Yearly Archives: 2016

El Niño

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Are you having a crazy winter where you are? We’ve been through El Niños before, but this year is something else.

Temperatures have mostly hovered right around zero or above. It took nearly half the winter before we had snow of any significance.

Sun rising over snow covered farm

But it only lasted a little while before the temperatures shot up again and everything melted. (Note how even the grass has maintained its green).

Farm after snowmelt

Every so often, temperatures drop back into the polar vortex territory that we experienced for the previous two winters. But then they invariably rise again.

Thermometer showing -20

The wildlife is not reacting well to the fluctuations.

We had an extra cat take refuge in the barn. And snakes are coming out of their dens only to freeze in the snow.

Dead snake in the snow

On behalf of the local wildlife, Ralph came out of the barn to investigate where winter went.

“No, I don’t believe I see any snow on this ground here.”

Ralph looking for snow

Not trusting his sister’s bad eye, Bax came to help her look.

“Nope, I do not see any snow either… And I think I’m sitting in mud.” (He was.)

Ralph and Baxter looking for snow

A month from today we will officially be into spring. Do you think we’re going to have a winter between now and then?

What’s winter been like where you are? Are you seeing any unusual wildlife behaviours? Anyone want to join Ralph’s and Baxter’s search party?

Distressed about distressing

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I was face-to-face (face-to-seat?) with the chair. I had spent days painting it, working my brush around every spindle again and again. The old brown stain had been replaced with a warm white finish.

White painted wooden chair

But I was about to change all that. Or I would if I could bring myself to step towards the chair.

I had a piece of sandpaper in my hand, and my plan was to rub it over my freshly painted chair making it look older and a little bit worn.

“Do I really want to do this?”

“If it doesn’t work or I mess it up, I’ll have to paint the chair again.”

“But remember the vision.”

My vision for the guest room is to embrace a bit more rustic style. A slightly shabby chair would fit in better than a perfectly painted one.

I lifted the sandpaper and got to work.

Distressed painted wood chair

The end result looks okay, I think. Definitely more interesting than the plain white chair. I’ve never been a shabby chic person, so I’m still adjusting to this look. Now that the guest room is coming together, though, I feel like the chair fits in.

Distressed painted wood chair

The plan for the weekend is to focus on the curtains, which are pretty much the last to-do for the guest room aside from some more accessorizing. I should be sharing the finished space with you soon.

Have you ever distressed furniture? Did it make you nervous? Are you a fan of the shabby chic style? What causes you anxiety when you’re making over furniture?

A Mexican vacation

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Lest you’re confused by the title of today’s post, no, Matt and I have not left the farm for southern climes. Sarah in Illinois did, and she’s come back to make us all jealous share her honeymoon adventures with us.

US Passport

I know of no better way to break up the cold days of winter than to head south. And that is just what Steve and I did. We combined a vacation, our honeymoon, my birthday and Valentine’s Day into a six-day stay in Cancun Mexico.

We stayed at the all-inclusive Moon Palace Golf Resort and Spa. I cannot say enough about our stay. The staff was amazing, we visited with other guests from London, Canada, Norway, and a few from the States, the food was great with more choices than we could try while we were there. And of course, the drinks never stopped.

The only thing that I would change was that we had two days of cool weather and overcast skies, but of course, there is nothing that can be done about that. And as they say, a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work, right?

The view from our room

The view from our room

Our room was ocean front and included a jacuzzi. Believe me when I say, I am not used to that kind of luxury. We spent each day almost the same way. We woke up and went to buffet breakfast where we tried some new things but preferred the made to order omelets. We found some empty lounge chairs on the beach and our biggest worry was how long until the waitress came back with our drinks and what should we have for lunch.

Birthday breakfast: made to order omelet and a Bloody Mary!

Birthday breakfast: made to order omelet and a Bloody Mary!

The area had several sites that we could visit. And we discussed going to see Cozumel or Playa del Carmen. But Steve and I have had a lot of stress the past two months, and we both decided that all we wanted to do was soak up the sun (when it came out) and listen to the waves crash. It truly was relaxing.

On Saturday, my birthday, the sun was again hiding and so we went to the “Hotel Zone” where there were plenty of shops. We bought souvenirs for family, and Steve bought me a new purse. We stopped for cervesa (beer in Spanish, the word that Steve learned first at Hooter’s) and then headed back to our hotel.

Cervesa

We told the hotel that we were on our honeymoon, and they gave us a complimentary dinner on the beach. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were so extremely surprised. Dinner was salad, onion soup (that was amazing) and then filet mignon. We had wine and champagne. Yes, the hotel outdid themselves.

Honeymoon dinner on the beach

On our last full day the sun was in and out of the clouds all day. We spent some more time on our chairs but decided to go do something.

The hotel had small two-person catamarans that we took out on the ocean. Neither of us had ever attempted to sail anything before so there was a bit of learning curve, and we didn’t always agree on how to do it, but after a while we did really get the hang of it.

The next thing we tried was stand up paddle boards. Oh my goodness that was hilarious. I think we had both had too many cervesas to attempt anything with balance. But we were in shallow water with life jackets on so the only thing we hurt was our ribs from laughing.

Later in the afternoon we rented a sea-doo and followed the guide out in the ocean. We went a long, long way out into the ocean, where we could barely see our hotel back at the beach and the guide had us get off on a shallow sandbar. It was so cool to be so far out in the ocean just standing in shallow water.

Our final dinner at the resort was at a Brazilian restaurant. We both really stepped out of our comfort zone to try it. The waiter came around to our table repeatedly and offered Canadian bacon, turkey, flank steak, chicken, Brazilian steak and I am not sure what else.

I will admit, it wasn’t our favorite meal, but we were happy that we tried something new. And we ended the dinner with Key Lime pie for me, cheesecake for Steve and Mayan coffee, which came with a little show of fire, and alcohol. It was so much fun. I am sorry that I didn’t take more pictures, but I am glad I enjoyed it first-hand rather than worrying whether I caught the right shot.

Steve and I both swear we are not going to take four years until we go on our next vacation. It was long overdue, and completely relaxing. I only hate that we came home to blowing snow.

What a quick way to end the glow of a beach vacation!
Birds on the beach

Where do you like to take your vacation? Any beach lovers out there? Anyone been to Cancun? Have any suggestions for our next trip?

Sounds wonderful, Sarah! Your Valentine’s Day was a definite contrast to our -20ºC temperatures. It’s been a few years since I’ve visited a beach in the middle of winter, and you’re bringing back some good memories. For your second honeymoon, I suggest Costa Rica (our choice for our honeymoon). Heat, sun, beach, ocean and some jungle adventure tours. It was a lot of fun.

Odds and sods

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Photo collage

Ahhh. A three-day weekend. What a nice treat in the middle of winter. Matt’s working on his goal of not leaving the property all weekend. And I’m taking it easy with a quick list of the odds and sods that have been happening recently.

  • I got to watch my 22-month old nephew “play soccer.” Lesson learned: there’s no way to get a clear picture of a toddler playing soccer.
  • Temperatures have been hovering around the -20ºC mark. And that’s just the temperature. The windchill makes it extra frigid.
  • I braved Ikea on Saturday. Thanks to the temperature, a lot of people opted to hibernate instead of shop, so it wasn’t the usual madhouse. I came out–in less than a hour!–with all of the hardware for the guest room curtains, two new pillows for our bed (finally upgraded to king size pillows to match the king size mattress), and my usual–a handful of picture frames.
  • Due to the temperature, Bax is having many quick outings rather than any long hikes. We’re supplementing with indoor fetch and tag. Our girl Ralph doesn’t seem to notice the cold. Matt picked burrs out of her tail, so we know she’s venturing outside the barn. A cat we’ve not seen before was hanging out in the barn a few mornings ago, so someone’s obviously feeling the cold.
  • The non-feline family members are focusing on indoor sports including painting a few items for the guest room, baking a fudgy cake for Valentine’s Day, napping fireside, watching some TV and movies (this one, this one and this one were interesting. I was really keen on this one, but I ended up falling asleep on the couch.)
  • My brother and I are sharing custody of my Dad’s router. After a bit of fiddling, I remembered how to use it and made some good progress on an art project for the basement. Adam, you can have the router back now.

And of course there’s been a bit of romance in there–Valentine’s Day! And some more family time yet to come–Family Day!

How was your weekend? What did you get up to?

Good thrifting week

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Last week was a good thrifting week. On Thursday I scored a rocking chair (for our someday front porch).

Even though my backseat was (obviously) full I stopped at another Value Village and found something else I wanted. I’ve been looking for a large metal shelf, but I was loath to spend more than $100 for something new. Finding one second hand for $30 was a no-brainer. Of course it was huge and there was no way it was coming home with me when my car was already loaded.

Thrift store metal shelf

Fortunately, when I returned the next day, it was still there.

And now it’s in our cold cellar (a room that’s impossible to photograph thanks to no windows, fluorescent light and a whole lotta concrete).

Home decor storage in the cold cellar

This may not look like much, but it’s a big improvement over what was here before.

The previous owners left us a desk, but when it came to storage or organization it was pretty useless.

Mess

I’ve been stashing some of my overflow home decor in the cold cellar, and it was time for an upgrade. Up being the operative word. We all know that using vertical space is the best organization technique there is.

Now I have a place for all of my home decor accessories–including my very own lighting emporium. (And a reminder that future thrifting trips should not include anymore lamps).

Lighting storage

Gathering lights, shades, baskets, bins, trays, shelves and bottles from all over the house and consolidating them in the cold cellar made me very happy last weekend. I even unpacked two boxes that have been packed since we moved to the farm… nearly four years ago.

I love getting organized. Almost as much as I love a good thrifting score.

Have you done any thrifting recently? What do you like to buy? I knew I had a thing for chairs. The lighting obsession was a bit of a surprise. Do you have a home decor stash? How do you store your home decor? Who else loves getting organized?

If you can’t stand the heat

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Normally, the second half of that phrase above goes: “get out of the kitchen.” However, in this case, it’s “call a plumber.”

I mentioned awhile ago that we were having some issues with the cold water tap in my bathroom. As in it didn’t like to turn. As in hope you like scalding showers.

Old taps in the tub

A consult in the Home Depot plumbing aisle suggested that the cartridge on the tap might be worn. We needed to figure out the brand of tap so that we could buy the right replacement cartridge. As there was no logo or maker’s mark anywhere on our taps, we turned off the water (to the whole house), took the tap apart, removed the cartridge and went back to HD to find a new cartridge that matched the old.

We found what we thought was the right one, but upon our return home, Matt and I could not get the cartridge properly installed. We screwed it in–repeatedly, cautiously turned on the water, and then quickly shut off the water as it sprayed and dribbled from all of the wrong places.

Eventually, we gave up and reinstalled the old cartridge.

Old tap cartridge

Over time, the tap got stiffer and stiffer. Turning it hurt my hand. I resorted to covering the tap with facecloths and towels to cushion my grip. I started to worry that one day I wouldn’t be able to turn the water off.

Plus the tap would only turn so far, and showers were approaching boiled alive territory. I like a hot shower, but there’s a fine line between hot and cooked.

We called the plumber.

In less than a half an hour, he installed the new cartridge–the very one that we had bought–with absolutely no problem.

Old tap cartridge

My next shower was like something out of the 20th century. Warm water at the turn of a knob. Temperature adjustments as needed. Wondrous.

Except it’s getting a little hot again. Turn the knob. Oh isn’t that wonderful how easily it turns.

Splish-splash.

Okay that’s still a little hot. Adjust again.

Rub-a-dub-dub.

Getting hot again. What’s going on?

About every 30 seconds, I had to adjust the temperature. Thanks to our new cartridge, I could adjust the temperature fairly easily, but constantly playing with the faucet wasn’t what I had in mind.

I tried turning on just the cold water. It ran for a little while, but gradually the flow decreased to a trickle. Turn it on a little bit more, and the same thing happened.

Old taps in the tub

We called the plumber again, and he thought that the cartridge might be a bit too lubricated and might be slipping. So before we were too tight and now we’re too loose. It’s like the Goldilocks of bathroom faucets.

We’re leaving it alone and the faucet does seem to be tightening up on its own. However, this bathroom reno can’t come soon enough–in case you can’t tell from the cracked mildewy tile you’ve seen all through this post.

Have you ever replaced a tap cartridge? Any tips in case we ever have to do this again? Why do you think the cold tap is turning itself off? What’s the worst idiosyncrasy in your bathroom?

On thin ice

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I think this hole in the ice is a sign that someone had a bad day.

Breaking through the ice

But someone else didn’t take the warning.

“What do you mean the ice isn’t safe?”

Dog on thin ice

“My foot’s cold… and wet.”

At the edge of the pond

(And just in case you’re worried, the pond is pretty shallow here, so when Bax did actually break through, he was able to climb out without any trouble. Although he was a little miffed that the ground cracked and he ended up wet. I also had him on his long lead so he couldn’t wander too far.)

Keeping score

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I feel like I’ve crossed a new milestone in blogger-dom. I used chalkboard paint.

I know. It’s like nearly four years in, I’m finally a serious blogger.

Tall chalkboard for score-keeping in the games room

I’ve been wanting to add a chalkboard to the long room in the basement for awhile now. This is the room that holds our pingpong table and dartboard.

I figured a chalkboard would give us a place to write down the score, and it could also play the role of “art”–one of my home goals for 2016 being to decorate the basement.

I used rough cut 1x3s for the frame and screwed them together with my Kreg Jig. Lesson learned, lumber this thin will split if you screw into it sideways. Cut a new piece, redrill the pocket holes, screw into the end grain, all is well.

Pocket holes with the kreg jig

The frame is stained with a mix of Minwax Classic Grey and Provincial. I find as I proceed with decorating this house, my style is getting more and more rustic–hence the rough cut lumber and the grey stain.

The chalkboard itself is a piece of hardboard coated with chalkboard paint. With chalkboard paint (for those that aren’t in the know), you have to “season” it before you use it. That means you rub it all over with chalk and then erase it. If you don’t do this, your writing won’t erase properly. However, this eliminates the beautiful black finish and makes your board very grey. I was a bit disappointed by this, but I think I can live with it. I’m not prepared to buy a big piece of actual chalkboard to fix it.

Tall chalkboard for score-keeping in the games room

The chalk and eraser sit on the floor in a wood bowl that my Dad made.

Chalk and erase in a wood bowl

Now we just have to clear Matt’s box collection off the pingpong table so we can actually use the chalkboard (darts is not my sport). Keeping it real for you.

Tall chalkboard for score-keeping in the games room

Speaking of sports, are you watching the Superbowl this weekend? Have you ever used chalkboard paint? Any darts tips to share?

Gate crasher

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This intersection is at the east end of our property.

Intersection

For some reason, it’s a challenging intersection. Maybe the signs disappear every so often. I dunno. But cars frequently come straight through the intersection and end up in the ditch (note how the grass doesn’t grow here because it gets torn up so often).

Ditch

However, last week, a car missed the ditch and instead ended up in our field. The problem was the gates to the field were closed at the time, so a gate, two fence posts and a few dozen feet of fence ended up in the field too.

The driver was fine. Our gate, not so much.

Field entrance

Dude must have been moving because the fence and posts are deep in the field.

Broken gate

And the posts are very, very shattered. The biggest post is actually broken in two pieces. Insane.

Broken fence posts

Even the metal hinge that’s almost an inch in diameter snapped.

Broken gate hinge

Car parts and shards of the posts are scattered through the field.

Car parts

Is that???

VW decal

Yup. It is.

VW decal

The field is far enough from the house that we didn’t actually see the accident. We found out about all of this when a police officer showed up at the house on Saturday afternoon. I got a quote from our farmer on how much it’s going to cost to fix the fence and the gate, and I called Mr. VW to discuss where we go from here. He’s supposed to drop off the money this afternoon. Fingers crossed he follows through.

Garden plans

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I’ve held off posting about the garden until February.

Yes, today is the very first day of February. But I held off.

You see, I’ve been thinking about this garden since before the end of last season.

You’re impressed with my restraint, aren’t you?

You know who’s not impressed or excited? Baxter. Dude does not share my enthusiasm for the garden at all. In fact, he drooled on my garden plan as I was writing this post.

Baxter sleeping on the garden plan

But never mind him. I will carry on.

There are a few things feeding my obsession:

  1. I’ve wanted a garden ever since we moved to the farm and last year it finally happened.
  2. It turned out the garden was a project that both Matt and I enjoyed. Sometimes our projects tend to belong more to one of us, so it was nice to have something we were both invested in.
  3. The garden worked! We had so much food. It was amazing.
  4. There’s so much potential. Translation: So much more to do.

You saw some of my to-do list in my Home Goals 2016 post. Today I want to focus less on what has to be done and more on what could be done.

As in, what could be grown.

Here’s my initial idea for the upcoming season (minus the drool).

Round garden plan for 2016

The big news for this year is that we’re using the whole garden. Last year, we only cleared half.

So that means we can plant more of certain things (potatoes, beans) and more new things (broccoli, watermelon, eggplant, asparagus, sunflowers). You’ll see there are still a few blanks in the plan above. I’m open to suggestions.

I also feel like this is the year to sort out the best layout. I’m still wrapping my head around gardening in the round. The layout of two central axes crossing at right angles, and then shorter rows running perpendicularly (does that description make any sense?) is something I started last year. I found it’s a helpful way to divide this huge garden into manageable sections.

A couple of points to keep in mind:

  • The raspberries, squash and tomatoes are all going to be on trellises, so think vertical when you envision those.
  • The perimeter plantings are going to be in slightly raised beds. The rest of the garden is all at ground level.
  • The bottom left corner can be a wee bit shady late in the day.

As always, though, I would appreciate your input.

What plants would you suggest? How would you lay things out? What summer projects are you planning? What are you going to grow in your garden this year?