Somehow I managed to be at home the day the insulation arrived. More than 60 bags of it were dropped off at the site and had to be hauled into the house. Fortunately it came in on pallets, so Rob was able to move them closer to the doorway, using the tractor, which saved us some manual work.
Rob tried to rig up a pulley system that would move the bags up onto the second floor, but it soon broke, and obviously needed some adjustment, so we settled for piling it all in the future guest room, and kitchen, and then the next day he fixed the pulley system and moved as much as he could upstairs.
The tricky part was to make sure that none of the piles of insulation would block Rob's access to where he was working on installing the plumbing. And to leave room for the arrival of the drywall.
I was sure that we had every single plumbing part that we needed - it seems like we've spent hours in the plumbing sections of numerous building centers,and have hauled home bags (and bags!) of black plastic pipes and fittings in various sizes, but I was wrong. Several times before or after work, I would be visiting the local hardware store, clutching a list of yet more needed parts. The whole plumbing system took some figuring out - but eventually - we got it done.
Well - sort of done. The pipes that remove water and ummm "other things" are now all installed and hooked up. We still need to install all the pipes that bring the water to the various sinks, toilets, tub and shower. Below is a photo of the mudroom, and the set up for the washing machine.
The guest bathroom plumbing is seen in the photo below. Yes - if you are a guest here, you will have your own bathroom., with a toilet, sink and shower. Hope you love German Shepherds though...and cats. Lots of cats.
Our bathroom is in the photo below. And all that sawdust ? Well, that is the result of drilling through the studs, which meant more trips to the hardware store in search of a more perfect drill bit. (Apparently the drill bits last longer too if you don't hit nails with them.)
A couple of days before Christmas, the drywall arrived. We had a short delay in the delivery date due to rain, but soon had a clear day when they could deliver. I was home when it arrived, but had luckily made arrangements to pick up some food supplies from a local farm, so couldn't offer any help. I was there though to document Rob bringing in a sheet to add to the first half of the load in the dining room. It looked like heavy work!
So, with batts and batts of insulation sitting there, and 100 sheets of drywall, and the pine boards for the ceilings, and the stain "wash" that we are going to apply first to those boards - well it would seem that Rob has his work cut out for him this winter. He is once again spending lots of time re-reading the entire electrical code book too, as it's time to get the wiring done as well.
With Christmas approaching, he did take time for a quick visit with family and friends a couple of weeks before Christmas. And with the amazingly mild weather, we both took some time off for good long walks around the property.
Two years ago at this time, the fields were piled with snow. This year? Not a flake. We did get lots of foggy, misty mornings though.
We both love the rich green moss that grows on the forest floor, and can't believe we are still walking around on this moss, and that we are still wearing fall coats and shoes. The snowshoe hares may not be as pleased. We get glimpses of them as they run through the bush, entirely visible as they have turned white for the winter, and there is no snow to camouflage them.
The beaver waterways are deep and wide open right now. Usually this time of year we are walking on top of them as they would be frozen over, except for the occasional hole where the beaver would smash through. The plant in the foreground even looks like it's greener and growing again. I read on a nature group that I follow that some people are hearing spring peepers. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
With family living in St. Catharine's, we've seen more than our share of green Christmases there. But it was strange to have a green Christmas here.
Shortly before it arrived, I had the opportunity of visiting a nearby farm to pick up some of our wish-list food supplies. A big shout out to Moonlight Crofter's farm !! I usually order my tourtiere from them via a local food co-op, but I was unable to make the pick up time. On the off chance that I could get one from them directly, I contacted them, and was told they were sold out. But they immediately emailed me to say they had enough filling for one pie, and would make me one if I was interested. We had bought their pie last year and it was divine - both the filling and the pie crust, so we quickly said "yes please!". Two days before Christmas I found myself at 9 a.m., inside their incredible round stack wall house (yes !! round - almost like our sweet old dome!!) They welcomed me in, and set about offering other farm fresh goodies (along with kind offers of breakfast and coffee). In addition to the tourtiere, I was able to pick up 2 dozen farm fresh eggs, some delicious home made sausage rolls, a frozen heritage chicken, and 10 lbs of organic carrots. O.k. 10 lbs is rather a lot, but I wasn't sure how much to ask for. And when they offered to go pick some exquisite ones out of the garden (on Dec. 23rd - really?) I was thrilled. (I did decline the various squash they had - I am beginning to feel like I need some kind of squash intervention, but later on I did lament that decision). I got a lovely tour of the farm, saw some of their highland cattle and free ranging chickens and various garden beds, and took a nice walk up past some pretty horses at a neighbour's farm, to pick up my frozen chicken and sausage rolls from a second location. Driving home, I just kept thinking how incredibly fortunate we are to be living in this amazing place, and how much I absolutely loved being at that farm. And later that day, when I headed into town, and the local grocery stores for the rest of our weekly groceries, I must say that I really thought a lot about that farm - how hard they work to supply a few basic items, and how much I preferred being there and seeing where my food was coming from. A lot of food for thought I guess....
Christmas Eve brought high winds, power outages, and record high temperatures. I came home to find Rob removing downed trees from a nearby path. On Christmas Day Rob and I checked for damage in other areas. We were sad to see one half of a giant pine tree snapped and lying on the ground.
Rob took some time and secretly wound some LED lights around a small tree in front of the new house, and powered them up using our small solar panel. We sat in the new house, enjoyed a lovely local ale, and looked out the window at our pretty little tree. Ah - who needs Martha Stewart?
On Christmas Day the weather was cooler, but still well above normal. We spent almost all day outdoors, walking around and even enjoying a bit of sunshine. Neither of us wanted to be indoors. The weather forecast was for snow and ice pellets in the coming days, and we wanted to enjoy every last bit of the warm temperatures.
And now Christmas has come and gone, and we are approaching the end of 2015. I took some time over the last couple of days to look through the blog, and looked through some of our photos. Sometimes it feels like we haven't accomplished much, so it's good to look back and see just how much work we really did get done.
I also found some photos that I'd set aside for the blog posts but never posted. So here's one of them. Rob took it one day this fall after discovering a small weasel was hanging around the steps to the mudroom. Shy but curious, it suddenly struck this great welcoming pose !
As always, the blog allows me some time to look back, and some time to look forward. I have a feeling the next couple of blog postings will be interesting, as there will be a lot of changes inside the new house. Who knows, maybe this time next year, we'll even be living there! Maybe....
We'd like to wish everyone who follows along here, a very Happy New Year, and hope everyone has a healthy and peaceful 2016.
