean and in need of restoration themselves and full of collectibles (would-have-been-collectibles if they had of been properly stored that is)
There is antique farm equipment in the woods with trees growing through it.
And this car, although not a hundred years old, looked ancient enough to make it in this post. :)
Then there's things like this.....where you have no idea what it was for....
Floors that are so slanted, children could race marbles on them.
I have a bag of marbles, just gotta find me some children!!
Round things, like tubes of chap-stick, will roll off the nightstand if you don't stand it up-right and will keep on rolling as if in competition with those marbles!
Almost every piece of furniture needs a shim or wedge to stop it from rocking. But even then it doesn't prevent it from looking like it belongs in the "crooked little house owned by the crooked little man". This dresser is so slanted in "person" that my OCD-self has to refrain from paying too close attention. If you look at the right side of the dresser you see that it is closer to the wall at the base of the mirror than higher up.
Door hinges that were made back-in-the-day when there was "pride in workmanship".
Evidence of the time when the house had hydro installed. There were two or three of these holes in every room that was papered. It's how they "fished" the hydro cords to the switches.
Pictures, kinda spooky ones, fall out of the "woodwork" literally.!!!
And when you Google the names on the tombstone you find this picture, the owner of the house, before John Smith, and husband of poor Nellie May (1919-1941) who died in childbirth.
You have the kind of basement that salamanders thrive in. We've found two healthy specimens so far!
The panes in the windows give everything enough of a warp that sometimes you are unable to identify the bird sitting on a branch just outside it. Also, plants may grow between the inside and storm windows.
You have extra chimney holes in the ceilings and floors.
The floor boards, for all that they look amazing and you love their days-gone-by appeal, have massive gaps between them. They were installed before the wood was dry. Now thanks to shrinkage you have to vacuum out the dirt since sweeping doesn't help much.
There are hooks everywhere....as opposed to closets.
Out of a dozen or more doors, very few latch. With the heaving and settling that happened over a hundred plus years, most of the face plates and latch bolts on the door don't even line up with the hole and strike plate on the door frame. (Yes, I had to Google "door knob parts" or else I would have being saying "the thing-a-ma-bob isn't connecting with the watcha-ma-call-it".)
See where the paint is scraped away? No latching there!!
Door knobs (or the lack of them) and key holes look like this.
Door frames....look like this.....plus they are surrounded by old plaster....
There is horse hair in the plaster. Poor horses. Just how did they "donate" hair?
You call the always-on-the-ready collection of mouse traps throughout the house......
.... "The Trap-line".
The zillions of cluster-flies threaten to turn you into a crazy person. The evil pleasure and wicked laughs you give after a particularly difficult "kill" leave your family worried about your sanity. Having to deal with these flies means there is a fly-swatter on each level and vacuums with long hoses ready for service.
(I know!!! Christmas stocking stuffers!! Everyone can have their own personal fly swatter for their room!! Brilliant!)
There are "layers" and covered-over things. Layers of wall-paper, plaster, drywall, plywood and paneling that covers where doors and windows used to be. Seems like the front door was sacrificed to make room for the modern "water-closet".
Out-buildings are on-the-lean and in need of restoration themselves and full of collectibles (would-have-been-collectibles if they had of been properly stored that is)
There is antique farm equipment in the woods with trees growing through it.
And this car, although not a hundred years old, looked ancient enough to make it in this post. :)
Then there's things like this.....where you have no idea what it was for....
Anybody getting on the "antique-side" themselves that know what it is? ;)
Monday, November 28, 2016
Random Scandom
If it seems like my blog posts are getting further and further apart, it's probably because they are. Most likely it's because we have left behind the new-and-exciting and gotten down to the old-nitty-gritty. Until we do something different like "buy animals" ....... inspiration may be a wee sparse.
The lack of bulk-material, also makes it difficult to fill a whole blog. We are mostly dealing with small or tedious things. So I've decided that every once in awhile I will fill a post with just random, assorted stuff :)
Closets.
They say when looking at prospective real-estate property you should always check for the amount of closets/storage space. Well, I did notice that three out of the four bedrooms had closets but I failed to notice there wasn't any, anywhere else! No linen, no coat closets, no shelves..... nothing. The fact that the previous owners had stuff EVERYWHERE should have clued me in don't ya think?! So one of two things are going to have to happen ... We either have to narrow down our belongings (again!) or we'll have to add more work to our already long to-do list and build storage places. The decrepit mud room is coming off in the spring to build on a new, sturdy, insulated one so I am going to make sure a coat closet is included! Being we are gutting the bathroom to have a fresh start, hopefully we'll be able to carve out a place for towels etc. But where to locate a linen closet, that'll be a tough one. Maybe we'll all get a "personal" linen stash to store in our rooms.
Wallpaper
Word of advice to anyone considering buying and restoring a very old house. Wallpaper is a great way to hide the imperfections that the walls are covered in, just don't buy wallpaper with lines/stripes. NOTHING is straight in antique houses and pasting lines on the walls will only show that to be the case to everyone who looks at it.
Sigh, here's hoping everyone will be so busy looking at the wood cook stove they won't notice the askew wallpaper. It's like the leaning tower of Pisa around here. But it still suits "old-country kitchen" don't you think?
Speaking of ....Wood Cook Stoves.......it's been a challenge but we have risen to meet it..... I think. That is if we aren't too frozen and cocooned in blankets while watching a movie. We have some learning to do yet, some fans to buy for moving hot air from the kitchen, some weather stripping and insulation to install but we are starting to wonder if another heat source may be needed to keep the far edges of the house warm. A neighbour suggested a heat-pump for the large open concept living and dining room so we are going to look into that.
Bathroom
Now that the kitchen is mostly functional - stove, sink, fridge and counter-top (no cupboard doors or a floor yet)
Geoff has started gutting the bathroom. Ick. Not a fun job.
You just never know what you will uncover when you start taking walls down in an old house. First came off wood paneling that was glued on, not nailed. Then drywall, with wallpaper on it. Next, sheets of plywood, lastly the plaster. Under the plaster was a bit of insulation but there were plenty of gaps too so it was off to the hardware store to restock up on pink fiber-glass. Geoff has discovered where a front door used to be. When this house was built there was no indoor "water-closet" (or really any closets for that matter, see above :) so one had to be "carved out" as the dandy-COOL!-we-don't-need-an-outhouse-anymore-inventions became available. Guess the loss of a front door, which was mostly used only for company, was a sacrifice worth making. Now the guests would use the first side door, family used the second. Our guests can't come in the "guest door" as the skeleton key is busted off and it's permanently locked. So, for this winter the Man-Son covered the whole thing up with plastic and it's stopped the howling. Come spring we'll do something about making it accessible, but for now, if you visit, you are family and you come in the back-side door, OK?!
One final thought on the bathroom, I noticed that Geoff first took out the vanity, then the shower and now it's the walls he's working on, while the "throne" sits there waiting patiently for it's removal.
I joked and asked, "You saving the best for last?!"
.......... which he didn't think was funny...but can you blame him?
That's hazmat-suit material right there!!
Well, I was going to also talk about our new-to-us wringer washer (which is probably a post in-and-of- itself).....
......the garbage we are discovering all over the property now that the foliage has died down.....
............. our water-treatment system........
and how it's not all-work-and-no-play, (Case in point - we were invited to a neighbour's birthday celebration which consisted of his 85 year old mother making him a yummy cake and us helping eat it!! Any excuse to eat cake is a good excuse!)
....but alas.....my blogging time is up, time to stop playing with words and pictures and get back to work.
Stay tuned for more random scandom to be posted sometime in the near future!!
Monday, November 21, 2016
Caution. Construction Ahead.
Construction not just ahead but behind, beside, above, below and all around. We're pluggin' and sluggin' and it's coming along....but in ten minutes I was able to whip up this list ......
How to tell if you're living in a house under "destruction".
Food, dishes and tools are all using the same space. At the same time.
There is always a piece of sawdust or something sharp, sticking into your sock or slipper.
When you sweep the plywood floor that is waiting for flooring to be installed you can never be sure you are getting all the dirt. Between the paint splotches, marks, scrapes, stains etc. you can only hope you are managing to collect the loose stuff.
Many trips are made to the hardware store. Like sometimes three in one day.
Tools and stools are sometimes needed by multiple people at once.
The living room furniture is covered in sheets.
The supper table is set up in the living room. The china cabinet drawers are also in the living room, but the cabinet itself is still in the barn, waiting for either a nice day or for two strong guys to be available at the same time.
The vacuum is not just used for cute little dust bunnies.
The laundry has more work-clothes in it than "town" clothes (What do civilized folk wear? I'm starting to forget)
Your Kijiji searches are for steel doors, windows, tubs, sinks, ceiling fans.
You move the same items DOZENS of times since stuff is ALWAYS in the way.
There is a ladder in your dining room along with a mostly finished bag of insulation. Actually there is drywall in there too and ........well fine, so it's not a dining room just yet.....
The You-Tube videos you hear your husband listening to are usually about home construction until recently when he was listening to ones to help him with winterizing the trailer.
There are at least six cans of paint lying around that come "in a set" with stir stick, brush all wrapped up in a bag to keep the paint from drying, latex gloves and a paint can opener.
The two tables designated for tools aren't big enough and tools will find themselves on almost any surface that is flat.
There are copious amounts of dust. Everywhere.
Bags of garbage are found, well, just about anywhere. With the final goal being as close to the van as possible for that day when another dump run might be made!
There isn't one room that is completely done. Most are being lived in but all of them need something finished, like trim, curtain rods, painting in closets, etc.
Every day you hear "Where's the....?" or "Has anyone seen......"
You find yourself wanting to play hooky and just take a day off, but how can you? There is so much going on, so much to do, so many things calling your name and it's all happening "in your space"!
Must. Keep. Going.
And that is how you can tell if your home is undergoing a bit of an over-haul.
How to tell if you're living in a house under "destruction".
Food, dishes and tools are all using the same space. At the same time.
There is always a piece of sawdust or something sharp, sticking into your sock or slipper.
When you sweep the plywood floor that is waiting for flooring to be installed you can never be sure you are getting all the dirt. Between the paint splotches, marks, scrapes, stains etc. you can only hope you are managing to collect the loose stuff.
Many trips are made to the hardware store. Like sometimes three in one day.
Tools and stools are sometimes needed by multiple people at once.
The living room furniture is covered in sheets.
The supper table is set up in the living room. The china cabinet drawers are also in the living room, but the cabinet itself is still in the barn, waiting for either a nice day or for two strong guys to be available at the same time.
The vacuum is not just used for cute little dust bunnies.
The laundry has more work-clothes in it than "town" clothes (What do civilized folk wear? I'm starting to forget)
Your Kijiji searches are for steel doors, windows, tubs, sinks, ceiling fans.
You move the same items DOZENS of times since stuff is ALWAYS in the way.
There is a ladder in your dining room along with a mostly finished bag of insulation. Actually there is drywall in there too and ........well fine, so it's not a dining room just yet.....
The You-Tube videos you hear your husband listening to are usually about home construction until recently when he was listening to ones to help him with winterizing the trailer.
There are at least six cans of paint lying around that come "in a set" with stir stick, brush all wrapped up in a bag to keep the paint from drying, latex gloves and a paint can opener.
The two tables designated for tools aren't big enough and tools will find themselves on almost any surface that is flat.
There are copious amounts of dust. Everywhere.
Bags of garbage are found, well, just about anywhere. With the final goal being as close to the van as possible for that day when another dump run might be made!
There isn't one room that is completely done. Most are being lived in but all of them need something finished, like trim, curtain rods, painting in closets, etc.
Every day you hear "Where's the....?" or "Has anyone seen......"
You find yourself wanting to play hooky and just take a day off, but how can you? There is so much going on, so much to do, so many things calling your name and it's all happening "in your space"!
Must. Keep. Going.
And that is how you can tell if your home is undergoing a bit of an over-haul.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Snap. Crackle. Pop.
That's not the sound of our breakfast cereal, it's the sound of dry wood taking off in the stove. And what a lovely sound it is too!
As you can well imagine we are enjoying the heat from the wood stove after a couple months living with space heaters in a few closed off rooms. Walking bare-foot across the floors at night, to-go-you-know-where, is no longer an exercise in torture.
But heating and mostly cooking with wood is going to take some getting used to that's for sure!
Geoff doesn't think chicken nuggets and hash-brown patties are meant to be cooked in wood-stoves.Getting the temperatures up to over four-hundred degrees is challenging. And so far we haven't done it. It is only the first time using the oven and I am typing this as I wait for the timer to go off, but we are realizing that we have some learning to do.
Thank goodness I don't usually serve such things to my family and this is only a temporary problem, (frozen, pre-packaged food) as we live without a usable kitchen.
But making bread is going to be a challenge. Temperature is supposed to be 350 for thirty minutes. At the moment we have all kinds of coals in the fire box, added a bunch of small stuff, opened the draft to allow oxygen at it and it's all the way up to two-hundred and fifty. Hummmmm. Got a ways to go yet!
I started this post a couple days ago and since then we have figured out that what we need for hotter temperatures is smaller pieces of wood and an already hot stove/oven. ("pre-heat oven" has a whole new meaning!!) I have read before that sticks burn much hotter then logs and that many people the world over use sticks to cook with (of course they have stoves made to utilize sticks efficiently and it's largely cause there is no other option). But even here on our property, there are piles more sticks then logs. We'll have to get into the habit of gathering branches and twigs as often and as much as possible, and it's in the plans to build a rocket stove in a summer kitchen to make use of small wood and branches and to keep the heat of cooking outside in the summer months.
Some things a cook stove doesn't have -
- A handle where you can hang your tea-towel.....need to find a solution to that, since at the moment I don't have cupboard doors to hang them on either.
- A bottom oven drawer, now where am I going to put my muffin tins and such?
- Dials for lowering the heat, when a pot starts to boil, well she is going to BOIL and there isn't a lot you can do about it....except drag it all the way across the cooking surface, the right side is less hot than the left which is where the fire box is.
- An oven light - I may end up with a flashlight in the kitchen?
- A timer or any of those fancy electronic "gadgets" like "Delay cook time"- that's OK, I'll use my IPod to remind me not to burn supper.
- Broil - hummm....and I have those two or three recipes that we enjoy and need to be broiled....
Things a cook stove does have or give...
- Warmer boxes - I put our dinner dishes in there to be warmed and ready for our food.
- Huge cooking surface area - every inch of the cook surface is available. I haven't tried to see if all my pots will fit on the top at the same time, but if they do that means I can cook using all of them at once. (although the "when she boils, she BOILS!" could be a problem if the whole surface is covered)
- Soft butter! This time of year my gas stoves never warmed the room enough to keep the butter soft and the furnace was always lowered at night so buttering toast in the morning was almost impossible, but now that our heat source is in the kitchen!? Soft butter. Nice.
- A kettle that is always ON. Actually it was all we could do the first few days to not keep asking someone to "Turn off the kettle, please". Then a neighbour gave us a gadget, a metal disk full of holes for placing the kettle (or pot) on, to keep it hot but preventing it from boiling dry, we like the quiet most of all. It's not a whistling kettle, but it pops, bangs and hums while boiling and there is always the worry that it will run out of water. (and when you are bringing the drinking water in from a different location you don't want to boil it all away)
- Exercise - stacking wood, splitting wood, lugging wood, scouring the forest for kindling ...Who needs a gym membership?!
- Ashes - I knew there would be ashes, of course, in the ash box and then we would take that box and dump it into the galvanized trash bin outside and "be done with it". What I didn't count on was the "poofs" of ash that float out and about and land where ever they please. I'm realizing that I will have to lower my standards of what the definition of clean means.
- Stacks of wood, boxes of kindling, bags of newspaper and bit and pieces of stuff always on the floor. Again, re-defining "clean".
- Lessons in common sense - when the fire is going the surface is HOT. At least we haven't melted anything, but the "Pass me that pot, so I can put it away" caused a scream and a can't-believe-I-was- just-that-stupid moment. Lesson learned. Thankful for lavender essential oil!!
- Bumps-in-the-night .....that'll take some getting used too. The sounds of logs shifting during burning.It happened once while I was the only one up in the still-dark morning, and I can tell you it gave me a bit of a fright.
But all-in-all, although the learning curve is steep, and although the food isn't always what we were hoping for or of the quality we are used to, it's proving to be a fun and interesting challenge that we are glad we took on.
You'll just have to excuse me if I don't invite you over for supper right away......gotta practice a bit more. ;)
As you can well imagine we are enjoying the heat from the wood stove after a couple months living with space heaters in a few closed off rooms. Walking bare-foot across the floors at night, to-go-you-know-where, is no longer an exercise in torture.
But heating and mostly cooking with wood is going to take some getting used to that's for sure!
Geoff doesn't think chicken nuggets and hash-brown patties are meant to be cooked in wood-stoves.Getting the temperatures up to over four-hundred degrees is challenging. And so far we haven't done it. It is only the first time using the oven and I am typing this as I wait for the timer to go off, but we are realizing that we have some learning to do.
Thank goodness I don't usually serve such things to my family and this is only a temporary problem, (frozen, pre-packaged food) as we live without a usable kitchen.
But making bread is going to be a challenge. Temperature is supposed to be 350 for thirty minutes. At the moment we have all kinds of coals in the fire box, added a bunch of small stuff, opened the draft to allow oxygen at it and it's all the way up to two-hundred and fifty. Hummmmm. Got a ways to go yet!
I started this post a couple days ago and since then we have figured out that what we need for hotter temperatures is smaller pieces of wood and an already hot stove/oven. ("pre-heat oven" has a whole new meaning!!) I have read before that sticks burn much hotter then logs and that many people the world over use sticks to cook with (of course they have stoves made to utilize sticks efficiently and it's largely cause there is no other option). But even here on our property, there are piles more sticks then logs. We'll have to get into the habit of gathering branches and twigs as often and as much as possible, and it's in the plans to build a rocket stove in a summer kitchen to make use of small wood and branches and to keep the heat of cooking outside in the summer months.
Some things a cook stove doesn't have -
- A handle where you can hang your tea-towel.....need to find a solution to that, since at the moment I don't have cupboard doors to hang them on either.
- A bottom oven drawer, now where am I going to put my muffin tins and such?
- Dials for lowering the heat, when a pot starts to boil, well she is going to BOIL and there isn't a lot you can do about it....except drag it all the way across the cooking surface, the right side is less hot than the left which is where the fire box is.
- An oven light - I may end up with a flashlight in the kitchen?
- A timer or any of those fancy electronic "gadgets" like "Delay cook time"- that's OK, I'll use my IPod to remind me not to burn supper.
- Broil - hummm....and I have those two or three recipes that we enjoy and need to be broiled....
Things a cook stove does have or give...
- Warmer boxes - I put our dinner dishes in there to be warmed and ready for our food.
- Huge cooking surface area - every inch of the cook surface is available. I haven't tried to see if all my pots will fit on the top at the same time, but if they do that means I can cook using all of them at once. (although the "when she boils, she BOILS!" could be a problem if the whole surface is covered)
- Soft butter! This time of year my gas stoves never warmed the room enough to keep the butter soft and the furnace was always lowered at night so buttering toast in the morning was almost impossible, but now that our heat source is in the kitchen!? Soft butter. Nice.
- A kettle that is always ON. Actually it was all we could do the first few days to not keep asking someone to "Turn off the kettle, please". Then a neighbour gave us a gadget, a metal disk full of holes for placing the kettle (or pot) on, to keep it hot but preventing it from boiling dry, we like the quiet most of all. It's not a whistling kettle, but it pops, bangs and hums while boiling and there is always the worry that it will run out of water. (and when you are bringing the drinking water in from a different location you don't want to boil it all away)
- Exercise - stacking wood, splitting wood, lugging wood, scouring the forest for kindling ...Who needs a gym membership?!
- Ashes - I knew there would be ashes, of course, in the ash box and then we would take that box and dump it into the galvanized trash bin outside and "be done with it". What I didn't count on was the "poofs" of ash that float out and about and land where ever they please. I'm realizing that I will have to lower my standards of what the definition of clean means.
- Stacks of wood, boxes of kindling, bags of newspaper and bit and pieces of stuff always on the floor. Again, re-defining "clean".
- Lessons in common sense - when the fire is going the surface is HOT. At least we haven't melted anything, but the "Pass me that pot, so I can put it away" caused a scream and a can't-believe-I-was- just-that-stupid moment. Lesson learned. Thankful for lavender essential oil!!
- Bumps-in-the-night .....that'll take some getting used too. The sounds of logs shifting during burning.It happened once while I was the only one up in the still-dark morning, and I can tell you it gave me a bit of a fright.
But all-in-all, although the learning curve is steep, and although the food isn't always what we were hoping for or of the quality we are used to, it's proving to be a fun and interesting challenge that we are glad we took on.
You'll just have to excuse me if I don't invite you over for supper right away......gotta practice a bit more. ;)
Friday, November 11, 2016
All in a Day's Work.
For me, if I had to use one word to describe my daily life at the moment, it would be
LUGGING.
It seems like I do a lot of it.
Lug stuff from the trailer.
Lug stuff to the trailer.
Lug items into the house.
Lug items outta the house.
Lug things upstairs.
Lug things downstairs.
Lug that to an outbuilding.
Lug this from the barn.
Lug heavy boxes.
Lug bundles of cardboard.
Lug bags of garbage.
Lug pails of clean water.
Lug buckets of dirty water.
(This water cleaned only ONE closet!!)
Lug armfuls of wood from one spot to the next getting ever closer to the stove.
Lug loads of laundry to the laundry-mat.
Lug it home again.
Lug countless tools here until they are need over there, and then whatta I do?
I lug 'em.
Where do I start? I'll start with breakfast this morning.
So, the fire had died down over night. To be expected. Geoff starts working at getting it going and being it will be awhile before it's hot enough to boil the kettle and since most of the breakfast stuff is in the trailer anyways, I decide to "lug" the kettle, a jug of water and a couple of mugs, from last night's "tea in the house", out to the trailer. (we've only had six mugs all this time, one each and two extra for guests, so everyone is responsible to know where their mug is)
I open the trailer door and what's that I smell? A wee whiff of propane that's what.
Meaning the tank is empty.
I turn off the oven's pilot light, say a prayer of thanks that an empty laundry basket is there in the trailer and start to fill it up so that I can....? LUG it all to the house. Cause now I am taking the kettle and two mugs back plus all the stuff I need for breakfast. Small plates, spoons, knives, bread, bagels, jam, peanut butter, yogurts, camping toaster and with an "Am I forgetting anything?" I squish, squish, squish back to the house. The jug of water gets left behind, there are more in the house. (In cause you are wondering, No, I did not forget the butter, it was in the house)
Geoff has the fire going. The kettle starts to pop and wiggle as it responds to the heat.
But the bread and bagel aren't doing anything on the camping toaster, except..... dry out.
Plan B - use a cookie cooling rack. Where are those?
In the trailer.
(which is obviously better then being in a box! and they worked like a charm too.)
And that is how it goes.
For breakfast.
Lunch.
Supper.
And two "coffee" breaks a day.
Then there is the work of fixing up an old house.
Some days the only person who could see that you got anywhere is.....yourself.
No one else knows what you had to do to get that corner looking like it does now.
Often "now" isn't even pretty or nice looking yet.
Take scraping wall paper for example.
Some comes off easy and some with immense struggle.
Water is needed for the job. Where is the water? In the trailer.
Need to add vinegar as well. Where's the last place I saw that?
Spray bottles need filling. Over and over again.
Step stools need bringing up or down, cause they are always being used elsewhere at some point. Tools for scraping.... gotta find those.
Then you step off the stool and slip on the wet peeled paper. Gonna break my neck if I don't clean that up! Gotta go get a bag for garbage.
And where is the broom now?
So you finally get all you need, figure out a system and get into a good rhythm.
Spray, soak, scrape, shift stool, pick up garbage, repeat.
And you think, "Now we're cooking!"
Then you come to a random screw sticking out of the wall. Not a nail that you can just pull out like the dozen you have encountered before, but a held-in-tight screw.
There goes your GROOVE right out the window.
Downstairs you go, hoping that a medium-size-plus-shaped screw driver is still on the tool table. It is!! Yay!
Screw comes out. Rhythm begins again. It's just going good when you see a head appear on the stairs and hear a voice say,.....
"You got the plus screwdriver up here?"
Sometimes, it's phone cord stapled along the floor board. You follow it to see where it leads. It takes you to a frayed end. A dud. So that's gotta come out. You try to pull it out with your bare hands, it doesn't budge. You'll need a straight screwdriver and hammer to pop up each staple and pliers to pull it all the way out. You know that cause this isn't your first phone-cord rodeo! Where are those tools? Not on the same level as you are to be sure!! And so you struggle along that line of "endless" staples that have been painted over and are happy-where-they-are and you feel sorta proud and accomplished as you stand up with your "prize"of several feet of old phone cord. You wrap it up to stick in the garbage and look around for the broom, hoping it's still in your vicinity, cause now you have staples to get off the floor, and you aren't interested in picking them up one-by-one. By now the garbage bag is full to bursting and you wonder if you'll get all those wee bits of metal in without them spilling over, but you're thankful at least that it isn't a new bag with a hole in the bottom, cause you have had one of those before too.
You turn to look back at your morning's accomplishment, thinking how much better it looks. To anyone else they see old plaster with cracks, scrapes, many colours, imprints from old wall paper, crumbling plaster in spots, floor boards that are chipped and showing two or three colours of paint.
But to you, it's only several buckets of warm, soapy water away from being primed.
Cause after you scrape, you gotta scrub off residual glues.
Oh, wait, primer isn't next?!
No, mudding is.
Oh, I almost forgot. Then I can prime?
Nope, then we gotta sand it.
Of course!
.......And then we'll probably have to mud a second time.
"Where IS the pail of mud now? you wonder and you kinda doubt that the step stool will still be here when it's mudding time....but whatever....better start looking for the tools and supplies you'll need for the next job...once you prioritize what that job will be, that is!!
LUGGING.
It seems like I do a lot of it.
Lug stuff from the trailer.
Lug stuff to the trailer.
Lug items into the house.
Lug items outta the house.
Lug things upstairs.
Lug things downstairs.
Lug that to an outbuilding.
Lug this from the barn.
Lug heavy boxes.
Lug bundles of cardboard.
Lug bags of garbage.
Lug pails of clean water.
Lug buckets of dirty water.
Lug armfuls of wood from one spot to the next getting ever closer to the stove.
Lug loads of laundry to the laundry-mat.
Lug it home again.
Lug countless tools here until they are need over there, and then whatta I do?
I lug 'em.
Where do I start? I'll start with breakfast this morning.
So, the fire had died down over night. To be expected. Geoff starts working at getting it going and being it will be awhile before it's hot enough to boil the kettle and since most of the breakfast stuff is in the trailer anyways, I decide to "lug" the kettle, a jug of water and a couple of mugs, from last night's "tea in the house", out to the trailer. (we've only had six mugs all this time, one each and two extra for guests, so everyone is responsible to know where their mug is)
I open the trailer door and what's that I smell? A wee whiff of propane that's what.
Meaning the tank is empty.
I turn off the oven's pilot light, say a prayer of thanks that an empty laundry basket is there in the trailer and start to fill it up so that I can....? LUG it all to the house. Cause now I am taking the kettle and two mugs back plus all the stuff I need for breakfast. Small plates, spoons, knives, bread, bagels, jam, peanut butter, yogurts, camping toaster and with an "Am I forgetting anything?" I squish, squish, squish back to the house. The jug of water gets left behind, there are more in the house. (In cause you are wondering, No, I did not forget the butter, it was in the house)
Geoff has the fire going. The kettle starts to pop and wiggle as it responds to the heat.
But the bread and bagel aren't doing anything on the camping toaster, except..... dry out.
Plan B - use a cookie cooling rack. Where are those?
In the trailer.
(which is obviously better then being in a box! and they worked like a charm too.)
And that is how it goes.
For breakfast.
Lunch.
Supper.
And two "coffee" breaks a day.
Then there is the work of fixing up an old house.
Some days the only person who could see that you got anywhere is.....yourself.
No one else knows what you had to do to get that corner looking like it does now.
Often "now" isn't even pretty or nice looking yet.
Take scraping wall paper for example.
Some comes off easy and some with immense struggle.
Water is needed for the job. Where is the water? In the trailer.
Need to add vinegar as well. Where's the last place I saw that?
Spray bottles need filling. Over and over again.
Step stools need bringing up or down, cause they are always being used elsewhere at some point. Tools for scraping.... gotta find those.
Then you step off the stool and slip on the wet peeled paper. Gonna break my neck if I don't clean that up! Gotta go get a bag for garbage.
And where is the broom now?
So you finally get all you need, figure out a system and get into a good rhythm.
Spray, soak, scrape, shift stool, pick up garbage, repeat.
And you think, "Now we're cooking!"
Then you come to a random screw sticking out of the wall. Not a nail that you can just pull out like the dozen you have encountered before, but a held-in-tight screw.
There goes your GROOVE right out the window.
Downstairs you go, hoping that a medium-size-plus-shaped screw driver is still on the tool table. It is!! Yay!
Screw comes out. Rhythm begins again. It's just going good when you see a head appear on the stairs and hear a voice say,.....
"You got the plus screwdriver up here?"
Sometimes, it's phone cord stapled along the floor board. You follow it to see where it leads. It takes you to a frayed end. A dud. So that's gotta come out. You try to pull it out with your bare hands, it doesn't budge. You'll need a straight screwdriver and hammer to pop up each staple and pliers to pull it all the way out. You know that cause this isn't your first phone-cord rodeo! Where are those tools? Not on the same level as you are to be sure!! And so you struggle along that line of "endless" staples that have been painted over and are happy-where-they-are and you feel sorta proud and accomplished as you stand up with your "prize"of several feet of old phone cord. You wrap it up to stick in the garbage and look around for the broom, hoping it's still in your vicinity, cause now you have staples to get off the floor, and you aren't interested in picking them up one-by-one. By now the garbage bag is full to bursting and you wonder if you'll get all those wee bits of metal in without them spilling over, but you're thankful at least that it isn't a new bag with a hole in the bottom, cause you have had one of those before too.
You turn to look back at your morning's accomplishment, thinking how much better it looks. To anyone else they see old plaster with cracks, scrapes, many colours, imprints from old wall paper, crumbling plaster in spots, floor boards that are chipped and showing two or three colours of paint.
But to you, it's only several buckets of warm, soapy water away from being primed.
Cause after you scrape, you gotta scrub off residual glues.
Oh, wait, primer isn't next?!
No, mudding is.
Oh, I almost forgot. Then I can prime?
Nope, then we gotta sand it.
Of course!
.......And then we'll probably have to mud a second time.
"Where IS the pail of mud now? you wonder and you kinda doubt that the step stool will still be here when it's mudding time....but whatever....better start looking for the tools and supplies you'll need for the next job...once you prioritize what that job will be, that is!!
Friday, November 4, 2016
I Spy With My Little Eye.
Have you ever looked through an "I Spy" book?
They were a staple around the house when our kids were growing up.
Always wished I had been the creative person that had thought up that idea. It had to have been a lot of fun working on the scenes for each page. The royalties would've been nice too!
Well, here is my version of I Spy, titled ....
My Kitchen. - Not the Before, Not the After, But the In-between.
They were a staple around the house when our kids were growing up.
Always wished I had been the creative person that had thought up that idea. It had to have been a lot of fun working on the scenes for each page. The royalties would've been nice too!
Well, here is my version of I Spy, titled ....
My Kitchen. - Not the Before, Not the After, But the In-between.
I Spy.....
One propane furnace (loaned to us, but never used, it didn't come with instructions.)
Two ladders,
A U-Haul mattress protector (meaning the mattress reached it's final destination!! )
A kitchen sink faucet (still in it's box and bought in Moncton, NB with a Home Depot gift card, compliments of Geoff's last job. Thanks Guys!)
I Spy.....
A glass tea-pot.
One sugar canister
A pair of rubber gloves.
A broken mirror. (so Geoff can shave his whiskers)
I Spy......
Tea for the Three Bears. :)
I Spy.....
Two, re-purposed, scrubbed clean, primed and painted drawers, waiting to be installed.
One, two-burner hot-plate.
An orange cord leading to the "trouble-light" rigged up to a window to light the path to the trailer, since the out-side light-bulb on the trailer blew, and who knows where to find a replacement?!
I Spy....
Another drawer, and a roll of paint-able wallpaper.
Snazzy plaid wallpaper that's going to look so sharp behind our black cook stove!
A drying rack and a pair of work gloves.
I Spy.....
A dining room table waiting to be put back in service.
A drill, two dry-wall mud spreaders, tube of silicone, tube of wood filler.
I Spy.....
One broom, that's never in the room you need it in. :)
A five-gallon pail, holding two bags of cane sugar, brought from Ontario.
One toque and three boxes.
I Spy.....
One, handy-dandy step-stool.
One, of many, loaned to us space heater.
One piece of cut-out counter-top and a box of Manson jars.
I Spy.....
My feel-all-happy-when-I-wear-them rubber boots.
One pair of moccasins and a double sink, bought for $20 at the Re-Store in Midland, Ontario
I Spy.....
Two rolls of under-lay, meaning I will soon have a new kitchen floor.
One repaired, scrubbed, primed and painted twice, door to the mud-room that is helping keep the house warmer then when it was just a gaping hole where a door used to be.
I Spy.......
Four re-claimed cupboard doors, scrubbed clean and waiting to be primed and painted.
One beautiful, made by an extremely talented fellow, my husband, cupboard frame.
A brace for healing tennis-elbow injuries that I hardly need to use anymore! Yay!!
I Spy.....
One cleaning basin.
Two bottles of Essential oil.
Three types of cleaners.
A sink that we are loath to take out since that is where I clean all the paint brushes and trays etc. But at least there is now a shut-off for the sink's plumbing.
The day is coming when I will have a fully functioning kitchen and my OCD-self can go back to being happy keeping everything where it belongs. :)
A place for everything and everything in it's place.
I like that motto. :)
But even more..... I like, and am thankful for, the grace that God has given us to live through this amazing, but at times trying, experience.
As of Today.
Things are coming along.
Very slowly, but surely just the same.
I'm not going to take much time on this post, partly cause there is a can of primer calling my name,
But just wanted to give you an up-date as to where we are at.
For the last five nights we have slept in the house! YAY!
The trailer was keeping us warm, sort of. It was toasty as long as the furnace was going, but the cold crept in as soon as it shut off. The poor trailer was/is wet enough to almost wring out. It's not insulated for use during the colder parts of the year so the condensation is showing on the windows and can be felt on the walls.
We were damp all the time.
So space heaters it is. Plastic went up between the living and dining room. Mattresses went down on the floor of the living room and being the house is insulated we stay comfortable all night with just one heater.
And then last night Geoff and I slept in our room! The second coat of paint went up a couple days ago. Geoff got a cover made for the hole to the attic. The furniture was brought in from the barn.
And Ta-da! After two months of working and waiting we have a bedroom.
The kitchen is coming along too. The fire-proof, tile floor is down waiting for the wood stove to arrive. Which is only four days from now!! Yay!
Some wallpaper is up. (waiting to do the rest once we have heat)
The kitchen cupboards are making an appearance before my very eyes. Geoff was hesitant about getting started on them, being he has never made cupboards before, but I had every confidence in him since he is such a handy-man for so many other things, and sure enough we have what looks like some awesome cabinetry materializing in the kitchen where nothing was just a few days ago!
And today, after much wallpaper scrapping, scrubbing glue off the walls, and then mudding in the cracks of "old age" plaster, primer is going on the walls of The Youngest's room!
If it all goes according to plan, paint should be up by tomorrow and hopefully before the weekend is over we'll be settling one-happy-gal into her new room.
Actually she may have to wait until the 8th before she can sleep in her room.....turns out all four bedrooms are on one breaker.
That's easy to count. ONE.
And having TWO space heaters going at the same time "blows the fuse".
Why is it easier to say "blew the fuse" then "flipped the breaker"?
Well, time to start priming.
After I kill all the flies that The Youngest says are on her window. She keeps calling down the amount she's counted.....the count is up to thirteen. Ick. Every day we kill flies. and the next day, like we didn't have any yesterday there is a whole new batch. Where do they keep coming from?!
I guess after a bit we'll just deal with them and not bother counting.
But who knew they would still be going strong this time of year on an animal-less farm!?!
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Orange.
The colour orange has been on our minds lately.
And on our floors too.
When you take red soil, wear a path through it, add a couple weeks of rain, smear it on something, let it dry..... you get orange.
Orange on your boots.
Orange on the door mats.
Orange on the trailer floor.
Orange in the mud room.
Orange in the kitchen.
Orange in every hallway.
Orange going up the stairs.
Yes, we were wearing our outdoor footwear in the construction zone that is our house.
That changed yesterday.
The rain doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so we must do the adjusting.
Muddy outside boots get changed up to inside shoes at the door.
Look I am not complaining!! You don't need to shovel rain. Or blow it. You don't have to call your snow plowing neighbour to get you out of your driveway, when it's only raining. As far as I am concerned rain is wonderful!!!
We have been praying for a mild fall. We are getting it and couldn't be more thankful for rain!!
A different orange came into our vocab this week.
It's a two word phrase called Hunters Orange.
The Man-Son was taking the new-to-us four-wheeler across the road to retrieve an old, round bale of hay that was left behind. We have a use for it this winter and it won't be to feed animals. I know you all want to know what we plan on doing with an old bale of hay, but you'll just have to be patient cause that's another blog, not this one. ;)
Of course he was having fun vrooming back and forth, but he told me during supper that East Neighbour had stopped and hollered something at him from the road, but he hadn't caught a word she said. Funny how he didn't go see what she thought was so important, just did the ole "Smile and nod, Boys, Smile and nod". I figured I would call her up to see what it was she thought he needed to know.
Hunting season starts tomorrow is what I heard. You shouldn't go in your woods or even be on your cleared land without wearing Hunters Orange.
I told her "We don't have Hunters Orange but we do have Surveyors Yellow.
Would that do?" (Note: Geoff is a surveyor turning into a farmer)
Yes, that would be fine. Just as long as the guys with guns can see you aren't a deer.
Thanks for the heads up, but I thought hunting season was already underway?
"Oh, that's double-loaders and bazooka hunting that started a bit ago". At least I think that is what she said. She said two types of guns, but that was a couple days ago and it was all Greek to me anyways ;)
No, I know she didn't say bazooka, but she might as well have. Bazooka or sawed-off shotgun.
I mean how is it, I could possibly be shot while meandering on my own "back 50"?
The West neighbour explained that one.....
If you don't have signs on every second tree saying "NO HUNTING" or "NO Trespassing", if your extra roads/driveways don't have barriers on it......well, the guys with guns think it's all fair game.
Hum. I guess we'll be making up some signs then.
Maybe we'll need to get a fence up first so as to have something to hang the signs on.
Seems I'd better go digging in the mountains of boxes for the Surveyors Yellow too.
But when we're next in town, that being not Tatamagouche, I'll be investing in something orange that fits The Youngest and myself. The selection that we have in Surveyor Yellow is rather on the large side.
We had plans to go gather kindling, but that'll have to wait I suppose.
That's ok, it's been raining every day anyways.
Making our trek between house and trailer to sound and look like this.....
And I replaced the mat with a fresh towel only four or five entrances ago!
All in a "day of our life" ........ at the moment.
And on our floors too.
When you take red soil, wear a path through it, add a couple weeks of rain, smear it on something, let it dry..... you get orange.
Orange on your boots.
Orange on the door mats.
Orange on the trailer floor.
Orange in the mud room.
Orange in the kitchen.
Orange in every hallway.
Orange going up the stairs.
Yes, we were wearing our outdoor footwear in the construction zone that is our house.
That changed yesterday.
The rain doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so we must do the adjusting.
Muddy outside boots get changed up to inside shoes at the door.
Look I am not complaining!! You don't need to shovel rain. Or blow it. You don't have to call your snow plowing neighbour to get you out of your driveway, when it's only raining. As far as I am concerned rain is wonderful!!!
We have been praying for a mild fall. We are getting it and couldn't be more thankful for rain!!
A different orange came into our vocab this week.
It's a two word phrase called Hunters Orange.
The Man-Son was taking the new-to-us four-wheeler across the road to retrieve an old, round bale of hay that was left behind. We have a use for it this winter and it won't be to feed animals. I know you all want to know what we plan on doing with an old bale of hay, but you'll just have to be patient cause that's another blog, not this one. ;)
Of course he was having fun vrooming back and forth, but he told me during supper that East Neighbour had stopped and hollered something at him from the road, but he hadn't caught a word she said. Funny how he didn't go see what she thought was so important, just did the ole "Smile and nod, Boys, Smile and nod". I figured I would call her up to see what it was she thought he needed to know.
Hunting season starts tomorrow is what I heard. You shouldn't go in your woods or even be on your cleared land without wearing Hunters Orange.
I told her "We don't have Hunters Orange but we do have Surveyors Yellow.
Would that do?" (Note: Geoff is a surveyor turning into a farmer)
Yes, that would be fine. Just as long as the guys with guns can see you aren't a deer.
Thanks for the heads up, but I thought hunting season was already underway?
"Oh, that's double-loaders and bazooka hunting that started a bit ago". At least I think that is what she said. She said two types of guns, but that was a couple days ago and it was all Greek to me anyways ;)
No, I know she didn't say bazooka, but she might as well have. Bazooka or sawed-off shotgun.
I mean how is it, I could possibly be shot while meandering on my own "back 50"?
The West neighbour explained that one.....
If you don't have signs on every second tree saying "NO HUNTING" or "NO Trespassing", if your extra roads/driveways don't have barriers on it......well, the guys with guns think it's all fair game.
Hum. I guess we'll be making up some signs then.
Maybe we'll need to get a fence up first so as to have something to hang the signs on.
Seems I'd better go digging in the mountains of boxes for the Surveyors Yellow too.
But when we're next in town, that being not Tatamagouche, I'll be investing in something orange that fits The Youngest and myself. The selection that we have in Surveyor Yellow is rather on the large side.
We had plans to go gather kindling, but that'll have to wait I suppose.
That's ok, it's been raining every day anyways.
Making our trek between house and trailer to sound and look like this.....
And I replaced the mat with a fresh towel only four or five entrances ago!
All in a "day of our life" ........ at the moment.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Back Off, Dementia!!
They say that one way to prevent "old-timers" is to keep firing up the ole brain cells.
Learn a new language. Take music lessons.
Do crossword puzzles.
Basically the theory is "If you don't use it, you lose it!"
If you are always doing everything the same way and have set daily routines, switching things up should help as well.
Like try moving and living in a trailer for awhile.
Re-learning all your daily tasks should help keep dementia at bay!
Fixing up an old house while on a tight budget might also help.
Geoff and I shouldn't have to worry about brain-cells-being-stuck-in-a-rut for some time.
Like last night......Geoff and the kids head out of the trailer after supper to work for a bit and when the dishes are done and the kettle is boiled we'll all make tea and then wrap up in blankets to watch a movie in the house.
The kettle is almost to a boil when it starts to POUR rain.
No little sprinkle. Buckets coming down.
I radio the house and let them all know that the kettle is almost ready but because of the rain I will now be having my tea in the trailer whilst reading a book. My rubber boots were in the house or else I might have wrestled with an umbrella and tea, but between the house and the trailer is a bit of a ditch, and since it quickly fills up I wasn't going to try to deal with a full mug, umbrella and slippery crocks in the mud. No, siree. Didn't need to see a movie that bad!!
Well, Geoff my-knight-in-shining-armor shows up with an umbrella he bought a few years ago, bless his heart. This umbrella is one notch down from qualifying as a beach umbrella. It's colourful enough for the beach and to be truthful my pride wouldn't let me use it for years. Honestly, it made you feel like a one-person parade to use it in town. Anyways, it's plenty big enough to keep two people dry. But he isn't just coming for me or a cuppa, he wants to switch over the propane tank so that we are insured heat all night. I'd help hold the flashlight and umbrella if I had my rubber boots, so he made the trip back to the house to retrieve them.
Well, if it had of been daylight and we had neighbours close enough to watch we would have provided a little entertainment. POURing rain. Rainbow umbrella big enough to be spotted by Google Earth, flashlight needing to be in three places at once and threatening to die, two sizes of propane tanks one small, one massive, needing to be connected together requiring one to be raised up.
(Just cause we weren't facing enough challenges).
And you know, I could just feel the wind blowing those brain cob-webs away. :)
I am not sure if it's cause it's still all new, or if our determination to have a positive attitude and faith in God is helping, but we are having fun.
We really are.
Yes, we get tired. Yes, some days have headaches and goose-eggs.
Sometimes the tool you just put down gets up and walks away.
Sometimes you cut a little too close to the electrical socket with the wall-paper razor and you get zapped and have the blade blasted out of your hand in a shower of sparks, and those around you don't know whether to laugh or check for your pulse.
(Note: I'm not saying this happened, but it could, if you weren't careful ;) Safety first!!)
Days are cold. Nights are long.
Wood stoves don't come when you expect them.
Life happens
even when you
are pursuing a dream.
Learn a new language. Take music lessons.
Do crossword puzzles.
Basically the theory is "If you don't use it, you lose it!"
If you are always doing everything the same way and have set daily routines, switching things up should help as well.
Like try moving and living in a trailer for awhile.
Re-learning all your daily tasks should help keep dementia at bay!
Fixing up an old house while on a tight budget might also help.
Geoff and I shouldn't have to worry about brain-cells-being-stuck-in-a-rut for some time.
Like last night......Geoff and the kids head out of the trailer after supper to work for a bit and when the dishes are done and the kettle is boiled we'll all make tea and then wrap up in blankets to watch a movie in the house.
The kettle is almost to a boil when it starts to POUR rain.
No little sprinkle. Buckets coming down.
I radio the house and let them all know that the kettle is almost ready but because of the rain I will now be having my tea in the trailer whilst reading a book. My rubber boots were in the house or else I might have wrestled with an umbrella and tea, but between the house and the trailer is a bit of a ditch, and since it quickly fills up I wasn't going to try to deal with a full mug, umbrella and slippery crocks in the mud. No, siree. Didn't need to see a movie that bad!!
Well, Geoff my-knight-in-shining-armor shows up with an umbrella he bought a few years ago, bless his heart. This umbrella is one notch down from qualifying as a beach umbrella. It's colourful enough for the beach and to be truthful my pride wouldn't let me use it for years. Honestly, it made you feel like a one-person parade to use it in town. Anyways, it's plenty big enough to keep two people dry. But he isn't just coming for me or a cuppa, he wants to switch over the propane tank so that we are insured heat all night. I'd help hold the flashlight and umbrella if I had my rubber boots, so he made the trip back to the house to retrieve them.
Well, if it had of been daylight and we had neighbours close enough to watch we would have provided a little entertainment. POURing rain. Rainbow umbrella big enough to be spotted by Google Earth, flashlight needing to be in three places at once and threatening to die, two sizes of propane tanks one small, one massive, needing to be connected together requiring one to be raised up.
(Just cause we weren't facing enough challenges).
And you know, I could just feel the wind blowing those brain cob-webs away. :)
I am not sure if it's cause it's still all new, or if our determination to have a positive attitude and faith in God is helping, but we are having fun.
We really are.
Yes, we get tired. Yes, some days have headaches and goose-eggs.
Sometimes the tool you just put down gets up and walks away.
Sometimes you cut a little too close to the electrical socket with the wall-paper razor and you get zapped and have the blade blasted out of your hand in a shower of sparks, and those around you don't know whether to laugh or check for your pulse.
(Note: I'm not saying this happened, but it could, if you weren't careful ;) Safety first!!)
Days are cold. Nights are long.
Wood stoves don't come when you expect them.
Life happens
even when you
are pursuing a dream.
So not only are we thankful that we are finding the journey enjoyable but we are happy to report that (most likely) we won't be suffering from old-timers any time soon. :)
** Please know that I am not attempting to make light of Alzheimers. It is a dreadful disease and far too many lives are ruined by it. There are many factors involved, including diet, use of aluminium and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Hopefully more can be learned about this disease so that we can all avoid it's horrid effects.
Monday, October 24, 2016
One Too Many.
It makes logical sense that there are only so many coats of paint that will go on cupboard doors before it impedes their ability to close and stay that way.
We bought the house one layer too late. Agh!
So I mentioned in a previous blog that the upper cupboards were SOLID and only needed some scrubbing and painting and I'd be happy to have them over "new and cheap", cause if they've lasted this long they would last just as long again.
They are solid alright and all but one door stayed closed.
We fixed that one errant door by moving the magnet to a different spot and TA-DA, just the magic it needed, all six doors snug-as-a-bug.
They got washed and scrubbed a few times. Goodness, but I didn't realize how much time and effort that would take. Seemed like I was always missing a shelf, the front of a door or a section of wall at the back. It took several sessions and many fresh buckets of warm, soapy water before the day arrived that I declared.........
"They are ready to be primed!"
Priming was almost as tricky as the washing part. You would feel like you covered every inch and then get off the step stool and "Blah, missed a whole section"
Of course the doors stayed open in the hopes that the space heaters would warm up the room enough to get all the wet spots dry and I have a wee, and very tender goose-egg to prove that we did due-diligence to help that paint dry! Open cupboard doors and myself are like magnets and metal. If they are close they will connect. It was almost the straw that broke the camel's back, but I'm still here and trying to avoid touching the left side of my forehead.
Anyways........so the primer dries and I start to apply paint, but Geoff began to notice something I had failed to spot. (I blame the "Blow to the head") ....... with the ONE extra layer of paint.....
NOT a SINGLE cupboard door will close all the way.
NO way! Are. You. Kidding. Me!
Nope.
No moving of magnets will help this problem.
The doors have to come off and be stripped.
Grrrrr. Frita-frat,
Of course every screw, all sixty of them, have just as many coats of paint on them as the wood does. Just a wee inconvenience.
Some "sprinkles" in the whole situation....
Flat-headed screw drivers and hammers and two hands that can use the two together....making paint chips fly, unveiling the screws......
An ancient tin of paint remover in an out-building that was still usable.
Old paintbrushes (the paint remover practically melted the paintbrush, it would have been painful to have had to use a new one!!)
Rubber gloves!! Skin is not over-rated!!
Scrapers - dry-wall putty knife worked like a charm.
Re-cycle cans and containers to hold the corrosive stuff.
Turns out painting the cupboards is a whole lot easier with the doors off!
My head is feeling a whole lot safer too!!
We bought the house one layer too late. Agh!
So I mentioned in a previous blog that the upper cupboards were SOLID and only needed some scrubbing and painting and I'd be happy to have them over "new and cheap", cause if they've lasted this long they would last just as long again.
They are solid alright and all but one door stayed closed.
We fixed that one errant door by moving the magnet to a different spot and TA-DA, just the magic it needed, all six doors snug-as-a-bug.
They got washed and scrubbed a few times. Goodness, but I didn't realize how much time and effort that would take. Seemed like I was always missing a shelf, the front of a door or a section of wall at the back. It took several sessions and many fresh buckets of warm, soapy water before the day arrived that I declared.........
"They are ready to be primed!"
Priming was almost as tricky as the washing part. You would feel like you covered every inch and then get off the step stool and "Blah, missed a whole section"
Of course the doors stayed open in the hopes that the space heaters would warm up the room enough to get all the wet spots dry and I have a wee, and very tender goose-egg to prove that we did due-diligence to help that paint dry! Open cupboard doors and myself are like magnets and metal. If they are close they will connect. It was almost the straw that broke the camel's back, but I'm still here and trying to avoid touching the left side of my forehead.
Anyways........so the primer dries and I start to apply paint, but Geoff began to notice something I had failed to spot. (I blame the "Blow to the head") ....... with the ONE extra layer of paint.....
NOT a SINGLE cupboard door will close all the way.
NO way! Are. You. Kidding. Me!
Nope.
No moving of magnets will help this problem.
The doors have to come off and be stripped.
Grrrrr. Frita-frat,
Of course every screw, all sixty of them, have just as many coats of paint on them as the wood does. Just a wee inconvenience.
Some "sprinkles" in the whole situation....
Flat-headed screw drivers and hammers and two hands that can use the two together....making paint chips fly, unveiling the screws......
An ancient tin of paint remover in an out-building that was still usable.
Old paintbrushes (the paint remover practically melted the paintbrush, it would have been painful to have had to use a new one!!)
Rubber gloves!! Skin is not over-rated!!
Scrapers - dry-wall putty knife worked like a charm.
Re-cycle cans and containers to hold the corrosive stuff.
Turns out painting the cupboards is a whole lot easier with the doors off!
My head is feeling a whole lot safer too!!
Took one of the doors, after I was finished scrapping and it fit like a glove into the opening. So, it was worth it I guess.
Yes, it was kinda annoying, that with so much to do, this extra step needed to be taken.
But oh well, the end result will look much better and in the long run, no one is going to know or care that the doors were a "pain in the behind". I mean pain-in-the-head ......myself included.......once my goose-egg is gone that is.
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