Week #22 - A few things left before the basement is completely finished.

Saturday morning, the rain had quit. Both Ray and I are sore from cleaning up downstairs from all the dust.  The predicted cold weather started, with use at 0C this morning and snow in the forecast for tomorrow. We headed into Duncan to pick up a few things in case it does snow tomorrow. Ray needed a little outing as he has been home all week. I had two days out earlier to Nanaimo and Duncan for appointments so he was feeling a "little stuck". We thought that we might have a campfire this afternoon but the clouds moved in and the breeze is quite cool. At 3pm the sun came out so we decided to have a "campfire" on the sundeck instead. It was nice to just be outside for awhile.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet and we were in bed by 8:30 and lights out at 9pm. What a lively Saturday night. lol

Sunday morning we woke up to light snow flurries. It was not sticking yet, as the temp outside was just above freezing, but that is supposed to change through the day. Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I will be making Ray a bunch of appetizers for the game. A party for two! lol

Both Ray and I spent the better part of the morning working on cleaning up areas and sorting stuff out downstairs. The kitchen is outfitted with all of the dishes and Ray has the storage room vacuumed and put to rights, with extra building materials stored under the stairs. It lightly snowed off and on all day with very little accumulation. I also emptied out all of the boxes for the dresser and drawers in piles onto the floor.  So that when Coulson's come back to do the "dump run", all of the extra cardboard and packing materials go too. Kind of a mess outside under the sundeck.

I ended up inviting Pat and Darryl over for the game and most especially for all of the food. lol Her mom and partner were supposed to drive up from Victoria but with the snow today, it was not a great idea. We had a good time watching all of the commercials... the game was pretty boring with no score until the very end.

Picture is a little blurry. lol must have been the margarita!

A great day although we are sore and tired.

Monday morning we managed to sleep in until 6am. Still have snow flurries outside and -4C. Not much accumulating though, just blowing around. The 2 guys from Exchange Energy arrived at 8:45 am to start on the duct work. They could not believe that someone wouldn't have mentioned the duct work while they were insulating and putting in the T-bar ceiling. Neither could I...... well maybe not with all our problems.

The guys were finished in about an hour and a half. Turns out there were only 2 vents in the main area and one in the bedroom that had to be fixed. They could not center the ducts though with the tile, as there were joists in the way of the pipe. Oh well, most people don't spend time staring at the ceiling. lol

I spent about 4 hours cleaning my kitchen, fan hood and stove today. Yesterday's fry oil made the decision easy to get to it all cleaned up. lol While cleaning I put a bunch of leftover chicken and stuff into the InstantPot and now have a great chicken soup for a cold day.

We received a bunch of stuff from Wayfair today for the basement, so I put the dining chairs together. Ray spent a couple of hours in his workshop putting together the dresser. Again, getting all of the packing material in the garbage pile for pickup. Still lots to do but we have time now. Don't want to get too many things in the way for the painters next week.

After messing around for several hours it was hot tub time. So nice there is no one here so we can use it when we want. The sun is actually out but it is chilly outside, especially with the wind.


Tuesday, the coldest morning yet at -8C. Fortunately, we are all snug in the house. A beautiful day but chilly with mist on the water.

Ray is still spending time finishing assembling the dresser for the bedroom and organizing his equipment in the shop. I just puttered around. The kitchen table should arrive sometime this week. I can't do any more in the basement until the painters are done.  Then I will do a last clean of the floors and put the runner and carpets down and get the bed put together.

One dresser assembled. Two night tables to go, and the bed.

Headed over to Pat's for tea early this morning. What a view she has out her kitchen window too.

Around 10:30, Ray and I headed to Duncan to do a little shopping for bits and pieces for his shop. It was such a beautiful sunny day. Although only 0C it felt much warmer in the sunshine. He took me out for lunch at White Spot for the Tuesday special, the Legendary Burger. Back home for 2 pm as we had a meeting with Linda Gary regarding cellular blinds for the basement. (The same kind we have in the rest of the house.) They should be ready for install in 3-4 weeks. This was one last bit of stuff needed for the basement to be ready for guests.

The backsplash for the kitchen will be installed by Jason, our son-in-law at Easter. We found left over 12" square pebble tiles used in the upstairs bathrooms that will work nicely so no cost to us other than feeding Jason. lol

Received a call from Revy RV. Our window should be back ready for install Friday. We made an appointment for next Wednesday to bring the coach to Duncan. Finally it will be fixed.

Cooked Roast Beast for dinner, yumm. They had prime rib on sale at our little Country Grocer in town for $9 per pound. What a deal with today's beef prices.

My Dino Bone!

Wednesday, another sunny cold day. (-6C) Love the sun though. A good morning to enjoy the fireplace. So glad it has been fixed. I am using it every morning to help heat up the house faster with these cold temps.

Ray took a picture of the lake this morning.

We never get tired of looking at the "moods" of the lake. Love the pastel colours.

Roger from Coulson's called last night and he will be here in the morning to pick up all of the garbage.  Ray is taking off the last two damaged aluminum panels from the gazebo this morning so they can go too.

Bernie and Roger arrived about 8:30 and now all the garbage is gone except for the deck tile guys stuff. I had forgotten how big the concrete patio actually is. lol I gave it a quick sweeping to get rid of the sawdust, but will have to wait until it warms up outside to pressure wash it all and get rid of some rust stains. Plenty of room for our kayaks. Still no word from David Coulson as to when our window trim damaged/cracked from demo will be fixed. (The window behind the kayaks.) He says he is "working on it", his usual comment.

Ray puttered in his workshop putting together the night tables for the bedroom and we called it quits for the afternoon. It is beautiful outside but too cold to stay out there. The ground is hard as a rock.

I was bored so I made Valentine Brownie Cookies with white chocolate icing. Ray is enjoying them. :) I actually made them so I could give Pat's grandson's some as Ashton stayed home sick today. Ray will have to share. lol

That was pretty much our day.

Thursday morning cold again at -4C. Not much going on here today. Ray headed into Duncan to pick up some bits and pieces before the predicted snow starts tonight. I just puttered around the house. It seems almost weird that there is no one working here on a daily basis after 8 months of people here.

Ray spent part of the day puttering in his workshop and I decided to drive to Nanaimo to go to La-Z-Boy at their new showroom. When we ordered our chairs last year, the main factor was that the chair was comfortable for Ray's back. Of course I wanted one that matched, never thinking how it fit me. Since I hurt my neck last June, my chair has been not working for me, hurting my neck worse it seems. After going to multiple massage sessions, doing prescribed neck exercises, changing sleeping pillows as suggested, changing how I sit with my computer to keep my head straight etc. I have finally come to the conclusion that the chair is 90% of the problem as I am shorter than Ray and it pushes my head forward.  Sitting in it every day for several hours is not helping, so a new chair that fits me is in order. Mine will go downstairs in our new basement suite. It did not take me long to pick out a chair and I sat in it for an hour to make sure it "fits me" and does not hurt my neck. I briefly sat in the chair we already have to compare and instantly my neck hurt more. Half an hour later, with my wallet lighter I was going to meet Kristi for lunch.

However, Kristi is on call today and cannot leave the hospital at the moment, as she has a mommy ready to pop, so it we decided that I pick up take-out from Dairy Queen and take it back to the maternity ward. We shared some of it with the nurses as it was way too much food for us.

Kristi asked if I could pick up my grandpuppies on the way out of town and keep them for the weekend. lol Of course. Jason is heading tomorrow with a bunch of guys for Big White in Kelowna for a friends bachelor party (in the middle of the predicted snow storm) and Kristi is heading to Vancouver on Saturday for the day to help pick out a wedding dress. With the forecasted weather of snow and wind on Saturday she was worried she might not make it back from Vancouver and the dogs would be stuck in the house. Easier for me to just bring them now before there is a problem and we have to drive in the snow. Freya is very happy to see her pack mates.

Waiting for the leftovers from our dinner. (Athena, Zeus and Freya)

Friday morning at 6 am, still no snow here as predicted. Looks like we might have missed the first barrage. Now we will see regarding the winds. They are calling for possible power outages along the coast tonight.

The snow finally started about 7am, but it's not really accumulating too much. The dogs sure are loving it especially when Ray and I had a hot tub and they were just running around chasing each other in the yard. A good day to stay home with the fireplace on and relax. Here is the drivecam for the start of Highway 19 to Lake Cowichan. Apparently very slippery by Tansor Road with a car in the ditch.



The picture below is of the Coquihalla. This section of highway is not too bad for Jason's trip to Kelowna today.



Definitely worse on the connector to Kelowna though. Hopefully it will be in better shape by the time the guys get to this part later this afternoon.



The dogs are enjoying our "snow event"! Freya has her stick ... chase me.

And that was our week.