Natalie Vs. The Elements

Natalie's first full winter up here in the north. 

She passed her snow-blower operator's certification test with flying colours!

Missing family property

Since we've lived here, we'd heard rumours that Natalie's grandfather owned two lots in Willow Creek. Since no one had visited the lots in well over 20 years, however, their exact location was a touch spotty in everyone's minds.

With sparse directions, which included as an identifier: "the foundation remains of a small cabin that had burned down a couple decades back," we set out.

And much easier than we expected, are pretty sure we found the lots:

Here's a shot of the old concrete foundation.

We found it about as overgrown as could be expected, with no particular entry point aside from a bumpy trail, likely kept clear by neighbours having used it as a sort cut to their own properties for years. 

A fairly young copse of birch trees has sprung up in the middle, and no immediately visible remnants of the outhouse rumoured to have existed. 

Our truck is parked on the small trail:

Lots of thistle everywhere to attack our pantsless legs. :-)

Xmas 2012

That crazy space-tree from the future casts one helluva strange shadow.

Don’t ever put wallpaper on your walls kids.

It’s a freakin’ mess.

Winter Gutter Cleaning

Tail-end of the holidays, and I thought I’d brave the snow-covered roof to unclog what I feared was an ice-jam in the evestrough at the front of the house.

The jam was resulting in a noisy mini-waterfall in front of the main picture window. Not major problem, perse, except that it tweaks the paranoia that comes packed in with any wood-foundation house.

Climbing a ladder in the winter onto a snow-covered roof is`always a safety risk, so here`s what Ì had to do in advance.

1. wear ice-cleats – can be bought for cheap at Princess Auto – essential, though you don`t want overly spikey cleats if you`re walking on your roof.
2. ice chipper to ensure the platform your ladder rests on remains clean and secure.
3. harness and a tie-rope if you have them. Chimney is a good place to tie-off on, as long as its positioning doesn’t result in a broad swing if you fall.
4. a cell phone in an easily accessible place on your person in case you do fall, and wind up suspended in air.

Good news is that the clog wasn’t an ice jam at all, but rather just a pile of sticks and mud  from the last thaw. (We’ve had couple uncharacteristic thaws mid winter already.

In any case, here`s a vid of the successful operation!

http://youtu.be/U1TaoxZB2QY

Recessed Lighting

Had this brilliant plan to run video cables through a bunch of walls so that I could use a projector as a computer monitor.

Long story-short, after I’d run all the cable, made all the holes, and mounted the projector, I realized the large ceiling fan was going to pose a problem, as it blocked the projector image.

 

Solution? Recessed lighting!

 

Worked perfect… until the projector bulb blew out a few days later.

 

Norfolk Pines

So we put three of these things in our indoor planter today last week, in preparation for Xmas.

Great little plants. So far the cat hasn’t touched them. They look great for Xmas, and we’re happy to leave them in all year.