Merry Christmas

Visitors

Let it snow

The scene out our back window the other night.....

My parents both work in Engineering.....

And this was the best gingerbread house I could make!!

Fireplace

When the former owners moved out, they took the woodstove with them. This house does not have gas heat, or a furnace for that matter. We have electric baseboards heaters (pricey), and the fireplace.

We had a new fireplace installed a few weeks ago:

This fireplace is very cool, the top of it is an actual cook surface (not that I would try to pull off a gourmet meal or anything....), and it has a fan on it to push the hot air out. The cook top would be cool for hot chocolate or apple cider.

New garden - Part Two

Here is the new garden, with a few more plantings, and a few plants that still need to be put in the ground:

New Garden - Part One

Most of our front yard is sand. This limits us to cactus that will survive in zone 4. There are not many cactus' that will survive in those conditions.

So, we (By we, I of course mean hubby) excavated about a foot down where our new garden is going. We lined the hole with cardboard, to attempt to trap some moisture, and then re-filled with triple mix.

This was the end result:

I know, it is still pretty bare. Since this picture was taken, we have planted two black currant bushes that I started from cuttings, and I have several more plants placed in the garden in their pots still, waiting to go into the ground.

First Day of School

Yes, it was last week, I am behind.

So, this year is grade five!

And here she is, all ready for another year of fun!

New Trees

It has been a long time, I know!!

We have been very busy these past few weeks, but have not had internet access!

So, let's start with a gardening project:

We have a LOT of space on the other side of the creek, as you can see:

You could play soccer over there!

We have decided that we would like to put in several fruit trees. There is already one large, old apple tree, it is too big to tame or spray, so the apples on it will be inedible.

However, apples need a second tree near them to pollinate, so the old tree will serve that purpose quite well!

below, you can see our new tree:

We only have the one for now, before we sink too much into the fruit trees, we want to see if they will actually take.

We will add more as time goes by.

New Roof

A new roof was a definite priority for us. Mostly because we were missing shingles in some places, they were peeling in other places....











In short, we had 20 year shingles on a 20 year old house.

On the main roof, the shingles were missing, and on the garage roof, they were mostly peeling.
















I arrived home on Monday night to find this in my driveway:
















And by the time I got home Tuesday, the roof looked like this:















We used Cambridge 30 - year shingles.

BBQ Building

Our old Barbeque was natural gas, but this neighbourhood does not have gas hookup. So we had to purchase a new BBQ.

And Build it:

Off to Camp

We interrupt the renovation posts for Cute Kid Pics!!

Little Raven loading her "stuff" into the van:

And carrying it all to the bus:

Yes, the backpack is taller than her. And yes, she insisted on carrying it all herself until we insisted that we help her, due to the fact that she was staggaring all over the parking lot under the weight of it all.

And waving goodbye:

A Whole Week of freedom!! Yippee!!

After Cleaning

You remember the pictures of Little Raven's room, the ones where you could draw on the dirt in the wall?

Well, my Mom and I washed all the walls in her room while she was away. We used hot water mixed with vinegar.

The results:

Hey, look at that!! A room that actually looks liveable!

Her room used to be two rooms, so the electrical set up in it is unique. For example, the light switch beside her door turns on the overhead light in half of her room. The light switch above her bed turns on the overhead light in the other half of her room. The wall to the left of her bed used to be the second door to the second room. You can see along the ceiling where the old wall was:

She is proud to say that she has Five Windows in her room, FIVE!! This is because it was once two rooms.

Tree Removal

We are now the proud owners of a small woodlot.

Unfortunately, this woodlot comes complete with lots of Poplars! In our last house, we had large poplars. They were so large, that they cost between $350 - $500 per tree to remove. Poplars grow quick, and they grow straight. The problem is, that they grow quick and straight, and then they die and fall.

So, in this house, we are removing the poplars before they get to the point where we need professionals to remove them.

Cutting the tree:

Disposing of the tree:

The Garbage

When the last owner moved out, he didn’t have time to leave the house as tidy as he would have liked to.

Daddy and Little Raven spent a morning getting all of the garbage out of the Garage, out of the basement, etc. This was what the pile looked like when they were done:
Then, our new neighbour dropped off a bin:

Which magically disappeared a few days later (after we filled it)

The 'Before' photos

So, here is the front of the house:


And the back:
Little Raven's Room:

(Note the dirt on the walls)


And overlooking the living room:

(excuse the mess, these were taken a few days after the move)



As you can see, we have a fair amount of work ahead of us.

Moving Day

Moving day was July 27, 2007, and what a day it was!!

The movers arrived on time.

The keys did not.

We finally got into the house, and it has been a flurry of unpacking and rearranging ever since!

There is lots of work to be done. To start with, we cleared all of the garbage out of the basement and garage. Everything is now in a HUGE pile in the frontyard (backyard? we still need to figure out which yard is which). We have also cleared one of the piles from the yard, where we hope to build a wood shed. We have received two quotes for a new roof (required by the insurance company).