Sea Dreamer's Dreams

Finishing the Pergola and Hanging the Drying Rack

2016-08-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Mum and Dad came up today and helped me finish up two of my ongoing projects... mounting the stringers on my pergola was the first part of our work. I previously wrote about reclaiming the 2" x 6" beams from the ceiling renovation and subsequently staining an mounting them as posts (along with two ten foot cedar beams) and building the pergola frame. A few weeks ago I took the best of the left-over lengths of fir down to my Dad and he planed them, ripped them and then rounded the edges and angled the ends off to make me a whole bunch of stringers.

10 of the stringers

Last weekend we celebrated Dad's birthday and Dad brought me the finished stringers... This past week I picked out the nine best ones and stained them. Then, with the help of some calculations made by my Dad, I used one of my handy-dandy Lee Valley purchases (a marking tool) I marked off the ends to show where the overhangs would be.

Stained and ready for marking

All marked up and someplace to go!

When my parents got here this morning we had coffee and then got right to it! We mounted the centre stringer and then using a couple of 12" pieces as spacers, we quickly laid out, drilled and screwed in the stringers - the finished product looks absolutely amazing, and with the left-over stringers I'm thinking I may mount some to the sides of the pergola to add additional privacy and support for the grapes.

How glorious is this??!!

Next project to be completed was hanging an overhead drying rack in my bathroom... My grandparents had one of these in their house and I thought it was just about the best thing ever - you could let it down in order to hang stuff over it and then haul it up out of the way while things dried... best way to dry dedicates in the winter, in my humble opinion.

Needless to say, I have wanted one for a very long time - I'd looked at various plans online, and while they have loads of prefabricated kinds that could be wall mounted, they just weren't what I really wanted. My Dad came through and built one for me!

This project was a little while in the completion... once Dad finished building it, he and my brother consulted on the pulley system. Dad went so far as to actually hook it all up in his workshop in order to ensure it worked, and then, pulleys, ropes and all, he transported it up here.

A couple of months ago I picked up some 1" x 4" oak planks. Since our spring was so wet, I ended up setting up the saw horses in the house and staining them inside.

Getting ready...

Wow. That brown is REALLY brown!

I have to admit, I was actually really nervous about staining the oak - it is such gorgeous wood and I didn't want to wreck it...

Thankfully it turned out gorgeously!

Not bad,..

Not bad at all!

Stain cured a little darker and
it is actually perfect for
the bathroom!

Once fully cured, I cut it into the lengths I needed and then I climbed up in my bathroom with my stud-finder and located the studs in the ceiling where the boards would be mounted.

I also bought double sided tape to hold the boards in place, but the tape was just not strong enough to do that job had I been trying to compete this on my own I would have run into some serious issues!

How glorious is this???

I am LOVING this drying rack!!

I'm now at the end of two major projects and once I finish my Financial Planning 2 exam, I'll start the next project... I'm just not certain exactly which one... the Murphy Door into the pantry, or the Murphy Bed/Desk...

With love across the waters...

Quiet Mornings

2016-08-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was up at 6:30 this morning - to bake a birthday cake before the August heat kicks in for the day. I laid out the ingredients last night so that I could get started right away in the cool of the early morning, and when I got up this morning I turned on the coffee and the oven and got myself started.

I hope it turns out. I haven't actually made this recipe in years and I know I really liked it before, but the batter seemed really dry to me. No milk in it, no water. Very crumbly into the pan. It looks good and smells even better now that it is out of the oven... I'll ice it later today with a light cream cheese icing and then pop it into the fridge to wait for tomorrow.

I hope it turned out!

I've also managed to get a load of laundry done and out onto the line and have another load in the washing machine... I feel like today has the earmarks of being productive, so I'm thinking out my list... I'd like to get into the front yard and clean up the flower beds a little - they are brutally overgrown and need to be cleaned up before the appraiser comes to look at the house. No, I'm not moving - just changing my mortgage to my new employer, and an appraisal needs to take place as part of the process.

The front bed needs managing in any case, and I'm determined to get out there with pruning shears and the wheelbarrow...

I think I mat need to make myself a list (you know how I love lists) of the things I think I may be able to accomplish today. Tomorrow I'll be out of town for the day and so I'll do shopping and other bits on my way home.

A list.

I love lists.

With love across the waters...

A Pergola...

2016-07-24T15:07:00.001-07:00

Is a fancy word for a grape arbour... and something I have wanted to build for a while - I just wasn't certain where, how, with what, and how big.

I have a whole mess of grapes growing on my back shed - the stump (which has been pruned back hard at least three times that I can tell) is roughly 7 inches across... and they are definitely well established. When I bought my house I cut them back hard - as a matter of fact, I actually thought I had killed them. Nope. The plant grew the first year... produced last year and is going to produce even more for me this year. But it has taken over that area and I am going to have to replace the shed at some point (sooner rather than later) and it would have to come out.

A falling-down shed with a falling-down gutter
COVERED in grapes!

Up close and personal with the grape

Initially I thought I could sink a post, build an arbour for it in the back yard and still have it attached to the shed. Since the shed has to be replaced, I decided that I can try to move it after harvest this year.

On to the plans for a pergola. Last May Mum & Dad came up for a day and helped me build my wonderful deck. It is completely free-standing so no permits were needed, and I was able to use some of the 2" x 6" lumber that was reclaimed from the house when the living room underwent its transformation (reduce, reuse, recycle, right?) as joists and frame material. The decking is cedar.

A glorious deck!

I decided that a great use for the last eight of those 2" x 6" s would be to use them to make posts for a pergola. this would require first cutting them to 8-foor lengthe and staining them. So off I went...

Four of eight cut to eight foot lengths

The other four - first side stain coat

I wish I had taken pictures of the next stage! Once I had them all stained and the stain had cured for a couple of days, i laminated them together. This involved heavy duty adhesive and clamps. They didn't have long to dry and cure in the glue stage because today my Mum & Dad came back up to help me and Dad and we mounted the posts into saddles, sank the saddle posts into holes that Dad drilled into the concrete pads (which we then also added more adhesive to) and then we cut and mounted the cedar cross pieces.

Saddle post & lag bolts - this puppy's not
going ANYWHERE

Clamped for good measure while the glue dries

Lag screws holding the cedar cross-pieces in place

Look! A Pergola Frame!

Side view of the Pergola Frame

The view from the fence in my back yard

It is officially too hot now to do anything further outside for today, but tomorrow I will go and buy caps for the post-tops to ensure that rain doesn't get into the post-tops... Once I have those installed, I will also need to stain the cedar. The next stage will involve cutting the rest of the fir (there are 12 pieces left that measure anywhere between 5' 8" and 5'1" and I will cut them all to 5' exactly.

The cross-pieces waiting for their turn

Once cut, they will all be stained and I will mount them on the top of the pergola using joist saddles. They may not look terribly gorgeous with post saddles, but they will be secure and to be honest, once the grapes have grown up and around, the joist saddles will be hardly noticable!

So that was this weekend's major efforts. I am now showered up, wearing the new maxi-dress my Mum made me and about to sit in my arm chair, put my feet up, have a cider and watch some Battlestar Galactica.

With love across the waters...

Erin Erin, trying to be an agrarian, how does your garden grow?

2016-07-17T14:02:00.000-07:00

We have gone back to our NORMAL west coast weather this year (finally!) and as a result there has been more moisture falling from the skies, more lawn mowing and much lest forest fire scare out here on the island. By this time last year I was fearful for the forests around my home and praying for rain. This year's off-again-on-again rainfall patterns have decidedly not been falling. in my favour, and as a result my outdoors projects are much slower to completion. Again, because I try to be a glass-half-full girl, I have had less watering to do and as a result of the optimal conditions, MOST of my garden has been growing REALLY well.

As at my last post in May, I'd just planted my corn, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and beans. I'm having a slow grow with the bed that the onions, carrots and Health Kick tomatoes are in. I have started feeding them all, but I think the soil that I have in that bed (which is ALL new potting soil) had very little in the way of nutrient in it and so that bed is still looking very much as it did in May. The rest of the plants, including the apple tree and grapes (which I pretty much ignore and they grow astonishingly well) and the Damson Plum tree (which has now made its official comeback - and HOW!) are HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

So, for the record, here is today's gratuitous garden gallery (like the alliteration there? tee hee)

Damson Plums - ripe and ready for the picking

Grapes will be giving a bumper crop soon too
and yes, I need to replace the shed!

Just a few of the grape bunches I will be working with

This is the bed that is not growing as I had hoped
This fall I will deep compost and plant a cover crop

Cherry tomato plants that are VERY happy

Corn - higher than the eye can see - and already
starting to show tassles!

A pretty green place!

With love across the waters...

A New Window, A Whole New Look!

2016-07-17T13:58:00.002-07:00

The front bedroom has been a dark and dreary space as long as I've had the house. One single window, up underneath the carport overhang, and no overhead lighting. the overhead lighting will be fixed with a MAJOR renovation to the bedroom side of the house - but not for a very long time as I am not planning to have anything major done to the house now for a few more years... well, except for the lottery win. When I win the lottery, all bets are off LOL.

In any case, like the kitchen, I thought the addition of another window might make a massive difference. So I called my friends at Got Gutters and they came out and gave me a quote. Done!

In May, when the weather cleared up for a while, they came out and installed the window - and thus transformed a room that was dark and dreary into a very bright space! And since it is the larger of the two bedrooms, once I had the window in, I decided a coat of primer to get rid of the yellow, and a light creamy paint tone (this colour is called Pita Bread) would make all the difference in the world.

No longer a storage space come computer room, this is now my bedroom!

Here are some "before" shots - just so you can get a feel for the yellow...

Yup. Dark and Yellow.

Notes to the contrator

The wall where the new window will go.

When I came home for lunch that day, this is where things were...

Already in!

Trim needed next

And when I got home after work we have trim!

With trim... now to paint!

And that weekend I primer coated everything

Ready, Set, Go!

Brighter already

Holy cats - what a difference!

Even the door got a coat!

And finally the paint and moving my stuff into that room!

Such a different feeling space

Light and airy - and did you notice?
More closet space!

It really is a lot bigger than it felt!

I still have multiple indoors projects - never fear - but these ones are more related to space-intelligent design for a small house. Planning and posts around those will follow soon, I promise. For now, I leave you with much...

With love across the waters...

Get your mind into the Gutters

2016-07-17T13:39:00.002-07:00

Ehehe. It has been a long time since that came to mind as a title for this particular post.

In March I had quotes to have a new window installed into the front bedroom and a second quote to have the the gutters replaced all around my house. Good home maintenance includes cleaning gutters - but if you are like me (and as I got older I became more concerned about the distances between me and the ground) the concept of climbing a rickety ladder to clean out gutters is an easy thing to think about but a difficult thing to actually DO...

In my efforts to ensure my house is maintained properly, I look for ways to make maintenance efforts light and impact heavy. Clean-free gutters scores a HUGE gold star for this. Essentially they are gutters with built in screening to make cleaning a thing of the past - yes, even out here on the green coast!

Old gutters pulled off - yuk - the crud that had built up in them was actually GROWING stuff!

Ugh - look at the crud in there!

Ugly old brown gutters!

New gutters installed - this was the super cool part - the truck has this machine in it that actually molds out the new gutter AND the built in screen all in one go! The basically just walk it out as long as it needs to be - meaning that the gutters along the length of the house are all one continuous piece (think no seams and therefore no leaks!) and they cut in drain spouts where needed!

The new gutters are black (and look REALLY sharp) and have a low profile to the house - so they blend right in!

Excellent clean profile to the house... but I can see
I will next have to have all of the soffits replaced!

Clean line along the side of the house

Oh - and this one actually has a
cleaning trap in it!

With love across the waters...

Springtime Catch-up

2016-05-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Spring is here in full force - flowers are blooming, fruit and vegetables are growing, home renovations will be starting again...

With the start of spring, I also came across a new opportunity for work - and decided that it really was time for a change. The change in employers (yes, I left my last employer after 25 years) has me working a whole 2 blocks from home. I walk to work. I walk home at lunch. My total commute is about 3 minutes - and that is if I stop to smell the actual flowers on the way. With this change I have regained 10 hours a week.

10 hours!

The work week is two and a half hours shorter, but the biggest change is that I am not in my car for an hour and a half each day. I get up a little later - yes - but I am still out walking my dog in the early morning hours. I feel more rested and less stressed. There is the "stress" of learning - oh, and there is some stress in that, for the first time in 25 years I am actually on "probation" for three months and there is the risk that I don't make it through - but the feed-back thus far has been really positive.

Spring has hit in full force, though, and this weekend I finally got to the serious gardening that I needed to complete. I dug out the other two vegetable beds (pernicious weed removal) and ground layered some heavy-duty landscape cloth. It is woven cloth covered in plastic and I sure hope that it finally stops the nasty weed that I have been battling for the last few years!

Once dug out, weed-barriered, and then back filled with cleared soil and potting mix, in went the vegetables. Last weekend I planted the Principe Borghese (cherry) tomatoes - four plants this year - into the same bed I had the two plants in last year. I generally harvest and dehydrate these ones as they store brilliantly and a handful or two makes a wonderful addition to my soups, stews, rice dishes and so on. Slightly reconstituted, they make wonderful pesto sauce.

I also potted some Genovese Basil - admittedly, it may be too early to have it out, but I also have some seed that I can start in the house and grow in my garden window in the kitchen.

This weekend was the lion's share of planting efforts. Two kinds of lettuce.

Pole Beans:

Health Kick tomatoes, Red Onions and Purple Haze Carrots (This will be the colour-filled harvest bed)

And two kinds of corn:

I have also put up some pet-deterrent screening to ensure there is no jaunting through the beds (or digging in them) until everything is well established.

I also have two kinds of squashes planted in the little bed out front.

All in all, a very productive day.

Tomorrow will also need to be a productive day I will need to get the car in for emergency brake repairs, call repair people about my vacuum (something has disconnected somewhere and while the hose has suction, the chassis does not,) call other repair people about my awning (the metal loop that the pole connects to and then turns to open and close the awning has broken off and I need to get that dealt with ASAP,) Do the requisite laundry and weekly cleaning, and also clean out the front bedroom in advance of the next stage of renovations - the new window.

Yes, more renovations are on my table for this summer - but nothing as big as last year's job! Additional window installation into the front bedroom (for more natural light) and then a full painting refresh in here.

Other summer projects include finishing the pantry shelving and then tricking it all out (paint and flooring) and MAYBE building a Murphy bed with a floating desk for the front bedroom. Or it may go into the bedroom I'm currently using and I may move myself into the front bedroom - something I will have to decide after the room has the new window and been painted. It has more closet space, and I think it is also bigger. I'm still on the fence about that, though.

With love across the waters...

Winter Projects

2016-01-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that, come late autumn, my project execution momentum slows way down. I have good reason - most of my projects require space, warmth, light and dryness... no easy task when outside in Cumberland BC in the winter.

I do have some project work I can complete - I acquired additional shelving brackets a month or so ago - and so could finish out the pantry... I also had a couple of truck loads of wood delivered before Christmas - but I ended up with a cold virus - and then a second one - and so have been coughing since late December and significantly weaker all month - meaning I tire out MUCH more easily, and therefore the biggest weekend project I have managed this month was laundry and house cleaning. Today, feeling a little heartier, I took Jasmine for a good walk in the forest and then moved some of the wood I split into a proper stack.

Long way to go to "normal" but getting there.

This past weekend we celebrated my brother's birthday... and while preparing for the gathering and speaking with my Dad, he told me about this new product he'd got his hands on - something called Kramer's Best Antique Improver - and I have to admit, it sounded pretty neat!

Dad was willing to let me buy what he had left so he could get a bigger bottle (and I can see that I am going to need WAY more, and soon!) and so last night after dinner I thought I might try it out on one of my little half-moon tables - just to see how it works...

Man! This stuff WORKS!

Before - and yes, it had been dusted...

kind of gross, but I wanted to show the rag

And this is the OTHER side of the rag!

After the first treatment - I'll do a second treatment on it
either tonight or tomorrow night - just so I
can see how it turns out

So... what I took away from this is that for the next treatment, I'll start (gently) with a superfine steel wool - that will help agitate and lift the crud. Then I will wipe down with the rag. I suspect it will still bring up a LOT of crud - but as you can see, the white damage spots are gone, as are some of the scratches.

Sadly, there are only two distributors in Canada for this miracle restorer - the one we got our supply from, and another one on the mainland... and apparently it is pretty expensive to bring in... so I will be stocking up in the next couple of months (just in case they stop bringing it in) because I can see just how valuable this will be!!

With love across the waters...

Pantry Project the (not quite) Final Chapter

2015-11-22T18:15:00.001-08:00

Following the installation of the insulation and vapour barrier, the pantry required some sort of actual wall covering. This first required that I do a little bit of investigation into actual wall coverings possible for the space.

Drywall was totally out. It would be heavy and cumbersome and require more professional installation than I am capable of. Plus there's that whole mud and sanding thing and no WAY am I going through that in such a small space.

I spoke with my Dad and then I also spoke with the guys at Slegg Lumber over in Cumberland and what I ended up landing on was a very thin wall board material that would be somewhat durable and easily painted over, should the need arise.

FYI - once the room is totally finished, including corner bead and seams, it WILL be painted before I put in the flooring. That will be a stay-cation project for some time in 2016. Colour not yet determined, but will need to be very light to ensure the space stays bright.

Anyhow, the hardest part of this stage was the measurements and cutting - and God bless my Daddy for his patience here because the room has some weird angles and no actual square walls!

I didn't take any during pictured because the stuff went up really fast (once the cutting was done) but I got a couple of after pictures for reference.

Look at all that shelf space available!

And here too - so much SPACE!!!

Once this was done and installed I needed to look into actual shelving options. I again sought advice from my Dad and we spent some time looking on Lee Valley' website for ideas and information, I settled on a couple of options. For the wall behind the freezer I elected to go with a single shelving unit (and in retrospect, I can get another set of brackets and put another set above the freezer) and for the regular walls - those seen in the second picture, I elected to install some heavy duty lumber shelving straps and brackets.

Yesterday I bought lag screws and washers and went to work. Hm. I also needed a drill bit large enough to drill pilot holes... so the wall straps and full shelving didn't go up until today, but I was able to install the shelf over the freezer.

Definitely more space for another shelf here

Today I went and bought the needed drill bit. After a nice (but cold) walk with Jasmine, I got to work on putting up the straps, brackets and shelves. I could really put in a couple more shelves (I bought a third strap and 4 more shelf brackets, thinking I would need more bracing, but the wall space really didn't need the extra support. No matter - I will just need to purchase 2 final straps and more shelf brackets for the wall directly opposite the entry door.

I then went to work, moving all of my canning out onto the shelves and voilà - a pantry is born!

Old Mother Hubbard indeed!

As I said, no more major projects until 2016. I will finish out the shelving for the pantry, maybe even before the end of this year, but for now, I am VERY pleased with the (not quite) completion of the project!

With love across the waters...

Pantry Project: Part 2

2015-10-01T21:08:00.001-07:00

So today marked another full day of working on the pantry project - today's efforts included cutting and installing the studs (my brother cut the toe board for me yesterday) and the installation of the insulation and the vapour barrier.

Things I learned today:

1) Construction is physically demanding work - perhaps even more so than demolition.

2) Measure once, cut twice is NOT how the saying goes.

3) Trying to hammer in nails sideways in between 16" studs where there isn't REALLY 16" to work with is difficult.

4) Trying to hammer in nails when you have shoulder issues (bursitis?) is not only difficult, it is painful and can cause significant numbness.

5) Using a drill and screwing the joists together is MUCH easier

6) Insulation is easy to cut and easy to place in the wall cavities.

7) Vapour Barrier (plastic sheeting) is NOT easy to install. It is slippery, it moves around when you are trying to do stuff with it.

All in all, today was another successful day – but I have to admit, my shoulders are sore enough that I have booked myself a massage for tomorrow morning – before I go hunting for whatever it is I am going to install as wall and ceiling material.

Here are some pictures of today’s efforts:

Getting started

First things first

Studs all in

A little improvisation at the end

Holy smokes, this stuff sure puffs up

Not perfect, but great for the first try!

Fully insulated space now!

Next up? some sort of wall covering - not drywall. Options must be explored!

With love across the waters…

Pantry Project Part 1

2015-09-28T16:42:00.003-07:00

I am on vacation now until October 7^th (back to work day) and decided that this vacation’s major efforts would be around getting my pantry tricked out and finished. This is not without its own special set of concerns. The pantry was (when I moved in) a closed off “porch” with a glass door that was somewhat less than secure. White vinyl siding on all four sides AND along the slope of the ceiling and a small sheet of vinyl flooring (long gone) to finish out the space and make it look pretty… well, how about pretty-ish?

Anyhow, the space became a catch all for junk and a storage space for tools, recycling and so forth… Lead up to this past spring. I knew that I wanted to convert it into a good old old-fashioned pantry/cold storage room, but before that could happen the door would need to be filled in and the outside wall sided in order to make certain it was an actual room – and one that could be insulated and somehow sided.

Before the kitchen windows were replaced I removed the glass door (and sent it to the dump) and Mum and Dad came up in the spring to help me fill the doorway in, and to put real cedar siding in place.

For a reference point, today is Monday… Saturday I emptied out the room and took some before shots.

Yesterday I got started on pulling off the vinyl siding. I watched a YouTube video – which was somewhat useful in showing me what, in a perfect world, pulling off vinyl siding would be like. In my world it was dirty, coal-dusty, spider-web filled and time consuming. The good news is that I did not injure myself anywhere! How cool is that!

The first panels I pulled off were around the small door-space that Dad and I had built and insulated. Ok, really, my Dad did most of the work and I was more like a helper (thank you Daddy!) but anyhow, this is what the first space looked like. Not bad!

Wait… the next wall I tackled was the one up against the kitchen – an inside wall. I started to pull off the siding… and what?

Wait, what??

OK – so what I found was vinyl siding on top of asphalt siding. I called my Mum and between us we determined it would be OK for me to remove the asphalt siding – it wouldn’t send any airborne catastrophes into my home.

Cool.

So then I pull off THAT layer to find a layer of tar paper. Hm. I’m having flashbacks to wall paper now. Under the tar paper is the ORIGINAL siding… but what? What was this?

I’m still not certain if it is live – there is some sort of tester thing that could be used but my contacts at Slegg tell me that those thingies are really expensive… I took a picture and emailed it to them and they think it may be old telephone cable, but are really not certain. The thing is that it comes up out of my crawl space and goes through a little hole in the wall into… space BEHIND a kitchen cupboard. And, unless I want to pull out that cupboard, I’m not going to know where it goes. I’m not prepared to gut and refinish my kitchen at this point.

So… on with the siding removal. I got the vinyl off all walls and, in the process, had to flip the breaker, pull off and unscrew the light fixture in there and then put it back onto the boards… and I found another thing that is perhaps not quite to code. Can any of you tell me what is wrong with THIS picture?

I bought murettes today and will be replacing that monstrosity of incompetence with an up to code status in the next couple of hours.

Oh – and then there is this:

Yes, there is a wall, with actual plywood (not particle board, which I think is useless) but the studs are sideways. When I looked, I see that the reason they are sitting sideways is that they are actually sitting on a footer that is, instead of being a 2x4, it looks more like 2x2… so the reality here is that I will need to build a wall inside this wall in order to ensure it is actually offering enough (and the right kind of) support to the roof line. Oh – but something else to be aware of is that that “wall” doesn’t actually touch the house – nope, it sits roughly 2 inches out from the house, You can see light. You can see vinyl siding. It’s all very interesting.

At this point I actually COULD cut through and install a window (or a port-hole?) because I’m going to have to rebuild the wall properly anyhow, but I’m going to have to really think that through. I have a week.

That was where I left things last night.

Today I had a doctor’s appointment and some running around to get done, so all I wanted to really accomplish today was getting the rest of the crud off the final wall. I have managed to get that done and since it is almost 4PM now, I’m thinking I will call it a day for the most part.

Now let me tell you about today’s interesting finds.

Today, while I was pulling nails from the wall where the light is I also pulled one of the original nails in the house – it had popped and wasn’t flush and with some effort (like some of the other nails) came out – I was quite surprised when I examined it. It is rectangular, not round. It isn’t pointed – I don’t know if that is because they couldn’t put a point on nails way back when, or if maybe the point rusted out, but I suspect the former – which means that whomever was hammering in those puppies had a HELL of a job!

The other thing I found was some crumpled up news-paper that was used to block a draft - October 23, 1954, Vancouver Sun: A couple of the adverts I saw: 50 pound bags of potatoes were $2.19 and 20 pound boxes of McIntosh apples were $1.29. There are also some real estate ads – 4 bedroom home, full Pembroke plumbing (I don’t know what that is) an automatic oil furnace, hardwood flooring though out and an attached garage: $1,000 down, total purchase price $6,300. That was in Whalley. For reference, the AVERAGE price of a detached home in Whalley BC today is almost $400,000.

Ok – I need to think about dinner and how I am going to proceed now than I know what my project needs next…

With love across the waters…

Deck Day!

2015-08-15T21:54:00.001-07:00

Today was an excellent day - my parents came up to visit me, and to help me build a new deck off the back of my house. For some reference, here are a couple of “before” shots from a couple of years ago – when I first bought the house:

Post carpet removal. Pre Power Washing to remove
the red paint. Pre window and new back door.

The new window and door in place.

There was indoor/outdoor carpet on the brownish-red painted concrete pad. A couple of steps to the ground and that was really it… I removed the carpet. I power-washed off the brownish-red paint.

Today, my parents helped me build a small (8’ by 8’) cedar deck. The materials were pretty simple, to be honest. I reclaimed all of the 2”x6” joists that were originally in the living room (well OK, the contractors reclaimed them for me) and in advance of today’s efforts, I bought some concrete pier-post blocks (and was also given some by an old pal from high school – thanks Frank!) and some galvanized finishing nails.

When my parents arrived, Dad and I moved some of the blocks around in order to facilitate building the initial box and then adding the inner beams to be the actual joists for the deck. This deck is “floating” – what I mean by that is that it is essentially a platform that is not attached to the house in any way.

Initial framing done

Look at the glory of this frame!

Pier blocks all in place, frame securely held.
This baby is not going ANYWHERE!

Once we had the platform constructed and in place, Dad and I went over to Slegg Lumber and picked up the 2”x6” cedar planks that would become the deck itself. We all went into Courtenay to have a yummy lunch at the Atlas Café. After lunch, we placed pieces of tar paper under the beams but on top of the joists to help make the fir last a little longer) and then the cedar the planks were laid in place (and then nailed in) and then Dad routered the plank ends to ensure they wouldn’t fray off or catch an unsuspecting person (ok, it is me – I walk into things and this prevents me from getting cedar slivers in my legs) as they walk past.

Tar papered joists, spacing out and nailing the
cedar planks in place.

When all was said and done, we put my little bistro table and chairs in place and sat and had a cold cider and rest on my new deck.

Isn't it pretty?

I still have work to do on it. I need to go through and nail down into all of the joists – we tacked each plank on and after Mum & Dad went home, I went around the outside edges and put in the second nails in all of the ends – but there should be 2 nails in each beam at each joist – and so I will still have a fair amount of nailing ahead of me. In addition, I will need to give it a very light sanding (just to smooth out any rough patches) and then stain it in order to keep the wood protected. In addition, I will need to pick up some pot feet so that I can put my herb planters onto the deck and ensure that I don’t; cause the beams underneath to rot out.

After I had some dinner, I started canning. I had enough ripe tomatoes to do another 8 jars of tomato sauce – to which I added a couple of jalapeno peppers to give it a little bite. Mum brought a bag of peppers up for me (and some gloves to handle them with) for pickling and cooking with. I also got the kitchen ready for tomorrow’s canning exercises – the peaches I ordered (4 cases of them!) arrived yesterday and I need to spend the day tomorrow prepping things and then canning. I am SO glad I picked up the pressure canner last weekend – it allows me to do 16 pint jars at a time (instead of the 8 that the water-bath canner allows) and this should help me get through those cases of peaches in record time.

Before I can really get going on the canning, though, I need to go into town and pick up a few supplies. Honey… and some spices… I’m going to try making a batch of spiced peaches as well!

With love across the waters…

Hot Hot Hot!

2015-08-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

I wrote this on July 19th but forgot to hit post...

Summer here on Vancouver Island is usually warm. We normally have a week or two of (what I feel to be) super-duper hot temperatures followed by a few days of cool and rain. 2015 has given us another summer with a long dry hot spell… Last summer we had an entire month with no rain – this year we were almost up to two months by the time the high pressure system finally broke and we got a little bit of rain… and though we have now, finally, had some rain, things still are pretty dicey – people have actually prepared “go bags” so that if they have to evacuate their homes due to imminent risk of forest fire, they can grab their bag and, well, go. We have had two major forest fires as well as a number of smaller ones on the island this year – all of which can be attributed to humans.

Today I took advantage of a cooler morning and mowed my back yard. First time in two weeks, and though it hasn’t been watered at all this summer, it is still pretty lush and green. I seeded most of it with drought resistant seed and that has paid off in some nice green grass, even without the watering! I have been watering my veggies, though, and also some flower pots out front.

Today has been spent in some industry. Once the lawn was mowed, I hung out some laundry on the line and then proceeded to dig out my garlic bed. I stopped watering it about three weeks ago with the intention of digging it out last weekend – last weekend we got rain – lots and lots of rain – and so the garlic stayed in until this morning. All dug out, it is now hanging in my shed and starting its curing process. Once cured, I’ll cut off the tops and then store the bulbs until time to use them. Once the sun is down a little (and there is some shade in my back yard) I will get back out there and pull out the snow peas and then turn the soil in both of those beds. The bed that has the snow peas in it will be the home for next year’s garlic planting and the bed that had this year’s garlic will be the home for next year’s tomato plants… that bed, therefore, will be planted with fall rye so that I can give the soil a really good head start on adding nutrients.

My tomato plants are looking like they will be producing another bumper crop this year – I finally picked my first three cherry tomatoes this morning (I’ll toss them in with some pasta sauce) and the Health Kick are going to be starting to ripen soon as well. Having now pulled the last of the lettuce, I now have the space to get into the tomato bed and I can do some more reinforcement stake work. They will need it!

I also dug out all of my onions (that was a disappointing crop!) and they are also curing in the sun right now. The Multiplier Onions did well (and I will do them again) but the Walla Walla that I seeded gave a pretty poor crop – I will try again next year, but think I may need to do more research into soil amendments and growing conditions!

I am in the process of completing my fist canning of the year right now. The water bath canner is on the stove heating up and what I will be doing is some fresh rhubarb mixed with the last of last year’s frozen apple pieces and a small bag of last year’s left-over blueberries that I also located in the freezer. A little bit of sugar to round out the bite of the rhubarb and the fruit compote is in a pot waiting for the jars to sterilize. It is a little warm to be canning, but the fruit is there and ready, and I need to use it or lose it! I am shocked by this, but my rhubarb plant is still glorious and live – hasn’t gone to seed – and therefore the fruit on it is still viable for saving. The rest will go onto cookie sheet batches and into the freezer for fall pies and crisps. I LOVE rhubarb crisp, but more so in fall than spring!

I am thinking that, if my bean plants cooperate, I may try my hand at making dill pickled green beans – once my bean plants start to produce for me. The Scarlet Runner has blossoms now – and even a few little tiny beans have started to grow. The Italian heritage is still not flowering, but I understand that it may still be some time before I see any produce on that one.

With love across the waters…

Storage, Organization, Raspberries, and the Front Door

2015-06-22T12:21:00.001-07:00

Just ahead of a planned vacation day that allowed me to have a long weekend I got the flu. Yup. Long weekend be damned. This one was a funny one – well, as funny as the flu gets. Tuesday when I arrived at work I felt a pinch in my throat that, before the end of the day had developed into a full blown nasty sore throat... Wednesday I muscled my way into the office because I was supposed to have my quarterly review – nope. My boss decided to forego my review and home I went less than an hour later.

Wednesday and Thursday were both filled with seriously ugly fever and chills, aches and pains all over, and the requisite stuffed up sinus cavities. Medications were obtained and taken – that made getting at least a little bit of sleep Thursday night. When Friday rolled around I was still in the depths of flu misery. Today is Monday and I’ve taken one final sick day (I have to go back tomorrow) and aside from feeling stupidly weak and having wicked post nasal drip that has me coughing like a barking dog, I’m pretty much on the mend. I did go into town again this morning to pick up some antihistamines that will help clear up the post nasal drip (and hold the coughing in check) but honestly, it is a flu virus – the only thing that will really help it heal is time and rest. I know that, and all I’m really doing now is treating the symptoms.

So since I am in rest-mode today I thought I would chronicle a few of my recent adventures in my house – I have had the pictures in place for a while, just not taken the time to document what has been done of late.

First, the new storage. You may recall that the major living room renovation was completed in such a way that there was a new (and exciting) storage space made open to me – over the laundry part of the bathroom. Last weekend – or rather the pre-flu weekend, I opened it up to see how big it was, and to start putting stuff up there. It is a HUGE space!

Hatch removed...

If you look really carefully, you can see one of the original
wall-paper samples, still in place!

My little 6’ step ladder is REALLY rickety, so this highlighted to me that I need to obtain a new and much sturdier step ladder.

The organization part of today’s post is actually in reference to finally constructing the shelving/storage in the bathroom right beside the washer/drier. This was a really neat project for me (though not yet 100% complete) because I needed to think outside of my normal linear pattern. I needed to construct the whole thing in such a way that it could be completely taken apart and moved out of place in order to allow for access to behind the washer/drier AND so that if the washer/drier needed to be pulled out, it could be – but without too much effort.

The support was made in two pieces, using some 1”x4” scraps that were left over from the living room project, and a 2”x4” that had been salvaged from the false ceiling in the living room (the 2”x6” beams will be used later this summer to build a very small deck in my back yard) - it was FILTHY with dust and dirt, so first I sanded it down a little and then I wiped it off. I haven’t decided if I will be painting or staining it, so for now, it is “raw” wood in place.

The first piece ready to put in

First and second pieces in place

Making sure it is tall enough!

Once the base was made and screwed into place, I made the top out of cedar – I love the smell of cedar and it is a wood that, even untreated, works well in a bathroom. It is a soft wood, so will scar over time and therefore need to be pulled out and re-sanded, but in any case, it is a great wood to use for shelving.

First phase complete.
Still needs some trim!

Plus cedar oil smells amazing.

Base made, I decided it also needed a small “shelf” on top as well, to hold bottles of laundry detergent and fabric softener – and the shelf is made just like the base – to be taken apart if needed.

Building the concept... and the drill battery
ran out of charge.

Concept built

Make certain it is level BEFORE screwing into place!

Ta-da!

I’m quite pleased with the finished product – which is tall enough that I can roll my laundry cart underneath it, and I can also put a small door on it, if need be, to “hide” the laundry cart.

As of yesterday, spring is finished and we have now started summer. Late spring brought my raspberry canes to fruit, and I picked my very first small bowl of raspberries one night after work. Two nights later I picked another, larger, bowl – and then two nights after that (last night) I picked another bowl. Seems like I will get a bowl full every other day now – which is a Very Happy Thing, if you ask me!

Small bowl

Two Days Later!

Finally, yesterday I tackled staining my front door. This was a slow putter project that I could stop and start when tired, without trouble. The door does need another coat of stain – to even it all out – but in all honesty, it looks pretty darn good to me! This would most definitely have been easier if I had actually taken the door off of its hinges before I started, but I didn’t think about that possibility until I had finished the first side. When I get around to putting on the second coat, I’ll definitely take it off its hinges!

All right… it is time to take my medicine.

With love across the waters…

In the Home Stretch

2015-06-06T20:40:00.003-07:00

I had fabulous weather for my two weeks' of vacation – one small patch of cloudiness on one day – otherwise, sunny and warm for my entire two weeks off. This made my week at the cabin a glorious one, and made the renovation project a little easier on my contractors.

When I took possession of the house nearly 4 years ago, this is what the living room looked like:

The only pictures I have of it at that time were the ones taken by the real estate agents for advertising purposes… that’s why they are so teeny tiny.

Anyhow, then in October of 2011 I had an orgy of wallpaper removal and it ended up looking like this.

Next up was changing up the paint – HAD to get rid of that harvest gold – I went to white ceilings and pale creamy yellow on the walls – WAY brighter.

Then came the carpet removal.

So until 3 weeks ago, it looked like this:

Wait... I should clarify that these last pictures were taken after all of the stuff had been moved out of the space!

The whole project was prompted by the need to replace the old windows (4 long panes, none of them open) with something that opens. Sadly, previous changes to the house’s structure weakened the long wall to the point where it was bowing out because of the weight of the roof. I guess initially there was a supporting wall in the middle of the room – and in order to make it into a larger space, they just pulled out the wall – but didn’t make any remedial changes to the roof-line support – and long term this weakened the integrity of the wall. Scary stuff!

I had two choices – one was a Band-Aid solution where a small supporting wall would be put in place and the new window would just be put in. The long term solution was to gut the space and basically rebuild it from the walls out. I elected to go with the long term solution – I wanted to go back up to the original 10’ high ceilings anyhow, this just moved my timeline ahead – A LOT.

I left on Sunday of my first week of vacation and while I was gone, the team from Got Gutters? (who started on my house almost 2 years ago with the first set of windows to be replaced) totally gutted the space.

There weren’t any really nasty surprises, but a couple of unanticipated things that they came across. An old fixture and some “dead line” knob and tube wiring still in place – not a total surprise to me as when the bathroom was being done they uncovered some there as well. The other interesting (and kind of gross) thing they came across was coal dust. Lots and lots and lots of coal dust. They tell me it was everywhere and really nasty.

Makes me REALLY grateful that I don’t heat with coal!

Space gutted, they built in the new wall, muscled it into place and then ripped off the old wall – this picture was sent to me by my contractor’s wife on the Wednesday:

A couple of days later, wall built, wiring in place, window installed, insulation and vapour barrier in place, the dry wall team got started. When I came home on Monday they were here doing sanding and then another coat of mud was applied:

The whole week saw the completion of things. Sanding done, the contractor team came back and put all of the siding back on outside. While that was happening, the other members of the team primer coated and painted the walls and ceiling – and I went with the colours I had before – white on the ceiling and a pale cream on the walls. The windows were trimmed out, and then baseboards installed.

Though there was still some minor work to be done, when Saturday morning rolled around, the carpet was ready to be installed. For this part of the project I enlisted the services of End of the Roll here in Courtenay. The living room was completely carpeted on Saturday. While he was installing the carpet, Jasmine and I were out working on things in the back yard – the siding needed to be pulled back out of the shed (the rest of the pantry siding was planned for installation on Sunday) and the grass needed to be cut – which was quite a go as I hadn’t mowed in 2 weeks! Once the grass has been cut, clean laundry went up on the line.

After the carpet installer was done for the day, I started moving things back into the living room, and then on Sunday, with LOADS of help from my parents, we moved the rest of the furniture out of the bedrooms so that he could finish the carpet installation.

While he was working on the bedroom carpeting installation, Dad and I finished installing the siding on the new wall which encloses my new pantry.

All in all this was a VERY busy and productive couple of weeks – a lot has been accomplished in the house – enough to make me want to NOT do anything else to the house for a while – something that both Jasmine and Missy will be VERY grateful for! Though Missy seems to be just rolling with the changes, Jasmine has been very out of sorts this past couple of weeks. Poor thing will be glad to get back into a routine!

This past week I spent a little time every evening after work moving things around, putting things away and wiping coal and drywall dust off of things. I have the furniture mostly in place, I now have most of my pictures and hangings back on the walls. Yes, there is still stuff to put out and organize, but I'm thrilled with the final results!

With love across the waters…

Vacation…. And some more Renovations!

2015-05-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

Vacation officially started three days ago, but I’m a little slow off the mark getting this blog post out – when I tell you why, though, I am sure you will forgive the delay.

The last really significant time (I mean more than a long weekend) I had off work was in November of last year – which is really a little too long for me to go without a break. I get crabby and tired and have a lot of trouble focussing on the task at hand – because all I can think about is how much I need a break and how much I want to do stuff for me, at home!

I’m not terribly different from anyone else in this, I’m sure.

Anyhow, this particular vacation will be a dilly for me! I have two weeks off now - a week and a bit at the cabin (where I am right now) and then a little less than a week at home. Typically I try to work it so that I am at the cabin for the beginning of my time off so that I can catch the cat well in time to get home - and so that if I don’t catch her right away, I can come back in order to secure her and get her home before I have to go back to work! This strategy was put into place a couple of decades ago, and due to experience!

Anyhow, this vacation has all the earmarks of being a great one. My planned week (and a bit) at the cabin is promising glorious weather (for which I am grateful) and while I am here, relaxing and taking my ease, my living room is being gutted.

Ok – so to back things up – the windows project was left ever so slightly unfinished because the long wall, where the biggest of the windows was being replaced, was starting to bow out. Yes, the wall wasn’t strong enough and the weight of the roof was bowing it out. Instead of just putting the window into a wall that would eventually bow enough to crack it (and lets not discuss the safety issue of the weight of the roof on a wall that was starting to bow) I opted to put a hold on the final window until the wall could be dealt with.

I got quotes for two options: First, reinforce what is there; Second, gut the whole space (right out to the original 10-foot-high ceiling), build a wall inside the outside wall (which means some more wall plugs AND insulation!) and have the space all re-finished. Though the second was three times the first, that’s the one I went with – because it is a long term solution, and one that will take a few things off of my goals list.

Since I was having the room gutted and completely changed, I also elected to just have the carpeting done – better to have ALL of it done in one go - so when I get home, though it won’t be fully complete, by the time this vacation is over, my house will be looking almost brand new on the inside!

The prep work for this project meant getting everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) out of my living room. To help me with that, my parents gave up a day and came up to help me. In addition to the movement of furniture, though, they also helped me to fulfill another dream for the house – the beginning of the pantry project! Yes! The doorway has now been completely filled in, insulated, and vapour-barriered!

Work area

First a base was nailed into place
Then we framed up the door filler
THEN we used a sledge hammer to install it!
Dad nailing it into place

Plywood on, Tar paper going up!

Look at that - insulation and everything!

Done for now - the rest of the siding will
Go up in a couple of weeks

We actually completed that part first and then filled the new little room to the gunnels with stuff from the living room.

BOOM - vacation bomb has exploded!

Living room nearly empty. Jasmine is unhappy.

Last before pictures!

On the way out the door!

So while I am here, my house will be filled with noise, dust and production… and HOPEFULLY when I get home, I’ll be arriving to painting (and only painting – God, I sure hope the drywall sanding is done by then!!!) In any case, I’m finishing out my first 24 hours of the year at the cabin. I had a great day today with some of my family (I got play time and cuddles with my niece and nephew) and I have my first sunburn of the year.

With love across the waters…

Seed Sprouting

2015-05-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today is the first Saturday in March 2015 – daylight savings time kicks in this weekend and I am looking forward to a sunshine-filled weekend!

Yesterday my latest purchase from Lee Valley Tools arrived – sprouting boxes for seedlings, the size of which will fit beautifully into my kitchen window. I spent a little time last night getting them all put together and later this morning (after the guys came to investigate and discuss the work that will be needed to deal with the challenge that the last window to be installed presented – more on that in another blog post to follow) I went and purchased a couple of bags of sea soil (to amend my vegetable beds) and a bag of potting soil to get my spring veggies started indoors.

They are made of some sort Styrofoam and weren’t difficult to put together – pretty interesting construction, to be honest!

The idea is that instead of having to worry about direct watering while the seeds are getting going, under the soil plugs there is a water leaching mat that will draw water up from a reservoir base. There are even little gauges with which to measure how much water is in the base! Clear plastic caps cover and heat the apparatus like a greenhouse would.

With the new Garden Window in the kitchen, my plan is to get things started indoors now and then, in late April when all possible frost is done, to move everything outside into the raised beds.

So… now I have to figure out what I want to plant!!

With love across the waters…

Fromage Blanc

2015-04-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

OK – so you may be asking yourself “what the heck is Fromage Blanc??”

It is cheese – a soft and simple to make white cheese that is akin to a very mild cream cheese. I should take a step backwards and tell you where this is coming from…

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a cheese making course – over the space of four or so hours we learned how to make three different kinds of cheese, in practical terms, we actually MADE two kinds (Asiago and Gruyere) and had a meal that was, well, DAMN wonderful!

Not really knowing what to expect, I arrived to find that I wasn’t the first to arrive (I usually am – I’m a total keener) and the cheese lady (Paula - the cheese lady from Gabriola Island) was there and two of the other attendees had beat me to the house. The milk was already in pots on the stove, the kitchen table was BEAUTIFULLY decorated and there were information sheets, small envelopes holding mysterious packets and tablets, and little tiny plastic bottles at each place setting.

Paula started us off with some history of where and how cheese came to be and then also provided us with some of her background and history in making cheese as well as some of the other things she grows, makes and does. She is a VERY interesting person and if you are looking to take a class for some sort of personal development, I HIGHLY recommend looking into her cheese making courses! I will be doing a little research up my way to see if I can’t put together a group of interested persons for a class!

In any case, the process itself AND the ingredients are basically the same no matter what kind of cheese you are going to make – the differences lie in temperature and time. I am really quite fascinated by the chemistry of it all but will have to research more on that later.

Lunch was a gastronomic delight of salad (and OMFG the salad dressing was to DIE for) cheeses, crackers, smoked salmon and a salami, and, of course, some wine.

Once lunch was over, we got back to it, and before we knew it, the course was done, clean-up was complete and we were all on our way home…

This week I ordered some stuff from Lee Valley Tools (you KNOW how much I love their stuff) and when it comes in I will make up some hard cheese (not certain which kind – maybe Asiago? I LOVE Asiago and use it on or in a lot of my cooking) but this weekend I wanted to make something – so tried my hand at a Fromage Blanc.

The process was really simple – heat the milk, sprinkle some dried culture on it & let it hydrate for a few minutes, stir it in and then just, well, leave it alone for twelve hours. Once it had been left alone I scooped it into a colander lined with cheese wrap (this sheet of plastic stuff with perforations in it) and let it drain overnight.

Let it drain.

Heating the milk

A little bit of culture

How it looked at midnight last night - ready to drain

Colander in a bowl with cheese wrap

Curds... and whey!

Holy crap - that's a LOT of curds and whey!

I am just going to explore this for a moment – when you make cheese the by-product you are left with is whey – sort of a yellowish liquid – roughly 2/3 of a gallon of it when a full gallon of milk is used to make cheese. Whey powder is something that can be used in protein shakes – and so whey – true whey – can also be used to make protein shakes. It can be used to augment compost heaps, amend soil for tomato plants and blueberry bushes (more research to be done there), and also added to pet food to encourage finicky eaters. I did a little research today and learned that among other things, it also could be used instead of milk or water when baking.

Cool! Hold that thought.

This morning I got up and, lo and behold, it was well drained! I stirred it around (you are supposed to turn it completely, but on no coffee and still in my robe, stirring is what I was capable of ha ha ha) and then tied the cheese wrap up and hung it from one of my cupboard doorknobs. Note to self – when I replace the cupboards I MUST be certain that I install strong and durable knobs or handles so that I can still hang stuff from them.

Wow - there was a LOT of whey in there!

Some whey

Bagged, hung and draining

Just some of the whey

Look - actual cheese!

Scooping it into containers to freeze

Turns out that Tree Island Gourmet Yoghurt containers
are PERFECT to reuse for cheese!

While the cheese was draining, I made up a batch of seedy bread that will be cooled, sliced thinly and then dehydrated to make artisan crackers. Go me! Oh – by this time I had had some coffee and was dressed. Just thought I would clear that up. Fresh from my research into uses for whey (are you still holding the thought from above?) I decided to take a risk on a totally new recipe, and substitute whey for the milk.

The batter looked good but was REALLY runny – it reminded me of a couple of other recipes I have – a chocolate cake, and gingerbread – both of which are really runny but bake into the most moist and delicious cakes possible. An hour later, my house smelling amazing, I pulled the loaves out of the oven and set them to cool.

Now TECHNICALLY I baked them so that I could then dehydrate them and have amazing home-made artisan crackers. So here’s the thing. They smelled SO FREAKING DELICIOUS that I HAD to slice off a heel and have it with some of my home made Fromage Blanc on it.

Nom-nom-nom!

W.O.W.

The rest of it will be cooled, sliced and dried, but I am feeling pretty happy with the fruits (OK, really, the bread and cheese) of my labours.

With love across the waters…

Taking Stock

2015-03-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Some days are good ones. Some days? Not so much. I have been finding, lately, that the good ones are on my weekends. This is generally due to the fact that I am completing things at home - something that leaves me feeling contented. The last few weeks and weekends, things have been coming along very nicely: The Mushroom Fence is done. The Kitchen Floor is done (though the trim still needs to be put on.) The Great Window Project is mostly done. The Two Trees Removal Project has been completed.

My focus this weekend has been the back yard. The trees I spoke of above were the pear tree and the small juniper that looked like a bonsai tree. I first cut down and sectioned the pear – some small rounds were added to my wood-stove stock of firewood – to be burnt next winter. I then cut down the juniper. The root systems were then dug out and all of that debris is now sitting in a small pile to one side of my yard awaiting my “removal” plan – whatever that may be. I do have to make shift to get an accumulated pile of debris to the dump, but the back yard is waking up and spring waits for no-one.

All gone - now, to back fill that hole and
move the raised bed!

Two Trees Debris!

Once the Juniper was out of the way, I moved the small raised bed I’d placed near the oil tank in that spot and back-filled it with dirt from the pile accumulated when the Mock Orange was dug out for the fence. I’ll miss the mock orange, but only for its scent when in bloom. They really are lovely shrubs but need to be managed – and I need shrubs and plants (and trees) that don’t need constant management.

In any case, that bed is pet-access-proofed, and waiting to be amended with sea soil and bone meal in readiness for tomato planting. It will be a lovely hot spot for tomatoes and peppers to be grown!

When I was out getting seeds, I also bought some small trellis-y things made of cedar and have stuffed them into the flowers-only bed (near the green cone composter) and planted Sweet Pea seeds. I have a whole bag of bulbs that need to go in there – which will be one of today’s things to do. I’m going to try and make it colourful in the spring and aromatic in the hot of summer. I have a high-scented Peony, and some high-scented Lilies that I will be putting in. As long as I ensure the soil is well fed, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Trellises in place

I also moved my Bean Trellis to its new “2-year” spot. It now sits along the Mushroom Fence (where it will receive loads of sunshine) and I also finally found a use for the 8”x8” decorative Angelus blocks I pulled out of the house when I dismantled the faux mantle in the living room. I have lined them up, three on each side, on the outside edges of the bean trellis and will plant my beans in them. That should serve a couple of purposes – one, it looks like a miniature raised bed (almost like I actually planned it out!) and two, it will raise the plants up off the ground and hopefully make it a little harder for the wood bugs to get to the tender bean leaves at ground level.

The new spot

I just need to give some thought to what I want to do with the ground-space between the sides... Hm.

When the Mushroom Fence was going in, one of the Blueberry Bushes got smushed. I mean flattened. I’m pretty certain I wasn’t going to get it to live – so I removed and replaced it this weekend. I also bought a nice healthy looking Rosemary plant and put it into one of the great pots I had tomatoes planted in last year. I *think* that has herbs in all of the planters on the patio now – Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Oregano, and Chives.

I still have loads of clean-up to do – that giant pile of dirt DOES have a use ahead of it – I need to purchase a little bit more lumber and hardware and then will be putting in the LAST of the raised beds – where I had the Health Kick tomato last summer. That will more than likely be NEXT weekend’s major project. I need to measure the space properly and then look through the lumber I have ferreted away here and there before I decide what to put in. This bed may end up being 2”x8” instead of 1”x8” construction – the thinner boards will need to be replaced sooner and I am kind of wishing I had just bought 2”x8”s for all of the other beds in the first place. Ah well – it is all about learning, right?

Well, I should really get dressed and get out there – the rain isn’t going to hold off forever!

With love across the waters…

More on the Floor

2015-03-08T18:41:00.002-07:00

Saturday is always a great day for me where getting stuff done is concerned. Maybe it is because I send all week at work wishing I was home doing those things and so have all sorts of energy to put into the things I thought about all week.

The big project for me this weekend has been the floor in the kitchen. I started my Saturday by getting things tidied away and getting laundry and dishes done. After a trip into town to get potting soil and sea soil, I got to it in the kitchen.

First things first – get everything out of the kitchen
.

OK, Really, I just pushed it out of the way

Then set up my Workmate and get my tools together.

Pretty simple, really. This is all you need.
Except spacers. Spacers would have been useful.

So all you do is score the plank with the exacto knife

And then bend it until it snaps

If, however, you don;t score it properly
You will need Kleenex and Band-aids...

And then…. Well… here is what I managed to accomplish on Saturday:

Two rows in - right away I had to cut around a heat vent

Almost to the half-way point

Half way point reached - time to move the
crap to the other side of the kitchen

Tools and supplies moved, time for a walk

This was where I started to make measuring/cutting
mistakes - time to quit for the night

Today (Sunday) Once I stretched out the stiffness (there isn't much that can be done to stop from stiffening up when you spend hours crawling around on your hands and knees and you are pushing and tugging things into place. It took a little doing to loosen up, but once I did, I got to work and finished laying out the flooring.

This was a miss-cut piece for around the heat vent
I swore. A lot.

Re-cut and installed around the vent

Looks good, right?

Time for trim and mouldings.

All back in place and now it is time
to get ready for the week ahead.

I left things as they were in the kitchen and went into town and picked up some floor moulding and trim so I could finish the space out, but once home I decided that taking Jasmine for a walk would be an hour well spent. So I walked the dog and then proceeded to tidy things up, put things away and start dinner. The moulding can wait until next weekend - I'm satisfied with what I accomplished this weekend!

With love across the waters…

When “The Project” Isn’t Just “The Project”

2015-02-22T17:15:00.002-08:00

Something I have learned (relative to my house and, indeed, my life) is that it is very seldom that a project is actually just one task.

My latest activity is the kitchen floor. It sounds like it should be simple, but it isn’t - this will be a project I need to tackle in stages.

The first stage is all about patching the current floor.

The current floor in the kitchen is peel and stick vinyl squares. They are brittle and old, and because the house continues to settle (as old houses do) they have separated a little. Separating squares means that the old adhesive (which I think is a combination of rubber cement and Satan’s bile) is this nasty sticky crud that collects any sort of dust or dirt available (and let me be honest, I do NOT wash my kitchen floor weekly) and turns it into this hard, nasty black concrete that has to be scraped up with a blade.

Some of the floor tiles have cracked. Some have nails popping out through them and some have been cut.

Replacement of them means being on my hands and knees on the floor with a scraping tool, eye-watering, headache inducing adhesive dissolver, and sore hands when done. I can only manage to complete a few at a time. Then I have to clean things up, put stuff away and air out the space because a meal is not too far away.

Last weekend I picked up a baker's dozen worth of replacement tiles (12”x12” vinyl tiles just to level out the floor) and today I removed a few more (under the fridge and in front of the sink) removed the bulk of Satan’s Bile from the floor and stuck down the squares I have in order to level things out.

I will need to go and purchase another 4 or 5 tiles to replace the ones around the heat vents (which are in terrible shape) sometime over this next week. I’m hopeful the hardware store near where I work has some singles available for purchase – but if not, I can always pick up more at my local Home Depot.

In any case, this weekend’s work of patching is as done as it can be.

On the way into the kitchen. Creative patching

Under and behind where the fridge sits

In front of the kitchen sink - believe it or not,
the adhesive has been cleaned and the
floor space washed.

One square in

Second square in.

Thankfully this part of the job does not have to be perfect - it just has to level things out and make it so that when I put down the Vinyl Plank flooring it won;t be on a floor that is terrifically uneven.

With love across the waters…

Soooooo... A Snag.

2015-02-20T15:43:00.001-08:00

My house is a very, very, very old house. There’s one cat in the yard… renos can be so hard…

Did you sing that in your head to the tune of the famous song?

Today is windows “day three” and I had a conversation with the contractor today about the big window for the living room.

I have to back the bus up just a little bit, to a conversation we (me and my contractor) had with my neighbour yesterday about his house… evidently, when he bought his house, he had to do some major indoor structure upgrades – I guess that when his house was built, the walls (like mine) were shiplap covered with siding and drywall. What he told us was that the walls had actually started to separate from the floors and bow out because they were just nailed in, and the nails had rusted out. Over the course of 100 years, this is something to be expected!

Hm.

They finished up for the day and went on their way.

Today they came back to continue working on the project. When they arrived, Jeff (my wonderful windows guy) had a look at the side of my house where the windows are to go in and…

Hm.

When you stand at the side of the house and look, it actually looks like the walls are bowed out a little bit. It may just be the ugly vinyl siding, but the likelihood is that it is not.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that the final window installation will have to be put (slightly) on hold until further investigation and remedial action can be taken. The remedial action is actually pretty simple. It’s basically installation of a wall (properly framed) inside the actual wall. This means it can be insulated. The current wall will just be bolted or screwed to the old one, to shore up the weakness. It will be built all the way up to the TRUE ceiling height… so really, this just moves forward another project I had already planned for – the removal of the false ceiling in the living room.

With an old house, it is all about give and take. Projects just DO take longer. They DO uncover surprises. They DO cost more. They DO require more flexibility. At the end of the day, though, old house projects also have a lot more potential and a lot more opportunity. The reality is that my house has already given me a lot more than I have had to put into it. I love my house.

In the mean-time, though, here are the finished pictures of the windows that have gone in.

Both done now, trim on. I need to figure out a curtain or blind...

Inside trim in, now to touch up the paint!

Outside trimmed in and totally sealed

Look how BIG this is!!!

Now… on to the kitchen floor project!

Floor washed.

So, to finish the flooring part of this project I will have a few things to do:

I have about 5 squares I need to peel up so that popped nails can be pulled and screws can be put in.
I have to take out some quarter round that is under all of the cabinets and a couple of very small pieces of baseboard still in place.
I have to install new squares into the spaces there will be - I couldn't locate anything to match this so have some totally ugly unmatched tiles I can put in.
I have to install the NEW flooring.
I have to put in baseboards and quarter round to finish the job.

Stay tuned!

With love across the waters…

A Birthday and…. WINDOWS!

2015-02-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

So this week has been another shortie at work – I try (every year) to NOT be working on my birthday – a personal birthday gift from me to me…

The universe also decided that this would be a great week to gift me with new windows! The order had been placed a while ago - and since all of the windows were custom sized (old house, weird window sizes) it took a while for the manufacture to happen. I got call last week saying they were expecting them in this week and could we get things rolling ASAP?

OF COURSE!!

This round of windows finishes off a total window replacement for the house. In addition to replacing all of the windows, I also wanted to have the sliding glass door totally replaced (it was old and opened from left to right…) in addition to all of this, I also wanted to take advantage of the work being done and have the window in the kitchen that had obviously been there one upon a time, put BACK in.

This required a leap of faith on my part. The night before the installation was due to take place I worried. What if they pulled out the square of drywall and what was underneath was nothing but black mold?? I left for work yesterday just hopeful that things would go well.

I arrived home from work while it was still light enough to see what was going on, and promptly looked for the square of drywall they pulled out so I could see if there was any mold – NO MOLD!!!

whew

This morning before I left the house for the day, I grabbed my camera and took a whole pile of pictures… so here is where things were this morning.

Stuff in the back yard

New bedroom window

Garden window - HUGE

Straight on the Garden window - back yard

Side profile of the Garden window

Back wall - new window in

What's this now...?

Solid wood siding under the tar paper and vinyl siding...?

And today they spent the day finishing up the outside stuff and installing the sliding glass door. They put on more tar-paper before putting the (ugly) vinyl siding back on, and all of the windows are “blue-skin” sealed – meaning that it is totally draft-proofed now and also completely weather sealed. Yay!

Huh. There really IS no insulation in my kitchen walls!

May be thin, but dry as a bone and NO mold!

Old slider gone, checking out the next part...

Now how gorgeous is this?

Slider in and trim on, trim to be put on new kitchen window

Tomorrow will see the finishing off of all of the trim.

If time permits, they will also be doing the big picture window in the living room – but that may be a bigger job than we thought, so it may be waiting until Monday… All in all, a VERY great day… and I came home with the material to complete the flooring update for the kitchen – so once the dust has settled from the windows portion of my project work, I’ll be laying flooring – more to come for that one!!

Flooring!

With love across the waters…

The Continuing Adventures of Mushroom Fence

2015-01-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Mushroom Fence has been at it again…

This past week was a busy one at work – we had a Monstrous Monday that was followed up by a Terrible Technology Tuesday, and then a Woefully Wicked Wednesday… yes, I am allowing my dramatic side a little free reign here.

Anyhow, suffice it to say that the first half of the week was challenging.

Thursday I had a really great interview for a job I have applied for (still within the company I work for) and then Friday, though long, was really just a day to be gotten through.

As the week was going on, I knew there was fence activity afoot – but until Friday morning I really had no idea just how much. I get out of bed when it is dark, am quite often leaving for work while still dark and then getting home when dark. Imagine my surprise on Friday morning (when I had a later start) and I looked out into my back yard to see, well, PROGRESS…

My Good Neighbour Rob was out having his morning cup of coffee and finishing off framing in the forms in order to pour the retaining wall!

I got home around 7 last night and so didn’t see how it all turned out, but when I went out today, well, it looks wonderful – and lo and behold – the fence is almost done!

Anyhow, here is the progress thus far:

Initial stages - line set and old fence down

Jasmine checking out the progress

Old fence pile

First section in place!

Forms built, concrete poured and posts in place!

Second section and a GREAT privacy gate!!

Tomorrow looks to be a clearer day, and, if so, I’ll have to get out there myself and get a dog poo patrol of the yard done, and then maybe get the small fir-like tree dug out so I can move the pile of dirt over to where I will put the final raised bed… This year I will put the tomatoes in there and plant peas and beans in the side bed… the garlic is coming along nicely and so I just have to figure out my “what else”… Carrots, lettuce… I am definitely going to do Russian Blue potatoes again… Ah… thoughts of spring!

With love across the waters…

The Gift of Organization

2015-01-10T17:05:00.001-08:00

Comfortable life in a small home requires organization and creative storage space.

My home, a small, 1896 bungalow (for now), was initially built as rental housing for miners (Cumberland being initially established as a coal mining town) but the then local undertakers team.

In around 1945 the kitchen was added on and, at some point between then and when I bought the house in 2011, it was mounted on proper foundations and the electrical wiring was updated from the original knob and tube wiring to current standards.

As I peel back the layers and make changes to the house, I find interesting things that constantly force me to think outside the box for the changes I would like to make.

The kitchen is one such place in the house. The cupboards are spacious and deep – but as they were when I moved in, not entirely practical for storage of dishes, utensils and so on. The first modification I made happened after my Sister in Law made an Ikea trip and picked up some shelving inserts that made my cupboards MUCH more user-friendly.

Christmas this year saw me as the happy recipient of a couple of gift cards from Lee Valley Tools – which I promptly went on line and spent on some cupboard organizing magic. The parcel arrived yesterday and this afternoon I installed the inserts and voila – organization under the kitchen sink is MINE!

The parts - sliders, basket and screws...

The project space - under the sink.
A pretty common under-the-sink view.

One installed

Both sides installed. SO easy...
I should have bought a third one for under
the bathroom sink!

SO much more organized - and all the same stuff!!!

Left over parts - they hang on the sides and are for
holding cookie sheets

Good thing I have a space for cookie sheets!

The racks aren't fixed to the wall or to the cedar, but they
seem to balance OK and the cookie sheets fir perfectly.

I think I will have to go on-line next time they (Lee Valley) have another free shipping event and order more magical organizing stuff!

With love across the waters…