poplar road

Sunday, already! We're making progress in the office, but slowly. The fireplace, baseboards and one window are done, but Richard is coming down with a cold and had to stop for a nap. I wasn't even going to take pictures until I got the floor cleaned up and painted, but he was offended that I didn't appreciate his hard work... So here's the latest from this weekend.

And, Rick, Camilla, Kayla and Ella visited us today! We fed carrots to the goats and llamas, and the girls got to pet a lop-eared rabbit. The llamas are getting used to us now, and headed straight for us when they saw us come through the gate. It's going to be a blast this summer, having our very own little petting zoo in the back yard.

In the meantime, it's back to work (as soon as Richard is finished his nap).

On Friday, I decided this was the week to get my new office done if I'm going to achieve my goal of moving in by the end of the month. (Part of the impetus is being able to turn my temporary office back into a spare bedroom for guests.)

Here's how the space started out in October: as the "sunken living room", source of the over-powering feline stench, and focal point of a living area that looked like a long hallway in spite of its 16 foot width, with the one-sided fireplace and brief steps breaking up the space.

When Richard ripped out, re-wired, and re-insulated the family and dining room walls he did the office as well, and added an interior wall to divide it from the family room, using the back of the fireplace as the line. (And using the fireplace mantle to store all his stuff.) This photo is from December 11th as we were finishing the dry-walling.

We also replaced two rotting original windows, one in the dining room, which we promptly finished in time for the holidays, the other the 5' x 10'3" single-paned window opposite the fireplace. The replacement had to be aluminum rather than wood, which meant it had to be in three panes instead of one as you can see below. It still needs caulking inside and out before Richard can do the trim.

After the holidays we primed and painted the office walls. We actually used a primer almost the same dark shade as the paint, and it still took two coats of each, with a third top coat on the main wall. We decided to hold off on the final coat on the walls shown, because that corner of drywall will have to be pulled down when we finally get the electrical upgrade later this year. It's also the reason Richard didn't immediately finish the trim around the windows – he wants to find a way to make them easy to remove for the upgrade without damaging them. I'm really looking forward to having the window sills, as are my plants. And yes, the walls are all a deep cranberry red.

All this month I've been eyeing the paint to finish the last two main tasks, the floor and the fireplace. The same paint, actually – I picked it for the fireplace first and we ended up using it on the family room/dining room floor. (It's decking paint, and has held up well so far considering we didn't exactly let it dry untouched for the 3 days recommended.) But the rough stone hearth, poorly covered with white paint and silicone by the previous owner, and then made extremely filthy, was a bit daunting. And, after doing the great room floor I wasn't so sure of my choice of "cardamom" brown. So I've been stalling.

Finally, on Friday I began with a bristle brush and a can of primer. I got most of it cleaned and then primed in white, but I wasn't confident about standing several rungs up on a ladder to reach the central portion near the ceiling, so I left that part for the weekend when Richard could help. I also wanted his opinion before starting the brown.

Instead of cleaning and priming the last bit for me, though, Richard invited the neighbour over to take a look at the thresher once he and Rob got it settled Sunday morning; and while Rob fed his newly acquired "24" addiction, Jonathan wired my office for phone, fax, and internet that afternoon. Thank heaven. I'd been paying for the second "data" line for months and we hadn't figured out how to connect it. Richard knew the electrical panel was in bad shape (for example, why is the power for my temporary office in the back connected to the entry hall light and not the rooms in between?!), but Jonathan taught him a little about the phone cabling, and it turns out there's a lot of redundant wiring there, too.

So the office cabling was done, and we added all the single and double covers for the sockets and jacks. The room looked better already! But there was still that patch over the fireplace, and rather than tackle it in the dim lighting, we settled onto the couch to start season one of "24" from the beginning. (Sharon and Pat, we thank you for the loan of the DVD, but now we're addicts! I can't handle the suspense, and this is no 2-hour movie. Once we figured out each "hour" was a few minutes short thanks to the commercial breaks, we figured down to the minute how many episodes we could watch before bedtime. Tonight I'm working on my blog because I can't go to bed yet, I'm far too wired!)

Luckily I had most of this week off work, having banked some extra hours the past two weeks. With Richard working long days at the office, I puttered around, caulking all the nail holes in the moldings around doors and windows, sanding, and painting with the white I used to finish the office door. (It's still on the sawhorses in the picture of the walls above.) But I couldn't wait forever for Richard to climb up and finish the fireplace section for me, even if we weren't enjoying our nightly "24" fix in front of the TV. So I hauled out the ladder and did it myself, and moved on to the cardamom paint yesterday afternoon.

From white to taffy brown, it was a bit more than I could visualize at first. I chose the colours for the room based on a couple of pastel drawings of mine that were based on Degas paintings. My first choice for the fireplace had been a smoky grey-blue, also in the drawings, but Richard vetoed that instantly. This brown was as close to the central colour in my images as I could go and still work with my pine and birch furniture. Next week (I hope), you'll see the result with the room mostly complete and our things moved in. Right now, after one coat of "cardamom" and poor light in there, it's hard to see if I made a good choice or not. We shall see. I can tell you I'm not looking forward to doing a second coat. Reaching out over empty space from 5 feet up a ladder isn't my favourite activity, and as I suspected, painting stone is nasty. I've scraped off far too much skin, for one thing.

But I'll get the second coat on the fireplace done tomorrow, and we'll caulk and trim the windows on Saturday. Should get the French door hung as well. Then every last tool, nail and rag comes out of there, and I prime and paint the floor. It's hard to be patient with paint that has to dry for 24 hours for the first coat, and 72 hours for the second, but once the bookcases go in, that floor had better be cured. We'll hardly see the walls for all the books. As with everywhere else, there will still be touch-ups to the ceiling, and other moldings that will have to wait a while; we need to find something to cover the space between the bricks of the fireplace and the edge of the drywall, for example. Moving in, however, is definitely on the horizon. I can hardly wait.

This entry is for the twins – here is what you missed not coming up here with Rob this weekend. Thought you might like to see his latest pet project.

And Dad, I know I once laughed about your predilection for video-taping machinery… but even Mom can see how beautiful this antique thresher is! All those wheels and gears and original paint. I admit this is only a selection of the photos I took, and the compression for the web doesn't do them justice. This is one piece of machinery I don't mind lying about the yard. Yet.

Richard had that look in his eye, had to remind him about the guest bedroom project before he trotted out the door like a boy with a toy plane. Note: this is Rob's thresher, not ours. We just happen to have this great big yard to store it in….

The guys were having some fun trying to get this thing off the trailer – gently – so I scooted around to capture these photos. Luckily most of the snow is gone from our yard after the last couple of +5 degree days, although the puddled front drive was all ice when Rob arrived with the thresher in tow late Saturday night. It still took Mechano a bit of tugging to pull the trailer out from under it. Rob doesn't know how much it weighs… let's just say, a lot. Richard was happy Mechano started up fine after three months sitting in the cold and wet.

It doesn't look quite as charming from the front, the "business end", so I'm glad it's tucked over by the barn where I can't see it from the dining room doors. The neighbours had asked before Christmas if they could take away our chicken wire and some of the manure for their yards (yes!), so I'm hopeful that as soon as it warms up for good, we'll say goodbye to the ring of bird cages and make enough space to turn the thresher around to show off its good side. And a gravel drive back there (as well as out front!) will have to happen pretty soon. With this thaw everything is getting chewed up and muddy.

Anyway, the guys got the beast off the trailer successfully and also had a bit of a drive up the mountain in Mechano. They were lucky it was such a warm day – when Rob picked up the trailer a few weeks ago, they had to dig it out of two feet of snow in the dark in a –22 degree chill. It's so warm right now in comparison, the plants are confused and the lilac bush has buds all over it. Great, yard work already! One more reason Richard doesn't get to start truck projects just yet… the renos go on. I'm going to have new renovation pictures to post tonight!

In three days it has warmed up here by 30 degrees. We had freezing rain here this afternoon, water dripping from the eaves, but icicles forming on railings and even the trees. I have been under the weather (pardon the pun) or I would have layered up to venture out once the rain stopped. With the snow more saturated with water, I bet it's finally sticky enough to make a snowman... or snow sheep. I wonder if a snow dog out on the front drive would keep the local mutts away from my front door at night - something's nocturnal explorations woke me up the past two nights.

Anyway, as Richard is away with the camera, and I'm not making dramatic progress on the renos given I'm barely upright at the moment, there's nothing new to post on the reno front, and I've no doubt Allyson isn't the only one sick of snow pictures. Am I, though?

Warming up means rain, which despite growing up in Vancouver I've never much liked. But in Vancouver this time of year, it's quite possible for the Japanese cherry trees to start blossoming, crocuses poke through the bare earth, and certainly my sister isn't the only one with tulips on her coffee table. Here, I still have holly around for colour, and the only flowers coming up are last year's forced bulbs in a little pot in the dining room. (Amazed I got them to come up again!)

As I said in my first Poplars & Pines posting, I love the change of seasons best, but with two feet of snow on the ground, it's a bit premature to be itching for Spring. This has been the best "snow fix" ever, and I look forward to more, as it's in the forecast to cool off again on Saturday. But I must admit those tulips at my sister's got me thinking. There's a cherry tree out front which I can see from my current office space, and I found myself wondering what it will look like next month... or will it not bloom until April? I have no idea when the winter ends here; earlier than east of the mountains, but not as early as the coast. One thing's for sure: Spring won't be as wet. And every bud and leaf in the yard is my own. It's an exciting prospect. So yes, it's only mid-January, but I'm looking forward Spring.

Since we've yet to get back into the renovations full swing, allow me to indulge my passion for snowy landscapes one more time. After this week's heavy snowfall and last night's wind to push it into drifts and wipe away our tracks, it felt like the world had been remade. Enchanted. I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and hate to miss a moment of it.

The trails I had made across the back yard over the past few days were completely filled in when I went out this morning, the snow up to my knees. The wind blew fine crystals into my face but all day the sun tried to break through. Not many sunny days in winter, says the neighbour.

This image is taken looking along the fenceline from the barn towards the street. On Christmas Eve when we were desperate to get a tree, we considered cutting down one of these stunning pines, but they're far too beautiful, and luckily too big. Just wait for the light display next year, though!

The first part of this morning's venture out in the snow was in the Mog. Richard is practicing manouevering with the plow (as opposed to the blower, in the last picture) and hopes during this weather that many of the road maintenance companies will be interested in a demonstration. Today I got to see what he's been up to, as we drove down our country road clearing a path through the drifts. If the windshield had been a little clearer and the day a little brighter, I would have taken endless photos – the evergreen forest on the hill to our left, meadows blanketed with white on our right, and then the corridors of snow-covered trees arching over on either side.

When we got back from our drive, Richard cleared three neighbours' driveways, and I made a quick visit to the goats and sheep the easy way round from the street because that wind is cold. It's the first day we've felt a real chill outdoors. I took this shot of the front of the house and then headed around back, hoping the wind would be less brisk. Hah.

Here is Daisy, the 4H sheep, and a few of the goats remaining after Jonathan sold several yesterday morning. One of them saw me pull my camera from my pocket and assumed I was bringing more apples. She put her hooves right up on the fence to look me in the eye. She's probably the one who impatiently nipped my leg yesterday when I didn't produce more apples fast enough. Note, this is how the inhabitants of Poplar Road recycle our Christmas trees….

I re-made all my trails through the back yard, Richard following (and threatening to dump me in the snow if I didn't do them all!), and he managed to loosen our back gate enough for us to get through. That is, if the wind and further snowfall doesn't bury it before I get home. The drifts are well above Richard's knees, and this loose powder doesn't pack. I attempted a snowman yesterday, but this stuff won't even make snowballs the size of walnuts. It sure sticks to the trees though – these pictures are after the wind has taken half the snow off.

By the time I got to the back corner of the yard to take this photo, I was regretting not buying a pair of waterproof pants. There's a little series of humps in this corner – irregular piles of clippings, manure from the barn, all grown over with grassy thickets, now two feet deep in drifts – where I managed to carve a trail to the highest spot. Perfect for photo ops… and a sled, if I had one. Just seeing this cottage in the neighbour's yard makes me feel like a child in a fairytale.

One last photo taken this afternoon. More than half of what's left on the railing fell in the past three days. Tonight there's more and it's thicker on top, curling inward, and the deck which Richard swept yesterday morning is a foot deep again. And it's still coming down lightly.

I'm a little nervous about taking the bus to Vancouver tomorrow with the weather still treacherous (and yes, I did see the news report of the bus rolling over near Chilliwack), but glad I'm not driving in it myself. I'm very proud of my little sister, learning to drive in this weather in Vancouver! One of these days Richard is going to introduce me to winter driving, but for now, he's in the Mog and I'm on a bus.

Wonder what transformations winter will have made by the time I get back?

Happy New Year! Can't quite believe it's January 4th already, not to mention 2005. We had a very busy visit to Vancouver last week, and the first few days of the new year have been eventful too.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the annual Christmas Sushi gathering. It was great to see you and I think we may even have satisfied the sushi cravings for a month or two. (Sushi here without you all just isn't the same.) I must have satisfied every evil wheat-based carbohydrate craving my sugar-addicted brain can come up with over the past couple of weeks, and I'm paying for it now, let me tell you. Haven't been feeling well since we got back, although that might also have to do with sleeping in guest quarters for a week. It was so great to get home! Richard actually never wanted to leave in the first place, but we had a great time.

We did a family Christmas at my parents' place on the 29th, ran some errands and caught up with friends on the 30th, packed up the morning of the 31st and spontaneously caught the ferry to spend New Year's Eve with Jason & Mari Ann & Alex, who is nearly two. A quiet night, and in the morning, snow! They live up in the Malahat and the whole drive down to Victoria it was snowing. We caught the 9am ferry and reached Richard's mom's place on time at the dot of 11. After a leisurely brunch there we stopped in at the Olson's to show off the latest photos of the Mog, and then off to Chilliwack to see Pam, Rick and little Danaeya. Our initial plan was to stay over with them that night, but after dinner it was early enough that we figured we could be home before midnight.

It was a windy drive but the roads were fairly clear, and the only time Richard hit the brakes was when drivers behind us pulled moron maneouvers like tailgating us with their highbeams on. More than once. But the stars were out and the snow from earlier in the week was still on the trees, a beautiful night.

We got back to our very snowy home just before 11pm. Richard had been fighting off sleep for half an hour and was in bed by 11 o'clock. Which is when I took my turn in the bathroom and discovered there was no water. Now we know: turn the heater on in the well pumphouse if we're not going to be using the water for a while. Or if it's -22 out like it was on Sunday night. The pipes from the well froze up, and it took all morning Sunday to get them warmed up again. In the meantime Richard got out that gigantic seafood boil pot of his with the gas burner, and melted snow so we could use the toilet. Unfortunately the sediment left over from the freeze clogged the washing machine and the valve in the toilet, so we've had some challenges since getting things running.

We had a lazy afternoon on Sunday, worn out from driving and visiting and holiday eating, and we put off the plans made the night before to clear out the garage for the Dodge and finish another coat of paint in the office. Then Monday it was back to work for both of us. Monday night, cousin Greg arrived to join Richard on the Unimog circuit, and is spending tonight with us as well. I'm able to get at the computer tonight because this time he elected to sleep on our couch rather than on the mattress on the floor in here. It will be much nicer when I've moved into the new office and this space becomes a proper guest bedroom.

We had other visitors today: Shana, Derrick, and their daughters Gwenyth and Eva arrived at dusk and got the tour, but couldn't stay long. At about the same time, Rob B and his brother Andrew arrived to borrow our flat deck trailer, and spent a chilly half hour in the -15 darkness clearing the snow off it and making sure the taillights worked. When I said goodbye at 5:30 they were on their way to catch the 9pm ferry to Victoria. Cutting it close is an understatement - I hope they made it safe and sound.

And not to forget the wildlife, we had another, unseen visitor in the wee hours of the morning. Based on the hoof-prints I found in our yard when I went for a walk at lunch today, and the grassy knoll cleared of snow and clipped to the ground, I'm guessing a deer wandered in through our front gate last night. And judging by its mad loping pattern around the yard followed in circles by dog prints and tail streaks, I'd say the three mutts from across the street got their jollies chasing the poor thing for a while. It's a wonder we never heard them. The snow was pristine at dusk yesterday, so it had to have happened while we were at home and we missed it. Apparently deer, moose, coyotes, and a mother bear visit regularly this time of year. The neighbours say the bear lives just up the mountain and will often wander down the middle of our street.

So that's Poplar Road in this bright new year. No new photos just yet, but we've got an office, hallway, and bedroom to finish painting before the month is out. Bring on the colour! And I'm back in Vancouver again, for work this time, as early as Saturday. So if I missed you over the holidays, maybe we can catch up this weekend. And we'll be more ready for visitors next month. Come up and enjoy the snow!