We are ba-a-ck

We have returned from the homeland.  We have haircuts.

We will show you only the most photogenic haircut. 
We have signed our souls over to the CRA (income taxes).  Will pay them with one room from the house.

It is what they deserve, is it not.  This is the guest bedroom!!  Does everyone feel welcome.

Actually this is the guest bedroom.

I bet that no one has noticed the difference between this and the last posting.  We have drywall and it will be done on Wednesday.

and

My kitchen.

When we got back to Nanaimo,  trees were in bloom everywhere,  all sorts of colours and blossoms.

Our dogwood tree, which shades the southside of the livingroom patio.

A view of the backyard.

This is against the northern neighbor.

This view is directly in front of the patio.

Today's weather.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought

Been absent for awhile.  A lot has been happening with not much visible to show for it.  This was the scene on Sunday morning.

The Easter bunny came with a new roof.  Here goes the old roof. 

Now we have a new roof.

Note all of the new windows and the patio door.  Also this is a total view of the back deck.

Remember this photo.

This is what it looks like now.

Once we have started clearing away the vegetation, we have found a great deal of dead vegetation underneath the green growth and trunks and stems of plants that must have been here since the exit of the last ice age.

A view of some of the vegetation around the property.

Marsh marigold in the pond.

A sad rhodedendron.  I should have take a picture of the one across the street.  Much more impressive.

An arbutus tree.  This is a very nice specimen.  These trees are protected here on the island.  The remain green all winter.  The electric company comes by every so often and prunes around the electrical lines. 

The new windows on the south side of the house.  We get a fairly nice view on parts of downtown Nanaimo and the night lights.

Finally a view of the front of the house with all of the patio doors and upper windows installed.

We had Alison and Darian here for the weekend.  Much Longwood Framboise, Crabbes Ginger beer and other assorted varieties of beer were consumed which made for a very quiet Easter Sunday, except for the roofers banging away all day on the roof.

We are crawling with trades now either working or pricing.  Prices here in Nanaimo are really good compared to what we would be paying for the same jobs in Lethbridge.  We hope to be to the drywall stage soon. 



Clean underwear

Ha!  You probably think that we have had a major disaster!  The analogy for today is that of clean new underwear.  No one sees it but it adds great feelings of support, and freshness.  It does not need to be sexy.

Believe me, the mess we entailed in our downstairs bathroom was a result of this.  It went on for three days and  there were times when I did think clean underwear would be in order.  We needed serious plumbing in order to have the ensuite where it is.   Next step will be to cut off the electricity, therefore no cooking or sewing.  Oh dear, I have to spend the day shopping.

The weather this week has been on and off sunshine and showers.  On Friday J and Ronnie were up on the roof putting on fascias and preparing the roof for the roofing guys.  We started out beautiful and sunny, warm, then a real dump of rain which the boys valiantly worked through in order to make the roof waterproof again.  Because we are not getting a good run of dry, we are unable to get the decking on which impedes the installation of the patio doors.

Notice the tree in bloom, just barely.  This is the tree in the back yard.  The supporting beams for the back patio are just in front of it.

We have had some discussion about being certifiably crazy.  There is only one wall in the entire house that has been untouched.  J is pleased with the progress.  The week ahead will continue rainy, sunny, windy etc. so we will probably work away at the underpinnings.