Inside Out Day

On the inside, Jim has installed the transition strips between the vinyl flooring and the hardwood. On the outside, I went out mowing and he did some weed whacking with our new push type weed whacker. The poor lawnmower cannot handle all of the mowing chores as the land surface is too bumpy and rocky in spots so the whacker has come in very handy. It takes about 6 hours to mow and whack the front. Jim was so enamoured by my "mowing" attire that he insisted on a picture. I am afraid that it's not complete without my bottle of perfume...aka Deep Woods Off.

Because this is a "slow news" entry, I have also included a picture of our typical evening thunderheads.

Okay, It's Nearly Done

The metal cladding project has three pieces at the top and back of each of the posts that need to be trimmed down and then siliconed. That really should only take a few minutes.

The week before last, Jim put the last bits of siding on the front of the deck. We can now say that the front of the house is finished. If you're keeping track, that means that three sides are finished with just the metal cladding on the deck posts and beam to be done at the back but first there's the issue of cement or brick patio to deal with. I believe this may be next summers project.

Famous Last Words...

Jim decided it was time to finish the front deck and managed to get a kit to do the metal cladding of the beam and posts. With those fateful words, "This shouldn't take too long", he set to work. By the end of the day he was almost finished.

Meanwhile, I went out to admire the roses that are in bloom. They were supposed to be pink wild roses but, obviously, we didn't get those. I'm just as happy.

Pretty Snappy Looking Garage

Jim has been working a little each day to get the garage mudded and ready for painting. Yesterday, he managed to get the priming done so all we need now is a paint sale for the finish coat. Nothing fancy…just white. After that, he’ll trim the windows and another thing is done.

In his spare time, Jim has been helping one of our new neighbours, across the street, crib his basement. The concrete will be poured next Tuesday (weather permitting) and then the concrete forms will be available to move over to Farrell’s so that the cribbing can begin on the shop. “Shop”, you say. “What is this about a shop?” Yes, we are going to add a back walk-out shop approximately where the shed is now and that also takes advantage of our hill to create a walk out for an under-the-shop garage.

This project just seems to grow and grow.

There was this paint sale…

We decided to try and clean up the yard and make the property look a little less like a construction zone. Looks like we have a ways to go, yet but luckily, at least for the shed, Canadian Tire had a paint sale. Jim and I suited up in our best anti-mosquito wear and one lovely, calm morning (there aren’t that many) we painted the old shed. It looks pretty snappy.

For the present, it will stay where it is but we have designs on moving it into the back yard sometime this summer.

OK...I know it's time we got back to work

So we started by getting the parging done. Jim just didn't want to do it and there were a couple of homes in the neighbourhood taking advantage of a parging company's presence and we did too.

In addition, we bought a few lilacs and wild roses, create bedding plots for them that will, hopefully, hold some moisture and planted them. After roto-tilling, we covered the disturbed soil with the black anti-weed cloth and then covered that with washed rock. As you can see from the picture of the lilac twig, they are very small. Keep your fingers crossed that they are hardy and fast growing, as we are planting them along the driveway to try and keep the snow drifting to a minimum.

The Blades On The Fan Go Round And Round

This afternoon, Jim installed the ceiling fan in the sunroom. It is a brushed steel fan from Monte Carlo Fans called the Discus. This week we will trot off to Timberland to see if we can find some trim to finish off the peak of the ceiling on either side of the fan.