BACK TO WORK

It was nice having the afternoon off yesterday. We had a blast. But now it's back to work time. This morning it took a couple of hours just to get measurements in the shower, layout some tiles and even get ready to go. But we got going soon after that. To make a long story short, we got 2 rows done. It looks great. It is an adventure to say the least. Rejean and I work together but at times it is hard. He is a perfectionist and during the process it is a pain, but when you see the results, it is all worth it. But I did hand him the tiles, sand down the cut edges and wipe up the tiles after he was done installing them. AND, they are level. Not too shabby. Our biggest question right now is how to do the ceiling. Do we continue the brick pattern on the ceiling or do we just have straight lines. Any comments on that? Keep in mind that the shower is 4x8x8 and you have seen the floor. I can't take another one of the floor because it is all covered up to protect it from the wall work. I am going for the brick pattern. But what do you think?
Tomorrow it is into the Sault I go for my mammogram or, as I like to say, boobogram. Do they really have to squeeze them so hard? I have to shake them out after I am done (only kidding). I will keep you guys informed with the results. Linda has decided to join me tomorrow. I'll drop her off at the mall before my appointment at 10 and meet her after for some serious shopping. I'm headed for Mark's WorkWear House. I have my eye on something - and I have a coupon!!!
Life is good.

TERRY'S TOY

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE INGENUITY OF A HUNGRY RACCOON

We had an incident with the old bird feeder - one day it was torn down from the rope and it had been ripped apart and I still haven't found my suet holder. The bird feeder was about 7 feet off the ground - I had to stand on my toes to take it down. We had raised it up before so the raccoon couldn't get at it. Well we didn't know what had destroyed the feeder. Raccoons can't jump and it was too far off the ground for the fox -maybe a bear...Anyway I bought a new one and hung it up.
I got up this morning and was starting the fire when I looked out the window and saw the raccoon on the higher branch with the bird feeder up with him and him eating out of the feeder. That raccoon pulled up the bird feeder with his little hands. He couldn't reach it from the ground or from the side of the tree. He pulled 10 feet of rope up to reach the feeder - and it was half full so it wasn't light. I quickly grabbed the camera and took this picture - I apologize for the blurriness but when I am excited, my tremor is bad. And Rejean opened the door and yelled at the raccoon so I couldn't get another picture but I am sure you can make out what he is doing.
The next pictures are of our exciting afternoon. Ron had Terry pull down an old cabin of his and then he burned it. We brought over some hot dogs, buns, beer, chopped onions and some lawn chairs and made an afternoon of it. Ron brought his BBQ and we roasted the dogs on it. Mary made a couple of salads and some butter tarts for desert. What a great time we had. The wind was very cold so you had to stand close to the fire. Ute came over and Hughie was there. Terry's wife Kim came along also to visit. It was a social gathering.
Up here you take entertainment where you can get it. I wouldn't change it for the world.
See Ya By

MOVING RIGHT ALONG....

Yes, the floor is done. It is exactly what I wanted. And we did a good job too. For something that he is not comfortable with, he did great. There was a rough spot when we had to cut the tile for the drain hole. UGH. We had the wet cutter, chippers, a special blade in a hack saw - you name it and he tried it. But eventually he did a good job. Just a few small cracks but nobody will see them - oops - you will. Tomorrow we grout. The grout will probably be like you see it now - darker to highlight the tile. Then the walls go up - matt white 12x12's with a boarder of 2 rows of the floor tile at eye level.

It snowed all day long. But it was always at couple of degrees above zero so it was wet snow. It is 7:30pm and it is still snowing. Some people want to come up to their camps for Easter but there is still 3 feet of snow in their driveways - honest - so they need to be plowed. It's not like in Windsor where they are picking beautiful daffodils out of their front yard - nice bouquet, Chris - soon.

The fox was around today but I don't think it was ours. It looked lighter and when I taped on the window he took off like a bat out of hell. Ours wouldn't have been that startled. He ate some bird seed and was gone.

Tomorrow we start on the walls, dinner with John and Linda and probably watch a hockey game. I hope it's a nice day. Dump Day!!

See Ya By

FINALLY!!

Please don't pay too much attention to the background - it's all our stuff to finish the bathroom. But how good do those cabinets look? Great if I do say so myself. Notice the nice finish on the wood. Me. It turned out actually better than I imagined. Can't wait tosee them in place - but that won't be for a while yet. We are now going to be tiling the shower. Rejean is finally ready. He levelled off the floor yesterday - there were some high spots and he wanted to get the slope just right. He placed the sheets of tile in the space and we are ready to go today - of course I will share those pics with you later today.

Tomorrow nite John and Linda are coming over for dinner - hamburgers and hash browns done in a pan. I saw Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals the other day and it looked pretty good. It calls for Chereso(?) sausage for the hash browns. Well I hit Valuemart yesterday to pick up the ingredients and they had never heard of it. Figures. I really didn't expect them to carry it. I will substitute some spicy Italian sausage instead. They will never know the difference (I hope).

It is raining today, as it is all over the place. Hopefully it will take care of the snow. It is looking really dirty out there. And the back roads are really mushy. We went to John and Linda's last nite and what an adventure just getting there. We were slipping and sliding all over the place in the slush and they are logging in there so it is really muddy at the turn. I hope when they are done they return it to it's original state.

We back to work now. Thanks for the tip about the maple syrup and the rum bottles. I don't have any empty ones (yet) but I will pass the info on to the guys.

Anyone can comment on the blogs - all you do is click on the 'comment' area - you don't have to leave your name - you can remain anonymous if you want. It's nice to get feedback!!

See Ya By

Also welcome Liz and Bob as loyal Blog readers - Nice to have you.

HARD WORK!!

No this is not a still and they are not making moonshine. This is a maple syrup operation in the bush just off the highway. I had seen the pails on the trees and occasionally a van parked by the side of the road - the other day I saw the smoke and knew that he was beginning to boil the sap down. I learned today that it is Jack - Vickie's husband and a friend (I didn't get his name) After my long hard day at the Wharncliffe Hall I decided to stop for a visit and a picture. It was a long climb up the hill and I didn't have my best hiking boots on. Those barrels on the left hand side are filled with sap. The fire pit in the middle is all hand made from an old culvert. And finally the actual boiling pot is also handmade. He has plenty of wood for the fire. Jack said that it is a great year for the sap around here. He has to boil the sap down within four days or he has to get rid of it as it spoils. So he spends his days up on the hill boiling the sap. He showed me the sap in one of those barrels and I tasted it. It was a bit sweet and crystal clear. I can't wait to taste the finished product. Home grown maple syrup.

It was hard work at the hall today. My job was to remove the tiles in the front room. The only tools we had were a plain old knife. There was no way. Cheryle had to go home to get something and I asked her to bring me back a round shovel. Boy did that make the work easy. It came up like butter. After that I cleaned the windows and the doors. Then on to the kitchen. Everything in that kitchen has to be cleaned. We threw out all the food stuff ie spices, sugar, flour etc. We had not been in that kitchen in over a year and a half so everything was pretty well past it's prime. We finally stopped at about 2pm because we ran out of hot water. We'll go back on Monday to continue. BUT rumor has it there will be a dinner each month, plus the pig roast - a major social event up here plus bake sales and garage sales. Phyllis figures that the donations will not be as high this year with the economy being as bad as it is so we will bake our way thru the hard times.

I got home and Rejean had put the hardware on the doors and attached them to the cabinets. I still had one final coat on the tops to do. Do they every look good. I'll post a picture tomorrow of the finished product. I'll even put the granite counter top with the sink on the centre cabinet to get the full effect. The chrome knobs just puts the finishing touch on it. He also got the waterproof membrane in the shower so tomorrow we finish the cement board and lay out the floor before we put the thin set down. And so it begins.....

See ya By