December 8, 2009
Excava-cation
You might think we’re installing a pool, but this shot is from day 2 of our long-awaited geothermal heating system installation. We only had until next March to complete it in order to qualify for the rebates the government is offering, and of course an excavation like this can’t happen during the rainy fall or spring. So there were the boys – our good friend & geo expert Jason and his apprentice doing the geothermal install, and Richard overseeing a two man excavation crew – working past sundown in –6 degree weather. As you’ll see in the last few shots, it even snowed on Thursday night. Amazingly, the whole operation took only 5 days last week. I’m so thrilled with the result. First, we are one last part away from our high-efficiency, cold tolerant new heating system. That’s going to save us a bundle on heating, particularly combined with the foam insulation we just had sprayed on the basement headers. But more exciting for me, thanks to an unexpected glitch with the location of our gas line to the house, we switched from a driveway dig to going down the west side of our property, from the southwest corner of the house to the back fence. That meant we finally had an excuse to redo our landscaping! Richard figures we gained about 8 feet of yard along the whole length of our back yard now that it’s level. It’s messy with rocks and probably full of weed seeds, and we had to sacrifice a lot more plants than I was prepared for, but it has so much more potential. And, the neighbours insisted on paying for the new fence and the retaining rocks on their side of it. Excellent. A blanket of snow – next weekend most likely – will make it all look perfect. Yay! |
The things Richard manages to do in his rare days off…!Continue reading "Excava-cation"
Posted by anita at 4:48 PM | Comments (4)
October 10, 2009
Brrrr!
Seems like we've jumped straight from scorching summer to winter's chill without stopping for a few nice weeks of autumn. This morning when Richard went outside at 9, the thermometer read -6! Plants that I would normally be doing fall maintenance on over the next couple of weeks have already had a week of frost and winds have whisked away seeds I hadn't gotten round to collecting yet, even breaking branches off younger trees. Plus, the bears are getting a head start, not only taking every last one of our apples earlier in the week, but breaking branches off the crabapple last night too. The birds are going crazy - I don't think they expected this either. We were on the Coquihalla Thursday evening and there was already a dusting of white on the summits, with a few flakes falling as we drove. Time to unpack my scarves and winter sweaters!
I marked my birthday Thursday with cards and cake at both my workplaces and a few phone calls, but the real celebration will be tonight, as we are expecting the arrival shortly of Dagny and Chris. Despite the frosty mornings it's a beautiful weekend and we hope to take a walk along the salmon run at Adams River, which has become something of a birthday tradition. Richard is making his fabulous turkey for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night, and something special for my birthday dinner tonight, so we'll need a walk to work off full stomachs. Otherwise it will be a lazy weekend, as all of us are feeling drained, stressed, and in need of relaxation. We haven't seen Chris and Dagny in quite a while, after the frequent visits for wedding prep were over, so I'm very happy they were able to make it here after all.
Work has been crazy for both of us, and if I have to waste my time getting inadequately trained on one more unwieldy, poorly documented, badly designed piece of custom software I'm going to seriously consider applying to take over the damned IT department! Hmph. However, I think we've got a lot more job satisfaction overall than we had in our last positions, and our financial situation has definitely improved now that I'm earning a salary - part-time though it is for now - so I'm cautiously optimistic as I start a new year. If I can just get this house cleaned up, my garden set to rights, and my head back into novel-writing mode, I'll be ready for the real winter weather to begin.
On that note, must take my last birthday cake (almond flour pound cake in case you were wondering) out of the oven and get this place cleaned up for our guests! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you have a lot to be thankful for.
Posted by anita at 2:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2009
Out Of the Woods
Forgive the pun... The rain has done it! The fire isn't out by any means, but at least the fire fighters have deemed the risk lessened enough that all our evacuees were able to return home yesterday. They're still on alert but the danger seems to have passed. Great news for us, and although we'll still be keeping an eye on it, I can enjoy the rest of my mini-break here on the coast without worrying. The way it's raining down here this morning, hopefully there is more rain on the way at home. Regardless of the fire, we really need it, after a four month drought. I guess fall is here!
Posted by anita at 8:35 AM | Comments (4)
August 30, 2009
Wildfires
The local fires (8 of them in the vicinity) are threatening, certainly, but Richard and I and the residents of Poplar Road are not currently in any immediate danger. Thank you to everyone who has called to check up on us and offer help.
We have friends locally that have offered a hand and places to stay should we need it, for which we are very grateful. We spent some time on Friday preparing in the event of evacuation, after our neighbours to the south had to leave their homes. Thankfully so far, the Martin Mountain fire remains well away from our corner of the community, over 8km away. Closer to home, 5km away on the other side of the mountain above us, the Chase Creek fire has grown to 97 hectares but is 95% contained, meaning the fire fighting crews have built fuel-free guards around the perimeter that are holding.
Here is a link to the forestry ministry's website, so if you're concerned you can get the same info we're getting. We're worried for our neighbours who've been evacuated but again, we are in no danger ourselves. We'll know more about the effect of the hard work the firefighters are doing when the winds shift again, forecasted for tomorrow. Thank you all again for thinking of us. Be well.
Posted by anita at 9:24 PM | Comments (11)
August 12, 2009
UNniversary 2009, Part I
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Here is the first installment of my photos from our fantastic long weekend “UNniversary” campout. I’m a little short on sleep and super busy, so I’ve put together just Saturday breakfast and lunch so far. It was really, really hot (40 degrees on Sunday afternoon as we headed to the river, for example) so everybody just sat around in the shade keeping cool and talking most of the time – not a good weekend for a stroll around the Wildlife Park or sports that didn’t involve getting wet! So the food was what brought everybody together – with big smiles all around. The boys got the grill and deep fryer going, the serving area set up and the canopies overhead for shade, and we were off and running. I think we were better organized than last year, and everybody pitched in wonderfully, so feeding everyone went pretty much without a hitch. And Richard outdid himself on this year’s menu. Everyone gave it a thumbs up!Continue reading "UNniversary 2009, Part I"
Posted by anita at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
