January slips away...

It has been a warm month, aside from a few cold days where the temperature dipped to -27 at night and the daytime high was -12.  Still, we have a had nice weather overall.

Iain has taken advantage of the good days to get some hydro to the new cottage, so the contractor can start mudding the drywall.  Not much has happened there this month, but they're getting close to the end of the job:  just the mudding and wood ceiling to do, and some odds and ends.  We're thinking of paint colours (though it won't be exciting, we're into cream-coloured walls).

After the rush of Christmas, it's nice to relax a bit, and have weekends where I get to do some puttering about.  Back into a schedule now, I've started working out with an exercise program on the PS3, EA Sports Active 2.  So nice to get back into working out:  I really have let myself go over the last year.  This is perfect for me, because I can exercise at home, early in the morning, when I like to do it.

The Kobo is getting a workout:  I read Stephen King's Mile 81 (pretty good, typical King; I would have enjoyed a longer story), and am now reading George Martin's A Game of Thrones; it's an easy read, and I love the imagery in it.

I finally finshed The Cat's Table, too, which I had in hard cover.  It was pretty good, but Ondaatje always leaves me kinda cold; I just don't find his books satisfying.

We've had some visitors to our feeder, most notable among them this Downy Woodpecker!

Fun in the snow

On New Year's Eve we went for a walk. It was cold but not terribly so.  None of us wanted to do anything too strenuous, so we just went down the road and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Iain and Myles patiently waiting for the rest of us to get moving.

Crossing the field on the road, I tried to capture how gorgeous the trees were - and failed; the eye can take in so much more than can the camera lens.

We passed by the Regans' barn, and stopped to admire the elk horns Paul brought back from a visit up north.

Carl wearing the horns!

I made everyone stop for a sec to get a group picture.

Kerri was outside with her nieces when we came back by the house. She's a good aunt.

Kerri at the top of the "hill" where the kids were sliding.

Hope was enjoying the stand-up sleigh (I don't know what you really call it).

Taylor trudging back up the hill.  Those kids have a ton of energy!

At the lake

We had so much fun visiting with Carl and Irene at their cottage, at New Year's eve-eve, eve, and day.   They are wonderful hosts!  Even so, we are dreaming about staying at our own cottage next year.  We haven't been able to stay at the old place for the last 6 years:  ever since the oil stove came out.  It's not got a lot of insulation, and the wood range just can't kick out enough heat to warm it up.

This probably won't be a problem at the new place.  We stopped in for a look at the drywall on Friday afternoon, and were surprised to notice that the snow we tracked inside melted pretty quickly, despite there being no heat on for the previous week, and the weather being pretty cold.

Iain checking out the lovely thick insulation in the ceiling.

Once the drywall has been mudded, the builders will probably do the wood ceiling that extends through the living room, dining room and kitchen.  You can see the nice pine all stacked up in this next picture.

Mmmmm ... pine!

I made sure to get a picture of the front this time, showing the chimney, the angled windows in the living room, and the cute light outside the front doors!



My new best friend and me

Funny picture, I know!  But here it is, the Kobo, on which I intend to read lots of new books and articles!  It was a Christmas gift from Iain (I returned the favour, and he is also Mr. Kobo now), and I've already read Stephen King's Mile 81 and Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Just finished downloading the 4-book set of George Martin's A Game of Thrones.

Currently I'm working on a free ebook, Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago by Canniff Haight, which is a description written early in the 1900's about life in mid-1800's rural Canada.  Fascinating stuff, for me; I really enjoyed my Aunt Doris' My Heritage-My Memories, the pdf for which also sits on my Kobo!

My prediction for 2012:  I will have my nose in a book even MORE often than usual!

Merry Christmas!

I really wanted to post pics of all the kitties in Christmas poses, like with bows on their heads, or hiding under the tree, or something. Again, this year, I ran out of time. And getting cats to sit still is ... difficult. So here are a few pics I took tonight while Iain played Skyrim. Merry Christmas from all the furkids at our house!

Stitches,

Snaps,

Jezebel,

and Onyx!

And from Iain and me too, have a good holiday season and a very joyous and blessed 2012.

Lots to do, and Christmas One Week Away

Iain went to the cottage again on Saturday to work on some more electrical stuff.  He put up the outside lights (he didn't take a picture as proof, though, so I'll have to wait to see them).  It was really cold to be working outside; it was -12.  Fortunately, the cottage interior was holding the heat from the sun, and when he got a little fire going, he was able to warm his hands at least.

Lots of insulation, now.  Also in this picture:  the soon-to-be-installed corner shower for the bathroom; the door lockset (we've been using a temporary one); some drywall, which is going in this week; and wood for the ceiling, also probably going in this week.

The chimney looks good  It is near the peak, so we won't have to worry about it getting swept away by ice/snow.  You can also see the eavestrough and ice barrier that was installed this week.

Not much snow, and the lake is mostly free of ice; it has been an odd, warm early winter.

While Iain worked at the cottage, I did more baking:  Gingerbread Men, Orange Wreaths, Peanut Brittle, Almond/Cranberry Bark, Sugarplums.  Today, after church, he wrapped gifts while I baked more Gingerbread and Cranberry/Walnut Tarts.  Tomorrow I hope to complete the baking, doing a bit more Shortbread and Almond Bark, and possibly more Peanut Brittle.  Gosh, I love baking!

Christmas is coming...soon

Christmas prep is coming along.  Rum balls and fudge are done (well, I may make more fudge).  Got a batch of shortbread done too.  Tonight, I wrote up a few Christmas cards, so I'm very proud of myself.  And I am done shopping for Iain (yay!) except for a few stocking stuffers.  Also done shopping for everyone else, which is VERY nice.
The insulation and vapour barrier are done at the cottage, so we're just waiting for the inspector to okay it before proceeding.  The shower stall can go in next, and then drywall can go on.  Yippee!

Hopefully there will be more pictures to post on the weekend.

Last weekend, Iain and I got to the cottage one more time: Iain wanted to bury the phone wire before the ground froze, and I wanted a look at the new stove.

Dan already had a lot of the insulation installed; he was to finish it this week.

Iain and I have just arrived to check it out.



Rather clever, to hold the insulation in place with strips of the plastic bags it arrives in, until the vapour barrier can be applied.

The digging was hard work, as he had to go across Eldon's driveway to bury the cable.  That soil was packed hard from the traffic over it all summer.

Pickaxes do come in handy at times!

I puttered about in the cottage, making a wee fire in the stove (we need to make a few small ones to cure the bricks) and putting some vapour barrier around a light switch.

I like this stove!  It's exciting!

Iain did a little cleanup on some wiring and then we were off again.  He plans to head up again in another week or so to do some more odds and ends.

Ice Storm at Foymount

Last weekend, we took a spin up to the cottage again to do a few things. We didn't expect what we saw at Foymount: the huge rainstorm that had passed through the area last weekend, and kept our sump pump at home running busily all evening, deposited a heavy layer of ice on the Foymount area. Beautiful though the trees were, glistening in the sunlight, many of them couldn't stand the strain of the weight, and had broken or uprooted.

Just down the road from Foymount, toward our cottage.  The ice eventually faded to just snowfall, so we had no damage at the lake.

Just west of Foymount.

These next shots were taken on the Opeongo road, just east of Foymount.

I managed to get myself into the picture!

I like this picture a lot.

Baking list for Christmas

All the must do's:
gingerbread men
shortbread
orange wreaths
sugarplums
rumballs
almond bark
peanut brittle

How is this going to happen with so little time?  I have no idea...  If I had more time, though, the list would just get longer!

It's looking goooood!

The exterior is coming along beautifully now. With all the styrofoam and strapping in place, the next step is soffit and fascia!

The soffit and fascia are white vinyl.  We were tempted to go with black trim, to keep the theme of our old cottage, but decided a black steel roof would be the only nod to that.

 The doors and windows are installed, and the cottage is now fully protected from the rain and snow.

 

We're looking forward to hearing the rain on the steel roof.  Mind you, there will be lots of insulation, so it may not be very loud (probably a good thing, when you think of it).

The pre-stained board and batten siding is next.  We went with wood, even though it requires more upkeep, because we prefer the look of it as compared to vinyl (more cottage-ey) or stucco (Iain just doesn't like it).  White, because that's just what our cottage buildings look like :)

We ordered a nice little woodstove from McCrea's in Renfrew.  Ross Keatley from the cottage area will do the install.  Myles and Dodie helped Iain take it to its new home.  The crate was just narrow enough to fit through the doorway.

The outside is now essentially complete, with the installation of the windows and doors.  There is still the chimney, outside lighting, ice barriers and eavestrough to be installed, but doesn't it look pretty?

The back and entrance to the cottage.

 The high windows in the living room are still on order; coming soon!

Everyone says this is crying for a deck; we'll see how much energy we have left for that, next year!

Inside the insulation is piled up, waiting to be installed.  Lots of cushy pink stuff to keep us cozy warm.  With the approval of the electrical rough-in, Dan can start putting it in!