Flooring, Particle Board, and Staples

Finished pulling up the old floors yesterday.  Wow!  Did not expect it to be that much work.  Underneath floor #1, the forest-green tile Pam mentioned in her post, was floor #2, a white linoleum that was much nicer than the tile.

I thought I would be done after the linoleum, but no such luck.  In addition to a layer of particle board underneath both the tile and linoleum layers, there was an extra layer of particle board underneath…for good measure (floor #3).

What made the last two layers a real “adventure” was that the person using the staple gun wanted to make the edges of the sheets of particle board look like they were sewn down with a sewing machine.  And in case the millions of staples weren’t enough, a few nails were thrown in along the way.

The floors are now out, but we have a few hours of pulling nails and staples before we can put a new subfloor down.

Windows are being installed on Friday.

Week 1 of Kitchen Reno

Seeing what amazing things my husband can do with electrical and plumbing in a basement is a bit inspiring.  I wonder why he didn’t like my comment about buying another fixer upper?   Tuesday we moved some cupboards into the garage to make way for the custom ones we ordered on Monday.

Last view of the kitchen the way it was.

Good-bye to my stove for many weeks.  Since I needed more steps on my fitbit, I agreed to carry out some drywall on Thursday.  What a dusty job! Lowell is walking around with bloodshot eyes. Thankfully there was no lathe and plaster, but some walls were still insulated with wood shavings.  The condition of Lowell’s eyes may be also in part because instead of sleeping he is thinking through wiring and plumbing routes.

Currently Lowell is removing the forest green tiles, underneath is white linoleum, not sure who thought green tiles were better.

Kitchen Reno

Kitchen renovation … done!

Actually, this is just our temporary kitchen in our basement.  We have lighting, plumbing (including a dishwasher), a fridge, some small appliances, and a work surface.  Hopefully we can satisfy our cooking needs with a microwave, BBQ, and miscellaneous electric grills and frying pans.

We ordered some windows and doors 2 weeks ago and our cabinets earlier this morning.  The rest of this week will be spent on demolition and preparing the space for some framing.  Anyone want the cabinets we will be pulling out?

Star Lake

We didn’t go camping this year but we did get away with friends to a camp.  Lowell was asked to give a series of 3 lectures on a topic of his choice at Star Lake Family Camp.  He spoke on the meaning of life as reflected on by several different philosophers.

While he was working I celebrated my birthday without cooking or cleaning.  I read, took in the scenery of the whiteshell, canoed at sunset with my family while listening to the loons.  L&K were playing with friends and supervised around the ever burning bonfire by a lady who loved burning things as much as they did.

Family Fun Day 2

Day 2; L&K had a little more input into how this day unfolded.  They were no longer interested in the surprises that M&D would dream up.  Since 2017 was free national park pass year we took the opportunity to visit Lower Fort Gary.  I had only been there once before, on a Grade 6 field trip.  Kira’s class had gone in the spring so she was very excited to show us around.  We enjoyed checking out the assortment of furs at the general store, learning about dyes for wool and what a tea bale looked like.

The second half of the day we spent in the Grand Beach area.  Again Lowell and I had only been there once before and couldn’t quite remember which beach our friends had taken us to.  Despite the rocky start we had a great time.  Apparently we were too busy having fun in the water to take photos.  L&K took their googles along.  The algae made the water too murky for lake bottom exploration, but they provide a welcome defence against splashes.

Family Fun Day 1

We didn’t get away camping by ourselves this year.  This made L&K quite sad.  The renovation project took longer then we anticipated, (perfection comes at a cost) and there were a few funerals that the church choir director needed to be at.  There were many other little things that maybe shouldn’t have mattered, but their accumulated effect was that we were too tired to undertake the planning and packing.  Instead we took 2 days to for some fun day trips.

Day 1 was a bike ride, not very exciting to L&K, although the KFC picnic in Assiniboine Park was a rare treat.  We took some time to explore the gardens and the playground.

We have previously biked to Assiniboine Park so we tried to go a little farther.  This was met with much grumbling and the whitetailed deer we spotted in the Assiniboine Forest did not compensate.  However the lure of an ice cream come at Sargent Sundae kept them going.

It couldn’t have been all bad, Lyndon was artistically inspired by the mallards in the pond. He took many photos so that he could draw them when he got home.  Unfortunately by the time we did get home he was too tired to be creative.

 

Renovations Continue

What would life be like if one didn’t have all kinds of ideas for making our new house great?  You may remember that in late winter and early spring we had plumbing and insulating done in our basement, we have since dry walled, and painted the exterior walls.  The next step in our Grand plan was to alter the side stairwell going down into the basement.  It involved removing a closet and a doorway, then levelling the floor and re-configuring the stairs. This summer Lowell undertook this part of the plan.

It takes awhile to make a customized staircase, especially when you use raw lumber.

Along the way Lowell needed to install a new screendoor, and weatherstrip the original door.  We decided to keep the original fir on the landing too, it remains to be seen whether all the work we put into it was worth the trouble.  Many hours of paint stripping and gap filling were required.

The new stairs go all the way into the basement.

I think the final results are stunning.  Lowell even made trim boards that replicate the originals in the house.

Swimming Lessons

It seems that a person can’t keep up with each day never mind recording memories.  My apologizes for taking you back to summer when the snow is falling outside.  Lyndon and Kira have never really liked swimming lessons, but at our house it is a necessary evil.  Every year kids drown and I will do what I can so that doesn’t happen to our family.  FYI this knowledge does not make swimming lessons more enjoyable!

This year lessons were particularly bad for L.  Brainstorming for reasons led to the possibility that he has attended camp twice since his last lessons and disliked the cold water and the fear of jumping off slippery whiteshell rocks.  Lowell came up with a solution that did the trick – goggles.  They were a hit and both kids passed their levels.  Looking at the marks the goggles left, I’m not sure how they managed to wear them.

Summer Fun With the Loeppky Clan

Our annual camping weekend with the Loeppkys took place at Watchorn Provincial Park on the east shore of Lake Manitoba.  The beach was beautiful and we could wade way out into the lake without it getting too deep.  The weather was nice, except for one night when we endured three loud thunderstorms and some strong winds.  Fortunately, nobody blew away.  On one of the afternoons we took a short trip to Steep Rock.  None of us had been there before and it was worth the trip.

There’s nothing like a calm sunset over the lake…

…followed by s’mores.

Not having seen enough of each other, we decided to meet again at Riding Mountain National Park a few weeks later.  We took a short hike, roasted some hot dogs, and played in the marsh.

Camping At Sunset Oaks

School has started and nothing has been posted about the summer events.  We really only started talking about summer once the wedding was over, so I guess it makes sense that we only relive the summer after the fun is over.

We went camping with the Friesen’s in the middle of July to time with I’s national conference.  It worked out very well, any later in the summer and we wouldn’t have been able to go rafting on the Roseau River.

Our guide was patient and entertaining.  He shared some history of the region, insight into the local flora and fauna and sang some French Voyageur songs with K.  Apparently by observing the swallows you can tell what the weather is bringing.

It was lots of fun and a first for many of us.  Another highlight of the campground was their 2 trampolines.  I am not sure that the springs were designed to withstand the stresses we put upon them, but they sure provided hours of fun.