June 2009

Hello everyone,

Well, I said that I would write more often, didn’t I? Oops, I think that it has been at least a month since I sat down and wrote to you. But, life has been full here. That’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!

As you can see from the attached photos, we have started our flooring job.In fact, Steve and Katherine weren’t back from their honeymoon yet and we started ripping and tearing out old flooring.

What a nasty job that is! The amount of dirt and dust under the old carpet is disgusting. We had hired a flooring installer to spend a morning with us and teach us the “tricks of the trade”. In preparation, we had cleared out the furniture from the spare room, removed carpet, underlay and staples, put in screws every 6 inches on the joists and laid the waxed paper down. But, when he arrived, he said ” Oh, I wouldn’t start there. I would start here in the hall”. Well, we kind of wanted to practice in a room that was less on view than the main hall. But, we decided to follow the expert’s advice as that’s what we hired him for. So, we quickly tore out the vinyl flooring and subfloor, cleaned, screwed down into the joists and started to work. Oh by the way, Murray had bought me my own lightweight drill and an extra long bit extension to make it easier to install all of those screws. I have spent more hours screwing in the past couple of weeks and have been enjoying it much less than than when I was younger! The screws keep the floor from creaking, just in case you are wondering why we went to all of this extra work.

By the time he left, we had a good start on the hall and we continued on our own. The bathrooms were all getting new vinyl and Murray spent hours trying to get the floor in the guest bathroom level and smooth. Our advisor said ” just go over the old vinyl in the bathrooms”. Murray and I worked together to make full sized templates of the bathrooms and entry. Those installations went much faster. Once the hall was mostly done, we headed into the spare room and made quick work of it. Then, it was time to move our bedroom furniture into the spare room so that we could continue on into our room. Within two weeks of starting, we had completed the hallway, spare room, master bedroom, three closets, two bathrooms and the entrance. The photos show the completed hallway ( minus the new vinyl at the entry ) and the master bedroom. There are a few more photos on the website, if you wish to see them.

Then Murray tackled the trim for those areas. As he cut the pieces, I gave them 2 coats of paint. When the work table got too full, he started installing them. Then he filled the nail holes and finish painted. And on we went.

Now, we have moved all of the furniture out of the living room, torn out the carpet and are more than half finished laying the hardwood in there. And yesterday, the flooring nailer failed! Murray wore it out already and we were only about half done the total job. But, Princess Auto replaced it with no questions asked. It just entailed a drive into London ( in a friend’s jaunty little red sports car ) and an end to the workday so that I could sneak off to the pool with our other guest. A good afternoon to spend submersed.

In between all of this work on the house, we have driven to North Bay ( for an open house at our niece’s new home ), to Owen Sound ( for a funeral ) and done four or five jobs for neighbours. Maybe now you can believe me when I say “Life is busy here”.

Soon we will be making another road trip, up to Lake Huron to visit with Linda & Kuyler at the cottage, then on to Ottawa to meet Jeremy & Cynthia for a couple of days and then west to the Bancroft area to meet up with cruising friends at their cottage. It will be almost a week and a half of vacation and we are both really looking forward to relaxing with friends and family.

Hopefully, the garden will survive our absence. Murray has 6 tomato plants, 6 peppers, 4 hot peppers, some onions and herbs. Everything looks great right now and we have tiny peppers showing up. Murray had dug the area up, prepared it with triple mix and then we covered it with a garden cloth to keep the weeds down. That is working very well and the few weeds that manage to take hold are easily removed as their roots are shallow. I planted marigolds through the vegetable to try to discourage pests, besides they are happy looking plants and give a bright colour to the garden. Out front, our huge pots are thriving finally. I planted them too soon and they were exposed to a late frost. Then, as they were sitting down on garden cloth, they were not draining well and some plants rotted and died. But, we lifted the pots onto scrap pieces of hardwood and watched the water run out. The plants are much happier and the pots are full, and overflowing, with bright flowers.

So, that is our life here in Tillsonburg. Hopefully all is well with you and yours. Write when you have the time. Otherwise, take good care of each other.

Hugs,
Heather & Murray