We're Getting Organized

Well, work on the finishing touches has continued. We have completed the closets in the three bedrooms, and both entrances. This is the closet organizer in the master bedroom. Designed by Kathleen, less the baskets which we could not get to fit. (maybe next house)

Next is to install bi-fold doors, then paint all the doors, planned for the week between Xmas and New Years.















Have moved some furniture into place for the Christmas season.





























From our house to all of you --Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Ahhh...The Great Frozen North

Last Friday, we had our first blizzard of the season. It lasted a day and a half and left us with 20 cm of new snow. Now, that 20 cm isn't nicely spread around...oh no...it is piled up in drifts up to 4 m deep in some areas leaving other spots bare. Once the wind was finished with us, though, it had done a lovely job sculpting some of the drifts.

Today dawned sunny and bright as do all bitterly cold winter days. The temperature was -46.1C this morning before wind chill. After that who gives a hang about wind chill! (But for interests sake, it was -58.4C)

Winter is here!!

Well we completed the garage doors and the sand floor just in time. When winter came, it did so, with an attitude. We have received a lot of snow, cold weather and wind, so far. It has already been to -40 with wind chill and forecast ed to go there again next week. This is a shot of a morning sun rise we had as an example of what we have been dealing with.



















Good thing I have all that inside work to keep me busy and warm.
Here are a couple of shots of the trim work we have been doing. The saw is in the garage so I get regular reminders of how nice it is to work indoors and not having to stay out there and work.

Stairs are coming along

I have completed the lower run of stairs leading to the loft.
Will get back to the top half after I complete some baseboard and window trim etc.

Hell Had Better Hold Off Freezing Over ...

...until Kathleen's car can get into the garage!

Prairie sunrises and sunsets can be spectacular.
Sunrise, at this time of year, is at 8:30 AM and
sunset is at 4:30 PM...short days.












As stated before we have completed the garage door installation.
















Our neighbor Stan Freisen brought over his bobcat and moved the sand from outside the garage in...sure is nice to have the floor closer to its final level. The next step is to rent a plate packer which will firm the floor up for the winter. We turned the stairs so that you come up on the other side which gives us more room for cars. Once the sand packing is done, Kathleen should be able to bring her car in out of the cold. She had to scrape windows yesterday...she was not happy.














I have continued putting down hardwood floor and have just completed the livingroom and master bedroom areas, next is up the stairs. It will take a little to do that, as I have to trim all the treads back so the the hardwood nosing fits properly.

One More Step Closer To Being Ready For Winter

Took these pictures the day before yesterday. We now have both of the doors installed on the garage. Soon we will be enclosed for the winter.

We'll wait to do the weather strip installation around the doors for a couple of weeks, that is until we get the eavestrough installed. We hope to get the installer to cap the sides of the openings with white aluminum cladding first and then I will install the weather strips around the doors.

Once the pile of sand in front of the garage is moved into and spread around on the garage floor there will be a better seal for the door bottoms and we'll be ready for the snow to come.





























We have also continued with some flooring and have made it through the livingroom. ..hope to complete the hallway to the back door and then part of the dining room tomorrow.

Soffit, Soffit And More Soffit

The soffit/fascia saga continues. The dormers are all done and that leaves only the east gable end (garage end of the house) for soffit/fascia and both it and the area around the sunroom windows for siding.

Meanwhile, Wes and Iris English came for a visit and Wes and Jim managed to get all but a couple of rows of hardwood down in the second bedroom and continued on with the livingroom. Iris and I supervised from upstairs in the loft as it was too noisy downstairs. Hey...we made lunch...what more do you want?

Progress is occurring

I have been busy since Halloween doing siding and soffit/fascia. I have been lucky enough to have use of my new neighbors Genie man lift. It has allowed me to complete the West and most of the South side. East side is delayed as I am short on siding and window trim. When it comes in I should be done in one day as long as the lift is still available.
































When I needed a break, I started the hardwood floors. The front bedroom, hallway and part of the livingroom are now done.

Plan is to do some floor each day, that way my knees don't die trying to do it all at once.

Happy Hallowe'en!

It's our first Hallowe'en, here. At 8 C in the cow pasture and after a couple of days of wet snow and rain, it's very muddy. Still, we were visited by some brave little "Trick or Treaters". There are 8 children living out here now...one is just an infant, three went to Beaumont and 4 came to see us before heading out for more loot from the neighbouring acreage subdivision that's been established for about 4 years. Sure a far cry from the 200 we had at the door when we lived in Winnipeg. As we are now country dwellers and the volume of kids is very low, I bought proper sized chocolate bars for the children and a bag of Hallowe'en treats for Jim...it's the only way to keep him out of the stuff for the little ghouls and goblins.

Pack On! Jim

A 3000 pad vibrating packer sure settles the garage down. The sand that's piled outside the door can now be spread and the cars can come in for the winter. This process happened a couple of days ago and I think Jims' teeth have finally quit chattering.

Zooming along

The siding continues. The garage is all done and the openings are ready for garage doors. With the aid of our neighbours zoom-boom, Jim was able to enjoy the early morning light whilst siding the south side. He didn't have it for long but every little bit helps his legs as it sure cuts down on the ladder work. When not outside, as we had some poor weather, Jim put the finish coat of paint on the bathroom and mounted the towel rods and toilet roll holder. The rods and roll holder have also been installed in the ensuite bathroom along with the sink and vanity. I have been spending my spare time sorting out the kitchen and I believe that all the stuff from kitchens past have found a home. Note the leger board above the basement door and windows. Next spring, when Jim has nothing better to do, he can build the deck.

Jim Blows

Saturday, Jim, I and our friend Mark Austin spent the day blowing Weathershield insulation into the flat ceiling areas of the house and garage. 75 bags of insulation later, we were done. Now the house can really heat up...OK...I know...how much heat can two 56 year-olds generate? Well, at least the furnace generated heat will stay in the house rather than escape through the roof. As the blower unit only came with 50 feet of hose, Jim very cleverly, accessed the attic areas through the outside eaves. He took the hose up into the roof areas while Mark and I fed and broke-up the bales of insulation in the machine. In the garage, he used the old "ladder on the scaffold" trick to get into the area that needed insulation.


Jim completed the bat insulation in the rim joist area of the basement. Last step in the insulation world is to cover it all with 6 mil poly which he will carry out in the coming evenings.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Our first Thanksgiving in our new home was celebrated with Jim, Allan and I and a lovely brined turkey. Our thanks go to the kitchen that is up and running and to everyone that helped us get to this stage. Lots of friends and family...we are truly grateful.

Oh My, Canada

A week and a half ago, it was summer with temperatures at +34C.

Yesterday it was fall.












Today it was winter with our high at -3C. Oh, Oh, Oh Canada. This is downright depressing.
















Jim had planned on siding today but the weather just wasn't going to co-operate so he continued on boarding the garage. Just a few more little pieces and he's got another job done.

Bringing us up to Date

Work has continued but blogging has failed to keep up.
So here is a status report as of today. Jim sends

Kitchen.

Counter tops installed, sink drain and traps working fine, Katheen is happier.

Siding and fascia
North wall and veranda complete. One piece of sofit to reinstall due to very high winds.
Rest of pieces now screwed in place, should be no further problems.
West wall almost complete - some fascia still to go.
South wall - half way up
EAst wall - half way up

































































Garage

Completed installation of insulation, vapour barrier in/on the walls and ceiling.
Completed dropped insulated area in ceiling for the loft area floor.
Completed most of the drywall on the ceiling and walls.















































Veranda
Completed installation of deck boards to the front edge, need to procure 2x8 material to finish

Floor To Ceiling

Jim was hard at work on Thursday getting the vinyl flooring down in the back entrance/laundry room, front entrance and ensuite bathroom. Meanwhile, I had been out shopping for light fixtures and, after weeks of searching for fixtures in any kind of reasonable price range, I hit on a store with a big SALE...my favourite 4-letter word! My trusty, workaholic husband installed the one in the kitchen and the same one will go in the front entrance. A larger hanging version will light the stairwell up in the loft area and, finally, a huge hanging version will go in the diningroom. As you may remember from an earlier blog, the rest of the house is lit with Home Depot Cheapo...hey, they do the job and helped keep our interior lighting bill to only $1000.

I have also included another picture of the kitchen as it's just too lovely.

There's Bean Counters And Then There's Kitchen Counters

It is September 16 and it must be the hottest day of the year as our thermostat read +32C out here in the cow pasture. Of course 4 months from now it will likely be -32C, but that's then and this is now and we'll take it. Unfortunately, it was incredibly windy again and Jim was forced to work inside as the soffit and fascia require calm winds to manipulate. He managed to get the second coat of paint on a bedroom, a closet and two coats of paint on the laundry room.

Meanwhile, the kitchen countertop installer was back installing all but the counter over the peninsula. He measured wrong the first time he was out and made that section of counter too short. Better luck next time. Now that the kitchen sink can be installed, Jim can run the water lines to it. He was holding off until he knew exactly where to drill up through the floor.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Lovely Satelite

Here it is September 15 and the weather is unseasonably warm. We are about +27C today and will be even warmer tomorrow and for the rest of the week. Most of last week and on the weekend we were skating in and around the +30C mark, which is about 10 degrees warmer than it should be. Maybe Jim is right as he believes that the seasons are one month late in arriving. Harvest is either finished or well under way for those farmers that didn't plow their crops under and the leaves have started to turn colour on the trees so fall seems to be edging its way in.

The west side of the house is now all sided with Jim now working on the soffit and fascia before he removes the scaffold. Ian came to help again over the weekend and the garage wiring, furnace hook-up, and some more sheathing over the styrofoam basement walls was completed. We can't thank our children enough for all their help. This is Mom and Dads project and they come to help us with it minus complaints. I'm sure they have both thought that the old folks might be getting just a little loose in the upper stories and maybe it's pity that drives them. Regardless, hugs and kisses, boys. We also have a neighbour who deserves "thanks" as he came over with his skid steer and leveled off the dirt in the garage. We're now ready for gravel to go down or the scaffold to go up depending on which Jim wants to do first, board the garage or get the floor ready for winter. We cannot move into the house until the garage is drywalled and taped...drat that building code.

Yesterday was another banner day as satellite TV was installed. We have managed for 2 1/2 months with no TV and it was getting very old. For those of you who feel that we missed nothing as there isn't anything worth watching anyway...remember, you had TV all that time. Mostly we missed the news and the weather channel...BUT...Desperate Housewives was about to begin another season and yours truly wasn't about to be left out of the loop!!

Jim Saw Fit To Install Soffit

OK... now that all the dust has cleared from the last week and a half of intense work, we took a day off to go and get more supplies. I didn't think we would ever run out of nails but the unthinkable did happen. So a-shopping we did go. When we returned, Jim had a supply of soffit in the trailer. Nothing would do but he had to create a jig (thank you to Habitat For Humanity for the inspiration) to cut the soffit into appropriate lengths and then begin installing it. The siding continues but as he gets high and closer to the eaves, he can now install the soffit at the same time he's up there installing siding. OK...it means a few more trips up and down the ladder but think of the muscle tone in those old legs.