 
# Adventures at Apple Jack Creek: Part One

by

Lonna Cunningham

Copyright 2011 by Lonna Cunningham  
All rights reserved.

Published electronically by  
Apple Jack Creek Books

ISBN 978-0-9878626-1-7

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

~~

# Adventures at Apple Jack Creek: Part One

In the spring of 2005, I was out for a drive in the country and saw a piece of land that simply _called_ to me. Though I couldn't have told you why I felt the way I did, I simply knew that I needed to live there. It was crazy, really: I wasn't looking to move to the country, I had no intentions of leaving my city life, but there it was. I let the idea marinate in my mind for awhile, and it simply would not let me go: this was a Leading I had to follow, and so, with more than a little help from my boyfriend (who is now my husband), six acres of cattle pasture became our home.

This book is a collection of the blog postings that chronicled the early days of the adventure: building the house, living in a shed during construction, dealing with scheduling problems, acquiring and losing animals ... I can't believe we made it through all that without losing our grip on sanity and each other, but we made it, and we are still here, loving our country life.

Enjoy the tale!

~~

# Contents

October 2005

November 2005

December 2005

January 2006

February 2006

March 2006

April 2006

May 2006

June 2006

July 2006

August 2006

September 2006

~~

#  Apple Jack Creek: 10 October 2005

One day when I was very small, I was eating Apple Jacks cereal at the breakfast table at my grandparents' house (my parents would certainly never have given me that sugary stuff!) and I thought how funny it was that the cereal had the same name as my grandfather, whose first name was Jack. I decided he should be called Apple Jack too. My parents tried to talk me out of it (I remember Dad saying, "what about Grandpa Jack?" and stubbornly refusing to say anything but "Apple Jack"). Apple Jack himself did not seem to find it problematic, and the name was adopted by all the grandchildren. He signed cards to us with a little picture of an apple, then his name. He was the best grandpa a kid could have—he loved us completely, exactly as we were, and always had time for us. When I was trying to find a name for the acreage, I went through a lot of different options and then, driving on the highway one day, this just popped into my head and I knew this was it.

This is the creek on the land. It essentially forms the south border of the property, and divides our land from the neighbour's. Most of the time it's just a little trickle, but in the spring it runs a little higher. Apparently there are beavers upstream, and their activity changes things for us. Standing down there by the creek on a warm day feels like standing in a holy place. I just love it down there.

First step was to get the land levelled for the house. This picture was taken in the early summer and shows the site for the house. We're standing at the north west corner of the site, looking south - the creek is back there in the trees. The lake is actually off to the left of the photo, it'll be visible from the kitchen window.

The house is a package bought from Allpro Building Systems in BC. The large windows will face south, for solar gain in the winter and for a view of the land. The north side (the back of the house) is just in off the access road, with enough space to build a garage between house & road and still meet county setback requirements. The siding will be a pale yellow, and the roof was supposed to be dark green but apparently that shade isn't available here, so I opted for a nice mocha brown. The deck won't be built at this point - we'll see how things go and decide what we want to do out there.

The Boy gets the loft all to himself - that's his bedroom, play room, homework space, everything. This arrangement means that I won't have to even look at the mess if I choose not to - the downstairs has to stay neat and tidy but if he has a disaster area going on upstairs, well, as long as nothing falls over the loft railing, I suppose it's manageable.

By the August long weekend, the shed (now referred to as The Cabin) was fit for human habitation. We got it all painted, shingled, and the furniture moved in. Believe it or not, in this tiny building there is a twin bed, a double bed, several shelving units, a portapotty, and a really neat sink from Canadian Tire complete with gravity fed water system. Oh, and a kerosene heater. It gets cold at night.

And for those who think my hour long commute to the city (each direction) must be long and painful, here is a picture of what I see in the mornings. I tell ya, this beats city rush hour any day.

We both find it really relaxing to be out at the acreage. There are lots of sounds, but not the busy sounds of cars and trucks and kids yelling and dogs barking - we hear the cows in the field next door, and the coyotes at night. Most mornings I see 3 white tailed deer hop across the road into the trees as I'm on my way out, and I've seen a pair of little red foxes up the road a ways. There are hawks overhead every day, and a killdeer (a little bird that looks a lot like a sandpiper) had a nest right on our access road - we even saw the little hatchlings. And then, of course, there is Duggan. Here he is sitting in his tire, soaking up the sunshine. He's gotten more accustomed to being outside - at first he was really confused, and panicked if we looked like we might be walking off and leaving him. With his own little dog run (complete with tire) he is more content now.

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# How firm a foundation: 13 October 2005

After several delays due to the rain, we got a big hole dug in the dirt, and started on the foundation. Footings had to be poured first, which meant laying out boards and bending rebar to go inside, then getting concrete poured into the troughs created by the boards.

The V you see here is the part at the front of the house where the fireplace goes. Once the footings were in place, the next job was to put up the foundation walls - this is just a crawlspace, 4' deep, not a full basement (a basement tends to just collect extra 'junk' and after emptying out the basement at the last house, I decided I really don't NEED that much space ... it collects stuff all on it's own!).

The foundation is made from special styrofoam blocks that are shaped to fit together like big Lego blocks. You fill them up with concrete, and voila, you have an insulated foundation. Getting them all in place took a couple of days (they have to be braced with wood so they don't buckle when you pour the concrete into them). Mom and Dad were here for two weeks working with Contractor Man (a wonderful, extremely helpful man who works so hard and does such excellent work ... and is perfectly willing to let my 9 year old help him with any job that seems reasonable for a kid ... he's just great). I have some really neat pictures of the day the concrete was poured - I'll post those when I get them off the other computer. What a messy job!

~~

# Walls: 19 October 2005

Last night, as I crested the hill just before my corner, I saw ... my house!

The walls went up yesterday. Tomorrow the interior walls will be put up, and then the big picker truck will come and assist with placing the higher pieces where they belong. Apparently the walls are very heavy - I was told that my construction crew would all like gift certificates for massage therapy after yesterday's adventures!

It's really neat to be able to stand inside (well, sort of) and see the shape of the house. It is like I thought it would be, and the views out the windows are exactly what I'd hoped for. I *can* see the lake out my kitchen window! I *can* see the corner from the living room window! Yay!

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# The Loft Begins: 23 October 2005

The interior walls got put in place on Thursday so now you can walk around inside and see how big the various rooms really are. It's still just amazing to me how high that living room ceiling actually is ... you stand there and look waaaaaaaay up - it's probably about 20 feet to the ridge beam from the floor. Quite impressive.

Anyway, once the interior walls were up, the loft floor could begin ... so The Boy's "room" is now started! He is very excited that he's the one who has the biggest room in the house. I won't know until we get the roof in place and the loft floor fully built exactly what I want to do for the loft railing, and how best to divide The Boy's room off from the rest of the house. At the moment I'm leaning towards custom built bookcases that make a 'wall', but that's a decision for later.

Now we're just waiting for the picker truck to arrive and put the high pieces into place. The rest of the package should be delivered at the end of next week. Contractor Man (seen below studying the laminated floor plans we received with our package) has some other commitments for the first part of this week, but we'll get back into high gear once the picker gets the upper walls and ridge beam in place.

The second truck load includes the metal for the roof, all the windows, and the insulation, so it'll really be a house soon!

Oh, and this week's headaches with the bank got resolved, so we'll actually have the funds we need to pay everyone for all their hard work.: ) Things are going quite well, I think, and I'm very pleased. I went and looked at wood for the walls yesterday - I've settled on cedar for the walls (unstained but sealed) and pine for the ceiling (bleached with a 'pickling stain' so that it is nice and light). With the chestnut stained floor (from Whiskey Flats Lumber) I think it'll be good. You can't have too much wood, really, although you can make it look like you're in a sauna if you aren't careful. I think with the variations in colour from dark to light, the different widths of board, and the variation in types of wood we'll avoid the sauna look. Guess we'll see - it's kind of scary making all these big choices, but at some point you have to pick a path and go with it. This feels like a good choice, I think I'll be happiest with it.

~~

# Dancing in the Dark: 24 October 2005

Well, just after I updated yesterday I got a call from Contractor Man - the picker truck could come at 4 pm! Okay, so everyone hustles out there and we start lifting things.

This is how the pieces are lifted. Some of them had to have holes drilled in them so we could put the straps through to lift them.

It was tricky to align everything. We had to lift it up, align it just so, and then sort of slide it down, and then hammer it into place. The guy with the hard hat is the son of the picker operator, and he had a test that he should have been studying for ... but he came to work on this job. I promised to pray for him on Tuesday when he wrote his test and I remembered to do so. Hope he did okay.: )

That's Contractor Man with the sledge hammer, or as Dad calls it, the "friendly persuader": he's persuading the pieces to go together. We did a lot of that on Sunday night. The guy on the other side is That Really Nice Guy who is so good to me (and to The Boy).: )

Below you can see the pieces sliding into place, just like they should be. There were only two pieces that had to be trimmed, by about a quarter of an inch, so that everything would go together: this one, and the one below it.

And last but not least, here's the front of the house, with the chimney pillars in place. We spent a lot of time aligning these and making sure they were level ... and then when we put the ridge pole in place everything went "CREAK!" and "KACHUNK" and things kinda shifted. But hey, it started off level!

We got the side walls in place while it was still light... then after darkness fell, we lifted the ridge beam into place. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, FOLKS! This beam is *huge* and very heavy. Doing this all in the dark was quite the adventure, I can tell you!

First they lift it, then we have guys on one end with a rope, swinging the beam back and forth until it slides into the pocket at one end of the house.

Then, very carefully and with many retries, we coordinate the picker truck boom, the guys with the rope, and me on the ground with the flashlights pointing at the end of the beam so everyone can see ... and kachunk, in she goes.

Now instead of looking like a church with an empty steeple, my house looks like a giant's toolbox - you know, the old fashioned kind you lift by the handle across the top. Two pointy ends, an open space, with a beam across the middle. Yup, toolbox.

~~

# Keeping the faith: 28 October 2005

Well, Contractor Man was busy for the first part of this week, and we were originally hoping to get the second shipment on Thursday. Apparently my door frames were delayed and didn't arrive until today (in Vancouver) and so they're just now figuring out with the trucking company when the next pieces will arrive. Probably Wednesday next week.

Anyway, today Contractor Man and an assistant (the usual assistant was unable to join him today) worked on The Boy's loft ... there is now much more flooring down, and the pony wall around one edge is in place. It's looking really good. I think they did stuff around the roofline as well, but I didn't pay enough attention to be sure. I was looking for the tape measure, which I seem to have misplaced.

Plumber Man was out this week and roughed in some stuff - there is a hole in the floor where the toilet goes (woohoo!), and another where the sink will go, and several other pipes sticking up from the basement at assorted intervals, as well as some wire (which is reportedly for the full house air exchange system). I think we should have a ceremony of some kind when we are able to do that first actual flush!

Our weather has been holding fairly well - it's been much warmer this year than some ... no snow yet, and heavy frost isn't even on the ground every morning. For this, believe me, we are truly grateful ... we may smell like kerosene, but we are warm! It really puts things in perspective when you find that you can live in reasonable comfort in a 10x14 foot space, with no running water, no central heat, no refrigeration (that's much less of a problem when it's this cold, I put the milk outside and let it chill overnight!). You start to think about how badly you really need all that stuff you think you need.

~~

# Last Load: 03 November 2005

The last load of material arrived yesterday, so we now have roofing, rafters, siding, insulation (yay, warmth!) and windows.

Today was spent squaring the house - Contractor Man had to climb up on the ridge beam on Tuesday and use a chainsaw to trim that long centre beam, as it was a bit too long ... that had to have been interesting! No pictures of that, sadly. Anyway, with comealongs, tow straps and chains and lots of checking with the level, they got everything squared back up again and started putting up roof rafters. Photos of that tomorrow!

The loft is finished and looks really neat. I had thought it had an open front with railings, but apparently the pony wall goes all the way across. That'll work out fine. It's nice and spacious ... The Boy continues to be impressed. We'll see if he's still impressed when the roof rafters are in place and he sees that his ceiling doesn't go all the way up except in the centre ... but then again, he hasn't had his big growth spurt yet so for a few years it'll still seem big.

Contractor Man has taken to calling That Really Nice Guy (who has taken time off his software development job to help with construction) "Union Guy", after hearing him comment one day (when lunch break was called at 2 pm) that he was going to have to speak with the union rep. Since then, lunch tends to be called a little earlier, and Contractor Man just asks me "Is that Union Guy available to work on Friday?" So, I think from now on we'll call him Union Guy. I think he likes the change of pace from building stuff nobody can see to actually hammering a building into place. Works for me, we can use the extra hands!

So our other really good news is that we have a roofing contractor. The metal roof needs to be installed by professionals, as it can be a bit dicey. Of course, I didn't discover this until last week ... so I sent out a few emails, and actually got a reply from someone who is - get this - available next week to do the work! Yay! That is exactly when we need them. They happen to be between two larger jobs, and I should get the contract faxed to me tomorrow. Yay! A roof!

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# Snow!: 06November 2005

Yes, we have snow.

The Boy and I are in town tonight, as Union Guy is working out there tomorrow, and can take The Boy to school in the morning, so we are enjoying the luxuries of central heat, running water, and electricity.

Tomorrow may be a bit cooler, but you know, snow's a great insulator too, so maybe if we get a layer of it on the roof it'll hold the heat in.: )

Here's the current plan: the guys are going to work on getting the roof ready for Roofing Guy, who is coming on Wednesday and Thursday. Digger Man is coming to do backfill around the middle of the week as well, and so that means that Natural Gas People can come and hook us up to the gas line shortly after that. After the roof is on the guys can put the windows in, and we'll be closed in hopefully by the end of the week or early next. If I can arrange it with my neighbour, we'll work on running power this weekend.

With any luck, we'll be indoors, with power and plumbing in a few more weeks.: )

Anyway, I thought in case you'd checked the weather and were worrying about us, I'd let you know we're warm.

~~

# Chilly: 07 November 2005

The snow stayed on the ground today, and the thermometer outside Union Guy's kitchen window says it is minus four. There were four people out at the land today working, and the roof is well on it's way to being ready for the roofer to put the metal on. We may be delayed some by the snow, I'm not sure yet, but Solar Power Neighbour and I hope to do some work on the house wiring on the weekend so I'm really hopeful we have some degree of cover up there (even if it is only roofing felt, that'll keep the snow out).

Fortunately we are in town again tonight, and it is supposed to warm up a little in the next couple of days. The Boy says that the cabin doesn't get completely warm, but it's not too bad as long as you have something on your feet.

More updates later in the week, we'll be out at Apple Jack Creek tomorrow night with our hot water bottle (purchased to prewarm the beds and keep us toasty at night!) and our warm layers of blankets.

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# Barn Cats: 10 November 2005

When we went trick-or-treating at Halloween, one of the houses we stopped at had several new barn kittens that were in search of new homes. Well, we have plenty of mice (leave a pile of lumber out for a day and it's got mouse turds on it, ick) but no barn. So, we said we'd be back and set about preparations. At Habitat for Humanity I found a cube that must have once been part of some office furniture - it's laminated with that typical office fake wood stuff - and last weekend The Boy and I cut a door in it, then insulated it with styrofoam insulation and a mylar emergency blanket (to reflect the heat back in). Tuesday night we went back to the house that had the kittens and picked out two from the four that remained. Here they are!

Their names are Diesel and Mikan ... Diesel is the calico, and she's called what she is because when she purrs she rattles almost as loud as my truck! Mikan is the Japanese word for Christmas oranges (if you get the actual Japanese ones, you can read it written on the side of the box ... well, if you can read Japanese, anyway). So, the orange one is called Mikan (it's pronounced meeee-khan).

They are absolutely adorable when they chase and attack one another, and they seem to have figured out that we are the Providers of Food Water and Warmth, and we're hoping they soon decide to decimate our mouse population.

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# Cabin Living: 10 November 2005

Contractor Man suggested that we post some pictures of the inside of our little temporary housing, so here they are.: )

As you can see we have made extensive use of the "stick a nail in the wall and hang something on it" style of interior decorating. The walls are panelled with paintable wainscot paneling (from Home Depot) and painted to match the exterior (simply because I had extra paint left over). There happened to be enough wide blue rubber baseboard available at the Habitat Restore to go all the way around, so we have that at the bottom of the walls (the panels were short by a few inches, and this solved the problem nicely). The silver stuff on the ceiling is insulation - keeps the heat in to some degree, although I would also have insulated the walls if I'd known we'd be in there quite this late in the year. The kitchen sink unit came from Canadian Tire - it's a demo model that was missing it's front doors so I got it for $99. It can be connected to a garden hose and used outdoors to rinse your garden veggies and so on, they call it a "patio sink". We run the waste water hose to a bucket hidden under the bookcase, and just have to remember to dump it periodically. We keep water in the blue water container on the shelf above the sink, and that gives us our "gravity fed water system". There's also a jug of water which normally has a pump in it and we use that for various purposes as well. In the very front you can see the top of the kerosene heater \- our life line now that winter is nipping at our heels.

At the other end of the shed we have the two beds, with a curtain between them so that the light isn't in The Boy's eyes when I'm reading after he's gone to sleep. The large blue thing on the wall is his Halloween costume - he was a jellyfish (it's a sunhat covered in silver tissue and then blue plastic, with lots of dangly blue plastic strips that hang from the brim). For those of you who've been to our house (or Mom and Dad's house) you may see the edge of a clock hanging on the wall ... my great uncle made it, and my aunt from Texas did the needlework that fills the little window at the bottom. It's nice to have pieces of 'home' around!

My clothes are hung on a piece of conduit hung from the ceiling, and you can see the fluorescent trouble light that we use for indoor lighting. That is powered by a large battery thing on wheels, which gets charged up on weekends and will easily power the lights all week (Union Guy dubbed this wonderful gadget the "juice box").

So this is where we live, it's really not so bad!

~~

# Fitting Dresses and Pulling Nails: 11 November 2005

It was a reasonably warm day, all things considered, and that's a good thing - the crew were up on the roof most of the day getting the "peak" at the front to sit exactly right. It was a lot like the final fitting of a body-hugging dress ... try it out, adjust a little, try it again, adjust it some more. By the end of the day it was there, and with just a little more tweaking we'll be ready for roofing.

This picture shows a good shot of that interior beam that we had to put up (see the "Dancing in the Dark" post) - it sure does look pretty. The spaciousness of the loft continues to surprise me ... no wonder The Boy is so excited about having all that space to himself! Even with the roof on, there's still a lot of headroom and floor space in general.

I spent the day pulling nails out of boards. I cleared up a lot of the lumber around the house, since we'll be getting backfill in early next week and that all has to be out of the way. I also pulled out the interior braces, knocked the nails out of those boards, and piled the lumber up for reuse on another project or somewhere else in the house. The inside looks a lot bigger now that the indoor obstacle course has been removed! The Boy spent much of the day feeding wood scraps to a fire.: ) Oh yes, Solar Dude (that's what The Boy calls him) came out and confirmed that we've got a good location scoped out for our solar panels, they won't be shaded by the trees or the house. Tomorrow, Solar Neighbour and I are going to start wiring ... it's getting closer and closer to being a house we can live in!

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# Snowing in my Living Room: 13 November 2005

Yesterday it snowed in the living room. It looked kind of neat, a few flakes drifting down through the latticework that is currently the roof. Here's an action shot of yesterday's adventures: The Boy standing in his loft (wearing his bike helmet as he had been out riding earlier), and Contractor Man climbing the stringers on the roof, carrying insulation up to the peak. He is utterly fearless up there, even with a 20 foot drop below him, it doesn't seem to affect him at all.He doesn't normally work weekends, but he came on Saturday so that we'd be ready for Roofing Guy who is scheduled to arrive Monday.

He's a very good man, Contractor Man.

Today began with the usual greeting from the kittens - they were sitting in the bedroom window when we arrived, and promptly raced over to say hello. While we got the fire going (keeps The Boy occupied, and burns up our scrap, and keeps us all warm, so it is a multi-purpose sort of fire) Diesel and Mikan were busy climbing all over us.

We worked on wiring this weekend ... Here is an action shot of Solar Neighbour pulling wire up through one of the the holes drilled in the floor. Plumber Dude was there today as well, working on the air exchange system and the in floor heating. He let me use his super duper big drill with the auger bit to drill the holes for the wires ... wow, does that thing ever eat through the wood fast! Of course, it also weighs an awful lot, and I really felt like a wimpy girl any number of times today. Still, we got all the holes drilled, all the outlet boxes mounted, and the wire pulled for all of the outlets at the front half of the house. Next weekend, we should be able to finish up .. and Solar Dude plans to come out and hook up the panels, so we may even have live power in a week. Cool!

This week should see a number of big events: the roof should go on, the backfill should be done (so we don't have a moat around the building anymore), the windows go in (and then we're pretty well sealed up!), the natural gas hookup should happen, and the septic system should be complete. It's very exciting. It sure is a lot of work - I hauled the lumber out of the way today and stacked it all up so that it'll be clear for the backfill equipment, and I'm worn right out. It's painfully obvious that I spend most of my days sitting behind a computer keyboard, not lifting anything heavier than a coffee mug.: S

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# Curiosity and the Cat: 16 November 2005

Well, we all know what curiosity did to the cat.

Mikan has, apparently, suffered that fate.

The crew was out doing backfill around the house this week, and the cats seemed fine all day. When The Boy went to let them in, though, only Diesel returned. There was no sign anywhere of Mikan. We suspect that he was checking out the trench and got backfilled in place.: (

So, we were left with one lonely and cold Diesel, who had nobody to help keep her warm at night and keep her company during the day. We went back to the place we got Diesel and Mikan, and there were 2 more kittens (from a different litter, so slightly older) who were still waiting for homes ... and we brought them home. At least now we are "resourced in anticipation of possible attrition": if we lose one more (heavens preserve us), the one who is left will at least have a buddy to keep him or her warm.

So, I now introduce to you our next two members of the acreage crew: Moke and Shadowcat.

Moke is the way that The Boy pronounced "smoke" when he was very small - there was a huge forest fire around the time he was 2, and the smoke drifted through the streets. "Moke, Mommy!" he would announce. So, the light gray and white cat is named Moke cause that's what she looks like. We struggled with finding a name for the lovely dark gray cat, and settled on Shadowcat because his stripes and dark coat would colour him perfectly for hiding in the shadows.

So, that's our animal situation for this week.

The house progress ... well, we have the roof going on today, and oi! I just remembered I have to call the Natural Gas people so they can fax me a work order. I'll go do that. More later on this same station....

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# A roof over our heads ... soon: 16 November 2005

Soon, but not today.

There was a mixup: the roofing instructions we were sent said put strapping up (not sheathing) on the roof. We did that.

The roofer arrived, and looked at the instructions that came with the roof, and said, wait, it says right here that this particular kind of roof has to go over sheathing, not strapping.

Oops.

So, Contractor Man, being the wonderful man that he is, is in the process of solving this problem for me. He and the package company guys (who are also really good - they admitted straight up that this was their mistake, and will cover the costs of fixing the problem) have some alternatives and he'll have more info for me soon. Basically, the preferred solution is to get the *right* kind of metal from somewhere local (it exists, we know this) as that's faster and easier in the long run than getting sheathing, installing it (a 2 day job) and doing all that work.

So, yet another delay, but hey, nobody's sick, nobody's dying, the weather is warming up for the weekend, we are comfortable and well housed in our tiny cabin, and really, it's just one more small glitch in the grand scheme of things.

It's disappointing, to be sure, but hey, things happen

~~

# And for this week...: 23 November 2005

We have natural gas hooked up to the pipeline. All three cats survived the procedure. Yay! Plumber Man can now come and hook up things indoors so we have HEAT!

It has been over ten degrees daily for the past few days. Wow.

The roofing materials will be onsite on Monday. Contractor Man will go pick them up and deliver them himself.

Windows and solar system support pillars will be put in starting tomorrow.

Bought all the light fixtures and two smoke detectors on the weekend. Whew.

Union Guy is out at Apple Jack Creek today: he built my bathroom sink cabinet from Ikea this morning (always a much bigger job than anyone anticipates, which is why I asked him to do it, instead of fooling myself into thinking I could just "get that done some evening") and says that he's had to take the cats out of his toolbox three times already, and that all the pawprints inside the bathroom cabinet are my problem.

And, since Union Guy is working tomorrow as well, I get to have a shower tonight and sleep in town.: )

~~

# All wrapped up: 25 November 2005

The house is Tyveked, and the windows are all in!

The guys worked hard today, I'm told that it's tough to decide if this was harder than putting in that ridge pole in the dark or not (see the Dancing in the Dark post if you don't know what I mean). Union Guy thinks this was tougher - the windows were very heavy and they had only one super duper suction cup thing to hold them with.

They made a sled to slide the windows from where they were stored in a big crate ... notice the gray cat sitting on Contractor Man's feet. That's Shadowcat - he'd just been told that there were no free rides, as he'd been sitting on the sled riding along!

Sure looks good. Roof comes next week, we're almost to lockup!

~~

# A really, really big tent.: 01 December 2005

We are now well past my "worst case scenario" for dates. I have to say it, Dad, you were right. It'll be almost Christmas before we are in. We were *this* close, and then that roof mixup happened....

On Tuesday, Contractor Man and Union Guy put a couple of big tarps on the roof, so I guess that makes me the proud owner of a really, really big tent. With solid walls.

Hmm, a soft top house? It makes working inside much more pleasant, and keeps the snow out so we can continue to work without a roof, but ya can't live in it.

The mixup with the roofing materials has caused serious problems: the roofer was available in a fairly tight timeframe - and he showed up as scheduled, only to find out that the roofing wasn't what was needed, and of course, we couldn't get replacement roofing that same day. Now that we have the replacement roofing, our roofer is busy on another job. He says he should be available in two weeks.

Yes, I know. Two weeks in December is a long, long time to be in a small shed.

I did look at other options, but they are insanely expensive: a winterized camper van is $100 a night, an ATCO trailer with a furnace is $2200 a month. So, the plan is to snug up the shed a little more. First, we'll get some floor covering down: I have a really nice rag rug type thing that I got at Rona a couple weekends ago for $25. I'm going to spread one of those emergency blankets on the floor and put the rug on top of it, and that should warm up the floor by the beds (there's quite the chill coming from under the beds, so this should solve that problem). Then, on the weekend, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and peel off the paneling and put insulation in the walls. We are just losing too much heat - the kerosene heater can keep the space warm, but we're heating the world as well and need to keep a bit more of it inside if it's gonna be minus 20. Which it is.

Unfortunately, not having a roof on the house delays a lot of other jobs too, but the solar power system is going to be installed (up to the point where moisture-sensitive components arrive) this weekend. Natural gas should be hooked up and metered by the end of this week (it's all hooked up, actually, and Plumber Man has requested an inspection I believe, so we're nearly there). Once that is done we can run the generator off of natural gas, so we'll not have to worry about running out of gasoline.

So, yes, there are delays, and yes, it's disappointing, and yes, it's cold. But you know, I'd rather have these complications and headaches than the kinds of complications and headaches that have been part of my life in the past.

I just got back from a trip to WalMart with long underwear for me and for The Boy, and a few new wool socks. Hot water bottles in bed at night make a world of difference. We'll be all right.

~~

# Oh, the power, the power!!: 10 December 2005

The solar panels are installed! They are generating power! Of course it isn't actually *going* anywhere, but hey. This is Solar Dude demonstrating the lovely solar panels. Aren't they cool? They are 150 watt isophoton 24 volt modules, so together they will generate approximately 600 watts per hour of electricity (under ideal circumstances). They are connected to the house with a big chunk of cable that cost $439, believe it or not. We got awesome batteries - there was a mixup in the order/supply process that resulted in 40% more storage capacity for the same price (Surrette, 1156 ah batteries for those who understand these things). They are stunningly heavy, though, four batteries at 318 lbs each had to be lowered into the crawlspace. Carefully. Slowly. Very, very gently. In the end, the system can handle 3.4 kilowatts of electricity per day. What that means is that with compact fluorescent bulbs in my light fixtures, a natural gas stove and a super efficient (and insanely expensive) refrigerator, I can live like I'm connected to the grid. Well, I do have to pay attention to my power usage, and run the generator every so often to top up the batteries, but it's not like we have to use oil lamps for lighting or anything.: )

So today's adventure was working on the wiring some more ... Solar Neighbour came out again and helped get the circuits all sorted out, and Union Guy rearranged his day so that he could help as well. Apparently Shadowcat thought that he should help too, he kept climbing into my lap as I was stripping wires and hooking up outlets. Yup, you read that right ... *I* was hooking up electrical outlets. Solar Neighbour is a good teacher - I spent most of the day wiring up outlets, and at the end of the day I started on light switches. By the time we headed back to the Big City, we had pretty much everything done - there's some small stuff yet to do, but the bulk of the work is finished. Huge thanks to our neighbour, who has rearranged his days to come and help and has done a lot of the work! Thanks, neighbour!

~~

# Equanimity: 14 December 2005

I'm working on cultivating equanimity in the face of continually changing circumstances.

This morning, Roofer Man tells me the soonest he can get my roof on is the second week of January.

I start thinking. I look into little ATCO Trailer rental units that have heaters. I think, you know, this is silly. I need a roof on my house. What if we put sheathing on and then the metal goes over that? Once the sheathing is on, we are closed in, we can get power hooked up, heat, water, everything. Insulation. Inspections. Money from the bank. Lots of good things.

So, I told all this to Union Guy, who called Contractor Man, who says this sounds reasonable. He is going to check with Roofing Company People and confirm that sheathing is ok with this kind of roof (well, we know it's ok, the question is do we have to put additional strapping on top of it or can it just go straight on the wood).

Contractor Man (God bless him) is available to put sheathing on the roof starting Monday. This week, he's bringing me stairs (no more climbing ladders to get to the loft!) and installing my exterior door (the cats will be annoyed that they can't sleep in the insulation piles anymore).

That's our update - we are warm, weather is still good, we actually stayed in town the last five nights ... it's gonna be a shock being home!

~~

# The only constant is change: 17 December 2005

Plans, of course, have changed again.

Contractor Man has done these types of metal roofs before, but we have a hugely steep slope, and he wasn't feeling like doing imitations of mountain goats if it could be avoided.

However, as things went on ... and on ... and on ....

It finally seemed that climbing up there to put sheathing on would be as much work as climbing up there to put the metal on! So, today, as I write this, the guys are out at my place in -18 C weather putting up the metal roof. Actually, I think they were going to finish the interior stairs and hang the exterior door in the hopes that things would warm up a bit by afternoon, and then they'd climb up on the roof.

Me, I'm in town, nice and warm, and surrounded by kids. Union Guy's kids are here, and The Boy is sleeping in (he certainly needs it, there's been a lot of chaos in his life lately, but that is a separate story). I'm being called to read books, so I better go!

~~

# Half a roof!: 17 December 2005

Half a roof is actually a really, really big step forward!

In the chilly -18 C weather, the guys got up on the roof, peeled off the tarp that was keeping the worst of the snow out of the house, and started putting the metal on. In this action shot, you can see how the roofing felt (it isn't felt, it's more like tar paper, but that's what they call it) gets put on first, then the metal piece goes over that. The metal is screwed down to the strapping, and as the pieces link together at the overlaps, that's pretty much all you have to do.

On Monday, they'll go back and finish the other side (there are some cutouts for vents and things so that'll take a bit longer) and hopefully get the exterior door on as well. Then ... voila ... we have a closed in house! In time for Christmas!

I have been singing "All I want for Christmas is a roof on my house", so it seems that wishes really do come true.

My deepest and most heartfelt thanks to the crew who worked to make this happen: Contractor Man (bless you, bless you, bless you), Contractor Man's Assistant (may you always have plenty of tea and milk), and Union Guy (there just aren't enough words to express my gratitude for this, and everything else).

~~

# Two thirds of a roof!: 20 December 2005

The guys worked hard again - on the weekend, Union Guy and Solar Dude did a bunch more work on the electrical, and yesterday, the Crew of Usual Suspects got more of the roof done. The east side of the roof has chimneys that had to be installed, and that meant cutting pieces out of the tin roofing, so it took quite a bit longer. Plus, everything on the second side has to be matched up to what you did on the first side. The roof should all be on by lunch time today, though! They are out working again this morning. Union Guy will stay for the afternoon and do more on the electrical - he really hopes to get power up and running soon.: ) I hear all my interior doors are indoors now too: apparently just unpacking them took two hours (not hauling them anywhere, it took two hours to get them *out* of the packaging that they were shipped in!). Union Guy says they are beautiful, which is good, I paid extra for them.: )

The Boy has his Christmas concert at school tonight, so after school he and Union Guy get to go out for dinner (yes, there are a few places to go out for dinner within reasonable driving distance of Apple Jack Creek), then we'll all meet up at the school and hear the Chimney Sweep sing his song (that's the theme for his class ... I have a feeling that Santa gets stuck in a chimney somewhere along the way.)

Further updates (with pictures!) tomorrow!

~~

# Merry Christmas from Apple Jack Creek: 25 December 2005

Merry, merry Christmas to everyone!

I was feeling kind of sorry for myself, being without a real "home of my own", especially as we are now really 'in between' - the cabin has been more or less emptied out to allow for washing all the laundry and sparing all the supplies from freezing, and the house isn't liveable yet. Then I remembered the people in the path of the hurricanes, who are spending the holidays in tents, knowing that all the things they had with memories attached to them are gone forever. My stuff is just in a storage unit - and in fact, I got my big Christmas bucket out, and we put our own stockings out and some of our decorations are on the shelves at Union Guy's house. We are really very fortuntate.

Of course, it is still a very stressful time, and I really don't ever, ever want to go through this again ... but with the help of the work crew, we are now officially closed in, some of the insulation is in place (we had to leave some gaps until the wiring inspection is done, but we are ready for that too!), the big monstrous black thing which controls the power (the inverter and all it's associated gadgetry) is mounted on the wall, and Plumber Man tells me that we should, if all goes well, have heat by the end of next week. The chimney is in for my woodburning stove (that's what the round thing is), the roof is all finished, right up to the peak at the front, and the pine doors for my interior doorways have been brought inside - they are even more beautiful than I had expected! Wow!

Clearly, it is the season of miracles.

Blessings on every hand that helped to make this happen!

Peace on earth starts in each home. May you have a peaceful day today!

~~

# Insulation and heat: 09 January 2006

Well, we have a lot of progress now!

The insulation is mostly in, and will be done tomorrow. We passed the preliminary electrical inspection with no problems at all, so we were able to just proceed with insulating and tomorrow will be vapor barrier. Yay!

Plumber Man has got the boiler in place and the in floor heating almost ready to go. The natural gas meter is on and we are ready for heat! By the end of day tomorrow we should have a closed in, warm house.

The cabin is ready for habitation again ... I need to do some cleaning in the house (the cats have been living in there, and the floors are in need of a bleaching) and I'd like to have the inspector come through and go away before I move my bed inside. However, we can use the electricity from the solar system to power the electric hot plate (that my friend's mom generously lent to me so many months ago) to heat our dinner, and on the weekend I used an electric kettle to heat water to wash the floors. I know it probably sounds weird to be all excited about this, but really, after six months of having power only from a battery on wheels, this is really a big deal.

And, as Plumber Man says, after heat is in place you can do water (before that you risk things freezing and bursting and that is just NOT good), so ... we must be getting close to having an actual toilet. Wow. And then a shower and a bathroom sink. Running water. Electricity. Heat. How incredible.

Contractor Man was looking for some pictures of them working on the roof with the lift truck: I hear it was his first time driving one of these things, you'll notice that his passenger (Contractor Man's Assistant) is holding on with both hands in these pictures.: )

This is how they got the roof finished, and Plumber Man (who is also Natural Gas Man and Fireplace Man) got the chimney installed on the outside of the house. I hear this was a most exciting day for the crew!

~~

# The warm glow of lights in the window: 11 January 2006

Last night I saw the most beautiful sight on the way home - I crested the hill, and saw golden light glowing from every window in the house. I grinned all the way down the rest of the road!

The Boy was inside with Contractor Man's big work light on, clearing up insulation bits and getting things ready for tidying up. We swept, mopped (it smells much more lemony in there now), had supper, and had a good sleep in the warm cabin. It snowed all night, and there's lovely white fluffy snow all over everything ... sure does look pretty.

Contractor Man is working again today, and I think (hope!) Plumber Man is coming to turn on the heat. Wow ... heat!

~~

# We slept in our house for the first time!: 13 January 2006

Last night, I decided it was silly to burn another $7 of kerosene as well as pay for natural gas to heat the house at the same time.

So, we moved The Boy's single bed, our buckets of clothes and food, and the fire extinguisher (saftey first!) into the house.

The twin bed is very small, but fortunately neither of us is too big yet, so we both fit and nobody fell out.: )

It was amazing to be able to get out of bed and walk more than four steps ... and in any of several directions! It was amazing to be able to spread out our blue buckets, lay out clothes on the two chairs, and boil the kettle to make tea and porridge. It was amazing to wake up in a warm building, without having to get up and relight the heater. It was amazing to open the door without having to hip check it and bust it loose of the frost.

It was even more amazing to lie in bed, looking out those huge windows at the full moon shining on the snow. Even more amazing was the shape that appeared when the moonlight reflected on the plastic vapor barrier over our heads: the way the folds and wrinkles in the plastic met the light made a shape that looked like an angel, with wings spread, shining over us in the night.

We have been blessed with the generosity of friends and neighbours and contractors and family and helpers and strangers. We have had angels watching over us all this time, we know it.

We've met some of them.

~~

# The next milestone: 14 January 2006

The Boy and I stayed in the house again last night, warm and cozy. I spent the evening staining pine boards for the ceiling, testing out the "Pickled Oak" stain for colour and intensity. It doesn't really do very much to the pine, although it brings out the grain and lightens the colour a little bit. Compared to plain unstained wood, it just seems to have a little more depth. I think that for the rest of the house I may want something a bit whiter, more like a true pickling stain. I'll have to get some different ones to test out.

This morning I put the pine boards I'd stained up on the part of my ceiling that is also the side wall of The Boy's loft, I think it looks pretty good. The pine will wrap down and under to the ceiling (which is the floor of the loft), and there will be pine on the angled part of the roof as well. The walls will be cedar, although I haven't bought any of that wood yet.

After that was done, I put the vinyl tiles down on the floor in the bathroom, which had been cleaned and swept for me by The Boy. He was really helpful today, sweeping up all the dust, clearing out the garbage from the crawl space, fetching things for me when I was up on the ladder, and generally being very useful.

Today, Plumber Man was out again working on the hot water tank and the well pressure tank. We still need a controller device for the well pump before we can have running water, but that is scheduled to arrive on Monday, so now when it gets here, everything else is ready. I am told that by Monday evening, we should have running water! How cool!

The biggest milestone today is that we have ....

(drumroll please)

a toilet.

True, we have no running water, but you can still use it - you just flush it with a bucket of water. The septic system is in place and everything is hooked up, so everything will go where it's supposed to go. This means I can tell the porta potty guys to come get their outhouse and take it away!

I am so very excited. By Monday night, I should (if all goes well) have running hot and cold water! And a toilet! And maybe even a shower, if Plumber Man gets that set up too. (The shower is the white shape you see at the bottom of the picture.)

~~

# The luxury of indoor plumbing at last!: 19 January 2006

We have indoor plumbing!

We have a toilet that flushes.

We almost have a sink, but a piece was missing from the package and Plumber Man will bring the replacement bit from his stash of gadgets and hook it up today. He did, however, install a set of laundry taps for me, so that I actually had running water last night as well as a flushing toilet.

Tonight, I'm supposed to even have a shower.

Plumber Man is officially my Favourite Person of The Week!

It feels like such absolute luxury to have these things. In our part of the world, we tend to consider them 'necessities' and take them entirely for granted. Next time you turn that tap, take a moment to think about how wonderful it truly is!

~~

# Tile: 25 January 2006

I don't like installing tile. It is hard work.

Yesterday I took the day off work and stayed home to work on the house. I did a lot of cleaning up: carting insulation down to the crawl space (so it's not filling up the kitchen anymore), bagging up the garbage sitting outside (and inside), and sweeping and tidying in general. Then I got brave and mixed up the cement stuff and started installing the tiles that go behind and around the wood stove. What a messy job! I used Contractor Man's brand new tile saw, which he kindly left for me to use, but I'm not really all that good at cutting straight lines on tile. (I wonder, is anyone? It's hard to do as they tend to chip off in odd places...)

The end result looks pretty good, though, and my mom tells me that grout hides a multitude of sins, so when that's on I'm sure it'll look even better. I'll post a picture after I recharge my camera battery.

The really good news for the day, though, is that the batteries were charged up to full with the generator, and stayed at green light status until well into the evening ... then when the sun came out yesterday, they charged themselves back up to full green light status without any help from the generator. The little meter on the inverter said that the sun gave us 1.9 kWh yesterday, which is pretty good for a winter day, I think.

~~

# Cupboards: 28 January 2006

This week, I started putting together the kitchen cabinets. They are from Ikea, and since whatever furniture I didn't inherit I seem to have purchased from Ikea, at least I have some experience in this particular area. Anyway, I got all the base cabinets put together and the upper corner cabinet as well.

Oh, the other intriguing news for the week is the refrigeration plan: originally, I had hoped to purchase a Sunfrost refrigerator, but they are about 3K and towards the end of a construction project the money tends to run low and 3K is harder to find than one might have expected (or about as hard to find as you might expect, depending on how much experience you have with construction projects). Anyway, Union Guy did some research, and has come up with a clever plan to solve the problem for a reasonable cost. A standard chest freezer (7 cubic foot) is fitted with an exterior thermostat that means it runs only a minute or two out of every hour, just enough to keep the interior at fridge temperature. Because you open the lid, the cold doesn't fall out like it does if you open a fridge door, although it's a bit weird digging for stuff inside. Apparently the wise use of baskets for organizing contents is very important. Anyway, the thermostat thing is on order and this weekend I'll go look at some freezers and see what I can find. The whole solution will cost about $400 instead of $3500, so right there, it's a done deal. And it uses less power.

Today I got one single board hung up in the bedroom ... not a lot done on the house today, but I was busy with The Boy's 4H stuff - we went to the SPCA and a pet store to tour and look at various animals and what it means to be a responsible pet owner. Walls can wait, I suppose, kids matter more.: )

~~

# Finally, some new pictures: 09 February 2006

Here we go, pictures!

This is the kitchen. Well, it's the corner cabinet and the sink cabinet, the freezer (fridge) is just at the bottom left corner of the picture. The black lump is Union Guy's jacket, sitting on top of the microwave/vent hood thing. We have been plugging that into the super duper extension cord and using it to heat water or dinner - my goodness, having a microwave opens up whole new horizons in cooking!

Next up, the bedroom: You can see that I've got one of the tall walls done, this is the wall between the living room and the bedroom. If you look closely you will see that I need to get some pretty wide trim to cover the seams here, as my cutting skills still leave a bit to be desired. (Please remember that the bedroom is the practice space where I'm testing out the various finishes and techniques!) I have just started putting ceiling boards on so that I could visualize the contrast between the white pickled pine and the golden wall colour. I think it's enough of a contrast that it looks good.

This is a lovely shot of my 'fireplace'. Well, the fireplace will go here, for now there's a candle serving as a placeholder. Last night I actually did the grout, it is all very dusty looking at the moment but the linen grout colour goes nicely with the tile, at least. It's an awful lot like filling holes in drywall and smoothing it over, I discovered, but I really don't like tile installation that much. I think I'll give Contractor Man my tiling tools once the job is complete, when I return his (fantastic) tile saw to him. He's welcome to keep the stuff - I have no desire to do any more tiling!

Last but not least, a picture of Union Guy. Well, sort of. He is hiding behind his birthday present, a lovely new frying pan. Yes, it's what he asked for.: )

~~

# A kitchen! We have a kitchen!: 20 February 2006

It's a long weekend here in Alberta, and Union Guy volunteered to come work on the house with me. Man, did we get lots done! He worked hard on the wiring - we now have light fixtures that turn on when you - gasp - flip a switch! You don't have to hook up the extension cord to the inverter and then plug the trouble light into that and drag it around the house, finding a nail somewhere to hang it on ... you just touch the switch on the wall, and voila! Light! We also have plug ins that you can actually plug stuff into now. Wow. It was hard work, but boy, is it ever nice.

I spent the weekend working on the kitchen. I got the cabinets put together, and mounted to the walls. I find it amazing that the little metal rail you attach to the wall is sufficient to hold those big cabinets up there, but it all feels remarkably sturdy. I still can't get the kitchen sink doors to hang straight, but with some finagling I'm sure they'll behave. What was very cool was actually cooking in the kitchen: we put the countertop on top of the cupboards, and then balanced the electric cookstove on another cabinet, and voila - cooking in the kitchen!

The other exciting thing is that we have a refrigerator: the widget arrived in the mail on Friday, just in time for the weekend. See that chest freezer, at the left of the picture? That's the fridge. The freezer is connected to a second thermostat which cuts power to the compressor when the inside of the freezer is about 8 degrees (or whatever you set the thermostat to). It was very simple to set up - just plug the freezer into the widget, hang the metal thermostat tip inside the freezer, and set the thermostat to the desired temperature. This is the most energy efficient kind of fridge you can get for $400CDN! The cold doesn't fall out when you open the door, and as an added bonus, there's room for a bigger cabinet over the fridge.

The other thing that happened this weekend is that The Boy got to sleep in his very own room by his very own self for the first time in six months. Well, part of it still serves as the dining area, but my goodness he has a lot of space up there! He has subsequently organized everything and tidied up - this is a picture of his room as a work-in-progress.

My bedroom is finally far enough along that the remaining work won't be impeded much by having my bed in there \- it's on casters and can be shuffled to one side if I need to work. Union Guy carried it downstairs and set it up (and then decided it was time for a break!)

With light switches, power outlets, some kitchen cabinets and a working fridge it is really starting to feel like a house now. We are still washing dishes in the bathroom sink, but Plumber Man is coming this week to install the wood stove and we may have the kitchen sink in the next week or so - that just depends on getting the counter top in place, and there are a few things that need to be done first.

All in all it was a very productive weekend - of course, my truck died this afternoon (fortunately just after reaching the city limits and not out in the country somewhere) ... I think the fuel filter got gunked up when everything froze. Diesel's can get a little particular that way. It's sitting at the garage, I'll talk to the guys tomorrow about repairing it, and in the meantime, Union Guy has a car I can use.

~~

# And the adventure continues: 24 February 2006

My truck died. Really died. I thought it was just frozen from the cold, with gelled fuel lines. Apparently the engine has seized, and diagnostics and research into options are underway. This has struck all the experts by surprise as nobody can figure out what would make a truck like mine do this sort of thing at this point in it's life cycle. The timing couldn't be worse - all my funds tied up in the house ... I mean, normally I would have a reserve fund for truck repairs, but things are a bit dicey when you are this close to that last draw for the mortgage. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be sorted out.

So, I have a rented truck for the weekend so that I can go pick up my stove. Well, one does what one must. Hopefully I can get my countertop installed, and then Plumber Man can come give me a sink and hook up my stove, and then we are truly on our way.

So ... the adventure continues. It's really just one thing after another, but you just keep taking one step after another and eventually you get where you are going.

I wonder where that is?

~~

# A kitchen ... with appliances!: 26 February 2006

Yesterday I rented a truck and went to Lacombe to pick up my stove (my mom got me a great deal on my appliances from her Appliance Guy, so all my things came from there, except the fridge). After that round trip I stopped at Union Guy's house and had lunch, then headed over to Home Depot to get some of the beaded pine plywood (for the ceiling) and drove out to Apple Jack Creek. Just as I was coming up the road, I saw Neighbour out for a run and asked him if he'd give me a hand unloading. He finished his loop and we got everything off the truck and inside - and I was able to get the truck back to the city in time to spare myself an extra days' rent.

Today Union Guy and I worked on the kitchen - we got the countertop installed, a necessary prerequisite for Plumber Man to come and install the sink and dishwasher. We did some fiddling with the floor plan layout to find the best arrangement - I was never quite sure if I would put the stove right next to the dishwasher, or over against the outer wall. It is a bit of a pain having the stove up against the wall, as you have to make the wall beside it fire resistant (meaning more tile, ugh) but that is where it ended up looking best. It's very useful to have a longish stretch of countertop, and I wasn't going to have much if the stove was next to the dishwasher.

The stove is a Crosley gas range that requires no electricity whatsoever. It looks a bit odd seeing a stove without a clock and timers and other electrical widgets across the back, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Anything that uses minimal power is a good thing!

I did take a picture of the wood stove - nobody can locate the glass door that goes on the front, so it isn't ready to burn yet. We have hunted all over the house, but the box that holds the door is nowhere to be found: Plumber Man is sure it was there, as he checked it off on the QA sheet, but we can't find it now so I guess we have to order another one. There is a fresh air vent that still has to be installed (that's the metal pieces you see to the side, they go underneath the stove and feed it fresh air from outdoors). You can use this stove with the glass door open - the screen which you see here is used if you are enjoying the "open fire". I am so looking forward to using this, I hope it gets up and running soon.

The other job I worked on today was staining some of the pine plywood for the ceiling - the pickling stain lightens it up nicely, we'll have to see what it looks like once it is actually mounted on the roof.

That's it for now, more updates this week!

~~

# Second coat: 04 March 2006

Today's job was to put a second coat of stain/sealant on the bedroom walls, and do part of the ceiling in the bedroom as well. The Boy helped by staining the white ceiling boards, and he did a fine job. I sawed and nailed and stuffed insulation into the ceiling, and then started the long job of restaining the walls. It doesn't really look like I did much, but the walls are more even and a richer colour. There are a few drip marks - it's not a pefect job by any stretch of the imagination - but it'll do fine.

This cottage grade 5/16 thick pine is a real pain to work with. It buckles and bows and twists and skews making it nearly impossible to have smooth seams between boards. This was a test, to see how well this stuff worked out ... true, it's only $5-7 for 14 square feet, but it just doesn't look or feel very solid. The rest of the house is to be done with 3/4" thick 6" wide boards, I think they'll be a significant improvement.

I *still* have my cough ... I don't feel as rotten as I did, but I do cough a lot. It seems to be making the rounds, I'm not the only one. Friday I took half a dozen lemons and a bottle of honey in to work, so that all the other people I have infected could enjoy lemon and honey in hot water along with me.

Hmm, I think I should go get some of that now.

~~

# More like home: 11 March 2006

Today really felt like a "day at home": I woke up early, but I knew I'd not go back to sleep so I just got out of bed and made myself a pot of coffee in the ancient percolator. I really like the blurping sound of the percolator pots ... it is the sound of the mornings of my childhood, in the days before drip pots and Starbucks. With the coffee on, I decided I was in the mood to try out the oven, so I mixed up a batch of peanut butter cookies, doing the best I could without a cookbook handy. They turned out all right - not as peanut buttery as they usually are, nor quite as sweet, but they tasted pretty good. I had one with my coffee for breakfast.

The Boy was still sleeping, so I got down to business and started on the plate rack. I got that built and mounted to the wall before he surfaced, and then spent the rest of the morning staining the pine plywood sheets for the ceiling while he did his chores. He helped me lift them on and off of the sawhorses in between his own jobs, and his help made working with the 4x8 sheets much easier. I wanted to get those out of the way so that I could begin the task of clearing up and reorganizing the main floor. I did get to that, and the house feels much more like a house than a construction zone. Well, it's still quite definitely a construction zone, but a more house-like one.

I did take a lot of pictures today, so that I could share the progress at Apple Jack Creek.

First of all, here are the kittens ... they are getting much bigger but still chase each other around and act adorable. I am hoping they will earn their keep in mice, but perhaps they intend to leverage their entertainment value in lieu of dead mice. We shall see.

The Boy was out today playing with the neighbour kids (the cousins). They made snow angels and had raced around, climbing and chasing. Here he is with the neighbour's dog, headed up the hill. I told you the snow looked pretty! This is what I see out my living room and kitchen windows ... I think it's lovely.

Today's big job was the kitchen. The plate rack is something I've wanted for a long time - I like the look of them, and I like having the plates so easily accessible. It's a bit of a luxury, I suppose - I mean, I could store more 'stuff' in the equivalent wall space of cabinetry, but this was something I really wanted. I've already asked for a new set of dishes for my birthday ... Ikea has a lovely set in blue that would look great on the wall. To make even more space, I lifted the microwave up onto the counter. It won't stay there, of course, it mounts over the stove as it has the exhaust fan built into it. At least now we have a bit more room to move around.

We finally brought the table down from upstairs, and now we can eat in the kitchen! This is a huge step forward: no more carrying plates and food from the kitchen to the loft, and The Boy can have his room to himself!

I also cleared up a bunch of the construction mess from the other end of the house (the living room). I moved the saw and sawhorses to the wall outside the bathroom (where the ceiling boards had been sitting), and then shuffled all the remaining bits and pieces of hardware and construction debris into a more efficient layout. If nothing else, I now have a better feel for the space, and what it will feel like to live in it.

This is me having lunch ... in my own kitchen. I made an omelette made with eggs from the neighbours' chickens, and sat at the kitchen table to enjoy it. Why does stuff taste better when you're at your own table?

~~

# Connected to the world: 18 March 2006

We are now connected to the world! We have satellite internet installed at home and, thanks to Union Guy's research, the cost was half of what I expected. The connection speed is noticeably slower than what I'm used to on cable, but it's way faster than dial up. The Boy will now be able to talk to me on MSN when he gets home from school, and I'll be able to update the blog from home rather than waiting until I am at Union Guy's place or making time for it on my lunch hour at work. Ahh, the luxuries of modern civilization.

In other news, I started working with the pine that I got from Kodiak Forest Products. Wow, is this stuff wonderful! It is sturdy and solid and handles like a dream. I've got 3000 lbs of 1x6 tongue and grooved pine sitting on Contractor Man's trailer outside under a tarp. The installation test is the bathroom: that's the next 'small space' in which I can test out stain colours and finishes and so on and decide if I'm happy with everything ... best to figure that out in a smaller space before I start on the main living area, I figure. Besides, it'll be really nice to have walls around the loo.

I got a new air nailer that handles 2" nails (Princess Auto, $30, works great). When the boards are up on the wall you don't see any of the nail heads, as the wood is thick enough that I can nail through the tongue, unlike that thin stuff I used in my bedroom. There's just no comparison with the 5/16th pine ... this fits together easily and has way fewer 'unusable' bits. I'd highly recommend it!

People ask me all the time why I went with wood instead of drywall. The primary reason is that I love the look and feel of the wood - it is warm and somehow grounding, good for the spirit. The installation does require more cutting and fitting than with drywall, but I think that in the end it requires about the same amount of effort to do either. Besides, I'd rather have sawdust than plaster dust, and once I stain and seal it, I'm done! No need to repaint in a few years. One of the other nice things about the wood is that I can actually handle the 1x6 boards myself ... a sheet of drywall is much too heavy for me to manage on my own.

The Boy helped out yesterday by putting stain on boards - we are using Watco Light Walnut, which is easy to apply with a cloth (a significant advantage for The Boy who finds brushes a bit awkward sometimes). We set up a couple of sawhorses, lift the 12' long boards up there and he wipes the stain on. He looks like a real construction guy in his Carhartt overalls and amazingly dirty white Sorels ... although the bright blue heavy duty rubber gloves do detract from the look to some extent.: )

The stain we are using is very light, but it warms up the pine a little and brings out the grain without making it seem dark. Oil stains are a bit of a hassle for cleanup, but nothing makes wood look as nice. I don't find it awkward to work with, either: you wipe it on with a cloth dipped in stain, let it dry (which doesn't take long), and then start using the boards. Once they are on the walls they'll get a topcoat of Verathane to seal the wood, and voila, we are done.

~~

# Finally, pictures!: 21 March 2006

Finally, pictures! This is The Boy on his birthday (and me, The Mom).

Union Guy and his kids made The Boy a cake ... we had three cakes in the space of two days, that's a lot of partying! The kids even decorated it themselves - there were a lot of sprinkles!

Here is a picture of one of the cakes: Union Guy baked, and I decorated ... I decided on a 'rural theme' to celebrate our first birthday at Apple Jack Creek.

We couldn't have a big birthday party, with our house under construction, but we did invite our Neighbours (The Cousins) to come for dinner. The Boy's new favourite meat is deer meat (which I can't just pick up at the grocery store ... and I've not yet taken up hunting). The neighbours were kind enough to donate some from their freezer, knowing it's his favourite - I have to say, it sure smells good (even as a vegetarian, I could tell!). In addition to the deer, we had ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, raw veggies and salad. It was quite the party! The Cousins were all invited to play piano in a music festival that evening, so they couldn't stay very long. We ate, the kids played, and then the musical ones got changed into their recital clothes (and we had some interesting hair adventures \- lots of static electricity and not too many choices in terms of hair products!). They headed off to their adventures, and The Boy played with his presents. After it got dark, Union Guy and The Boy and I lit some firecrackers - there are some fun things you can do much more easily (and legally) in the country.: )

And here we have a picture of the loo, now with walls. Well, partial walls. The upper walls are still made of cardboard (Union Guy finally got tired of the lack of privacy and grabbed a stapler and some packing cardboard to make "walls"...). If you look closely, you'll see that the book on the back of the toilet is the Farmers Almanac. You have arrived in the country when there's a Farmer's Almanac provided for bathroom reading!

~~

# A sad day.: 26 March 2006

When we pulled into the driveway today, something was lying in a pile off to the left. Closer investigation proved it to be the remains of Moke, our most curious cat - the one who would climb up any ladder that was left leaning against the house, and the one who was on best terms with the beagle. We have no idea what happened to her ... we were away for a couple of days, and by the time we got back ... well, there were crow footprints in the snow, but no blood anywhere. I have no idea what happened. She was near the car when we left, but I moved slowly so she'd have time to move away, and I don't think I got her with the tires.

The stranger thing is that Diesel and Shadowcat are nowhere to be found. They have just vanished without a trace.

It is very sad. We haven't even had them that long ... I feel like I must be a rotten caregiver to lose three cats with no evidence of what happened and only one left behind to bury! Never mind the one that got buried in the foundation only a few weeks after we got him!

I suppose that perhaps Diesel and Shadowcat may yet reappear ... but we are usually gone on the weekends, and when we get back they rush out to greet us. If they don't show up immediately, it's never more than a little while ... so, I am not very hopeful. I imagine their disappearance will remain a mystery as well. The Boy went out and looked for prints or other signs of life (or death, frankly) and found nothing at all. They are just ... gone.

I did get some work done inside today, at least - all but one of the bathroom walls are done. I do like the colour of the stain I've chosen, and I will use it in the rest of the house. Hmm, I'll have to stop and get some more of it tomorrow, I was at the bottom of the can today.

Oh, and I made pea soup on the stove today. It's so nice to be able to cook.

I'm very worn out from everything. I think I'll have some tea and read for a while.

~~

# One prodigal returns: 27 March 2006

Shadowcat returned this morning!

The Boy called me just before leaving for the bus to let me know. Perhaps Diesel will reappear today too ... that would be wonderful.: )

Just had to post that.

~~

# New Residents: 28 March 2006

Being a barn cat at Apple Jack Creek appears to be a dangerous occupation. Diesel has not returned, and we miss her very much. Shadow is doing fine though, and we have acquired three new kittens to add to the mouse crew. Here they are, with The Boy. We haven't quite settled on names for everyone yet...suggestions?

We have had great sunshine the past few days \- we have held steady on the battery power, meaning we are using almost exactly the same as we are gaining from the sun. This is great - free power! No fossil fuels burned to light our house! I suspect the warmer weather is helping significantly ... we don't have to run the heat pumps as much.

Oh, it's time to go read Harry Potter to The Boy ...

~~

# The start of the living room: 29 March 2006

Since I've decided I truly do like the light walnut stain, it seemed like today might be a good time to try out some boards in the main living area. Besides, I wasn't in the mood to move the electrical outlet in the bathroom (which has to be done before I can finish the one remaining wall in there).

Given that I felt like getting something accomplished, I unloaded a pile of boards from the trailer and The Boy helped me get them in the house. We had a quick dinner, then The Boy got his bike out and went to ride through mud puddles while I cut boards to the proper length for the loft wall. He came inside and read poetry to me (kid poems, the really funny kind about gerbils reproducing at an incredible rate, or making a pizza as big as the sun) while I stained boards and put them up. I usually stain the full 12' boards and then cut them, but tonight I felt like doing things in the reverse order. I also used a new stain pad for the first time today: they are much easier to use than a cotton rag, and I have decided they are worth the price. The pad holds more stain and spreads it more evenly than a folded or wadded cloth can manage.

I will bet that I'm the only person in my county who spent much of the evening listening to poetry and climbing up and down a ladder. It was nice having The Boy read while I stained a few boards then went and nailed them in place (I figure they might as well finish drying while nailed to the wall rather than somewhere underfoot). I did miss the bottom rung of the ladder once tonight, and landed rather ungracefully on my backside amidst a pile of cut boards. No significant damage resulted, though \- The Boy came and moved things out of the way and helped me back to my feet, and I just carried on ... although I was more careful where I placed my feet after that.

Anyway, we now have a bit of an idea how the living room will look when it is divided from the loft a little more. If all goes well, I hope to finish the other half tomorrow night, then we'll really have a good feel for the shape of our living space. The Boy's room looks much more like a separate room from upstairs now, too.

We've had great sunshine the last few days (3.8 kwH came in from the solar panels on Monday) and we were able to use no more power than what the Sun gave us for two days in a row, which was pretty cool. It's neat when you can run your whole house off the power of the sun - although until I upsize my system and add another set of panels and/or wind power, that will likely be the exception rather than the rule, especially in winter when the heating system has to run and we need more artificial light as it gets dark earlier. We do have the generator running tonight to top up the batteries (we got much less sunshine today), but it's been a pretty good week for sunshine, and that's good for a lot of reasons!

~~

# And here we are, on a Saturday morning..: 08 April 2006

Here we are, on a Saturday morning, with a slightly overcast sky and lots of work to be done.

The Boy had a sleepover last night with our Cousin-Neighbours, and is there playing Lego still, so all is quiet. With him gone, I was able to work late into the evening - clattering and banging and sawing and nailing.

I am about to embark on that adventure again but thought I'd post a picture of the other living room wall before I start. The boards haven't been stained yet, so they are a bit light yet, but you get the idea.

~~

# Hard work, but plenty of progress: 09 April 2006

This has been an amazingly busy but very productive weekend.

Let's see, what all did we do?

Well, Union Guy got the dishwasher hooked up and therby earned himself the Hero of the Day award. It's amazing how much time is actually spent washing dishes! It's so nice to be able to just tuck them in there, out of sight, and deal with them all at once at some point later in the day.

Union Guy also got the light in the hallway wired up: it has a three way switch so it was a bit different and required an extra trip to Home Depot to get the right kind of switch. Once we had that, of course, things were much simpler.

Also, at one point this weekend, I got the lazy susan installed in the corner cupboard. It wasn't as tricky as it looked from reading the instructions - once I actually sat down and just did it, it worked. It was a lot like knitting socks for the first time: the pattern looks daunting and nigh on unintelligble, but if you just trust the instructions and knit faithfully, you end up with what you were hoping for.

(There is probably some profound life lesson in there, but I'm not going to pursue it.)

I got boards up in the stairwell - not all of it, but you can't peek into the bathroom anymore, so that's an improvement.: ) The dog can't climb between the studs into the storage room under the stairs now, either, so the pet food is safe from marauding beagles.

Last night we visited with the Cousin Neighbours, the oldest girl had a birthday that we were helping to celebrate. We had a barbecue by the fire, and lots of caesar salad and potatoes and corn, and delicious carrot cake.

Today The Boy and I worked very hard: he stained the boards in the hallway, and I got wood on the inside of the loft wall, all the way around. The piece between his room and mine is also insulated, as the sound seems to bounce through that wall quite readily: I wake up several times a night hearing him brush his covers against the wall or kick the boards as he rolls over in bed. This should improve the peacefulness of my nights!

We also got boards on the wall behind his bed, up to the height of the top of the window. I was attempting to post pictures, but the lag in my connection speed seems to be interfering, so I'll try again tomorrow.

We were trying to get the upstairs ready as The Grandparents arrive next weekend (oh my how did it get to be nearly Easter already?!) ... and they will have to sleep on an air bed in the loft, so we thought it should be a bit nicer for them. My dad will know at a glance that it was a rookie doing these jobs ... he's much more of an expert at all this house stuff than I am, and actually so is my mom ... but they are good about accepting the efforts of a novice who at least has the basics down. Besides, trim hides a multitude of sins ... I'm counting on it!

I'm hoping my dad will tile the kitchen backsplash while he is here - he's

much better at that than I am ... hmm, I guess that means I should go buy tile!

At the moment, though I am filthy - sweaty and covered in sawdust with heaven only knows what stuck in my hair \- so I am off to hit the shower and then collapse into bed.

~~

# More wood...: 15 April 2006

We are not really paying much attention to the holiday this year, but happy Easter to all.: )

We've spent the weekend so far working very hard. On Friday, we did allow ourselves the luxury of sleeping in, then we worked on the chicken coop - half of the shed is being converted to chicken housing, so we got started on that: insulating the walls and raising the floor at one end (which will make it easier to muck out the bedding, as well as keeping it a bit warmer).

Friday night I worked on the walls inside the house - I got wood on the walls by the stove as you can see, and got it stained as well. While I had the stain out, I did a few other places around the house that hadn't been finished yet, too.

Today I worked on several of the smaller jobs \- there were a couple of places that needed long boards cut lengthwise to fit, so I got out the jigsaw and did those. While I was doing finicky cutting, I put wood up on the wall above the kitchen cabinets. I did go outside and get the more stable ladder for these jobs - the one that was already inside is terribly rickety and a bit nerve wracking to stand on.

As my parents arrive tomorrow, I also thought I should get things just a little tidier (mostly as a safety concern ... I know where all the bits and pieces are, but with guests in the house it should be a bit cleaner). I picked up the small bits of wood that are good for nothing but fire fodder and put them into a contractor's garbage bag, swept up sawdust and mud, and sorted through all the other bits of offcuts and leftover boards. The Boy did a wonderful job cleaning up the upstairs, and swept a massive quantity of dried mud from the front entrance. We are still most definitely an active construction zone, but not quite as dangerous a place as we were.

~~

# Spring Break: 23 April 2006

Yesterday was my brother in law's graduation: he now has a Bachelor of Arts degree, which is a major testament to commitment and perseverance! We counted it up yesterday - he has taken classes at six different schools over the course of seventeen years, endured two "dean's vacations", and made six separate starts and is now an official graduate. It is so great to see him so happy. He sure worked hard for it!

Spring break is over, and my parents have been here for the week doing all sorts of useful things. As you can see, we now have tile on the backsplash in the kitchen, and door handles on the cabinets. The microwave is also mounted on the wall, although we still have some additional work to do to stabilize it completely. The walls that are up all have stain on them, and the bathroom walls are almost completely finished. We moved the outlet and adjusted the height of the bathroom lamp, so with just a bit more effort we'll have that room all complete.

Dad just finished installing a handle in the trap door to the crawl space, and Mom is upstairs packing. We have had a busy week, but lots got done!

~~

# Siding started today!: 24 April 2006

Siding Man was here today and got LOTS done for one day's work!

It looks absolutely awesome. I hadn't really even looked at the colour of the siding since I picked it from a batch of colours on a website ... it looks like a Tim Horton's Iced Cappucino.: ) A lot got done today - I am really impressed.

It's also really nice to come home and have the sun still be up and shining, everything bright and starting to turn green.

~~

# Roses for no reason make a girl smile: 04 May 2006

I got a half dozen roses delivered to my office today: a gift from Union Guy for no particular reason at all, other than that he loves me. How cool is that, eh?

You can see them sitting on the table in the new and improved kitchen: note that the microwave is no longer supported by a 2x4 and the stove is actually pushed back against the wall! The microwave needed a shelf above it to support it, and I managed to pick one up on the weekend. Tonight, while Union Guy fixed electrical outlets in the kitchen, I stained the shelf, drilled holes in it, and mounted it to the top of the microwave and to the wall. It's all nice and sturdy now and the air filters may actually do some good when I'm frying things on the cooktop! I did notice that the lightbulbs that shine on the stove top are 20 watts each ... two of them are in there, that's 40 watts! Extravagance! I took one out so now it's half as bad ... but most of my lights (actually, all the other lights in the house) are compact fluorescents that use no more than 13 watts. I don't think I'll be turning that one on very often.: )

~~

# Overdue update: 09 May 2006

It's been too long since I posted, but I have been quite worn out and the thought of sitting at the computer in the evening simply more than I could take.: ) Here I am now, at least!

On the weekend, I got some of the walls coated with verathane, which actually makes the wood look quite warm and a bit shiny. I've used a satin finish water based verathane over the Watco Danish Oil finish and it seems to work out well. Once the verathane is on the walls, I can do some of the final 'finishing' work: in the kitchen I put up some additional shelves by the fridge, and found a wooden peg rack I'd picked up on one of my many Ikea trips, so that got stained and mounted as a place to display my prettiest and most frequently used kitchen implements. I have a lovely copper and cast iron ladle that Union Guy found for me, and a hand operated egg beater that my mother owned since I was a little girl ... I like being able to see them all the time, and I actually use them, too.

Sitting at the kitchen table and looking out the window at the pile of lumber that used to be the 'barn' (or livestock shed, or whatever it was before my parents knocked it down in the interests of public safety), I thought to myself "that looks like a free supply of lovely aged wood". I wandered across the field and found several nice looking boards, beautifully weathered, which I decided to use as trim around a couple of the windows. The bathroom and The Boy's room now have barn board window trim ... I am not entirely sure that I like the look, but I think I do. When I consider the price, I generally decide that I like it a whole lot.

Union Guy came out this weekend and helped immensely with all the work that had to be done. We did a lot of the 'high work' in the living room, so the front wall is about 3/4 covered now. We also finished the north loft wall (the wall in The Boy's room that goes all the way up to the peak of the house): all the boards are up and stained, and the trim is mounted around the window. Union Guy also did a bunch of electrical work and got lights mounted on the south wall (the big living room wall with all the windows). They look quite warm, and I really like them.

We've been having some fireplace troubles (it pours out smoke into the house, even with the door shut and the fire buring low), the air exchange controller has stopped listening to instructions (it runs all the time whether you want it to or not), and the shower still has hot and cold set up backwards. Plumber Man is coming this week to see if we can sort out these details. I sure hope so, I miss having a fire.: )

~~

# Successful trim experiment: 10 May 2006

My Cousin Neighbour's house is all done with plain trim - just 2, 3 or 4 inch flat pine, stained and finished. I did have 'normal baseboards' that came with the house package, but with the 6 inch pine boards on the walls, the 2 inch standard trim looked a little ... well ... I suppose "weak" might be an appropriate descriptor. It just didn't seem to have the solidity to accent the big boards, so I thought I'd try out some flat 3" pine trim.

This is the result of the preliminary experiment in my room: it actually doesn't blend in quite as much as it seems to in this picture, but with the flash and the backlighting things kind of wash out a bit. Regardless, I think that in the rest of the house I may want to try a darker stain so that the trim stands out a little more and doesn't blend right into the wall. These windows will be covered in drapes for the most part anyway, and besides, I didn't have any other stain handy. ;) One more small job, tackled and done!

~~

# Surprise Sheep for The Boy: 10 June 2006

First, the background.

Next year in 4H, The Boy wants to participate in the Sheep Project. He'll raise a lamb for market (or maybe a ewe, there are a few sheep options) - he has to take care of it all year, feeding it and doing all the proper sheep-care type things. We have a great sheep leader and the kids who were in the project this year really seem to have enjoyed it, and The Boy just loves sheep (as, of course, do I). So, we need to be ready for sheep come fall.

In addition, we have six acres of grass that needs someone to eat it. So, hopefully we'll have a few sheep around here to act as lawnmowers eventually. At the moment, of course, we're kind of busy building a house, and all that kind of thing. Still, before fall we need some sort of sheep shelter and a safe enclosure.

One night about a week ago, just after Union Guy located fencing for me, I was surfing the livestock listings (I do this regularly... just cause...) and what do I see but a babydoll southdown ram lamb for sale, in Rimbey (by Red Deer). He's $100. Normally these little sheep go for about $500 for an intact ram.

So what's the big deal about a babydoll southdown? They only grow to be 24" high at the shoulder full grown, so they are 'lamb sized' forever. Lots of people keep them for pets or lawnmowers, orchards like them cause they're too short to damage the vines, and well, they're cute.

Anyway, The Boy saw pictures of these sheep on the web and absolutely fell in love with them. He really, really wants one of these sheep, but at the price ... well, his first 4H lamb is not gonna be a $500 sheep! He was quite disappointed by this, but accepted the financial reality and decided he'd save up for one for later.

You can imagine what happened, of course. I immediately emailed the lady about this sheep ... his name is Master Jack, of all things, of COURSE he belongs on Apple Jack Creek! I was the first to email, and she put him on hold for me. I arranged to pick him up Saturday. I hadn't told The Boy of this sheep's existence.: )

The problem is, at the time of the purchase, we had no fenced in area yet, and sheep by themselves are miserably lonesome. So, I needed a paddock, a shelter, and a buddy.

Union Guy and I worked last Sunday and fenced in an area by the chicken pen and the shed with page wire, so we have a paddock. We told The Boy it is a fence for the garden, or maybe, if we haven't got something else in place by then, his 4H sheep can live there (we finally had to say that, as we nearly blurted out something about 'sheep' several times and didn't want to risk discovery!)...

A shelter we can rig up quickly, we have enough lumber.

However, a buddy was a problem.

Monday night was the 4H livestock auction - the kids sell their market animals at this auction, so our sheep leader was there. I explained my problem and she said she'd check her flock and see if she had someone who could come live with us, she was sure she'd have a lamb or an older ewe ready to go .... whew. I'd find out on Wednesday.

Wednesday night, at our 4H meeting, one of the girls in the sheep club told us about her market lamb - her grandpa bought it at the auction and then gave it back to her, but she doesn't want to butcher it! So ... she sold it to me, quietly, out in the hall while her mom kept an eye on The Boy to make sure he wasn't coming ... still, The Boy knew NONE of this was going on. I've seen this lamb (she named it Mint Jelly but I suspect we will call it something else!) and it's so cute: it has a black face and black legs and very soft fleece.

The Boy was quite stunned when I said, "This one's a minisheep, the kind you like.

It's yours.

I bought it for you."

He just stood there, silent ... then said "really?"

"Yup."

"Cool."

When we got the sheep loaded into the truck, I asked him, "What is the one thing that every sheep needs?" He knew the answer: "A buddy." So, I told him about the other sheep, and what the plan was.

So, we drove home and got Master Jack unloaded and into his paddock, and The Boy stayed home and cleaned out the shed while I took a load of trash to the dump and picked up Sheep #2 (it doesn't have a better name yet, and I refuse to call it Mint Jelly!).

The sheep are now both in the paddock, and a quick shelter was put up against the round bale (two long boards with a piece of plywood nailed to it makes a marvellous lean-to). They've got a bucket of water and enough grass and dandelions to keep them occupied for a long time.

The Boy says that I'm a great mom, which is cool. It was fun organizing the surprise for him, and watching him enjoy the animals is all the reward I need.: )

~~

# One year into the journey: 30 June 2006

One year ago, actually a little more than that now, my house was sold and I was officially on this new adventure. One year ago, my dad and my sister and her inlaws and Union Guy were out here working on raising the shed that The Boy and I lived in for several months - which now houses my chickens and assorted tools and oddments. One year ago, I still believed we'd be all finished by now.: )

Well, we aren't all finished, but we continue to make progress. Tonight I sorted through the pile of lumber in the living room and found the first floor boards for the loft (each piece is labelled, so it is like putting a puzzle together). One long piece is now installed upstairs, by The Boy's bed. It's slow work, but not particulraly difficult. It's the kind of job that you can do a little bit and then stop, but still feel like you accomplished something.

The Boy left for Gram and Grandpa's place a week and a half ago: sounds like they are having a good time. I do find the place very lonely without him here, though! His report card arrived: Honours with Distinction, meaning over 80% in each of the five core subjects. His average was 87%. Way to go, Boy!

On a sadder note, earlier this week we had a livestock crisis: the sheep escaped from their pen and wandered so far that I could not find them. I hunted through my whole acreage, the hayfields on all sides, even up to the pasture land across the road. No sign of the sheep. I called, I shook a bucket of grain, but I heard no reply. I was heartbroken. They had escaped rather regularly at one point in the past, although they'd never gone far \- we'd tightened up the fence and added a row of barbed wire along the bottom where they'd gotten out, and this held fast for more than a week. Then, Tuesday night, I came home from work and they were completely gone. I hunted and hunted and eventually went to bed, listening all night for the familiar bleating, but it never came.

Wednesday, Union Guy drove down the road a bit, just to see if he could see the sheep. Sure enough, there they were: Master Jack was alive and well, but Mint Jelly had succumbed to fear/stress/heat/something and was no longer with us. With a great deal of struggle, I managed to convince Master Jack to come home. It was so sad to watch him struggle to return to his fallen companion, and to have to fight against his instinct to stay with the rest of his flock, small and still though it may be. Eventually, he accepted that we had to leave, and came more willingly. Once he caught sight of his pen, he bolted for it and seemed releived to be back in familiar territory. Since then he has been a bit lonesome, but he seems to have adopted me as his substitute flock companion for now: he will come when I call him, graze near me if I am outside, and follow me back into his pen without any fuss when it is time to go in at night. Occasionally he stands on the deck and looks in the screen door at me. I try to talk to him lots when he is outside, and call to him so he does not feel too alone.

I struggle, of course, to overcome the guilt: if only I had realized there was another weak place in the fence, and put barbed wire all around ... if only I had come back Monday night to check on them, perhaps they would not have gotten so far away ... if only I had gone into that field by the road, perhaps I'd have gotten there in time ... but of course, this kind of thinking doesn't help. Some lessons are just learned the painful way, I suppose.

I told The Boy what had happened, and apologized for not taking more care to keep his sheep safe. I cried and said that although I cannot fix what happened, I can fix the fence so it is tighter and more secure, and we can build a proper pen and shelter before fall for his 4H sheep. The Boy was so kind to me: he said, "It's okay, Mom, you did the best you could. It's sad, but we really thought that they were safe there. At least Jack is okay." I have been blessed with a very kind hearted boy, and I love him very much.: )

I have started the search for more sheep: we want to get a ewe for Jack and breed some Babydoll Southdowns for The Boy's project, but that may not happen for awhile yet. I am investigating some of the heritage breeds for a lawnmowing/fleece/market lamb flock. Just a little at a time, though ... at this point, Jack seems to be coping okay, so I have time to think carefully about the best route to take. And to improve the fences some more.

So, all in all, it has been a rather tiring week. To top it all off I am struggling with some rather vague ailment that leaves me with a sore stomach and an aching head, and I had to see the dentist this week to get a filling put in, so my jaw feels like someone punched me.

Still, life is good and we are fortunate. Right now I am going to go enjoy the good fortune of having a warm comfortable bed to lie in.

~~

# "I have three sheep now!": 05 July 2006

That is what The Boy had as his Messenger tag earlier this week.

On Monday I went for a 2 hour drive and picked up a ewe and her ewe lamb to keep Master Jack company. The ewe is very small - she is only about 80 lbs and maybe 3 or 4 inches taller than Master Jack (who is a miniature breed) so we are thinking that perhaps she'll prove a suitable partner for the breeding project that The Boy wants to undertake this fall. The new sheep are crossbreeds of some kind - nothing in particular, just a grass eating wool bearing 'mutt'. The lamb sure is adorable, though!

They are both still a little skittish, but they are rapidly learning that I am the nice person who shows up with grain and water, and they do seem to get along fine with Master Jack. They have somewhat goofy names - Cookie (the mama) and Bubble (the baby) - and I would not be surprised if The Boy decides on something a little different.

The improvements that have been made to the fence seem to be working - at least everyone was safely inside when I got home tonight. It is true, however, that yesterday Union Guy got here before I did and found that the lamb had escaped from the enclosure. The fence certainly holds the bigger sheep, as only the baby was outside the fence (it is about half the size of Master Jack, so it can sneak through a much smaller space) and the mama certainly tries hard to stay close to her baby! Fortunately the lamb did stay close, just grazing on the opposite side of the wire. Getting her back inside was a problem though - the lamb didn't know Union Guy at all, and refused to come to him for grain or anything else. He ended up chasing her around the yard while the mama hollered and fussed from inside the pen, wondering about this big crazy person who was chasing her baby around. In the end, Union Guy lassooed the lamb with a rope! What a cowboy I've found, eh?

This morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I heard Duggan growling at something outside. I looked out and saw a deer walking up the trail! It looked right back at us, and proceeded to calmly walk across the far side of the property, just along the edge of the trees. I do love living out here. I have all the benefits of camping - wildlife, fire pits, birds singing, coyotes howling - and I can have a hot shower and sleep in my own bed when I've had enough of the outdoors!

~~

# Just another reason to love Union Guy: 15 July 2006

Union Guy found an antenna for the cell phones, and brought it out today. It significantly improves the reception on the phone, which is a good thing.

After seeing the picture, he suggested this post be titled "Who's the goof on the roof?"

The siding is all done now, and looks really good. The siding guys found a wasp or bee nest up in the peak of the house and had to go on a field trip to buy insectiside spray so they could finish! They're all done now, and we have eavestroughing, soffit, and all the siding. It will be wonderful not to hear they Tyvek flapping in the wind anymore.

My task for today was installing flooring in the loft. It is actually much easier to install than I expected it to be: there are several steps to the process, but none of them are actually difficult. For those of you just tuning in, I'm using wide planks from Whiskey Flats Lumber rather than the more common varieties of hardwood flooring. I love the old fashioned look of the variable width boards and the visible screws (which look like nails unless you check closely). The floor is one of my designated luxuries, although in reality it won't cost me very much more than prefinished hardwood from the local Home Depot (this stuff is costing me about $6.50 a square foot).

To install this kind of flooring, you have to measure and mark the places to put the screws, then drill the holes over the marks, get the board into position and put the screws in. A carpenter's square, a pencil, two drills and a bag of screws and you're good to go. The worst part is digging through the pile of lumber in the living room to find the boards I need! I think I moved every board today in search of the ones I needed. However, I am very happy with the end (well, interim) result - check out the picture in full size.

Once the floor is down and sanded, it'll be stained with black walnut stain. This picture shows three of the four wood finishes that are in use in the house: the light walnut on the walls, the golden pine on the doors, and the black walnut on the floors. (Those are just a couple of pieces of scrap flooring, stained with two coats of Watco Black Walnut and pushed up against a wall so I could see what it looked like). It is actually a bit darker than what you see in the picture, the flash washed it out a little. I like the contrast: I purposely wanted a very dark floor, medium walls, and a light ceiling. I think having the colours move from dark to light makes the room feel more 'grounded' somehow.

~~

# Bob the Dog is now on duty: 30 July 2006

Today we acquired a new staff member on our acreage: Bob the Dog is now on duty.

Bob is an Akbash-Maremma cross, bred as a livestock guardian. He was born on a sheep farm, and then lived on a cattle farm with one of his littermates, where together they kept an eye on things and harassed the neighbourhood coyotes. They were bought as a pair because coyotes can take on a single puppy, but won't try two pups together, and there was a substantial coyote problem in the area. Now that they've grown up however (they are 3 years old now) only one is really needed, and Bob was 'underemployed'. Through a series of emails, I found out about him ... asked some questions ... and decided he was likely a good fit for our acreage. The Boy and I talked about it too: a trained LGD is a significant investment, equivalent to the purchase price of at least a couple of sheep, but we decided it was worth it if it could prevent the loss of lambs. The very last thing we need is to have The Boy's 4H lambs killed by coyotes!

Union Guy and I went today to meet him and his Person, although from phone calls I already knew Bob was almost certainly what we needed. We arrived and discovered that (in addition to belonging to a very nice Person) Bob was nicely even tempered: he happily lets you handle his paws, put your hands in his mouth to check teeth, and didn't question our presence, as his person had indicated we were okay. We packed him up and brought him back to Apple Jack Creek, where I was prepared for some hesitance on the part of either dog or sheep ... and got absolutely none. I took him out of the truck, walked him over to the sheep pen, and put him inside. The sheep looked at him, he looked at the sheep, and then he went and walked the boundaries of the pen to check out the area. That was it. I kept waiting for someone to freak out or get all skittish, and nothing happened. So, I got the pitchfork and shovelled some straw into the dog kennel we had moved into the pen (thinking we'd need to pen the dog near the sheep, but keep them separate for the first day or two until everyone got used to everyone else, but that was clearly not needed). The pen can provide some shade from the sun and shelter from the rain (which we have been having the last few days) as it's covered with shade cloth. We also shifted the position of the temporary sheep shelter to lean up against the kennel, and that will give a bit more room to hide from the elements.

Once we get the fences up around the full perimiter, we will just turn Bob and the sheep loose in the main area of the acreage, and at night (or in the heat of the day) they can snuggle into the new sheep shelter that Union Guy and I built. I used to worry that they would be too 'exposed' and that the coyotes might get them unless they were penned securely every night, but with Bob on duty, I am not afraid of that now.

The Boy is going to paint this shelter when he comes home ... it is made from leftover lumber from the house building project, and roofed with leftover metal roofing. Oddly enough, we found one piece of roofing that is bright green - the house is roofed in brown, and we aren't sure where this came from. I think it got blown into the yard one day ... but hey, we'll take it! It was exactly the size we needed to finish the sheep shelter roof.: )

So, things are progressing here ... it'll be really nice to have an outside dog on duty, I've known since I moved here I needed one ... but the right one just now showed up.: )

~~

# Sheep in the pasture: 31 July 2006

Today was Bob the Dog's first full day on duty.

The sheep and Bob were left in the small pen for the day, and Bob barked goodbye as I drove off to work.

When Union Guy and I got here tonight, the three sheep were still in the pen ... and Bob the Dog was not. He was sitting on the ground, like a guardian sphinx, just outside the gate. I have no idea how he got out, but he did it ... and then sat there, guarding his animals. This is very cool.

The Boy and I had previously put in most of the t-posts we need for our perimiter fencing, but the fence itself had not been unrolled and attached. Union Guy and I did a 'quick and dirty' perimiter fence tonight: the fencing is all unrolled and 'tacked' to the posts, although it is not tensioned or even tied well at the bottom. It's a "suggested boundary" that wouldn't keep a determined critter either in or out, but with 6 acres of enclosed grass just waiting to be eaten, I do not think the sheep are very interested in escape. I let them out to graze every day, and they have gotten the hang of their 'grazing area'. They will wander off towards the road if they happen to follow a path of their favourite weed that meanders down into the ditch, but when they hit a fence, they just turn and follow it along. Now, with Bob out there with them, I am not very worried. They could still run off, I suppose, but nothing's likely to spook them with Bob there.: )

For the record, we will be tightening the fences in the next week, so this is just a temporary measure. I keep looking out the window to see how everyone is, and they are all together and seem quite content.

Bob followed us around as we worked - it was actually a really good way to show him where the boundaries are. He marked territory (including the tire of my truck...) and kept one eye on the sheep as he wandered. He seemed to know right away that the fences are the 'edge': he ran up to the fence, then followed it for awhile, then came back in to the center.

We put straw in the new sheep shelter, and fed them their grain in there tonight. They were a bit confused, thinking they were supposed to go in the pen (which they can't get into now) ... but they came when I called them (after they saw the grain bucket!), ate their oats, then wandered off to the hill to graze some more. Bob just follows them around, and lies down when they find a place to nibble on grass. He is the picture of equanimity, just keeping an eye on things and staying nearby.

So far, so good. I think this was a good idea.

~~

# Bob: MIA: 08 August 2006

Bob the Dog disappeared sometime Saturday night.

At bedtime, I let the beagle inside from his last run of the evening, and Bob was there by the door, looking interested in the house. "Get with your sheep," I said, and he trotted off towards them. I closed the door, and all was quiet for the night.

In the morning, there was no Bob.

We waited, thinking maybe he'd gone out on patrol and would be back. By lunchtime, I was getting worried. By evening, I was very worried. We went out looking twice during the day and asked at several neighbours' houses, and nobody had seen him. We left contact information in case anyone does see him, but it is very odd for a guardian to disappear for such a long time - and when have you known a dog to miss two meals?

As of today, Tuesday, he still has not appeared.: (

I am heartbroken - again. I feel like everything I try with the animals works out badly ... I lost so many cats ... then the wether lamb ... then Bob. This time, though, I really don't think I did anything wrong - I mean, he was doing very well here. He stayed with the sheep, patrolled the area, and Saturday during the day I even walked over to the neighbour's land to tell them Bob was here (in case he frightened their little dogs), and Bob stayed nicely on his own side of the fence, just watching me, and occasionally looking back over his shoulder to check on the sheep. He had figured out his boundaries, and I was very pleased.

He had his supper Saturday night, was out doing his evening patrol ... and vanished into thin air.

With the long weekend, the road's been busier than usual, so it is possible he wandered down to the highway and got hurt (but we did check the ditches). We also heard from the man baling the hay down the road that there are wolves in the area (!) and Union Guy has seen a bear not far from here. Perhaps Bob was killed in the line of duty. I suppose he could have just decided he didn't like it here any more ... We hadn't known him long, but I don't think he'd just disappear for no reason.

I suppose we will have to list his official status as Missing in Action.

~~

# Two Bob sightings! 08 August 2006

A neighbour was just here (looking for missing cattle) and told me that Bob was sighted yesterday and today, near his house.

He lives a LONG way from here - our best guess is that Bob was out patrolling, found the highway, and followed it.

I went down to the place he'd been seen, but could not find him. I did leave my number with some people, though, so there is hope.

He was headed in the right direction, anyway \- he's west of here, and had made it a bit closer east when he was seen today. Neighbour had tried to get Bob to come close enough to read a tag (which he hasn't got anyway, haven't gotten to that yet!) but Bob was shy. At least now he knows whose dog he is and will call if he sees him again.

Come on, Bob, you can do it ... keep heading east!

~~

# Flooring Step by Step: 08 August 2006

I thought it might be neat to show how the flooring is installed, step by step. For those just tuning in, this is wide plank flooring from Whiskey Flats Lumber.

The very first step is to cover the floor with roofing felt. This provides a vapor barrier to help keep the wood from expanding and contracting too much.

Next you lay down the boards: each board is labelled with a room and row letter combination, and these codes match up with a floor plan map which Whiskey Flats provides with the flooring. This map tells you which width of boards you are using for the next row and ensures that you don't run out of wide boards partway across the living room. The hardest part of the job is sometimes finding the board you need in the pile!

When you are ready to put a row down, you leave a gap between the first and last boards and the wall to allow for expansion. When you are partway down the row, you butt each board right up against the previous one. The ends are all cut perfectly straight at the factory (well, I hit one board today out of the whole batch that wasn't, and I just used it as a row starter instead). The last board in a row will have to be trimmed to fit.

Using a carpenter's square you mark the places you'll put the screws in, evenly spaced across the board. On narrow boards you only need 2 screws, wider ones need 3, and the very wide boards (like this one) need four. You work your way down the board, marking at evenly spaced intervals (about 12-18" apart). Doing the math to figure out the spacing of the screws is the most time consuming aspect of this job!

Once you have it all marked, you predrill the holes using a drill bit with a countersink attachment. This makes small craters where the screw heads will go. I use two drills: one with the drill bit and one with a screwdriver head. It's easier to switch drills than to constantly be changing bits.

Once the holes are in place, you push the board up tight against it's neighbour and put black drywall screws in each hole - the black screw heads look a lot like nails when you are done, so it adds to the 'heritage' look.

Once it is all laid, you rent a big floor sander and sand it mostly smooth (not totally smooth, or it'll look boring - we want to preserve those small grooves between the boards, but we need to remove any surface dings that may have been inflicted).

Clean it up, stain it, seal it.

Voila, a floor!

Here's an image of the work in progress:

~~

# Miracle of the Week: Bob is found!: 09 August 2006

Today I followed up on Neighbour's sighting of Bob, I stopped at a few houses and left my number hoping someone would see him and call.

It worked!

The lady at one of the houses I stopped at was heading out and saw him sitting in the ditch. Her husband caught him, they called me, and Bob was tied up when I got there - looking very bedraggled and skinny but no injuries.

He wagged his tail with relief when he saw his sheep and the home pen. He sniffed at everything and lay down in a heap of exhaustion. He hasn't even had a drink or anything to eat - I'm sure he'll decide to do that in a bit.

Oh, what a huge relief to have him back. St Francis, patron saint of animals, must have been watching out for Apple Jack Creek this week!

~~

# A chick hatched!: 13 August 2006

After two unsuccessful attempts, we finally had a hatching!

Okay, so there are still about 15 eggs sitting in the nestbox, and none of them have pipped or made any noise, so our success rate is still pretty darn low.

However, we do have one live chick, hopping around following it's mama.

Of course I have no idea how to tell if it is male or female, other than to wait and see if it starts to crow or to lay eggs!

With our luck with animals lately, I'm not overly hopeful that this chick will live long enough for us to find out ... but we can hope! I've set up a few 'hiding spots' that the chick can get into but nobody else can, and he (she? it?) has run in and out and seems to be checking things out. Mama Hen gets VERY irritable if you get close to the chick - she fluffs up so big she looks like a turkey!

In the heat of the day today, they were in the shade, with the little chick nestled under mama's wing.

Psalm 91:4

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

~~

# More progress on the floor!: 13 August 2006

The flooring is now down in the kitchen, under both the stove and the fridge. I put foil bubble insulation between the subfloor and the hardwood underneath the fridge, to block the in floor heating in that area (no point making the fridge work any harder than it has to).

I stained the boards under fridge and stove, just so that when it comes time to sand and stain I don't have to move those appliances (I'll still have to move them when it's time to put the sealant on, but one less move is a good thing).

This is what the floor/walls/countertop/cabinet colour combo looks like! You'll get a better view if you click the picture to expand it.

~~

# Junior Staff Member: introducing McKenzie: 13 August 2006

When Bob went MIA, we were seriously worried that he would not be found. As I do risk management for a living, we now have a succession plan in place.: )

A junior staff member has joined us as Bob's apprentice sheep guardian - meet McKenzie:

McKenzie is a purebred Great Pyrenees, a very common sheep guardian dog. They grow to be absolutely huge - he will be bigger than my Akita was, but since he will always live outside with his sheep, I won't have to worry about him putting his nose on the dining room table!

Bob, as senior guardian dog, is doing a good job of training the new recruit. Actually, McKenzie shows a very strong instinctive need to be near the sheep - which is exactly what we hope for! He was born in the pasture to sheep guardian parents, and spent the first six weeks of life with no contact from humans at all. When the pups were six weeks old, the people went and took them from their momma (who apparently did not object), and housed them in a sheep barn where they learned that people are the nice big creatures who bring you food! As humans we spend very little time with the dogs, so that they will bond closely to the sheep. The hardest part of raising a puppy like this is resisting the urge to pick them up and cuddle them!

Union Guy purchased McKenzie for me as a present.: ) What a wonderful gift! It's so great to watch this little ball of fur following the sheep around the pasture on his tiny little legs, or sleeping as close to the sheep as they will allow, or trying to convince Bob that playing would be lots of fun (Bob just ignores him when he gets like this).

So far, things are working out well: Bob tends to look after the bigger picture, sneaking out under the perimiter fences to check the area near the house and occassionaly the neighbours' land as well, and he barks when he sees or hears anything potentially threatening ... McKenzie just patters along after the sheep, staying close to them and looking like an adoring cherub. As he grows, he will start 'guarding behaviours', like marking territory and learning to bark at specific things. By Christmas time he should be starting to show a lot of these behaviours, and he'll be much, much larger!

It's true that at night it is sometimes noisy around here ... but the deep woof of Bob's bark is very comforting, and I'm learning to sleep through it. It's much nicer than the yip and howl of the coyotes, which wakes me and used to leave me worried that the sheep or chickens were in danger of imminent attack. With the dogs on duty, I just listen for their bark and know all is taken care of!

~~

# A successful wedding!: 05 September 2006

My best friend got married on the long weekend, so that kept us quite thoroughly occupied for a couple of days!

There was a lovely service on Saturday at a very old local church, and The Boy served as an usher. One of the duties of the usher is to ring the bell at the start and the end of the ceremony - the other usher, a cousin, did the bell at the start, and The Boy rang it at the end of the wedding as the happy couple walked out the front doors. The gentleman from the church was helping The Boy pull the rope, but he let go when he discovered that The Boy has farm kid arms!

My friend and her husband wanted a fun outdoor barbecue type wedding, more like a family reunion than a typical wedding reception. We had amazingly good weather - bright sunshine and no rain - and a fun group of people including a lady who did face painting and another who organized crafts for the kids. It's the only wedding I've been to where there was a pinata filled with candy and an outdoor fire pit with marshmallows!

All in all it turned out beautifully, and we wish them the very best of happiness!

~~

# And for the rest of the weekend...: 05 September 2006

... we worked hard.

Union Guy and The Boy worked on acquiring more firewood. There are several slash piles in the vicinity, and Solar Neighbour graciously loaned us his chainsaw to tackle them with. In the hot summer sun, Union Guy sawed off fire sized logs and The Boy loaded them into the truck bed. We plan to rent a splitter a little later on and share it with Solar Neighbour so that both of us can have a nice pile of split and stacked firewood. Most of it will still be too green to burn this year, but it's good to get a head start for next winter.

While the boys were outside in the sun, I was inside on my hands and knees staining the floors. I got the bedroom floor done one day, and the loft done the next. The dark walnut stain (Watco Black Walnut, actually) looks really good on the pine flooring, although it is a bit washed out in this picture. The wood has a lot of variation in it that you don't really notice until you've got the stain on the floor, but I really like how it brings out the grain of the wood.

I went to the Greyhound today and picked up the sealant that will go on top of the flooring: the guys I got the floor from use this industrial grade stuff on the installations they do and highly recommend it. I have to let the stain sit for several days to finish drying before I top coat it, but I am very anxious to have real floors! Once the flooring is done, I can start bringing in some furniture at last - we will still have to move things around a bit to do trim and such, but we'll no longer need to sit on lawn chairs and keep our socks in Rubbermaid bins. Woohoo how exciting!

~~

# Finished floors!: 13 September 2006

We finally have finished floors!

Okay, the stairs aren't done, but the rest of the house is laid, stained, sealed and topcoated.

Do you realize what this means?

WE CAN HAVE FURNITURE!

Yes, we'll have to move things around to do the baseboards, yes, we still need a second coat of topcoat in the kitchen, yes, we still have to do the ceiling and things will be in the way a little but still...

My socks came out of a dresser drawer this morning instead of a Rubbermaid bin - first time in more than a year. The Boy has bookshelves for his Lego and his books and his treasures, many of which elicited happy exclamations when they were brought out of the boxes they've been hiding in. I am, at present, sitting in a very ancient and very comfortable old chair with an actual floor lamp beside me. There is a table by the window holding several plants. My rocking chair is beside it. This weekend, we should be able to bring the couch home! Soon we'll be able to empty out the storage unit and get that bill off the monthly accounts ... and use the money to buy baseboards and window trim instead!

These things probably seem remarkably mundane and ordinary, but when you live out of bins and wade through sawdust and wear steel toed boots in the house for a year, it really is a big deal.

Aaaah. Home.

~~

# Life in the country: 27 September 2006

Life in the country is slower than life in the city.

You've always got a long list of things to do, but somehow, it's okay to just pick the one you feel like doing next and do that.

~~

_And thus ends the first segment of our Adventures at Apple Jack Creek. Bob and Mackenzie are still on duty guarding the sheep, Union Guy and I got married (so his title was upgraded to "The Reluctant Farmer"), and things continue on, little by little, day by day. The house is still a work in progress, but it's had an addition built (with the addition of The Reluctant Farmer and his two kids to the household, our original space wasn't big enough), and we have more animals, slightly better fences, and lots of adventures, which you can read about on the_ blog _, where these stories were originally posted._

Adventures at Apple Jack Creek: Part One 82
