Home from Hillside...

Sara, Amanda, Rebecca, Kate and Reed!

The festival was great! Music, workshops, art & craft vendors ... but the best is the food! Not your typical festival fare, but lots of fresh (made on site), ethnic and vegetarian food...the pics indicate (by my girth) how much I partook of the edible offerings!

(You can see more Hillside pics on the side bar. But takes you to another website!)

I did a quick visit back to Ipperwash to see Mom & Dad and an afternoon on the beach - hot and sunny and we could go swimming!


Back to TO for a patio party...'cause it stays warm at night!...


...and a preview of our 2nd grand-baby ...due August 15th!



On arrival back, the skylights are in! woo hoo! and pretty little things they are!

from the inside...

...and the outside...flashing still to be done (thus the ladder!)


...and a backyard barbie at the "Captain's House B&B"

Plumber Rick and electrician Ken are both promising visits this week...stay tuned!



Hoop dancing is not as easy as it seems! Drum Circle every morning

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane....

...off to Ontario for a week to see my kids and camp at the "hippy fest"! The banker is busy re-arranging his sock drawer and unfortunately is never available to attend these functions?!

For the past 2 months, we have been continually surprised and faced with an on-going list of issues/problems/situations with our lil ol' homestead, but have been able to soothe our reno souls with the comment...."at least the septic is fine..." spoke too soon it seems!
Yesterday after one load of laundry...she decided to regurgitate the contents into the basement (remember - dirt floor) and the system went on a vacation - no sink, toilet OR shower ...and I leave for a flight Wednesday morning!

Bringing int the super sucker vac....


...not sure what they'll find in there!

Panic/pleading call to the company that had pumped it out in April...first truck can't fix it...second truck came around 5 and after a Mike Holmes video into the pipe...the ol' girl burped and started to flow again. This quick action came at a price of course...and the recommendation that the line from house to tank AND the tank be replaced! "Better now than in January" says he...so a visit from our friendly excavator, John...and this too can be done.

But on the upside...the wall to the summer kitchen is now gone, and the room looks super...if you like open studs and drywall dust. But we have a vision...if only the patience/cash and trades people!


Looking into the summer kitchen from the real kitchen...


...and from the summer kitchen into the working kitchen!...and yes the hoosier is now going to go to its designated spot...thank you Doug(ie)!

...again...stay tuned for next week's posts!...I get to go from one campsite to another!

A Week of Rain....

...which can only mean the skylights are pushed back further! (the upside? I'm off the hook hauling water around to all the new plantings!)

redneck water feature!...it comes and goes

redneck garden...the compost that grew...potatoes!

So what does one do when the weather sucks and the work has halted?...go shopping of course!
I drove solo to the city and met up with the manager, Doug Speers of the local garden centre Cedar Crest to discuss my need for creating some privacy between the road and the house.
He spent 2 hours! with me describing the different trees and uses and ability to survive here. (Given I mentioned the fact that I had 4 empty acres is partly the reason I have a new best friend!)
Very different than Ipperwash - acidic soil (thus the bountiful rhododendrons) but with an alkaline water source...hmmm says I, like I understand. So we proceeded to pick out a small forest of both evergreens and deciduous trees (16 in total!) that were on half price (yeah! love a sale) but because of their size will have to be planted by his crew (ooohhh! there go the savings!).


****Note to self...living in the country sooooo far from the city has costly drawbacks, as no one seems interested in driving sooooo far!

They are going to "babysit" them until I get back form Ontario and with luck...they go in the first week of August...which, with even more luck I'll have an outdoor water source to keep them happy!

this is the "queen" , a weeping Hemlock that will reach 100'!

the "king", an Austrian Pine...

the red beauty...

...and the gold goddess...

...and the fat boy, a Fat Albert Blue Spruce!
Not this size of course...patience is a virtue (not one of mine, unfortunately!)


On return home, I found Jim and Doug(ie) happily tearing out the kitchen/TV room wall! Will the dust EVER end? Doug had cut out the areas for the 2 skylights (inside only till the rain stops) and they had also turned the basement jacks down a tad. This last to-do resulted in the floor coming down about a 1/2 inch, and starting to square up the stairs and doorways! Yeah!


Doug(ie) begins the wall removal...and the whole house was shaking!


Why is this man smiling?...

'cause he said "let there be light"...

...and it was so!


There have been rumors that the hydro is coming Tuesday to connect wires, the plumber promises next week and the electrician? MIA! But I still have confidence that all the commotion will take place when I'm not here, so I've written on every wall the placement of switches, plugs, water etc...in the event that the room layouts can't be deciphered!

Week Eight....

...and still we wait! For everyone, on everyone!
Remember those skylights? Our bedroom is still in "the dark"...aaarrgggghhh!!! Though promised on this week, still nothing. Nor has the plumber or electrician shown their faces.
We can't start any construction or insulating or any other "to do's" from our long list of home improvement until they have completed their list....and so we do "make work/busy work things around here.
People seem to think we're moving at a very fast rate, but for Jim it seems a snail's pace, and so the frustration mounts!

I entertain myself with future designs of the different rooms and gardens, using 3D software programs. This pic is a program on the IKEA website. You can even save it to their mainframe and then call it up in their store for more consulting by their designers! Very cool! The downside is...NO store in all of Atlantic Canada! This glitch may nessitate a trip to Montreal in a rented cargo van...'cause they don't deliver here either!

Looks like the cast iron sink is going to be fraught with difficulty, so I'm considering compromise and other options. Especially since we ALL measured the hoosier kitchen cupboard numerous times and adding the heating duct accordingly....but...one inch off! So now, it doesn't fit in it's designated spot...nor anywhere else! AARRGGHHH!!!!

Lachman and Verne have returned on their trip back to Ontario (finished touring PEI & NS) and are staying in their trailer here for a few days. They insist on working around the homestead and have been helpful in cutting and adding to our growing pile of brush. There is a short and invasive shrub here called an alder that has taken over in all the tree lines of the property and are successfully choking out the evergreens, mountain ash and other species of "good" trees...so like the hated poplars they're slowly being eliminated - with loppers and a hand saw! Hard work and I'll still have to get machinery in to haul the stubborn roots out to prevent their re-growth (which apparently is more vigorous after being cut down).

Outdoor dining at it's best!

The last of the poplars (according to the banker) have been felled and "junked". I think 5 more should go....at least the last difficult one hanging over the hydro wires! The new and improved title picture shows the new and improved clear view of the homestead...the brush should be removed soon...2 weeks, right?!
Anyone know how to kill off 25 poplar stumps?

This week is St Martins' Old Home Week....not sure if it's an old celebration, or old people come to it? But it is the only week there is gridlock in the village!

The four of us walked in to partake of the pancake breakfast in the community hall, then perused the yard sales held by everyone in the village. Scored a knapsack full of past issues of House & Home and Canadian Garden magazines. Now I can tear out pics by the bushel full so "Jerome" has a better idea of how I would like things to look (and the banker can work out the cost factors!)

I'm making a week trip back to Ontario to attend the annual Hillside Festival (Jim refers to it as the "hippy-fest) in Guelph with my girls...chances are REAL good that is the week all the trades do show up and the questions they will have will all be posed to the banker!....I suspect my cell will be busy!

Things Can Always Be Worse...

Jim's Gettin' the Hang of This...

...this reno and construction thing. So glad he's found a hobby!
He spent Saturday ('cause there are still no skylights happenin') closing a window in the summer kitchen,

(before - the very back window in the pic)

(and after - note the clean, straight lines of vinyl!)

repairing and replacing siding AND installing 2 new windows in the back of the summer kitchen

(before...)

...and he said "let there be light"! and there was!

(and after!)
They look GREAT and the room is starting to take shape.


...before...



old cedar shakes under the vinyl...


cutting out the holes...

Ta Da!!

I spent the day with Logger Jim and his son Ken- 3 more down ...still 10 to go! We considered waiting until I had some evergreens started, but these ones are going to fall right down the front toward the road...and the cost of "cherry picking" them out later will be $$$! This little known fact encouraged the banker to continue movin' them out now while the cost is ...well...free!
One of the bigger ones was a bigger problem...3 wedges, ropes, pulleys and a lot of head scratching and pulling...it finally fell!


Jim (72 years!) and Ken sitting on their big game!

"Elmer" keeps his distance!

My first attempt at adding video...I'll make the next one more interesting!


This is known as "junking the tree" - we just call it "cutting it up"!

No News is ...

...good news? I guess.
The roofers finished (except for the skylights) on Tuesday and the shingles look sooooo good!

The roofers, Doug, Glen(ie) and "Bad-Laden" (that's what they called him!) packing up for their next job.

Doug(ie) promises to return on Friday to install the skylights so...we'll see.

Here's where they go on the outside...(the dark patch)


...and inside our bedroom- see the lines? (shelf is going to be gone!)...the length of the entire slope! We're going be sleeping under the stars!


We have had fog, rain, mist for two days, so it wouldn't be possible anyway before Friday.
This weather has been great for all the transplanting as I have to pail water from the bathtub to a large bucket in the wheelbarrow, wheel it out to all plants and shrubs and then pail water on each one ...no outdoor water source yet!

Jim and I decided that given the weather and aching bodies we would take a reconnaissance mission into the city to do some window shopping for taps, tubs, wood stoves and other resources.

I want to buy an old cast iron clawfoot tub and have it refinished, but I'm getting push back as no one seems interested in hauling a 600 pound tub up a flight of stairs. So off to visit the plumbing supplies for the new and improved acrylic ones ($$$$!!!!) They all seem flimsy and tiny to me, but lighter and much warmer for bathing in the dead of winter!

This is the agreed on tub for the upstairs bathroom -acrylic :( ...and the taps are as much as the tub!... the banker is beginning to see dollar signs dancing in his head!..."honey, do you like living in NB...?"

Then the search was on for taps for that 200 pound "free" sink for the kitchen. And yes, they were found! However, customized, from the US and BIG $! And to all these great finds, the banker gets the same response..." honey, do you like living in NB?"


This tap?...or...

...or this one??

Doug brought me these antique, original ones to try (everyone here seems to have an infinite collection of paraphernalia in their sheds/barns/garages! But unfortunately they were too small, but he said I might be able to use them elsewhere...the downstairs bathroom sink perhaps?


We are torn between wood and pellet stoves, one issue being the size of the room (11' x 14' with 2 exterior doors!)...me? - pellet!
Price wise they seem comparable, but the pros and cons are confusing Jim. He seems to think there is no problem getting, stacking and daily movement of wood (short memory form the cottage days!)
He was ready to throw in the third alternative - an electric fireplace?! " honey, do you like living in NB?"

Logger Jim has pretty much completed the poplar tree (known as pop-als here) removal. I wanted them all (20) out of the front, but am ready to admit the ones that are left should stay until some evergreens are planted out front and a bit mature to create a privacy windrow.
Gardening is my thing now that the Grand Plan is somewhat written in sand. I'm a regular at the garden center ferreting out sales and deals for shrubs and trees, and "highway shopping" for wildflowers, trees and plants, that I'm anxious to get started and growing. I reeeeeally need some mechanical equipment here! A tractor, plow, bucket etc! Between roots and rocks, I'm onto my 2nd shovel and every muscle hurts!

Jim has pretty much completed the framing in the summer kitchen, and the new windows arrived....now to install...hmmmm?

The new windows are sitting where the wood/pellet stove? will be and then a window on either side (looking to the back yard)

The electrician dropped by (everyone is good at this part) to let us know he is still waiting on a permit from NB Power and this was just a courtesy call since he was in the area. We can't insulate the summer kitchen till he's completed his work.
Still no sign of the plumber....and an appointment made by the floor finisher never did materialize and no response to phone messages!
And, Jim had originally wanted to build a house! I think he's beginning to see the folly in that!

Friday and no skylights, but Doug and his son Devin did come after supper to remove the old hand-hewn upright beams and put in the new cement footings and jacks in the cellar.

This is the old beam...sitting in front of my bike to show the immense size of it...I'm hoping to use it for a mantle over the heat source (wood? pellet? electric?) in the summer kitchen/TV room)!


Doug, Jim and Devin...note the clothes dryer in the background! Would you fold clean clothes in this space!? NO!...so I think the new stackable washer/dryer is in order...more $$$ says the banker! " honey, do you like living in NB?"


The new cement footings poured in a wood form (v.s. digging down into the rock-hard dirt floor)


...and our 5 pretty new adjustable jack-posts...perhaps a coordinating coat of paint?

and the skylights?...Saturday?!...stay tuned, hope springs eternal....