Marie and I made another trip with the truck and trailer to Montreal for the weekend to pick up some more furniture and see the family. Starting to think the Ram could find its own way there by itself....Of course we spent as much time with little Amy as we could and enjoy every second with her! Phil is busy as usual between work and remodeling his living room. He will soon become the official landlord of our place once we make the final move out of there, although we haven't yet set a final date. Sunday afternoon we met Lara and Jesse at their favorite pizza place,
Pizza Fiore, in Cote-Des-Neiges
where we had some of the best pizza in a long time and I had a chance to feel my little grandson kicking up a storm. Lara is doing well and certainly enjoying her pregnancy!
Here on the mountain we are plugging along, yesterday running CAT 6 wire in the attic for the TVs. I cut the lengths a little short - doh -but hopefully we can still use them. Today I put on the second coat of mud on the basement bathroom walls and ceiling and laid the front deck cedar boards. Had to get a hold of CAA to haul away the Dakota as the tranny lost all her fluid last week - probably when I backed down our driveway into the ditch... We finally got the metal stairs installed on the hill coming up to the house and this hopefully will allow us easier access from the cabin to the house should we decide to walk up in the wintertime. Alex and Rafael finished what they could on the siding and will return when we get the last bit delivered.
We had a summer day in early November this past Monday and took advantage of it by doing all the outdoor chores I had planned last week. Damn near broke my back digging a hole for the grounding plate besides the generator - the ground there is full of rock and I had to go down almost three feet. It was bad enough digging that one but it was the second hole to dig as the first one was too far away for the copper wire to reach! We ran up the genny for three hours to put it through its paces and except for some niggling warnings on the display panel that
I could never clear (thank you Marie) it seems to be ready for the winter. It is set up to automatically come on when the solar batteries fall below 46 volts. That could be because of excessive usage or a few days of cloudy weather.
But now we are into a stretch of cool days and cold nights where the temperature goes below freezing. I am happy to see the house which we heat with the fireplace at the moment during the day and till 8 at night retains heat exceptionally well and when I come up in the morning to clean out the ashes and build a new fire the temperature is around 12 to 15 degrees in the living room. We are still sleeping and eating in the cabin but by the end of this month we will have to seriously consider moving into the house. We are putting it off as long as possible as the place is a mess and not very accommodating to live in. Once the siding is on there should be little mess generated except for what Marie and I make ourselves - sanding, cutting tile and the like. Will be nice to be able to watch TV again - we watch movies on the VCR and monitor in the cabin but miss the big screen. Still miffed there is no hockey and I missed the baseball playoffs but being as busy as we are we are usually ready for lights out by 9PM! The days are getting shorter and dark here by 5 but the morning sun streams through the window early on the mountain and another busy day begins...
gws
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| Mama Lara enjoying her pizza |
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| entranceway roof |
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| me walking up our new stairway |
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| looks like there is a big rat in the attic |
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| new cedar deck |
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| basement bathroom |
Here on the mountain we are plugging along, yesterday running CAT 6 wire in the attic for the TVs. I cut the lengths a little short - doh -but hopefully we can still use them. Today I put on the second coat of mud on the basement bathroom walls and ceiling and laid the front deck cedar boards. Had to get a hold of CAA to haul away the Dakota as the tranny lost all her fluid last week - probably when I backed down our driveway into the ditch... We finally got the metal stairs installed on the hill coming up to the house and this hopefully will allow us easier access from the cabin to the house should we decide to walk up in the wintertime. Alex and Rafael finished what they could on the siding and will return when we get the last bit delivered.
