Oct 31, 2021
A sign of the times.
What ever you are going to do, take a child around the block for treats, go to a party and have some socially distanced with everyone vaccinated adult beverages or stay home and watch a horror movie, make it fun and special. We are doing the movie thing.
Oct 30, 2021
So many things to post and some I don’t want to miss so some posts may not be in order.
The girls are happy snuggling in front of my desk area heater. They would rather be extra hot than even the tiniest bit cold.
I did what I think was a large post yesterday. It was about some renos we just completed in our home. Click here to read that post.
Nap time.
It is going to be clear and freezing tonight. Woke up this morning to -6C/22F. The good news is that the skies will be clear and we hopefully will get a glimpse of the Northern lights tonight. If you haven’t heard about it yet, there was a huge solar flare yesterday which is causing some excitement here in Canada. You can read that article here.
The new one on the bottom is just a bit larger and is a lovely piece of furniture.
I think that I have three dogs pads in there, very soft. Carlie is checking it out.
We left the side open so they could go in and out easier. Now that it is cool we have a heavy blanket along that side to keep any drafts away.
The girls don’t leave Colin alone for long. They were listening but fell asleep.
Definitely my chocolate stash.
I just found out today the a special blogger friend had passed last week on October 22nd. We have spoken on the phone a few times, and emailed in addition to blogging. She became quite sick last year and pancreatic cancer took her in the end. Tammy of http://livingrichonthecheap.blogspot.com was young and always so positive. She posted this three days before she passed. So very apropos.
Last nights early sunset at 5:30PM.
Oct 29, 2021
…well almost.
Vi is a finishing carpenter and he finished our kitchen and bathroom cupboards and created the posts and beam ( as per Colin’s vision ) and all the other wood work. Such as the wood work under the kitchen bar, built our custom wine cabinet, the TV stand, our wine trolly topped with sila stone to match our kitchen top counter, the frame around the heron stained glass window on both sides and the custom back splash in the kitchen as well as installing my special tiles behind the stove top ( they were custom created to look like an Italian vineyard ) as well as install the companion Durango ( Mexican ) tile. He listened to my wish and came up with the extra tall medicine cabinets ( covered in mirror so they blended with all the mirrors ) in the bathroom, one for each of us, the custom ( every thing he did was custom ) door for the furnace and best of all he took my roll top desk ( which Colin had had built for me years ago ( as a surprise birthday gift ) by another fellow ) which was oak and Vi stained it to look like cherry wood. I am likely missing some things but Vi has had a huge part in this home.
We wanted to cover the bare aluminum spaces between the window frames to keep the heat in. Very very detailed work. See that sconce light on the left, I have four and his helper Raj ( from India who speaks little English ) was bending down removing the dimmers and switches and lights off the posts when he came up quickly and knocked the shade to the ground with his head. Broken.
So we asked Vi last May as in 2020 to do this new project. He kept promising but was too busy to fit us in. So we spent last winter in our rather coolish home. Colin started this past 2021 spring nagging Vi to please get this project done. He actually gave us a date but did not show up. This happened two more times. We were frustrated as we really wanted this completed before the winter. There was much back and forth. Colin even drove to his home twice.
A special thin insulation was the first thing to put up. Colin previously had worked out that we had a combined six foot by six foot section of bare aluminum inside the house which was freezing to touch in the winter. Which is why we are so cold inside as the temperatures decline.
So finally Vi showed up on October 16th 😆 We were waiting for his 9:00AM arrival and began to wonder if he was even going to show or leave us hanging as before. He finally arrived at 12:30pm 😀
Here Vi is installing a precisely cut piece of cherry wood over the insulation.
Glued in and held with clamps for 4 -5 days.
It started to get dark and things were being dropped everywhere on the floor. So I secured myself into the kitchen with a stool and water!!! And work to do for Mexico planning.
Of course the girls were in there with me to keep them safe from eating bits of electrical wiring, pieces of shaved wood, etc.
We had to shut the power off so Colin got some photography lights up for the guys. My desk was in the middle of the room as was my computer. Oh, Vi had to cut a bit off here and there – so he set his saw up outside on our driveway in the dark. He was not going to leave until he got it done.
They worked till 9:30PM. His poor wife wanted him home on a Saturday night. You can see two of the posts and part of the beam here, the new wood work looks great. Colin went out to pick up some food and coffee for the fellows to give them the energy to keep going.
We had to wait for the glue to dry and had a date and time for Vi to come finish. Of course it took two more cancelled appointments before he was able to come. He said that this job was taking so much more time to complete than he thought, too much detail. Yikes we still don’t have our invoice 🙁 No we did not get a quote, we just trusted Vi to do the right thing. Sadly Vi had to cancel other projects, he is over extended and booked for the next two years. Yes he is that good, great actually. He is an artist at what he does.
So just before Vi left that first night I was looking at all that had been done and we were ever so pleased with the work. Unfortunately Vi had run out of the cherry wood, he still needed two more tall narrow pieces to complete the job. But there was just a wee ( well to him it was a big deal ) area that I discovered that I could not live without them also being covered.
The bay window in front of our teal recliners needed just a bit of wood to compete the look. Vi had to come back to remove the clamps and to caulk all the edges of the wood installation next to the posts. So he was agreeable to add these two very narrow pieces. This was for aesthetics as these were wooden frames. He totally agreed with my request.
I think this is so very posh. We did hire an electrician to install new bronze coloured dimmers and plugs and re install the lights.
It all blends together perfectly. Well worth the 17 month wait.
Don’t those two small strips in the bay window complete the effect.
We can’t thank Vi enough for creating our vision of the perfect home. He did mention that we should have the same cherry wood baseboards. He wants to do them and may get to them before we leave but not likely until next year or ????
Oct 27, 2021
We received some new and more detailed photos today on the condition of our palapa. Thank you so very much Jenny and Brad. Some of you may remember our friends from past blogs, they now live full-time in Mazatlan. They had been reading my blog for years and years, came to Mazatlan and saw us at a restaurant after an afternoon symphonic concert that we all had attended. I can’t remember but I think he bought me a glass of my favourite wine and that is how we met person to person and the rest is history.
As you can see the plastic has come up. Usually you have a layer of palm fronds, then heavy plastic covered with another layer of palm fronds. We may get some shade from this but it certainly won’t be waterproof.
This side doesn’t look so bad but the other side from the road tells the real story.
We had a new roof put on in January of 2020, just 6 weeks before we were summoned home by the Canadian government due to Covid. We barely had time to enjoy it.
This looks not too bad until you see the top from the road. The hurricane did a good deal of damage to many here on the Isla – especially restaurants along the water. There is no one who is free to do repairs. I have put out all the feelers that I can. The fellow who built this original palapa and had repaired it a few times is not available at all. He is busy building an apartment building. I have folks on the Isla trying to find me someone to secure the plastic and put some new palm fronds on. Sadly most of my plants look dead, there are some of mine in pots that might be okay. Not sure how much effort we are going to put into beautifying our home again. We will have to see how bad things look once we actually get there and decide how much more we want to invest into our temporary home.
Thanks to Rae for sending this. I may need to double the dose 🙂
I had more to add to this post but it is very late and I am very tired and yes it has been long day. But I am making progress. I see light at the end of the long tunnel.
Oct 25, 2021
So very true.
Lucky me, I got a phone call last week about a vein appointment. Perfect, as I had November 8th and 15th booked. So I took today, October 25th for my right leg and will do the left on the 8th. That way I get both done before we head south. It wasn’t a walk in the park, over 55 needles ( or much more ) with about 42 bandages taken off at the three hour mark by me. Colin always comes and holds my hand ( I dig my nails into his hands a lot )! It looks like I will be on my own on the 8th 🙁
Colin did the final garden harvest and clean up. These carrots are so sweet. We hope to eat them before we leave.
We weren’t home long before the phone rang to say that the mobile RV tech would be here shortly. He did have both parts for the electrical water heater. However we have no electricity in the storage area, so do not know if it works.
The parsnips were a huge surprise. We had so many tiny ones so when Colin cleared the two beds these showed up.
Our sweet girls have been acting out a lot, especially today. They were good for about 50 minutes after we left ( video cam ) and then when I checked about 40 minutes later they were howling 8-O. Then the barking went off and on till we got home. Once home Colin had things to do with the RV tech and the another errand to run. The girls kept me hopping. In and out, they are so enjoying eating the falling leaves from our trees. It can’t be good for them.
We have been trying since MAY to get this part of our siding repaired. Today they told me by email that perhaps they MIGHT be able to look at it next year. It needs attention now because of the wind and rain off the lake.
The company who built our add a room appears to be so very busy that they can’t service their clients.
So today our electrician stopped by and we asked about our siding problem.
Within ten minutes it was repaired. We already had the materials on hand.
In addition to being an electrician he also has worked on many types of building construction. We have already have recommended him to others for a few other projects. He is young and eager and very smart.
At one point today Ciela curled up in front of my desk heater with a tiny stuffed toy. Neither of the girls are into toys but she has started to move this one around the past few days. So very sweet. It is a very small teddy bear.
Meanwhile this is what I am thinking about.
