Wednesday 31 July 2013

Sky High Skylights

Well my painting project got off to a rocky start. 

The ceilings in the house at the country estate need painting badly.  So obviously that has to be done before tackling the walls.

I decided that the best place to start was with the skylights, of which there are four.  Four tall skylights.  I'm tall, but they are really, really tall.  Sky high, or so it seems when you are teetering up on a ladder, in a narrow passageway with hot sun beaming on your head, and the treetops visible through the skylight (if you are brave enough to open your eyes!).

After breakfast I asked Chuckles if he could help me, so he got the extension ladder from the garage and set it up in the foyer skylight, the lowest of the four.  Good place to begin.  He showed me how to work the ladder, where to set the rung so it was secure, and how to test it before ascending. 

 
Ready to paint the first of the four skylights! 



It took me a while to figure out which parts to paint by hand, what I could reach with the roller from the ladder and what I could reach with the roller attached to a pole and to overcome my fear that the ladder was going to slip out from under me.  Okay - I never overcame that fear.  I just persevered through it.  Unfortunately, on one of the skylight walls, a bit of the popcorn ceiling peeled off when I used the roller on it, but I was able to paint over the spot with the brush and it looks fine.

After an hour, I was done, and moved the whole process into the master bedroom, where the roof is higher, hence, so is the skylight.  Gulp. 

I set up the ladder.  Positioned the rung correctly.  Tested it for non-slip.  Climbed up with my paint pot in one hand and brush in the other.  Was unable to reach the very edge of the glass without climbing higher.  Could not make myself do it.  Climbed down and gave myself a good talking to. 
Didn't work.  Chuckles came in the house, so I told him I was nervous about climbing higher on the ladder.  He climbed to the top, pronounced it safe, went back outside and started up the lawn tractor. 

I can honestly say I hated him in that moment.

Following his lead, I climbed to the step I needed to be on to reach the edge of the glass.  I was actually wimpering.  I was up there, but paralyzed, I couldn't dip into my paint pot and begin.  I climbed back down to assess the situation.  It occurred to me that I needed to free up one hand to be able to hold onto the ladder, that would help.  So, I jury-rigged a bucket tied to the ladder to put my paint pot in, which meant every time I needed to dip my brush I had to go down two rungs, dip, then back up two rungs, paint.  But it worked.  And that was just to get the hand painting done around the edge and down the seams.  Then I used the roller from a lower rung.  However, even more popcorn texture peeled off in this skylight, so it took more work to repair/disguise it.

An hour and a bit later, I moved the entire production into the main bath where the going got tricky.  The skylight is over the bathtup, so I had to finagle the ladder around tub and toilet, as well as covering all kinds of uneven surfaces with drop cloths.  Finally done with that, and knowing that this skylight was even higher than the bedroom skylight, I decided to give myself a break and start with the roller rather than the hand painting.  I hoped I would be able to get so close to the top with the roller that I might not even need to hand paint!  But disaster struck.  First swipe with the roller peeled off a whole bunch of popcorn texture. 

 
It's hard to see, but the popcorn texture is all peeled off above the ladder.


At which point I packed it in.  I just had to walk away, and it was lunchtime.  Over lunch I told Chuckles how frustrated I was and how I had really wanted his help.  He was surprised!  He thought I had wanted to do this myself.  So I clarified my position.  I am good with the walls, even the regular height ceilings.  But I am no sky high skylight painter.  No sir.


Friday 26 July 2013

An Unexpected Visit

Last weekend Chuckles went to the country estate on Thursday evening, the night before I went.  He arrived at dusk and everything was just as we had left it the Sunday before.  He hit the hay early, having big weekend ahead of him dismantling the barn stalls.



 

 


Here's the barn that is being converted to our workshop.

 
Here's the interior when we purchased the place.
 
 
And here's the interior currently with stalls down.
 
 
When he awoke Friday morning, he took his cup of coffee and went outside to enjoy the cool morning air, and survey his new empire.  To his astonishment, a large section of the landscape fabric we had laid the week before, complete with rocks around the perimeter to anchor it against wind, had been pulled up and bunched into a perfect little nest!  In the center of the next, there had been a small hollow dug, and the fabric was gathered around the hole.
 
 
 
This is the way the landscape fabric was left last weekend.
 
 

 

And here's a couple of pictures of the little nest!

 
 
 
Jenn and I put it all back together again, when we were bark mulching  but this area of landscape fabric is still exposed, because we are going to cover it with driveway material when we bring that in, as it will be a little parking spot.  So, I hope the critter, whatever it was, doesn't do this again, as now the edges are buried under the bark mulch we laid down.  Since we hear coyotes yipping and howling  most nights, it's likely that is what bedded down here. 
 
 
I went out to the barn late in the day on Sunday to call Chuckles in for a piece of .... blueberry pie, and he snapped this photo of me with the disassembled stall front walls.  That's about the extent of my help with the barn reno so far!
 
 

Monday 22 July 2013

Jenn`s Visit

Cousin Jenn was already at the country estate visiting her cousin Chuckles when I arrived, and I had completely forgotten that Lila the dog was going to be there, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when I came through the garage doorway and got barked at!  But as soon as Lila sniffed me, she remembered me from her visit to our shop a couple of weeks ago.  She is such a sweet natured dog, and like every dog who has visited us at the country estate, she loved it!

We had a simple dinner together on the patio and then Jenn and I took Lila for a walk.  We went up a side road that is a dead end, and there were some stunning places along the way.  One place really took Jenn`s fancy.  The field had many small clusters of trees, and each cluster had an assortment of items displayed beneath it representing a common theme.  One was household with a bed frame, a baby carriage, and an old chest of drawers.  Others had gnomes and things nestled at the base of the trees.  The grass between the trees was neatly mowed and it looked so fairy tale-ish!

We walked to the end of the road, and when we turned around we realized how dark it was getting!  And how there were no streetlights.  Like in the city.  Oh, oh.  The lifeguard (Jenn) and the practical mother of two (me) weren`t wearing a single reflective patch, carrying a single flashlight or in any other way prepared to be out in the dark in the country.  So much for being prepared, or safety first.  We fast walked-jogged home before complete darkness arrived!

Saturday morning we met the neighbors from across the road.  We were on our way out to get bark mulch for the garden project, and they were just preparing to put hay away in their barn.  We chatted over the fence for a few minutes.  They invited us to their annual neighborhood barbeque next Saturday night!  We have a social life in the country already! They promised to put a written invitation in our mailbox later, and true to their word, I saw them going down the street hand delivering the cute invitations they had made. Clearly, they are cow people.

 
 

 
 
 
The bark mulch we picked up was only enough to cover about about half of the area we were working on, so Jenn and I went out after spreading the first batch and picked up another (bigger) load.  Bless her big heart, she did all the shovelling and wheeling of the wheelbarrow, I just did the raking out.  We were done by 3:30 on Saturday and I had planned on this being my only project of the weekend!! 
 
We went out and bought farm fresh blueberries and while I got most of the 20 lb we bought ready for the deep freeze, Jenn made a pie.  She is the most amazing pie maker, and without a recipe, from scratch, made the most delicious pie ever, with tender flaky pastry and lots of fat blueberries.  So we had warm pie and ice cream for dessert - a great treat after a laborious day. 
 
 
We had to improvise the rolling pin since we didn`t have one - but the spray can of Pam did the trick!
 
Jenn left Sunday morning after a jog with Lila and breakfast which included another piece of pie each (we didn`t have the ice cream at breakfast though!)
 
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Anticipation

Looking ahead to the weekend plans has become especially exciting since we've had the country estate.  Right now we still live and work in the city, and only get out there on the weekends, until our city house sells (fingers crossed, sell, sell..).

This weekend a few things are going to happen:

First, Chuckles cousin Jenn is coming out for a visit, and to see the place for the first time.  I am a little disappointed that she can't stay for the whole weekend, but she is a busy girl, finishing her teaching certification and working and partying when she can!  She moves to the Yukon at the end of August where she will do her teaching practicum, and she is hoping to get a permanent job there.  She's a northern girl who came to Vancouver to go to school, but the north is in her blood. 

Jenn is a ton of fun to have around, I really love her.  She always keeps us entertained with a million stories of fun and friends, plus she is bringing a dog with her!  She is house-sitting and pet-sitting for one of the faculty at her school, so she takes the dog with her everywhere.  Lila is a duck-tolling retriever who I know is going to love the country estate!  And we will get our dog fix - yay!

Second, and this is big, we are going to have two comfy armchairs at the house this weekend!  Right now we only have a kitchen set and a patio set, the rest of the house is devoid of furniture, as all our furniture is still at the city house.  So we go to the country estate for the weekend, and have no where comfortable to sit when we finally stop working at the end of the day.  So we just go to bed.  My parents are replacing their armchairs with new ones after getting a new carpet which clashes with the pattern on the armchairs.  I am picking the new chairs up for them and delivering them tomorrow, taking the old chairs out to Aldergrove with me on Friday.  Eventually the chairs are going to form a sitting area in the guest bedroom, but for now, we will put them in the living area.

Third and lastly, I think I will get the garden clearing finished and the bark mulch down.   There is still some landscape fabric to go down, and then a couple of trailer loads of bark much to be spread, and that's it! 
That signifies the end of my first major project at the country estate! A milestone!  Also, it means the end of fresh gashes on my arms and legs from all the thorny bushes I have had to tame into submission.  Let the healing begin! 

What it also signifies is that the following weekend will be the start of the interior painting of the house.  The gashes will be replaced by paint splotches on my arms and legs.  Oh well, my mother always says "A change is as good as a rest!"

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Everything is Big!

When we bought our "country estate" as we have taken to calling our new 5 acre property, we didn't comprehend that everything about it was exponentially larger than our city lot.

Oh, we knew it was bigger - but it's wayyyyyy bigger - the yard, the shrubs, the trees, the distances between things.

One of the first days we were there I took off my jacket during a hot flash, mindlessly put it down and carried on with what I was doing.  Later, when the sun went down and we were relaxing on the back deck, I got chilled and went searching for my jacket.  To the barn - a football field distance from the house - nope, not there, back to the front yard (the football field again), nope not there.  Was it in the trailer, parked beside the barn?  The football field again...you get the picture.  I got the picture - this place is frigging huge! 

And there have been other situations driving the point home....

Watering the front garden meant either - three of our city size garden hoses joined together from the tap at the deck, OR scrambling all the way through the crawl space under the house to turn the water on at the tap on the front yard side of the house.  After a short period of imagining spiders, newts and other real and imagined creepy crawlies that could be under the house, I gathered up three hoses!

Gardening has exploded to a new level.  The shrubs were all quite overgrown when we took over the place at the end of May, so weekends this past month or so have been all about trimming.  Looking back now, we laugh at our first day on the "job" when we rolled over our wheelbarrow, and cut the first few branches off a 10 ft hydrangea.  Ha - wheelbarrow full in less than two minutes.  Bring on the enormous waste disposal bin fortuitously found on side of road, badly caved in on one side.  Chuckles, being Mr. Handyman, heated the plastic and knocked out the dents, thinking this would be a handy vessel at the country estate.  And it is - as a containment device for rubbish destined for our utility trailer, which has proven to be the best garden implement we own.  That and the former hunting buggy, Chuckles Suzuki Sidekick, which has been commandeered as the tow vehicle for the utility trailer as it will go anywhere on the property.  We can now trim bushes all day long and at the end of the day go four-wheeling to the back of the property where we have established a dump pile - of material to be burned when the cool autumn weather arrives. 

We mowed the lawn once by hand, another laughable situation.  Our friend Nick, who lives nearby the country estate, says the neighbors must all realize when city-folk move in at the sound of push mowers starting up!

It only took us the one time - four hours with both of us working at it - one mowing, one weed whacking, to realize that a ride-on was a must have.  So we have a new John Deere mower in the fleet now.

So far we have bought the mower, a good gas weedeater, and a leafblower.  The list of what we still will need keeps on growing!




 


One thing for sure - we won't be bored here, there is always something to do!

 

What Happens When Your Dog Dies


Hi!  When my dog Seymour passed away suddenly last November, it marked the end of a chapter in my life.  I didn't expect that, but that's what happened.

Poor old Seymour suddenly seemed to be going downhill, so a visit to the vet confirmed he had cancer in his spleen.  That was Saturday.  By Monday night he was unable to get to his feet on his own, and so Tuesday morning we had to put him to sleep.  Hard stuff, he was my best buddy.

And that was it - after the fog of grief lifted a bit, I knew I needed change - big change.
 
I am 54 years old, and have had in the back of my mind that I would "retire" at 55 for a number of years, but it's complicated on a number of levels.

My husband, life-partner, lover, friend, occasional enemy (or person I find really really irritating), soulmate and business-partner Chuck (Chuckles) and I own a small manufacturing business which we both work at.  He's not quite at the retirement age or phase yet, so part of the challenge has been working out how I can slow down a bit while he keeps on working.  He likes having me around, we work well together, and our customers like "us" as a package deal.  For those reasons, hiring a replacement has never seemed practical.

We have dreamed of a larger property often, pouring over the property listings online and fantasizing about the life we would have with space for all Chuck's toys and projects (he's a toy and project guy) and the huge garden we could have (I love gardening) and the outdoor space and privacy we could enjoy (we both are outdoorsy and like our personal space!).

So, in May, we bought 5 acres in the country, near where I grew up, about an hour away from Vancouver, BC where we live now, and we are going to renovate the barn, move our business there, and work from home!  I will still be involved, but won't be locked into the 8-10 hours a day just at work, I can be out in the garden, or playing with my new dog (yes! That's part of the plan!) with my iphone on my belt and can take calls, do the books on rainy days and in general devote more time to my own interests.   

One of the things I have always loved is writing, so I thought I'd start a blog about the experience of moving from a big city back to the country after 30 odd years (back for me, Chuckles has always lived in the city).   So here goes....