Windows and Molding - 1 & 2 December 2011

Molding Man has continued to make lots of molding today with the assistance of his sidekick, Murphy Man. Both yesterday and today, the storm windows also continued to have progress made on both of them. By the time the doors are installed, the storms are on and we turn on the heat, the Firehouse will be a toasty place to be. Of course, hot and Firehouse often go together, so I guess this makes sense.

Plumbing, Electrical, Carpentry and Landscaping - 30 November 2011

Oh my, it was crowded and busy here today. Pete Langille was back and was able to complete the plumbing rough-in. All the pipes and stacks for the sinks, toilets, bathtub and in-floor heating are installed.

Mike Knock and his assistant Seth were also here and they completed the electrical work for the main floor. The switches, light boxes, and wiring, are all installed and the fuse box is ready to go.

Pam and Gordon Baltzer were here to discuss some landscaping possibilities, although we won't get to this until at least next spring. Nevertheless, its good to plan and nice to dream.

While all of this was going on Colin, Brad and Michael continued working on molding and storm windows. The large elephant tusk molding got sanded, primed and painted and it looks great. The storm windows are really looking good to look through and to look at.

November Flowers

This will likely be the last posting for monthly flowers until sometime in the spring of 2012. I had expected that October's flower posting might be the last, but the little Geum's by the back door surprised me by coming back into bloom. Given that it was 16 degrees celsius (62 farenheit) today it is no wonder that the flowers are still blooming, even though you would think that the snowstorm we had a week ago would have put the brakes on.

The other flower in these pictures is an indoor one, a lovely little African Violet. My mother, Ina, always kept African violets and she was a master of them. She had hundreds with all the colours and all the types (single, double, varigated, etc.). When she moved to the seniors' residence in 2005 she took a few of her favourites with her. By 2007 when she moved to a nursing home, she had just one left. In January of 2010, Mom passed away and this last African Violet came to Ottawa with me. Last year when we moved to Nova Scotia, we brought it with us. Its bloom this week is the first one it has had since my mother died. I think it is telling us how much she likes the house, the gardens, the town and the Firehouse we are building. I know Mom would be right in her element here and she feels close.

Plumbing, Doors, Molding, etc. - 29 November 2011

Pete Langille was here today to install large parts of the plumbing system. We have lots of new pipes throughout the building. While he was doing that and Brad was working on the molding, Colin and Michael cleaned up the wood pile and gave us lots of kindling to keep the home fires burning this winter. They also worked on the doors and we determined whether we had enough door knobs, lock sets and hinges. The outside side door got another coat of paint, as well as some caulking, to make sure it is weather tight.

Molding Man! - 28 November 2011

With Colin working elsewhere and Michael still away, Brad was holding the fort down on his own today. He worked on molding all day. He has done so much molding that I think we should call him Molding Man and give him a cape. He's already got the mask. Its pretty detailed work, but we're glad he is doing it.

Windows - 25 November 2011

This is like having Christmas a month early. The windows are all in! These are the windows that were largely re-purposed from old windows, so there was a lot of variation, although they all seemed to be the same size. A lot more challenging to install than perfect, brand new windows. But don't they look great?

Windows and Molding - 24 November 2011

If you are following our blog and you are in the US, then Happy Thanksgiving! It just wasn't as much fun today, as Michael headed out for a long weekend in the north-east of the province. He is always in such a good mood and more than willing to do whatever is needed to be done that he is a good guy to have around.

It didn't stop Colin and Brad from making lots of progress on the stuff they were working on, though. Colin continued working on the downstairs windows and Brad is working on the molding for the outside of the Firehouse.