Frozen out

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Winter isn’t going down easy this year. Spring had made some gains over the last week with four days straight of rain and above zero temperatures. However, today, winter struck back, driving the temperature back down below freezing and turning the rain to ice.

Fortunately, Matt and I made it home before the roads got too slippery. Unfortunately, that wasn’t soon enough for our gate, whose padlock was frozen solid. My poor little car was locked out.

Matt and I each keep a bottle of lock de-icer in our cars specifically for this situation. However, smashing the ice that had frozen the chain to the post, chipping at the ice around the lock with my car key and squirting most of my bottle into the keyhole had little effect on the lock.

Abandoning my car, I headed off on the long, cold, windy, wet walk to the house. Did I mention it was cold? Fortunately, I’ve learned some things since moving to the country and was already wearing my rubber boots–with my nice suit trousers attractively tucked into the top.

I was able to get into the house much more easily than I was able to get into the property. I changed into warmer clothes, ate some Easter chocolates and contemplated my life while I waited for the kettle to boil.

This new country life I lead sees me outside with the wind blowing the freezing rain nearly horizontal, trotting down the driveway carrying a steaming kettle.

It took just a few splashes of hot water to release the lock.

Soon enough I was inside, warm and dry. The lock also got to spend some time in the house warming up and drying out.

Hopefully the padlock recovers and there’s no issue getting into the property tomorrow night–I don’t want any delay in starting my weekend!

DIY fail… sorta

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As a person who enjoys construction and DIY, I feel slightly guilty to admit that I did not DIY the big beautiful new island now sitting in my kitchen. I had planned to build it myself. I pinned lots of inspiration to my kitchen Pinterest board, took measurements and drew plans, but when it came time to put saw to wood, I wimped out.

Island inspiration (clockwise from top left) 1, 2, 3, 4

My original plan was to find a second-hand kitchen that had cabinets that could be reconfigured into an island. However, weekly visits to the Habitat for Humanity Restore did not reveal a suitable candidate and made me realize that any reconfiguration would not be straight forward. Then, one day at the Restore I found eight cabinet doors with cathedral arch tops that mimicked the style of our kitchen cabinets. I bought the doors, came home and drew up a plan.

Once I sketched the plan, I realized that I simply needed four cabinet boxes and two sections of open shelving. Simple! My Dad and I could build it ourselves over the Christmas holidays!

That plan was discarded after my Dad and I spent the holidays building the TV cabinet, and I decided furniture construction is neither my best skill nor my favourite way to spend my days.

It was time for some professional help. I called my Dad’s kitchen guy and emailed him my sketch and my inspiration photos. There was a bit of sticker shock when we received the quote, but I’d already made up my mind that DIYing a kitchen island wasn’t for me, so we decided to go ahead.

We saved some money by using the doors that I’d bought at Habitat (for $5 each) and eliminating the corner posts that I’d drawn on my original design in favour of basic cabinet boxes. However, we balanced that out by paying our cabinet maker to spray the doors white, rather than painting them ourselves.

I don’t have a good excuse why I wasn’t in the mood to DIY.

However, on the bright side I did eventually return to my normal self.

Habitat was also my source for cabinet pulls. I found handles that matched the existing ones in the kitchen for just 50 cents each. I hopped on the ORB (oil rubbed bronze) bandwagon, spray painting all of the handles, including our very chipped original ones.

I knew things were definitely back to normal on the DIY front when I decided to make the wooden countertop myself. That’s a story for next week, though.

Is there anyone else out there who’s gone through a DIY slump? How did you get through it? Who else is an ORB fan? How do you decide what to do yourself and what to hire out?

My own private island

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Island hopping has taken on a different meaning here, as I’m jumping for joy over the newest addition to the kitchen.

Our new island was the subject of Friday’s “guess what” post. Last week, Meghan guessed that we got a new kitchen, and we might as well have for all the difference this island has made.

It is fabulous and exactly what our kitchen needed. Oh, and so much better than the metal patio table “island” we’ve been living with for the past year.

Small appliances, cookbooks, dishes and mixing bowls spent last year all tucked under the table, most of them still in their moving boxes. It was neither convenient nor tidy. For someone who loves cookbooks and will happily spend an afternoon reading recipes, the new island offers a much more accessible and attractive solution.

In addition to the cookbook shelves, the island includes another section of open shelving for cutting boards, cookie sheets, cooling racks and trays. I don’t know about you, but I find these items incredibly awkward to store. But not anymore.

In our whole kitchen, we have only three drawers, and very narrow ones at that. I would have happily made the island all drawers, as I think they’re more useable than cabinets. However, in consideration of the budget, I only included one drawer. The good news is, it’s large and, while it may look cluttered, it is in fact very functional.

The biggest benefit of the island is its size. At 80 inches long by 42 inches wide and 34 inches high, it adds about 23 square feet of surface space and about 55 cubic feet of storage space. I think my mixer, food processor, slow cookers, blender and coffee maker are as happy as I am that they finally have a home.

The island is made of four cabinets, and so far I’ve only filled one, so there’s lots of room to grow.

Someday, we will redo the whole kitchen. At that point, we may expand it or tweak the layout. However, I knew that the kitchen would drive me crazy if I didn’t do something to fix the storage and counter space issues in the meantime. The island solves all of my problems and exponentially increases the functionality and the beauty of the kitchen.

How do you handle storage and prep space in your kitchen? This is my first time having an island, and I’m actually a bit surprised how incredibly functional it is. Do you have an island? How would you improve your kitchen if you could? New appliances? More counter space? More drawers? Who else out there loves their cookbooks? Do you have any favourites to recommend?

Guess what

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these Friday guessing game posts. I think this one’s pretty easily identified.

This is a big development for us.

The same drill applies. Leave your guess in the comments, and then tune in next week for the story.

What a difference a year makes

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

This is not this year’s forsythia. This time last year after a mild winter and an early spring, the forsythia behind the driveshed was in full bloom.

This year, as the snow is sticking around and spring is dragging her heels, the buds are closed up tight and no blossoms have arrived yet.

Two weeks in a row now, my mid-week post has been my “be on the lookout for spring” post. As we’ve moved into another cold snap over the past couple of days–complete with daily snow streamers–the search is still on.

Matt the lumberjack

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Like Good Friday dinner and chocolate bunnies, lumberjacking seems to have become an Easter tradition for us. Last year on Easter weekend, we spent pretty much the whole time cutting and splitting firewood.

This year, it was only one tree, but traditional logging techniques were Matt’s method of choice.

This spruce tree has not been doing well. It needed to be taken down, and now was the time before the sap started to flow and the trees around it came into bud.

We don’t yet have a chainsaw of our own, but Matt’s been looking for an excuse to chop down a tree with an ax, so he was quite enthused to go to work.

The trunk, now stripped of boughs, is laying beside the fire pit. We’ll cut it into lengths and split it one day when we can borrow Matt’s dad’s saws and splitter–the novelty of lumberjacking lasts only so long.

How did you spend your Easter weekend? Did the Easter bunny pay you a visit? We had lots of chocolates, including my favourite Cadbury cream eggs. Are there any other wannabe lumberjacks out there? Do you have any unique Easter traditions?

DIY doldrums

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’m in an uncomfortable stage right now. I have unfinished projects staring at me from all over, and I’m not liking what I see.

Usually, I try to be a one project kind of woman.

However, I currently have a mudroom that’s half-way through a makeover, a new feature in the kitchen that’s spawned other updates (mysterious, I know. I’ll have lots of posts soon), some outstanding finishing touches around the basement and the beginnings of a spring to-do list.

In the mudroom, the sticking point is the trim. We’ve stripped the wallpaper, patched holes, painted the walls, installed new baseboard, made an umbrella stand, built a bench, hung some hooks and fit out the closet with new shelving.

The baseboard is fully painted, but the window trim has just one coat and the trim around both doors and the closet is still the lovely flesh tone.

Trim painting is slow and tedious, and not my favourite way to spend my time. Some of the more appealing jobs that are also on the mudroom to-do list are refinishing the closet doors and staining the bench.

The basement bathroom is some trim (seems to be a theme), a drawer and a single hinge away from being finished. I bought the trim and the drawer guides–both for the built-in storage unit–at least a month ago. I hung the cabinet door on the built-in also about a month ago, but couldn’t get the hinges aligned properly, so it hasn’t swung smoothly in all this time.

Building a drawer, painting and installing the trim and trying a new hinge would probably take less than one day. For a little amount of time, the satisfaction of finally crossing one room completely off the to-do list would be large.

In the rest of the basement, I’d really like to branch out beyond the TV area and begin to furnish and decorate the other rooms. These bigger to-dos are accompanied by smaller ones like fixing a shelf in the front hall closet and repairing the window screens (remember this one from the fall to-do list?) so they’re ready to install as soon as warm weather arrives. Oh, and then there are the mysterious kitchen fixes.

Fortunately this weekend, I have not just one day, not just two, but four thanks to the Easter holiday. I have grand ambitions for the next four days.

What are your plans for your weekend? Is it all about chocolates and family dinners, or do you have a project list too? Happy Easter, everyone, whatever you get up to.

Spring?

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A week into spring, we’ve finally had a few days in a row with above zero temperatures. Until now, however, spring has been slow in coming.

Most mornings last week–including the first day of spring–fresh snow dusted the ground. Although the sun now melts the driveway every afternoon, by evening it’s frozen again. Water flows in the creek, but the ice on the pond was still thick enough that fresh animal tracks crossed the surface as recently as this past weekend.

However, on the softening shore of the pond, a small sign of spring pushes up through the mud.

Despite walking back and forth along the water’s edge a few times, this was the only flower I found. I’m choosing to think of it as a harbinger of warmer days, rather than a lone over-eager sprout.

Have you seen any signs of spring where you are? Matt’s Dad has spotted some robins already, but I haven’t yet. What spring flowers are you looking for?

Danger from above

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Some fairly impressive icicles have formed along the edge of the barn roof.

However, they are fairly dangerous as well, as they don’t stay on the edge of the roof.

This particular one landed straight up right outside the cats’ door (the gap cut out in the barn boards). If you imagine a cat fitting through that hole, that might give you an idea of the size of these icicles.

The roof edge above the human door was clear thankfully, but Matt rightfully thought that all creatures should be safe, so he went to work removing the daggers. As the edge of the barn roof is about 20 feet in the air, this was a bit challenging. Heaving things at the icicles seemed to be the most effective.

He was successful in the removal, but we now have a hunk of wood on the roof of the barn. Not quite sure how we’ll get that one down.

A cat way to spend the day

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Home from work one day a few weeks ago with a bad cold (my third time being sick this winter–I am not impressed), I discovered how Ralph spends her day when she thinks no one is watching.

While I set up my laptop on the dining room table and went to work, Ralph blithely ignored her day job of keeping the rodents and other small animals in line.

She had a friend over to visit.

We’ve seen Cow Cat a few times, but he’s pretty shy. As soon as he saw me snap his picture through the mudroom window he took off.

Lonely, Ralph came to the dining room looking for company.

She napped. She sunbathed. She talked to me through the glass.

And occasionally I responded.

No screens for the winter mean we have a walk up scratching window.

What Ralph did not do at any point during her day was hunt. In fact, by late afternoon, she turned her back on me and focused her attention down the driveway, waiting for Matt to come home and feed her.

Ralphy, I think you’re going on a diet now that it’s spring. Agri-Cat kibble will be rationed, and you will have to put a little more effort into fending for yourself.

My displeasure at Ralph’s behaviour aside, I hope that you have a relaxing weekend.