Friends from Alabama Visit

In our last posting, we still had some gravel left and decided to spread it out in the back yard to have it ready for next years project – a deck! As I mentioned, we rented the sod cutter again to remove and grade the area and then after laying landscape fabric to help manage weeds, we started moving and raking out the gravel. The end result greatly improves the look and usability of this part of the yard. It has always been muddy after a rain and now we can get to and from the garage without putting on the wellies!

 

 

 

 

Now that we have some liveable outdoor spaces, we need to start and pretty up the little house. The first flower garden is in the corner of the deck and the house. After using a garden pick to loosen up the rock hard clay, we can dig out an area and replace that crappy dirt with some decent plant friendly soil. Once that was done, we were off to the plant store (read CTC) to pick up some color. We also started some Euonymus cuttings from Corrie’s garden and planted them too. In all this activity, Barb found time to build some quilted panels for the back room and a matching seat cushion cover for the bench. This girl never stops…

 

 

 

On Saturday, Aug 8th, Marti & Larry came into town for a visit and stayed at a nearby campground. After they checked in and got set up, we picked them up and headed out for lunch and a few cool ones. Once we washed away the road dust from their travels, we toured a bit and ended up back at our place. They were excited to see all we’ve done. You see us here, enjoying their company on the deck!

Our week with Marti & Larry is action packed and fun. We visited - the Lock 3 Visitor Centre & Museum of the Welland Canal, watched a ship squeeze through one of the locks, Niagara-on-the-Lake, wine tastings, a distillery stop, bus & boat tour of Toronto and of course, Niagara Falls. It wouldn’t be complete without a stop at one of our favourite lunch stops, on the patio of He’s Not Here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On their last day here, Barb & Marti hit a spa and then we showed them a little more of Fort Erie, Crystal Beach and Port Colborne. They were on their way again on Saturday but way too early for us so we said our farewells on Friday evening.

Our excitement continues in the next edition….. hope all is well  wherever you are…..

Almost Done…. but is it?

It has been another action packed summer. Last year at this time the furnace and ducts were installed and we could start the plumbing! Wow, it only seems like that was yesterday and now we’re finishing up this years outdoor projects. I think it is true, when you get near the end of the roll, everything moves faster!

While we waited with baited breath for the gravel – Jim took a 4 day holiday so we had some extra time – I installed facia and soffits on the garage and Barb found something to do in her quilt room! I’m sure I have lamented about the Ash trees that have to be taken down due to the Emerald Ash Borer but they are not being taken down soon enough but rather coming down by themselves! On Sunday morning, we heard a load disturbance outside. We found a large limb laying beside the house and lots of leaves and debris on the roof. There was no damage but when I called, the on call guy came around to see us. Of course, our delay is because of the electric wires and the removal had become a politicol football and no one wants to claim responsibility for the job – they’ll wait until something more serious happens or someone gets hurt!

So, the gravel has arrived and Barb & I are psyched up that it is a small job to distribute and rake it out, after all, it is only 15 tons! You know that it also had to be one of the periods of hot weather just to make it more interesting. We tried having Jim spread it with the truck but the electric and telephone wires were in the way so he dumped the rest in the middle on the driveway. Bring on the wheelbarrow, shovels and rakes, let’s get this done! After a couple of hours, both our clothes were soaking from sweat and we were ready for a break – it must be happy hour somewhere! While we were sipping a cool one, we noticed a Red Headed Woodpecker busy with the kids in a nearby tree and we were able to get a couple of good shots.

We didn’t do much else for the next 4 days, shovel, dump and rake and finally, the driveway was done. As you can see from the photo, we have gravel left so we were going to move it to clear the driveway but we didn’t fancy the notion of touching it more than we have to so off to the rental centre and get that sod cutter again – we decided that it would be smarter to spread the gravel where we finally want it but we have to prep the yard first. It didn’t take us long with the sod cutter or exert too much energy and by the end of the morning, we were ready to spread more gravel – hurrah!

 

 

 

Hope all is well where you are….

More Driveway Work to be Done

You might think that after our week
with Nate, we would take a few days for ourselves - wrong, we have a driveway to finish.... but first we're off to a friend's 50th wedding anniversary in St Thomas Ont. We made it a day trip so we could get back to get started removing the asphalt on the driveway. John & Di celebrated their 50th with family and friends in Di's brother's new restaurant. We had a nice time, saw friends and then back on the road for home. Our trip back was uneventful but we decided to see if there is a more expedient way to get to our little house. Again, wrong.... even our GPS got angry with us for not following his directions and the trip took another 60 minutes longer!


We had removed
some asphalt earlier but that was just to get some trenching done for drainage but now that we have all that done, it is time to pull up the rest of the surface, move some of the 'old' mud laden gravel that provided no

drainage and widen the foot print so we can have space for guests to park - and maybe an RV can set up for a few nights too! With a pick ax, shovels, rake and a couple of old people pulling, raking and shoveling the crap into the back of the truck for disposal at the landfill. The truck was able to handle about half the driveway but we were dodging rain storms - we were half way to the landfill when the clouds opened up and dumped lots of water on us and not wanting to unload the truck in the rain, we turned around. The total job to get
all the asphalt up took a little longer than we expected but we persevered and finally we were ready to widen the foot print.

We decided to rent a sod cutter to remove and reuse the grass along the one edge of the expanded driveway. It was a beast to maneuver but after a quick lesson, Barb was able to do the job! We took the cut sod and placed it along the
street side of the deck to finish that off. After we were done, I had just enough energy to wash the truck. This showed us that we still had a drainage problem where we removed the latest turf so we dug yet another trench along that edge of the driveway. Will it ever end - oh the joys of home ownership!

Randy & Norma came over for a day of Fast Track, food and beverage and some good times. I couldn't talk them into moving any asphalt but Randy did help me with the empties! It was a welcome day off for us and we had fun to boot.

The next day, we're off to the landfill in Welland to be rid of the 'old' driveway. Our first trip cost us $11.00 and this one was $16.00! Their rate for disposal is $10/ton so we're sure our poor old truck was happy to see the end of that stuff too - I know our old bodies were. Now we have a trench across, down the centre and along one edge so we're confident that we won't be stepping out of the truck into muck or puddles again.

It has taken us awhile to decide on a border for the driveway. We want to minimize the amount of gravel that will overflow onto the lawns. We checked out wood products, cement products but decided on a rubber garden curb. It looks good, easy to install and it was on sale! Once the curbs were in, we were ready for gravel. Our gravel guy thinks a load (15 tons) might be too much but we have plans for next year so bring it on..... Wow, 15 tons....

I'm tired just thinking about it so I'll stop here. Hope all is good where you are and come back again to read about more fun times.....

It's Camp Time Again....

As the month of June draws to a close, we are off to John & Di's
daughter's Stag & Doe celebration in St Thomas. We arrived a little early and visited with John & Di before we all went over to the party. The hall was decorated all weddingly and all, the games were on one side of the room and the dance floor down the middle - you are correct, Barb & I didn't see much of the dance floor! We played the games and entered a couple of silent auctions - of course I entered the one that was offering a JD gift pack so you know that one was popular! Every time I would up the bid, the same guy would also up his, needless to say, I didn't win. We did come away with a few gift baskets and had a fun time doing it.

I know, now get back to work and
work we did. Now we have the trench into the weeping tile that connects to the sump pump, we can continue working on the driveway. Time to smash more concrete, dig more trenches, shovel more gravel and get more pipe laid! So far, the little we have done is lessening the amount of water we get on the floor of the garage after a heavy rain so if we extend the drain pipe down the driveway and remove the asphalt and get back to a eco-friendly surface like gravel, we should be able to stop it altogether. In these pictures, we have taken out some of the asphalt and extended the trench, shoveled the gravel and placed the weeping tile - and not all in a days work! With all this activity, sleep comes easy for us...

We take a day to celebrate Canada Day. We walk down to the water front, just a few blocks away and find a good spot along the stone break wall and await the explosions of fireworks hosted by the town. We think they were fantastic and even better than past year, it was a great show. Then a nice evening walk back with my sweetie!





As I stated in a previous entry, we are trying to get out to as many area events as we can. Our next adventure was to the Ridgeway Summer Fest. It was like a mini Fairhope Art and Craft show back in Alabama. It was a nice walk about and we even bought some stuff! We were able to get up close and personal to some raptors that we all recognize. All in all, it was a nice day and we'll go back again next year.

Now we ready for our grandsons visit for 5 days! Barb likes to plan some activities, crafts and outings. So all of this gets a name and this year it is called CAMP RUNINMUK. It's always fun to bring in his favorite foods (sweets) and drinks that help to make his stay with a couple of old fogies enjoyable! We find that it's not difficult to keep the young guy entertained as long as he has his ipod with him! He was our first guest that stayed in the spare room and he thought it was great - but he hasn't known us in anything but the trailer so is that a fair judgement? We walked to the water, did some arts and crafts, baked cookies and had a picnic. We tried convincing him that pulling up asphalt was fun too but he wouldn't bite. What do 10 year old's know anyway....

 

 Well, his week has past and we're having a picnic lunch on the break water wall before we meet up with his mom. Time to get back and get to work!

Hope all is well wherever you are and take time to stop and enjoy the life around you....

Finishing the Deck

The deck surface is done but we have planned for a fence just to give us that sense of privacy - not that we do anything that is private but we don't want passersby to be busy watching
us and veer off the road and crash! So, that is our next task in finishing the deck.

We planned our layout so we don't have to cut the boards much and once the fence frame is up, the boards can be nailed up quickly. Some cutting was required so I manned the saw while Barb 'manned'

the nail gun! What a team! But, we (me) calculated in error and we had to run into Niagara Falls for a single 2x4 to finish the job so that put us back another day. Now that we are all done, we moved the outdoor rug up to the deck and then the dining table.



We are also replacing the patio

stone walkway with a wooden one that better matches the deck materials. I built the separate units in the garage and then we put them in place, level and squared them up to the deck except

they are a step down from the deck. The overall look is great. During the laying of this wooden walkway, we uncovered an old cement sidewalk that had been buried under the patio stones. We had hoped that we could leave
it to act as a solid footing for the wood units but after we leveled the second one, we realized the old sidewalk was badly broken

up and slowly rising toward the driveway and we would not be able to level the remainder of the walkway with the first units we laid. So, it had to come out! With sledge in hand and the sweat pouring out, we managed to get it all broken up and loaded into the truck so we could dispose of it at the dump.

On the way back from the dump, we stopped off at our local nursery to get a 1/2 yard of gravel for the base of the remainder of the walkway. It doesn't take us too long to get the truck unloaded and the gravel leveled off. Once we got the 4th walkway piece in place, we decided now was the best time to dig a trench from across the front of the garage to the weeping tile that runs the perimeter of the house. Usually after a heavy rain, we have water on the floor in the garage so this should help fix that problem.

We had a break on Father's Day. Terri & Mark invited us in for dinner, along with Corrie & Dean and family. It was perfect timing for us after all the slogging and digging and deck building. We sat in the covered area catching up on everyone's doin's and enjoying being together. Dinner and cocktails capped off a perfect day.





Back to the project on Monday but it was a shopping day

for a new dining table for the deck.  Yes, Larry Finn, we bought it at IKEA. Tuesday, we were back at it and, once again, we proved that nothing is simple! After lifting the asphalt where we wanted to trench, we find more concrete that is cracked and uneven so it has to be uncovered, broken up and removed so we can trench and lay the weeping tile to take away the water. Whew. That sledge hammer got heavier as the day wore on!

We take another break to attend our gand-daughter Ali's high school graduation in Toronto. Congratulations to our two grandchildren who successfully graduated this year from high school, Mack & Ali.

After the ceremony, we were back to Terri & Mark's for dinner. The ceremony was late so by the time
we got back home, it was the early the next day so we dragged a little on Friday. But with hard work by the two of us, we managed to break up the concrete in front of the garage and got the trench dug and ready for gravel and the perforated drain tile

but enough for now. we are off to London later to attend John & Di's daughter's Stag & Doe bash for their upcoming nuptials. More about that and our adventures next time..... hoping all is good wherever you are....