Summer 2009

Mike came over just a little ahead of Tania, which meant again that Tania flew directly to England to start our concert tour and didn't even see the house until we finished. But then it was straight to work. Again, we were both too busy most of the summer to get very many pictures, but Mike couldn't resist getting the camera out for the ceiling painting. It's a good thing we have that bathtub now, even though there's no shower hooked up, because soaking in the tub is the ONLY reasonable thing to do after painting a ceiling.
Tania paints the ceiling Dave Howard

So now we have a nice place to sit and play music with our friends.
(above: Dave Howard tries out one of Mike's Larrivees)
The upstairs actually looks very good now, apart from the floor which still needs covering. But with the plaster dust all painted over, Mike got some rugs out of storage to cover most of the splintery boards. He also built shelves in the bathroom, and filled them!

Meanwhile, outside, there were plenty of projects to keep us occupied as well.
The canvas carport we set up for guest accommodation had become a storage area, and was blocking our garden view in the courtyard. We'd moved the caravan up to our parking area a couple of summers ago, and now moved the carport (minus its sides) there to protect the caravan. Between that, the Subaru, two trailers, some building and gardening supplies and a big collection of potted trees waiting for planting, the parking area is getting a bit crowded.
For the past couple of summers we've had an unwanted pond at the back of the house - sometimes a lake if it rained a lot. Mike decided it was time to try out his water pump. It took awhile to get it started - the thing hadn't been run in many years - but once it was going, it took no time at all to clear the water. And there at the bottom was a sheet of plastic that had escaped from the roof. Now we know how to create a pond if we want one.
Tania only got to spend a couple of months here this summer, but Mike stayed on and continued to get things done. I can't even remember how long ago we wrapped our north chimney in plastic. It was a last minute emergency measure before we left one summer to stop the water that was coming in around the flashing when the chimney got rained on. Mike had made a former for a chimney cap many years earlier, and the time has come to put it to work. Our friend Billy came to lend a hand again. That looks better.
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