What A Difference A Day Makes

Well as my aunt used to say, "Shit fire and save the matches!"  My goodness can two days back to back be any different? 

Yesterday

Today

Crazy hey! 

This morning I got up to blue skies and birds singing.  I had to go to town...AGAIN...to do some more paper work at the bank...AGAIN.  (Moving your crap to another province is WAY easier than getting your on line/paperwork moved.  I'm thinking that by the time I decide to move, in twenty years or so, I should just about have everything finally set up here.)  Anyway where was I...oh yeah earlier today the weather was nice, the roads were dry, and best of all, no snow.  We got into the bank, and I shit you not, there was a line up of people out the door.  I looked at the hubby and said screw this let's go take care of our reno shopping and come back later.  So we toodled off, and browsed, did the tactile thing, and purchased some expansion foam, sinks, electrical plug covers, and various other essentials, at three of four hardware stores.  When we returned to the bank the line was only marginally shorter.  Of course as we waited in line it once again turned into a conga line from hell.  When we finally made it to a teller I enquired as to why there was such major activity and was informed that the pension cheques came in on Friday, but there had been a big storm so not too many people had shown up, so everyone came today.  Which makes zero sense to me.  Does the government not do direct deposit these days?  Or if they do, is it a requirement for everyone to go and draw all their money out at the same time?  It's a mystery.  Not one I'm in a big hurry to explore right at this juncture. 

Anyway just about the time we were pulling into our driveway it started to snow, and boy did it snow.  It came down in buckets, and more buckets, and perhaps a few baskets too.  So I grabbed the hound, my camera, and my gators and headed out to the back forty for a walk and a photo opportunity.  Here are the results. 

This is the start of my road to Shangri La.

This is where I had been doing some chain sawing the other day. 

And of course the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Kitpu Estates.



Oh My Aching Back

Today was a nice day.  A little more blustery than I like, but nonetheless it was a pretty nice day.  Mostly clear skies all day, in the plus six range, and no snow on the ground.  Perfect.  The renovation project was dedicated to plumbing today, which pretty much leaves me out.  I know zero about plumbing.  So I decided that my contribution to Kitpu Estates was to go out and tackle some of the trees we had knocked down when we were in road building mode.  I grabbed my trusty little red chain saw, Mr. Ricci, an axe, my cutter snipper thingie, the hell hound, and toodled out to the back forty. 

Turns out that my trusty little chain saw was not so trusty after all.  It started on the second pull (truly a miracle) but refused to cut.  I was puzzled because the chain was moving around the bar at a good clip, but for some reason it refused to eat the wood.  That's when it occurred to me that the last time I used it the chain had come off and I had spent a good part of an hour trying to figure out how to fix it.  Not ever having seen a chain saw being fixed, or having ever had to fix one before, it took a bit of time.  I quickly realized that I had probably put the chain back on incorrectly, so I took it apart and flipped the bar and then put it back together again.  Then I pulled the cord, oh about a thousand times, and nothing happened.  Iron Bess was a bit pissy.  So I decided that I probably had flooded Mr Ricci and left him alone to pout while I went to see if I could do something which did not require cutting with power tools.  Lo and behold when I returned he finally started after about twenty pulls.  And, the best part, he actually cut the wood.  So I was in business, the wood cutting business.  There was joy in Mudsville. 

I managed to buck up about half the pile before I ran out of gas, so I left Mr. Ricci to cool down before filling him back up and stacked the wood I had cut.  The next time I filled him he started almost immediately so I continued with the pile until I got to the logs which were frozen into the ground.  So I started on pile number two until I ran out of gas.  Things were progressing quite nicely.  That's when the hell hound decided that I was probably the most boring human being on the planet and headed for home.  Somewhere between the back forty and home she found a deer leg and was busy chewing away on it when the hubby found her.  Hubby decided that he needed to check on me because my attack dog had abandoned me.  So I was out in the wilderness all by my onesies and liable to be dragged away by the local bunny population.  Actually the only thing I really have to be worried about in the bush is myself.  Girl + New toy + Enthusiasm = Potential Disaster.  Just before he showed up I ran out of gas so I was stacking wood waiting for my saw to cool. 

As things seemed to be in a state of normalcy he was going to head back to finish the plumbing stuff, "But I think I will cut down these two trees before I leave, okay?"  Tree number one went down without a hitch, tree number two...dam the chain got pulled off when it got caught in the tree.  So hubby fixed it and headed back to the homestead.  When I finished stacking I grabbed Mr Ricci to finish the pile and wouldn't you know it three logs left and the chain really came off.  So much so that it was the end of the business of wood for the day.  Speaking of wood, I must leave this exciting missive as is and go and start a fire, the sun is going down and the passive solar heat is leaving with it. 

This is the pile after my first go round with Mr Ricci. 

Best Blizzard Ever

Yesterday we had the "Best Blizzard Ever", if all the winter storms were like that I would be all over it.  You see when I was listening to the radio the day before they kept forecasting doom and gloom for the next day.  At one point the weather gurus predicted 30 cm of snow followed by 10 mm of rain.  So yesterday when I woke up I was expecting to see a white out, but what I saw was no snow.  Of course almost immediately it began to snow and soon there may have been about three inches on the ground, or around 7 cm for those who prefer metric.  Being prepared for the worst I did my work indoors, yes more renovations, then probably around noonish it turned to rain and continued raining the rest of the day.  By the evening the winds had picked up and they were howling some hard pretty much all night.  The cool thing about it is that it blew all the snow away!  Yup not a speck to be found.  Today it was blue skies and the temperatures hovering around the four or five mark.  Like I said, best dog gone blizzard ever!

Today I painted, or should I say repainted, the fireplace hearth.  Yesterday the hubby and I notched the bottom of the bricks out with a Rotozip in preparation for the new flooring, then I painted some ceilings and walls.  Lucky me.  The painting I did today was minor, and over quite quickly, but the jury is still out on the colour.  And of course I am the jury, and the judge, and the interior decorator.  It's a hardship, but someone has to do it.  As I painted though I looked around at the mounds, and mounds, and mounds of dust bunnies, dog hair, cat fur, and renovation crap all over the floors and decided that I could no longer put off vacuuming.  Three hours later and I feel a hell of a lot better.

Howling Maniacs

Today was a first for me since moving here, this morning at a most ungodly time of day, the hell hound was pacing and pacing (which means I need to go outside and pronto).  So I dragged my sorry carcass out of bed and hung her out by the neck then proceeded to the loo myself, on the way back I looked at the outside temperature to see whether or not Miss Poopy Pup was going to spend a lot more time outside and decided that yes it was warm enough for her to be left to her own devices while I caught a few more zees.  But as I passed by the door I could see that she had already tangled herself up in a nearby tree, so I jumped into a pair of the hubby's handy size thirteens and went outside to rescue the hound.  That is when I heard the commotion, there was some serious coyote howling going on in the bush. 

Now since I've been here, almost a year and a half, I have heard a great deal about the coyote problem here in the land of the fog but haven't actually seen, heard, or smelt any coyotes in the vicinity.  Happily.  In fact both the hubby and I have commented on that fact several times since moving here.  You see, back in the mountains we used to hear them howling up a storm almost every single night, spring, summer, fall, and even sometimes in the winter, and that was in town.  So we have both been very surprised that out here in the boonies the local population consists of deer, raccoon, beaver, porcupine, squirrel, (and moose...lol, okay maybe not moose, but I couldn't resist) martin, and other various creatures did not include coyotes.  Well now we can add coyote to the list.  I guess that means I have to keep a closer eye out on the dog.  Sigh. 

Wet and Wriggling

Today was a tich bit damp, in fact so damp that when I got up this morning the little snow we did manage to accumulate in the past week was gone.  And good riddance I say.  The lake still had ice on it but sitting on the ice was about three or four inches of water.  So needless to say, all the snow which had accumulated over the ice is also gone.  The thermometer hovered around the 10 degree mark pretty much all day.  Yippee.  This is one Cannuckian who is appreciating not having a ton of winter to put up with.  Yet another benefit of not living in the mountains anymore.  Speaking of mountains I here tell from some of the folks I still keep in touch with back there that it has been very cold, and very much snow as of late.  Sucks to be them I guess. 

Today was mudding day for the ceiling in the kitchen.  Mudding drywall sucks.  Sanding dried mud sucks even more.  But it has to be done, and typically not by me, because how can I put this so you understand...oh yeah, because I suck at it.  So hubby did mudding, which he is good at.  Also the window and the door got some new framing for the inside, they both look so much better already that one has to wonder just how bad the whole place looked before we started this project.  The kitchen is all echoee with so much of it being gone.  It almost looks huge...almost.  I'm sure that illusion will change once the new cabinets go back in. 

On my walk in the rain today I took the opportunity to take out my cutter/hacker thingee (yes that is the technical term for it, google it) and cut out some annoying trees, branches, and shrubs in a couple of the areas I am trying to civilize.  That project is also starting to look much better already.  I am trying to hack away all the crappy alder trees so that the birch trees can grow without being overpowered.  The alders around here are like gigantic ugly weeds and seem to suck the life out of any other trees which do not have a tendency to act like alien pod things.  So anytime the weather permits and I can spend a little time grooming back there I do.  And although I haven't had much time lately the little I have gotten done has made a big difference. I have a picture I took a couple of days ago to show you the viewers of my new parklike area in the back forty.  You can see where I have been thinning out the area and where I haven't because the crap-assed alders are still skulking around on the ground (mocking me). 

Another Sunday In The Winter of 2012

Sunday has arrived.  Again.  And in the land of people who no longer work for "The Man" it means almost nothing.  And the reason I say, almost nothing, is because the only real reason it does mean something is when a body needs something like gyprock, or screws, or insulation, or some other detritus which is required when renovating, the stores which sell that stuff around here are closed.  For a person who only recently moved here from the far west that fact still rings as somewhat unnatural.  Where I come from you can go to any large center and find everything open to consumerism wherever you go, pretty much on any day, at any time of the year.  In fact, the only day I can really remember businesses closing out west is on xmas day.  Way out here on the other side of the country Sunday shopping has only been permitted as of the end of 2006.  You read that correctly, 2006!  Sometimes I feel that not only have I moved distance in kilometers but I have also time traveled back in time to the days of having to write a cheque to a grocery store on the weekend if you didn't get to the bank during the week to take out some money.  Or having to listen to the rings on the party line to know whether or not the call is for you.  Or having to use a come along to pull your tractor out of the ditch.  Oh wait a minute, that was only yesterday. 

This morning the mercury read -20 Celsius, that is by and far the chilliest it has been all this winter.  The best thing about it is that even though sometime last night the fire had burned out the temperatures in the house were still rather civilized this morning.  Well civilized for the residence of Kitpu Estates at any rate.  (Although Karson, the cat, did decide to snuggle next to me sometime during the night.)  Which means that all of our efforts to increase the R factor this summer have paid off.  And even though we only put a fire on this morning to cut the chill in the air the house has been nice and snug since it burned down to nothing thanks to the passive solar heat we are able to capture from the almost perfect alignment of the structure to the sun. 

Now we happen to live in the sticks, well as stickish as it gets out east, so we make a habit of going for a walk in the bush (on our land) and sometimes even venture out into civilization (the dirt road leading to our land) and this morning we did just that.  The weird thing about our morning walk was seeing a new truck flipped onto its top in the ditch on the side of the road.  A tow truck was already on the scene and dragging it out so there was no need for either of us to go to the rescue, but I found it really odd that someone was back here either last night, or early this morning, driving imprudently enough to flip their truck over in conditions which were not exactly hazardous.  And when I say not exactly, I mean not at all.  I've decided, based on no discernible evidence of any kind whatsoever, that it was a bunch of intoxicated, good for nothing, unemployed red neck punks, out for a joy ride in a stolen truck, and leaving it at that.  Oh what exciting times there are here in the land that Sunday forgot. 

And for those of you who cannot stomach reading my blatherings, here is a picture that tells the story of Kit, the dog, and her trusty cat, Karson, chillaxing on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

More To Life Than Renovations

As my title suggests I have more to my life than renovations.  *Snork* that's a good one.  Who am I trying to kid, I have no life!  But just because I have nothing else going for me doesn't mean all I should be doing is sharing renovations pictures, so I thought I would share some other fun facts about life on Kitpu Estates. 

As is my wont on occasion I took the hound, the hubby, and myself out for a walk to the back forty and beyond, here are a few pictures of life not in the kitchen. 

This one I found interesting because of the colour of the light.  It is obviously not a spring, or even fall light, it lacks the yellow one usually finds in the sun.  You can also see the extra long shadows cast by the trees, now if there had been snow on the ground it would have made a lot more sense. 

Here is the hell hound leading the charge as we walk towards Mirkwood. 

This is a picture of some of the wood we have been bucking up on our road making endeavors.  I have about nine piles on the go with quite a few piles of unbucked trees which still need to be cut and piled.  But alas, my little chainsaw must rest while I am involved with other projects.  The one real great thing about building a road is that the wood we cut will not go to waste, at least we have a great start on next year's firewood. 

And it turned out that I was correct when I said that the lake would look black, hard, and cold after the day of thaw and a night of sub zero temperatures.  If I still had my skates I could have skated for miles.  (Well until I hit a really weak spot and drowned.) 

Here the hubby is using the auger to check on the depth of the newly formed ice.  What is taking so long?  Spin that puppy will ya.

And it looks like around 7 or 8 centimeters.  That's thick enough to drive a truck on no?  We could start filming Ice Road Truckers of the East. 

Now aren't you happy not to see more renovations pictures?  I know I am. 

Zippity Doo Dah

Once again I want everyone to go to this site ( http://www.webhamster.com/)   and turn up the sound really loud because that is what I am doing right now.  We installed the very last window today.  Yay us!  Who'd a thunk that in January a plus ten day would happen along just when you needed to have a big gaping hole sucking all the warm air out for hours on end. 

This is what the window looked like to start with today. 

Then we ripped the siding off from around it on the outside, and the drywall off from around it on the inside.  Built a support so when we took the old header down (what header...I see no header) the roof wouldn't wow in. 

The hubby put tarping up outside to try and protect the interior from any potential falling precipitation.  None did fall it was sunny all day, but blowing like a banshee.  In fact it blew so hard that the tarp actually lifted the scaffolding up off the ground with the hubby standing on it. 

This is the new window waiting for the opportunity to allow the light to shine on me.  This also will be the one, and only, time that it will reside in front of the sink. 

And this is what it looks like now.  Ain't it purdy? 

So, in my mind, the worst part is over, the part where I figured we would all end up as Popsicles while we had a huge hole in the wall all day allowing all the nice warm air to go bye-byes.  Hubby disagrees with me, he is not so much looking forward to the next stage.  I'm not all that keen about the next stage either, I hate ripping down drywall and breaking it into chunks then trying to get it into bags without ripping them.  I already feel like I've been doing that for weeks and it was only for a few hours today. 

The temperatures are now in the sub-zeros and the lake is once more yammering away.  It actually sounds like someone is pushing giant curling rocks across its length.  Today it had a couple of inches of water sitting on the surface, so if it doesn't snow tonight it will be interesting to see what it looks like in the morning.  I am betting flat, black, cold, and hard. 

WTF

Okay just when I think I have something figured out it goes Ka-Put on me.  For some reason I can no longer post comments on my own blog.  What is up with that?  Okay back to the settings and another round of fun. 

R&R, Or How Iron Bess Survived Another Day

I am happy to report that today was a non-working day.  Yes you heard correctly, there was no ripping things apart, pulling nails, painting shit, or even mudding stuff.  It was a for real, do nothing except laundry, cooking, and walking kind of day. 

The last couple of days have been cold.  Cold enough to be forming more ice on the lake out front.  All day I could hear it talking to me.  For real.  I shit you not.  It sounds like really loud indigestion, but that is how lakes talk, most especially when freezing and thawing.  I know this because now that I live on the lake I am a "Lake Whisperer".  Yup you heard it here first.  I am the first official true blue Canadian Lake Whisperer.  Today my lake was saying, "Baby, I'm getting hard all over."  My response was.  "Son of a bitch is it ever cold out here.  The wind coming off that lake is freezing the end of my nose off."  The lake just burped at me.  It was all highly scientific.  You had to be there. 

Also, today, for the first time in forever, I actually did a little dabbling in writing, besides the blathering I do here I mean.  It wasn't good, and it wasn't long, but it was actually a tiny bit of writing.  Writing practice to be more accurate.  I did it on this blog site I found about writing...http://daily-writing.blogspot.com/ for anyone caring to have a look.  I am so grateful for sites like that, I need all the motivation I can get when it comes to my writing because usually I am so crunched for time with all the crap going on here at Kitpu Estates.  And certain family members, or more accurately member (she who lives in the north and will remain nameless) makes me keep adding pictures so she can police every movement I make, which leaves little time before the head hits the pillow.  So today I actually took the opportunity to spray some WD40 over the brain cells responsible for writing and I wrote.  It was good.  Not the outcome, but the act of writing.  I'm babbling now, I should stop. 

Oh and before I forget, I also applied for a couple more jobs.  Yikes!  I don't know if I should be more freaked about getting a job, or not getting one.  On the one hand I haven't had a job in over a year.  On the other hand I've worked my ass off harder this past year than any time in the last century of working full time.  If I get a job now the progress here at the shack will slow down (probably not too much because the hubby happens to be a machine, one of those terminator types which never stops).  But I like to think that I contribute just a bit to the work in progress here. You know the worse thing about the thought of going back to work is?  It is the thought of having to be on a schedule again.  The thought of having to be somewhere at at certain time is enough to give me the willies.  I have a hard enough time keeping bank appointments. 

Okay now I'm stopping for real.  Good night one and all.  Burble, burble, burp. 

Renovations and Cake

Well today was another rather eventful day, the final cabinet came out (well not the final one, perhaps the penultimate one).  We have to do some destruction on the basement ceiling in order to get at the remaining one for wiring and whatnot.  We need to have a place to plug the new range in otherwise we won't be doing any indoor cooking, and with the temperatures hovering in the minus 8 range all day it would have been a tad bit cold to BBQ out of doors.  Okay perhaps it was more like minus ten, but my weather station sometimes over states the temperature when the sun is shining. 

Today also saw a new chunk of drywall go up into the "ookie" spot on the ceiling.  The old mildewed, molding, mouse turd infested piece had to come down.  I know some people may have a real affinity for old mildewed, molding, mouse turdish drywall, but this chickie does not, so it had to go.  Also all the holes we found in the ceiling from where presumably some pot lights were located at one time had to be fixed.  So it was Iron Bess and her trusty carton knife slicing out pieces of drywall, and hubby with his lonnggg arms and some drywall screws to the rescue.  Then, presto-whamo, and the holes were patched and mud was slung and it looks mucho-mucho better. 

Yes I know!  The first person to mention the fact that there is a mop and bucket being used on a floor which only has days to live gets a lung removed.  Just because a person lives in a dump doesn't mean that it has to be a dirty dump! 

Then being the proper Dora Domestica that I am, I baked a final cake in the oven that will soon be living in a recycle centre near here.  Yummy. 

Renovations Continue, Or How Iron Bess Went Crazy

Hi there, how is life in the winter wonderland that is yours?  Ours is kinda shitty, a tiny bit of snow, a bit of rain, and a whole whack of wind.  Yesterday was spent pulling down more cabinetry and then pulling nails out of said cabinets, today was much the same.  So without further ado here are a few pictures of things in progress. 

It may not look like a bunch of work, but it certainly feels like it.  We managed to get almost all the tiles off the ceiling and pulled out about a thousand staples.  Then of course there was the matter of taking the reciprocating saw to some of the countertops and cabinets, a crow bar or two, a hammer or two and a bunch of grunting and groaning.  Then of course there is the whole, "how are we going to wash dishes and such when we start actually having to take the walls and window out from behind the sink?" question.  You build sawhorses to hold up the sink and then plumb it so that you can hook and unhook valves as required, of course.  That took a lot of time.  Oh the joys of it all.  As you can see from the final picture we still have some of that beautiful faux brick stuff to take off the walls.  It was glued on with tar.  Yummy.  Tomorrow...much of the same. 

And So It Begins

Yup, the "Kitchen Project" has started.  I have two emotional reactions to this, 1) Yippee, I am finally going to get a kitchen which I can get organized.  2) OMG I am completely overwhelmed.  Where to start?  Okay I know I have to start by ripping stuff out, but Oh My, it is going to be a hell of a lot of work in a short period of time.
Here is an update of the kitchen as was and now as is.  Well as is tonight because by tomorrow night there will be a lot less of it.
This picture is of the beautiful thing-a-ma-bob (I personally don't know WTF it was) or should I say Thing Which Caused Head Injuries.  The hubby built a support for it before cutting it down because it must have weighed over two hundred pounds. 

This picture is with TWCHI gone...and good riddance. 

Here is what it looked like up until yesterday.  Buh-bye.

The first cabinet gone and already it makes a HUGE difference in the space-time continuum. 

Now the only thing left to do is to rip out all the rest of the cabinets, rip out the back wall, take down the ceiling, change the window out, rip the side wall down, take all the wall paper off the walls that we are keeping, change the plumbing for the dishwasher, replace all the electrical, fix all the walls that need fixing, put up new insulation and drywall, fix the siding outside, prime and paint the ceiling and walls, lay hardwood flooring in the kitchen, dining room, and living room, and then put the new cabinets up.  But that's all.  

Painting Party At Iron Bess's

Yup today was another painting day.  I was doing a couple of small areas in the hall today so that hopefully we can finish the hardwood in that area.  Then I was painting trim..."Yargghhhh!" I hate painting trim almost as much as I hate washing cutlery.  There is something crappy about the whole tiny little, nit picking, suck-o-mundo aspect of it. 

But I guess I can't complain too much, it was a beautiful sunny day so I had a pleasant walk with the hubby and the hound.  Hmmm, is that perhaps a better title for the magazine?  Hubby and the Hound.  With our little skiff of snow on the ground I could see all the rabbit tracks, deer tracks, squirrel tracks, and other unidentifiable tracks which the "Nose" snorked around and got excited about.  Usually I can't see the tracks, and definitely can't smell them, so to me it usually just looks like the dog is all orgasmic for no real reason. 

The hubby also put in some temporary shelving units today which means that the destruction of the kitchen is imminent.  I am pretty excited about the upcoming project as it means we are that much closer to getting a bit of a break on the back breaking work.  Also, I am really looking forward to installing the dishwasher and getting rid of a certain bank of cabinetry so I can actually see people when I am in the kitchen doing shit. 

Woot Woot!

Two rooms completed!  Picture me doing a little happy dance (two fists side by side and shaking to the left, then shaking to the right then doing the hookie-pookie, then side shuffle, side shuffle, and turning myself about).  Although today was a "no progress" kind of day on the floor, it was a "prep" day so more progress could be made at a soonish time.  Okay so that sentence makes no sense whatsoever, but it's a dingle berry's, hairy toes skipping through the tulips kind of day.  And it is COLD.  Like real winter kind of cold.  The thermometer was hovering in the minuses all day.  We had teeny, tiny little bitty type snowflakes even.  Sucky assed snowflakes, but teeny, tiny ones nonetheless. 

I had to bundle up in my parka for my walk and still felt chilly at times. That is until my furnace kicked in and I did a wee bit of sweating.  Then I got cold again cuz I was wet.  Shocking.  The dog got herself a nasty gash on her leg, and if she was a human type animal she probably would have gotten around five stitches.  She still may need them but I am letting her do the dog thing and lick it better.  She had minimal bleeding but it is right in the front of her front paw so probably no real major blood vessels there anyway.  Of course it slowed her down not even a bit. 

I am pretty stoked tonight because I got to do some of my OCD stuff with some of the completed rooms.  I arranged things in boxes in a neat and tidy fashion then put labels on the boxes.  I tell you its almost enough to make a person get all swoonie with the joy-joyness of it all.  I even pulled my label maker out of storage and got to use it.  That was almost better than sex.  Who am I kidding, it is wayyyyy better than sex.  "Oh baby use Helvetica number 12 again."  Erm...ah yeah...I believe the proper word here would be - anyway. 

It is still lacking in some personality and hominess which means that I need to invest some time into finding side tables and lamps, and then digging through boxes to see if I have any paintings which survived the move, just so it doesn't look so, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.  But for all intents and purposes the worst of it is done.  Go here http://www.webhamster.com/ to see exactly how I feel, make sure you turn the volume way up.

Here is a reminder of what we started with in this room.  The original room had a LOT of personality, but it was more like the, crazy old aunt who has sixteen cats, and the body of her fifth husband buried in the foundations of the house, type. 

Happy 2012 To All!

I hate to sound all cliche like here, but boy oh boy did this year ever fly by.  I guess that's what happens when a body is on a "modified lifestyle" and happens to be rather busy.  I spent a rather enjoyable day out in the toolies today, going for a walk with the hound dog, and then cleaning up some of the trail which I had worked on earlier this year.  I ended up with a rather large burning pile and a tiny section of bush that looks a bit more park-like.  I also ended up being somewhat muddy and in need of a bath.  The dog ended up in the lake taking a polar bear swim because she was nasty. 

Then I spent a less enjoyable few hours doing year-end and fine tuning the budget for this year.  Sigh...I may need to go out and get a paying job.  But I am holding out for that lottery winfall...come on ticket, you can do it, I have faith.   

The following is the reason why my knees are swollen up to twice their normal size. 

This is a small room right off the new entryway. 

All it needs is baseboards and this room is done like dinner!

This is the next bigger room, at one point in it's life it used to be the master.

And again, the only thing left to do with this bedroom is the baseboards and it is done.  That will mean that three whole rooms in the house are finished.  It is almost enough to make a person have a little cry. 

For those of you who could give a great, big, giant rat's ass about hardwood, I thought I would add some pictures of food.  The first is a picture of some of the xmas cookies I made this year, the second is of a cake I baked yesterday.  Happy New Year Day to me, happy New Year Day to me...!