The leaves are gone from the trees, leaving only the softwood evergreens and a few remaining golden Tamaracs. (Apparently, years ago, a bright "light" with the Irving Corp. thought the big bucks were in softwood, so the province was sprayed with a chemical to kill off all the hardwood and now, today the majority of the province is green all year round...and as to the price of softwood, we all know how that turned out!)
Another sure sign is the arrival of unwanted house guests...mice! Sometimes in the mornings, it's like playing dogeball while they scurry from the stove to the fridge to the pantry, and right past the sleeping Bijou's nose! Not only are they bold, but cagey - every "humane" trap I have set, they just take the bait and leave a trap for me to activate - empty!
So, poison bait is out in strategic places...and at least one I know of has met its demise.
Apples are bountiful this year, and our trees are no exception. I try to pick up off the "lawn" every day or so to deter the deer from making my back yard their buffet. Instead I drop a wheel barrow load over the ridge and into the bush, saving them the walk all the way up to the trees at the back door!
The barn/garage doors are complete, so we can now tuck the car (and bikes and new trailer) into a shelter when the snow flies...assuming the boxes finally get out of the barn and into the house!
But...best of all, Jr. Sampson was here for three days crack filling and sanding, so on to the painting of the kitchen...before the floor goes down.
The new applainces arrived this week and they now enjoy the daily routine of being shuffled back and forth for access to walls then put in place for meals!
"crack filling" all done...
primed and painted ... there really is some colour there!...and "portable 'ppliances!"
But wait! There's more! The kitchen cabinets from IKEA were finalized Oct 22 with Nov 4th the date I would hear from the transport company for an delivery date. (IKEA figured three weeks)
But...at 0830 on the 31st, the trucker called and said he was loaded and delivering around 1000!!!! And we had just started painting!!!
...And more!!! He was by himself and couldn't unload alone (all 2,000lbs) the 4' X 8' X 4 pallets! ...and just one more thing?...the truck was toooo big and toooo heavy to bring down the drive and to the house!!! So three panic calls to neighbours who willing came with trollies and trailers and muscular arms...we had it all unloaded and stored - you guessed it - in the barn!
This is the first time in 5 months that anything has been done not only on time, but ahead of time! There is just no point in trying to schedule/coordinate this project!
And the 31st? Halloween of course! And when you have a 5-year old in the house...well, it's just about the most exciting time of the year (revving up for Christmas!) We made a haunted house (like a gingerbread one) for his party at school (he goes to kindergarten every morning) and painted his face to look like a skeleton - ever tried to get face paint on a wiggling 5-year old?
He has been fun to have as a guest and says he loves his teacher Miss Brown and riding the bus each day. I like having something other than house reno to focus on!...and someone to play with - picking apples, climbing trees, exploring the bush, evening walks to visit Misty...
...but I do know two things now in my wiser years...have children when you're younger than 50 and four kids is alot!
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