Home on the Hill

Our kitchen table often gets used as a lap top base station. It's just nice to sit at the table and peruse the www while having breakfast or a lovely cup of tea. The problem we faced was only one outlet near the table and it was on the floor as they didn't drill the logs for wiring when they installed them. The problem is that using a power bar to make additional outlets just isn't that satisfactory. It sits on the floor getting underfoot, and we've even had one melt a bit after residing for a time on the heat register. The solution was to take the kitchen table into the shop and add a couple of outlet bars to the table itself and then just have one plug from the table to the outlet. Neat. When our friends RT and Rhoda get here for some Easter celebrations we can all sit at the table and use our laptops with out getting knitted in the power cords. Xena has a new sister now and were working on integration. It's sure going well. Cleo seems to be adapting to t...

Jo-Ann gave me a hand " for an hour " yesterday. Well that's what I told her it would be. By the time we got all the piano hinges on the two new peg board storage systems and put the trim on and attached wall cleats and moved stuff around and hung them on the walls it was more like six hours later. My project estimating wetware was totally off on this one. Mind you we did stop for a refreshing tea break to admire our handiwork. The shop cat, Boose, needed some scrootches of course. And Xena needed a few chase the blue ball ( actually a pink ball now) sessions. A few more sub-projects and I will be able to finish organizing, putting up the tools, and get on with the overhead door installation. The only problem with doing it now is that (a) the parts are under four feet of snow, and (b) it was -26c(-14.8f) this morning. Taking the double tarps off of the door opening will probably be a little chilly. I just might wait a bit 'till it warms up. The impetus to ...

I love the smell of porridge in the morning. We try and have it at least twice a week. Especially in the winter time. The only other cereal that I will buy is Shreddies - and I don't much like taking the stroll down cereal isle in the stores. Who needs 150 different brands of cereal. Most of them covered with sugar. Our other breakfast staple is pancakes and of course eggs from the herd. With the occasional Mennonite sausage Made localy. One of the things on my list: learn how to make sausage. I have been looking for a meat cutting course in B.C. or Alberta so that I can learn to process my own beef and pork. Most of them seem to be geared towards being a professional butcher. I am looking for a more do it yourself type of course. Today is trouble shoot the skidsteer and start putting away the tools in the new shop.

We were sitting at the kitchen table this morning, checking out the webosphere and noticed Xena sitting on her favorite snow hill watching the morning sun rise. Actually I think she was scoping out two moose crossing just above the East fields. But she does like to sit on the growing pile of snow and contemplate her domain. All is right with the world. I spent yesterday fiddling in the shop. Putting a coat of paint on the tool storage pegboard and building a lumber storage rack. I was tripping over pieces of wood so that little project was coming up quickly. Here's Boose demonstrating proper use of a sliding compound miter saw. Notice how she took great pains to ensure the piece of wood was securely held down before cutting. Don't try this at home. Remember - she's a trained professional. Some guards and safety devices may have been removed for clarity.. The parts for the skidsteer weren't in yesterday so we'll try again today - after the second coat of paint o...

One of a few I will be building. This is pretty cool for tool storage. This one case occupies a 48 X 42 inch wall space and has a sheet and a half of pegboard storage. With a small shop, finding a use for every nook and cranny- maximizing working space and storage is paramount. Today with any luck I will complete the trim and varathane and maybe get a coat of paint on the pegboard. I managed to get some bugwood trim around the small side entry door. What a trial. There is a reason Mike Holmes makes sure everything is square and plumb before he starts. I thought the job would take about a half hour. Several hours later - when I went into the house for a calming cup of tea Jo-Ann mentioned that she was hearing a lot of crashing and banging and sawing and some swearing coming from the shop.. It was twenty below yesterday - time to work on the recalcitrant skid steer. the starter relay appears to be toasted. I will have to see if I can get a new one in town today as we have snow ...

Tom brought his fancy, self leveling, laser up and we used it to level the grade of the garage before we install re bar and wire mesh. I am putting in nails to mark the level line produced by the laser. Bit of a trick trying to get the base uniformly flat. Fortunatly Tom had his skidsteer which is a lot more powerful than our old Case. I have use of a tamper to flatten it out and it sure makes a solid base. Today I will play with getting it a bit deeper and add plastic and pressure treated 2 X 6's around the perimeter. Then bend some rebar and install the wire mesh. We are going to pour next Friday. The side door is ready to go in but it will have to wait for framing which will happen after the floor is poured. If I manage to get all that done today I will be thinking about making some cold storage to house the crop of root-a-veggies. Or maybe build the door for the ceiling storage area..

Yay! I got the shop powered up and heated yesterday. Just in time for another foot of snow to fall. Well when it comes off the roof it won't hurt anything this time. It sure was nice to get the fire going ( it uses electricity for its fans ) and watch the place dry out. Today I will add a few more circuits and a GFCI circuit under the front porch to power up the fence line Christmas lights. The plow guy just drove up and did our driveway so I shouldn't have to put the chains on. It has been touch and go the last couple of days with the temperature hoveing just above zero and the driveway covered with ice and water and slush snow on top of that. My brother Tom phoned a couple of days ago and said he had an "old thing" he got from the dump for us. Here it is: I don't think it is playable but it sure is neat. And I don't play the violin yet anyway. There is some sun shining through today. With all the fresh snow on the mountains it sure looks awesome.