They Came, They Saw, They Helped.

We had company coming!
My mother and her sister.
It was time to "pull up our socks"!!

We set up the living room for visiting and having tea in. Turns out the house was never warm enough for actual sitting down and chatting but Hey! the motivation got the job done anyways :)

For some reason this is the only picture I took before throwing sheets all over the furniture so we could sit down in work clothes etc.  (as of today the floor trim is up). 

It took two trips to the dump and some re-bagging (the dump won't accept stuff in black bags, first time we "got away with it" since we didn't know better) but the pile of garbage got whisked away before the company arrived. 

Not sure that the burned away grass looked any better than the pile, but it is nicer using the clothes line without it there. And it will be a lot easier getting the wood stove in when it comes.

It was wonderful to have family come to see "what we have gotten ourselves into"! 

Gave them the fifty-cent tour for FREE, of course! haha

Went to the Farmers Market. Their being here was the motivation I needed since I hadn't been able to tear myself away from the work long enough to go check it out before now. 

Also checked out a Sheep Farm and Shop that I have been wanting to see. Really cool place!

The cottage they rented was SUPER sweet. Beautiful place where we ate all our big meals and for us "deprived folks" enjoyed the use of the shower. :) 

We even put them to work priming clapboard that the neighbour brought over for us. Just enough to replace some rotten pieces. (In picture above you can see the one white strip, where one is replaced)

Now we have some colour swatches here to mull over. We aren't 100% sure what colour our house is going to be, we just know it won't be yellow when we are finished with it. 

We waved good-bye yesterday morning. :( 

A sweet but kinda short visit.

They still had three days of travel ahead as they had driven here, but the holiday was over for us, no more goofing off! 

Back to work, 

wallpapering, 

painting, 

caulking, 

trimming,

cleaning the basement,

.....preparing for winter. (which is another blog but entailed, calling the oil furnace people, bagging sawdust and digging away rocks.... among other things) 

We are pretty sure winter will be here before we are quite ready for it.

So the adventure continues! Gotta find blog material somehow!! 

Thanks Mom and Aunt Diane for coming to see us. We appreciated your enthusiasm and encouragement, not to mention all the thoughtful gifts and suggestions! Safe travels! xo

Biggest Puzzle Ever!

I've always loved doing puzzles.The whole family enjoys them actually. The bigger the better. Challenging? Bring it on!  3-D? Best give that kind to our eldest son!!
In Penetang we enjoyed a unique library. They had puzzles. One long winter we signed-out two or three at a time.

Then we moved to a farm where we plan to heat and cook with wood.

Thus began the "fun" of working on the biggest (and heaviest) puzzle we have ever done!

I can't exactly say I am having fun. But I am finding it enjoyable. Well, the first hour is enjoyable. It changes to something different after the body starts to wonder about your sanity...."You thought we could handle all this physical labour did you?!" haha.  After a bit you start encouraging your inner self to do just one more wheel-barrel load. And so one load, one chunk at a time the shed slowly fills.  

This is the pile of green wood that came first. All six cords came off our friend's property. He later came to chunk and split it. It would be up to us to stack it. 

In case you are wondering....A cord is stacked wood measuring four feet wide by four feet high and is eight feet long. Total volume of 128 cubic feet. 

A friend from Ontario sent us a link about stacking wood in circles.....we haven't any good, bad or otherwise wood-stacking habits to break, so we thought we would give it a go!

THE HOLZHAUSEN, A EUROPEAN METHOD FOR STACKING WOOD

How pretty is that!?

It’s a self standing structure which does not need to be braced or stacked in a wood shed.  The technique is simple, and built in a circle format allowing for the wood to support itself.  Stacking wood in the traditional fashion ~flat stacked upon each other~ does not give it enough room for airflow to pass through, therefore not allowing the wood to dry quickly. The holzhausen method has plenty of airflow, and it is said that wood can dry up to 2 times faster.  

(borrowed both the idea and the above paragraph from ....... afarmgirlinthemaking)

Here is a different six cords! Dry wood dumped at the front, wet at the back.

 Yep, like we don't have enough to do getting the house livable. We are also needing to stack two years worth of wood. 12 cords. Twelve!!!   

I keep wondering if it's because we are so new at it or if we are being too particular about where to put each piece..."Hummmm....where should I put this piece?" ..but it seems like such a slow go. The Man-Son and I spent about five hours at it today and it looks like we might have moved a third of the pile?. 

Looks so nice all stacked up though.

Geoff our "skilled worker" is doing things like replacing windows etc. while the manual labour of wood stacking is being left to the less skilled workers. ;) But being he is the only one in the family with any kind of experience (grew up with wood heat) he does check in once in awhile to see how we are coming along. Today we lined two walls of the wood shed and Geoff's comment was.......

"Good! you got two tiers up!" 

"Tiers?"  

"That's what we called stacked rows" he said.

"I was thinking "tiers" with a different spelling" I responded.

"Like blood, sweat and tears?" he asked.

Yep.

Maybe the "romance" of heating with wood will kick in when we can gather around the heat of the stove watching the flames flicker. But right now, highly aware of muscles that I wasn't noticing yesterday, all I can think about is how it would of been done 170 years ago before chain saws, gasoline, log trucks and wood splitters. 

And when you think of that....

trees cut down by axe, dragged out by horse, chunked by hand sawing, split by axe.....

well, you gain a whole new level of respect for our ancestors.

Truly, it's some kind of miracle that we are all here. Sheer determination and plenty of 

real blood, buckets of sweat and bottles of tears.

And that's the truth.

Well, hopefully by the time our wood stove arrives sometime in the next two weeks all that wood will be tucked away nice and dry in the wood shed. (which incidentally used to be a house that sat across the road, was dragged over here to be become a work-shop/wood-shed and looks every bit as old as our house) Then I can get busy gaining a new respect for our great-great-grandmothers who kept all our kin folk alive by cookin' on wood stoves!! :) 

Phew. How do you spell MAJOR learning curve ahead!?! 

As Promised

Been posting a lot of inside pictures. Which at the moment are rather unbecoming.
I had mentioned that outside pictures would be posted at a later date.
That date has arrived!
Between fall colours and the loveliness of the day I was compelled to take the camera for a walk.

May we introduce, Henry.

Sticking out "like a sore thumb" like that one odd-ball tree, has probably saved it's life. That tree is now a "named tree". And when things have names they become part of the family. 

We don't chop down family members now do we?!

Always wanted a weather vane. 

Now I have one, but I am unsure if it works except in gale force winds. And in winds that strong I'm not out having a "look-see" at which way the ole weather vane is pointing!!. :)

Tight.

We bought us a TIGHT house.

At least according to John Smith it's tight.

When we asked how many cords of wood he burned in a winter, the answer was eight. (EIGHT!?!)
"Cause it's a tight house", he added, "never feel a draft."

Another time I mentioned to John that I had bought mouse traps to get ready to catch the little stow-aways.

"Oh", he boasted, "you won't need those! Rarely see a mouse in here!"
"It's a tight house!"

Funny, but he kept calling it a tight house. He really thought it was I guess.

We have now lost count of the mice that have succumbed to the lure of peanut butter. When you reach ten you stop keeping track. There have been a couple times where all three traps have been licked cleaned without being set off!!

I said to The Youngest, "How small is that little ball of cuteness that is able to get it licked clean without triggering the trap!?

"EXACTLY, Mom!! And that's what you are trying to kill!!" (I think if I remember correctly she added something about us being "baby mouse killers") haha. But she does get that we don't want mice in the house. The smell wafting down from the open attic access, of mice "relieving themselves" for years, is enough to make anyone become a "baby mouse killer". Yuck!

We now know why John burned eight cord. Stand anywhere in the house and you feel a fresh breeze. Even with windows closed! We are wondering how he stayed warm with only eight!!!
But we can deduce, from the stories we've heard of John, that he stayed warm and didn't feel "any drafts" cause not only did he burn piles of wood, but kept a "pint of anti-freeze in his radiator"

I'm thinking it was that same "anti-freeze" that prevented him from seeing the mice and their calling cards.

After a month of working in this house we have concluded that if THIS house is TIGHT....

Than so is ......

......a braid whose hair band has fallen off.
......a six year old's front tooth with a gap beside it!
......a moored boat with a hole in it.
......a toilet seat with loose bolts.
......an antique piano stool that has been spun a few too many times.
......an aging deck that hasn't been water and weather proofed.
(We had a "tight" deck as well! Wanna come for the bon-fire when we have it?!)

But each day it gets a little tighter... for real. Almost emptied a whole package of pink insulation into holes here and there. Three new windows are in.

And repairs to a basement window, which required a trip to the hardware store for a glass cutter are done and the install will happen today. (see picture below)

You just have to laugh when the word "tight" is used and you walk around the perimeter of the house and see this.....

.....the basement "window". Opening is a more correct term.
No glass, no screen.
Just lovely, fresh country air where all the cute, country mice are welcome to enter.

Biscotti

That's the name of the paint that the living room is now covered with.

Biscotti is really code for "Newborn Poop" haha. 

Funny that isn't what came to me when I looked at the swatch! But the first swish of the roller and that's all I could think of!!

Mentioned it to a family member and they had the same impression.

Oh, well...here goes. It'll look better after the second coat I kept telling myself.  Another thought I comforted myself with..... "It'll look fantastic with our navy-blue furniture" 

But another voice was saying "Why didn't you stick to light grey like before?" 

"Grey is safe." Grey would have been safe but I'm so done going with "safe".

I think I was inspired by the use of colour here in the East. Bright colours are everywhere. Whole buildings are purple, red, royal blue, sunshine yellow! Seems like the favorite roof colour is Fire Engine Red.

I love deep colours and I figured that if there was a safe place to be bold, where neighbours wouldn't judge you on your bizarre paint choice, it was here. So I plugged my nose and jumped off the diving board!!

Well, second coat is looking much, much better....  I'll keep you posted on the compatibility of walls with couches :)

Here's a peek....

One room...almost....down......

Several.

More.

To.

Go..........

Here's the "make-up" stash...hopefully it's enough to freshen the place up a bit!! 

 

Settlin' In?

We have been asked that a few times.

"Are you settlin' in"?

Um. We are settling into some kind or routine. In the trailer. And when it comes to getting up, eating and getting our butts to work. :)
But no, we are not even close to being settled into the house.

Thought I'd post some pictures for those of you who have never been part of a complete home renovation.

There is no room untouched. Tools, ladders, drying paint, ceramic tiles or drywall mud. Gaping holes where windows used to be. (those are usually filled in the same day). The dirt is being replaced with dust, sawdust, trimmings, bits and pieces always needing sweeping up.

It's one of those things, where when you want to do one thing, you realize something else needs doing first. One must go backward in order to go forward.

I can't get the pictures up quick enough before changes happen. These boxes are now stacked in the hallway and other rooms, since the living room is getting painted today. This means the couches can come in from the barn soon!!. Hopefully no little furry things have take up residence in them and we'll have one room "settled" at least 

Kitchen window being replaced. What a windy day that was!! Blown insulation, blowing all over the place. To be expected since I had just shop-vac'd the room out the night before! Blah. :)

Tool Central. Where did I put the........?

Thought that the Man-Son would be settled in this room by now. We were halfway done the papering when the window was replaced. The newly painted floor? 

It DID look fantastic!! 

Here's hoping that soap and water do the trick!!

Cutting a new attic access, since the new chimney will be going where the old access is. What a dreadfully, messy job that was. Poor Geoff. :(  Raining insulation and mouse poop all the while. Do they sell hazmat suits at the store? We should invest in one. Could of used one here and need one when we tear out the washroom.

Counter top and cupboards almost tore out. Need some water shut-off valves installed before we can go any further. Flooring waiting for it's turn to shine.

 

This is another old picture already. ALL the wall paper is down, most of the glue is washed off the walls. Just need some taping and mudding, then we can slap some paint on the old cracked walls. This is The Youngest's room. She didn't want wallpaper. 

Thank heavens! Got six rooms to wallpaper as it is!! 

The Youngest is helping me "paper"  to preserve mine and Geoff's marriage. Haha. 

Although who knows before we are done, one of us might be hitching-hiking back to Ontario!?! :) 

If only we had a Princess who relished the cold!! 

And a pea. 

Mind the itchy insulation when you crawl out of bed though!!

This will be the dining room .....eventually..... 

Other side of dining room. There is no ceiling, and now we know why. No "breathing room" was made for wiring. Notches are needing to be cut to make sure that the drywall doesn't press it tightly against the beams. Is there a Chiropractor in the house!?!  Over-the-head work is hard on the neck. Pacing yourself is the only way to do it. Just a few cuts at a time.  

As I type, the men folk are discussing getting 1x1's to nail on the beams instead of continuing with the neck-busting method of cutting notches...... 

This is where the boxes are now. The window is out of the way, since it was installed in the kitchen. YAY!!! We ARE getting stuff done! Boxes are on the right side, 12 foot counter top on the left. (picked up in town for us by the West neighbours. Thanks!!!) Geoff wanted to put it in the living room to get it out of the way....

But we are painting the living room today remember? :) 

As of right now, there is no place that would be out of the way. 

So we continue to learn, on whole new levels, lessons in 

grace, patience, and strategy.

Shots in the Night.

In all honesty it was shots in the day.

But blogging tips suggest that your titles be catchy. You must reel your readers in with intriguing titles that compel them to read on...."Shots in the Night" must have worked, you are still reading. ;)

Shots did happen this week.
But "Shots Mid-Day" didn't have the same urgency to convince you to read the rest. :)

We'd been warned that hunting season was beginning Oct 1st, but it was two or three days before hunting season was to begin that we heard shot blasts echoing between buildings and trees.

Was there a poacher hiding in the woods to shot a deer feeding on our pasture?

I ignored the first one. But when the second one boomed across the fields I had to go have a look.

Not a thing to be seen.

Later in the day East neighbour came by walking her dog to do "some 'splainin'"
Coons were hanging around. Coons bring mange, rabies and are a general nuisance etc.
Her husband was going to shoot the two that were in the tree and barn, but she asked him to wait until she warned us new folks.
She was only half way to the house to phone us, she said, when "BANG!".
Never mind then.

Guess there are some things about country life that we will grow accustomed to.
And in the not-too-distant-future guns, licenses and LESSONS will be bought for this place as well.

It's quite likely that if coons don't already live somewhere on one or two of our acres and are getting shot next door they'll want to find a safer place to live!!!
And as of this gun-less moment, our property is looking pretty darn-tootin' safe!! ;)