Little Axle, Healing Chairs, and Renovations

At the end of my previous blog posting at the end of June,  I mentioned our hopes to finish our exterior siding, and then perhaps move on to some bathroom renovations at the cabin during the summer.  I must admit that at the time I wrote that, I didn't really think it would all happen, and that we would be lucky to get the siding done!  

At the end of June, Rob was also furtively spending a lot of time in his workshop just prior to my birthday, and even went so far as to post a sign on the workshop door that read "No Stinky Girls Allowed!" Nice.  So I knew he was trying to build something as a gift for me as well. 

But then, the wind surely got knocked out of our sails, when our sweet little cat Axle had a seizure for the second time.  Our vet had already prepared us for what this meant, and at the age of 20 with advanced kidney disease we knew that the number of days he would be with us were diminishing.  Always full of surprises though, after laying limp in our arms for a couple of hours and being unresponsive for most of the evening, he greeted us the next morning with a series of loud meows, and was more than ready for his usual breakfast.  We assumed that he wasn't quite himself though, so booked him in for another vet assessment.  Just minutes before we left for his appointment, with doubts in our minds and the hope that he would be with us forever, he had another seizure, and we knew it would be his last.  With thanks to our sweet vet who helped us through the difficult decision, we sadly had to say goodbye.  We returned home to the emptiest of houses.  Rob and I were almost unable to think of a time when our lives have not been filled with the presence of amazing cats and dogs.

Axle came to us by traveling underneath a farm pick up truck when he was just a small kitten.  He hung on underneath the truck for several kilometers before he dropped out in front of our fiery food store and took off like a shot.  Rob set up a live trap and managed to capture him after a short while.  We took him to our vet for a check up and were surprised to learn he had burned his little paws during his truck ride.  Axle seemed like a perfect name for him after his truck riding ordeal. He joined our three other cats and gentle giant dog and settled in to his new life in no time. 

Axle was a little peace maker, always wedging his way in between the other cats when there was an altercation, head lowered and ready to snuggle up with which ever cat most needed it.

For 10 years he allowed me to easily administer twice daily insulin injections for his diabetes, before he simply stopped being diabetic.  He surprisingly outlived our other three cats, and our German Shepherd. Despite a few rather dire prognoses in the last few years, he rallied and enjoyed his life, especially those days when he could sleep in the sunniest spots in the house. 

He developed a love for a lick of butter, a touch of yogurt, and the occasional small bite of cheese.  He was seldom far from the dining table when we ate! 

Each June the vet would ask for a photo of Axle on his birthday and we always sent a pic along to them. I think we were all amazed when he made it to the age of 20.

After Axle passed, I decided to paint one of our chairs as a tribute to him and his "siblings", Leon, Sita and GB. I call it the Cat Tribute Chair, and as I painted it and stamped words and stories on it about them all, it brought back lots of sweet memories.  

When he was a kitten I made up a little song for him and over time I added a few more lines, but the basic song went like this:

"I rode in under a pickup truck, you know I burned my paws, I was down on my luck.

I dropped out at the liquor store, ran across the street couldn't take no more.

Chilly Chiles heard there was a kitten about, so they set up a trap and they waited me out.

I got hungry so I jumped in and a whole new life was about to begin." 

So I stamped his song on the chair as well.

I think it was a good way to help process my grief, and I can't help but smile when I see the chair now each day.  I was reluctant at first to recover the cushions, as I wanted to hold on to the deeply cat scratched fabric forever, but I was also working on three more chairs. Eventually they all got stamped, and painted and it was obvious that the cushions needed to be reupholstered.

My original plan was to set up on the screened in porch of the cabin, where I could spread out my paints, brushes and stamps, and quietly work on the chairs while enjoying the views of the forest, and the river outside. Rob was just finishing up on the siding, and I was content to use the time to think about what I wanted to do, and how to go about it.

The siding job was progressing quickly and in no time the back and side of the workshop was completed.

The porch area of the shop is still unfinished as we ran out of wood siding, and will have to decide if we can buy more, or whether to choose something like metal siding for this area.  We stack firewood here in the fall and winter, so we just aren't sure what would work the best. We will have to do some thinking about this over the upcoming winter.  Rob trimmed all the bottom edges of the newly installed siding, and the ones that needed doing around the house, and it was an amazing feeling to be able to suddenly say "Done".  

No sooner did Rob finish the siding (with almost no fanfare or celebration!) than he showed up at the cabin and began to work on the cabin bathroom renovation.  As he pulled out the old tub, sink, vanity and drywall and began to fill the porch with building materials, I fled back home to the quiet of my studio there. This turned out to be a wise choice! After years of surviving "building" we were about to be reminded about what it is like to be "renovating".  And in a rather small space.

The bathroom in the cabin had a tub, but no shower, and for years we had talked about removing the drywall, installing proper waterproofing and tiling the walls around the tub and getting a shower head installed.  In fact at one time there was a shower head, and on occasion people visiting Rob's Mom had been known to simply step in the tub and use "the shower" not noticing that there was water flowing everywhere, so we had removed the head.  After much discussion, and even polling a few friends on their opinion as to whether they would prefer a tub or shower in a bathroom, we decided to remove the tub altogether, and install the roomiest shower stall that we could, given the small space, and angled low ceilings.  I think this is the last photo I took of the existing bathroom before we started to work on it.

As much as we loved the octagonal window, we both agreed that it had to go.  To open and close it, the screen had to be removed every time, and it was slowly degrading.  As well, the shower was designed to go in this space, so a more waterproof window was required. The tape across the window in the pic above shows roughly where the new window would go.

It was a pretty little bathroom, but there were a few things that were meant to be "temporary" some 30 years ago when we first built it.  That vanity was one of them! Rob's Mom had tucked a little white wicker shelf under the sink to hold some bathroom items. And there they remained all this time.  Rob began the job of dismantling the bathroom and suddenly it looked even smaller than before.

The first job was to put in a new window.  We actually found one on at a discount window and door location, and drove east of Ottawa to pick it up, hoping it would work as planned.

After finishing the siding at the new house, I was sure that Rob was done with having to use scaffolding, but I was wrong!

As with all of our projects, we spent lots of time researching techniques, materials, and methods of installation.  I am sure we wore out our welcome at our favourite tile shop, looking for appropriate tiles, flooring etc.  We had to make a trip to Ottawa for some specialty shower products, and ordered some online.  We tried to buy anything we could on sale, and made use of any materials we had on hand to keep costs down. We even had a light fixture tucked away that we were able to use.  Luckily too, we know an excellent tile installer !  There was a bit of a learning curve for a few items like the shower pan though.

I would love to say it all went smoothly.  But I think we ordered four different shower taps as the first three were defective.  One sink arrived damaged, and we ordered the wrong size toilet seat.  (Who knew?) We picked two different floors and discovered neither were appropriate for a "three season" house.  As we close the cabin down every winter, the temperature drops inside to the same temperature as outside and all the floors we chose had specific temperature ratings.  Oddly enough the one that would work ended up being the very first one that we saw and liked, but we had dismissed it thinking that the colour wasn't right!

We had to have the glass shower doors delivered as we were no longer driving long distances in our truck.  To our surprise, the delivery driver left it on our hill, leaning against a tree.  

Luckily, despite the broken box, it seemed none the worse for wear. We managed to wrangle it home, (the glass doors were super heavy!) and the next time a friend dropped by, we coerced him into helping us move them up into the upstairs of the cabin.  Then Rob had to figure out a way to complete the install, as I wasn't much help.  Luckily he was able to use a jig to hold them in place while he drilled holes in the tile and anchored them firmly in place.  (I closed my eyes during this part!)

As Rob had some drywalling to do in the bathroom, we somehow convinced ourselves that this was also a perfect time to finish all the unfinished drywall in the cabin, and to repaint the large bedroom as I had stripped off the wallpaper borders there the previous fall. We had gallons of leftover paint from our house, so could use them up there.  We had friends arriving from Germany in October, but figured we had loads of time ! 

So we finished the downstairs closet.

Fixed up the areas around the woodstove and repainted.

Fixed up all the unfinished areas in the upstairs hallway and painted.

Emptied out the large bedroom..

And primed and painted.

And soon realized that due to delays in replacement taps, sinks etc., we were slowly running out of time to complete the bathroom!

But, we managed to get it pretty much done. 

The vanity still has some work to be finished, and the taps will be swapped out in the spring, but it all worked out pretty much the way we hoped it would, and more importantly was ready just in time for our friends arrival.  We cleaned (and cleaned!) as drywall dust does seem to settle everywhere, and then put everything back in place in the large bedroom.

We had been picking up some nice artwork and light fixtures etc. from our local online auction house so we managed to hang artwork, and install a couple of lights.  I had also found a couple of good solid chairs for the dining room, and somehow Rob found time to paint them!  And he even put in a few baseboards.  

For the first time, I also framed some of my photographs to hang here and there in the cabin.  I kept it simple for my first attempt with inexpensive photo processing and frames, just to see how they would all look, and overall I was pleased with them.

We didn't quite manage to repaint the smaller bedroom in the cabin, and we still have lots of other jobs in mind for next year, (and probably years to come)  but we were pretty happy with our efforts, and finished up with just hours to spare.

I  had also just finished the four chairs I was working on, and was busy putting a clear protective finish on before starting to recover the cushions.  After fighting with a manual stapler, and watching numerous Youtube videos for upholstery tips, and getting completely frustrated with my attempts, Rob wisely bought a pneumatic stapler, and took over and did the re-upholstery job. Thanks Rob!

I was so pleased with the chairs. As always there is a learning curve.  The first clear coat we tested made some of the inks that I used run, so we had to switch to a different base.  That one gave the vanilla coloured paint a slightly more yellow tinge, but in the end I was fine with that, so we went for it.

Along with the "Cat Tribute" chair I did a  "Delish" chair where I stamped the names of many of our favourite restaurants over the years, named some of our best loved recipes and our fondest food memories.

I did one called "Conversations" which has LOTS of letters stamped on, and words here and there.  That one was really fun, although each letter is stamped individually so it took some time! 

And the final chair was the "Dreaming Chair".  Over the years I have written down some of my special dreams, so now they are stamped on this chair. We have two more chairs to be done, but Rob wants to paint them, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

And so, by mid October, with the cabin newly renovated, cleaned up and the fridge stocked with a few basic necessities, off we went to the airport to finally meet up in person with our friends from Germany.

And that wonderful story will be in my next posting.

Reflections

Ten years ago this month, we "moved" here.  I write "moved" as at the time, we were more or less trying things out for the summer, with no clear idea of how things would go.  We had spent the previous two months in a flurry of activity.  We were still trying to deal with the contents of the warehouse that we had used for our business.  Rob had taken two one-week timber framing courses; one in nearby Perth and one in the eastern USA .  We still weren't sure if we were going to build a new house, or simply put an addition on the log cabin. I was busy going through the contents of the dome that had been our home for over 35+ years, trying to pack, sort and purge.  We had purchased a second hand tractor, mower, box blade and snow thrower in preparation for living in our new location.  We had a new trailer to haul things with.  Rob had spent a week at the cabin, doing his best to prepare it for our arrival, and trying to make some room for us all.

And so, on one hot July morning (which also happened to be my birthday) we loaded up the trailer with some of what we thought we would need for the next few months, loaded 4 cats into crates, (no small feat) and strapped them safely in the rear seat of the truck and drove off.   Rob would return in a few hours to pick up the dog, and another load for the trailer.  The cats instantly voiced their disapproval of the whole plan, yelling in unison.  We had a scheduled stop at the vet for a quick consultation, as our senior cat Leon had been undergoing tests for an undiagnosed illness, and our youngest cat Axle still had his rear leg in a cast due to an unfortunate run in with our German Shepherd.  When we arrived at the vet office, they suggested we should have given them all some catnip to quiet them down for the trip!

Somewhat frazzled, and more than a little bit tired, we arrived a few hours later, and somehow remembered to take a photo or two.

We emptied the truck and trailer, and then Rob left me to sort things out, while he drove back to Navan (stopping off in Ottawa as I recall for a take-out birthday dinner and sweet treats for us to enjoy later) . He arrived back late in the evening and so our adventure began.  We still laugh when we think what a crazy day and birthday that was!  

And of course, within a very short time, we both agreed that we would simply stay where we were in the cabin, and figure out over the winter what we could build. We then began the process of driving back and forth to Navan as we emptied our dome and prepared to sell it.  By mid November the dome had a new owner, and we were officially "moved".

I certainly have had fun these last few days as I prepared to write this; looking back at some of the photos and blog postings from that time. Ten years have passed; that's hard to believe. Especially as every day here still feels fresh, new and full of possibilities.  I think that's a good thing.  After all, that was the point of moving here!

And here we are now, in 2022.  We are working on what we hope is the last "major" building job. The month of June was probably not the best month for getting outside work done.  The first two weeks of June were particularly rainy, with numerous storm warnings and tornado watches.  Rob was anxious to get working on the siding, but instead spent much of his time working on the inside of his workshop, getting drywall up and trying to re-organize the space within. 

I was happy to see some of the incoming rain as it was good for my small raised bed garden and all the seeds I had carefully planted. 

It was June 22 before Rob had a chance to start back on the siding.  It was great to see that he wouldn't be climbing up so much scaffolding this year as these sides are so much lower than the ones he did last year.

And the work on this side definitely went a lot faster than previous ones!

After completing the front, Rob continued working around the right hand corner, (which did require a bit more scaffolding) and of course then a blast of summer heat arrived.  He had been enjoying the unusually cool temperatures as it made it easier to work.

We took a brief break for my birthday (which prompted this posting about reflection) and celebrated with local cupcakes and a delicious homemade meal.

And then we got back at it.  While Rob was working on the siding, I was over at the cabin doing a bit of a clean and scrub after a red squirrel broke in one afternoon and had a wee bit of a party in the cabin.  Luckily we discovered it fairly early (after Rob sent me in to investigate the noise in the cabin!) and we were able to safely help it find it's way out.  Rob had to prop up a board to allow it to get back up to the window it had entered through, where it clung to the frame for a few minutes before tumbling down to the ground with a rather disconcerting thump. I was a bit concerned when it didn't move, but it picked itself up after a few seconds and high tailed it back into the woods.  

This isn't the same squirrel, but it certainly has the same attitude.  I think maybe it is related to the one we turfed out of the cabin.

With part of the east side of the workshop complete, Rob began to prepare to do the front (south facing) side of the house.  Unfortunately the phoebes that had only just finished nesting at the front door decided to begin their second brood in the same location, so we had to change plans as we didn't want to disturb them.  We opted to move to working on the back (north facing) side of the house instead, but this proved to be a bit of a challenge.  We know we want to build a screened in porch on that side, so before we began, we had to take time to make sure whatever it needs was in place.  There is already a door opening for it, which is great! 

When a few more rainy days arrived, Rob moved back into working in his workshop, devising a fancy home made jig that would allow him to trim the ends of the siding in an even line.  When the rain stopped he had a chance to try it out.

We both agreed that trimming those ends made a huge difference to making it look more finished!

We have been keeping a close eye on the phoebe nest progress. As soon as the babies leave the nest, we will switch back to working on the front of the house. This is a rather blurry photo of the nest as I don't want to linger and worry the parents.

We can hear them all chirping for food from early dawn to late evening. It's an amazing sound to hear, but I must say the parents are looking a bit worn out.

Earlier this week, one of the babies left the nest (intentionally or not) and is now being cared for on the ground by the parents.  The rest seem reluctant to leave, or perhaps they are simply enjoying having a bit more space to move around.  It looked pretty crowded in there. 

Although Rob was busy working on the siding he did find some time to add a temporary frame to my garden as my tomatillos have taken off.  I had put in stakes and tied the plants up but in no time they had grown feet above my stakes. It looks like we will have a great crop, if the chipmunks don't steal them.  They stole quite a few last year, but all in all seemed to prefer my tomatoes.  I didn't plant tomatoes this year, so am just hoping that the tomatillos don't make it to the top of the chipmunk hit list.

In an effort not to have to throw two of our plastic chairs into the landfill site just yet, I have been trying to restore them from their worn and chalky appearance. Last year I scrubbed them with baking soda and vinegar, and then applied coats of car wax as suggested on numerous sites.  The wax didn't hold up all that well, plus it made the chairs super slippery to sit in, so this year I scrubbed and sanded them and tried applying a spray paint for plastic.

Before:

After:

They could use another coat but the can ran out of paint before I finished.  I waited 7 days as suggested to allow the paint to "cure", before deciding whether to continue. I wanted to make sure it was sticking properly before I purchased another can.  It seems to me that some of the paint comes off with a powdery residue, so now I am trying to figure out if a clear coat will improve things.   At some point I should perhaps just give up, but I think it is important to try to fix things rather than just throwing them out.  I still have plans to paint and reupholster six dining chairs and a drafting chair.  We have an old metal futon frame to repurpose as well.  Rob may turn it into an outside bench that we can use on one of our paths.  

While I was out working on the chairs I noticed a young rabbit was hanging around.  It seems to like the vegetation around my garden, and sometimes I will find it in the shade under the car keeping the weeds down for us ! It can suck a leaf back in no time, so I am glad my garden is raised as high as it is, or we would perhaps have no lettuce left at all. 

This July has certainly been somewhat of a reflective month for me.  So much has happened in the last 10 years, and going through some of the older postings in this blog have reminded me of a lot.  We still have our one remaining little cat; sweet Axle, now over 19 years old.  We lost our oldest cat Leon when he was 20, and we think Axle is perhaps trying to beat that record.  Looking back, it doesn't seem all that long ago that we were driving up here with the four cats meowing away in the truck.

Somehow, looking back always seems to also make us look forward. Once the siding is completed (hopefully this summer) we are looking forward to not having any "major" projects on the go.  That said, we would like to build a screened in porch overlooking our wetland, and maybe a small gazebo closer to the river. Although last year we arranged scaffolding and platforms to make a temporary wood shed, and will have to do the same again this year, we really would like to build a permanent shed for the firewood.  We need to add fill around the house to bring everything up to the proper grade.  And of course, the cabin is in need of some work, both inside and out.  Rob calls these "small" jobs, and I guess they are compared to what we've done over the past 10 years.

One thing is for certain, we never regret for one minute our choice to come here, and to call this place home.