Expect the unexpected

 On Monday, I tried to phone the landscaper and when he didn't answer, I left a message asking him to call. I explained I needed a more definitive date for a start of the job, and I asked him to call me back that day. Then I waited. Color me surprised when at about 1 p.m. a truck and trailer arrived. The landscaper and his helper, a young woman, hopped out of the truck. I met them as they started through the front yard and the three of us walked to the back yard. I confirmed the work that was to be completed and left them to it. 

Of course, I couldn't help but peek out the back door to see what they were doing, and I discovered her working away, using the drill to remove the deck boards from the portion of the deck that was to be removed, while he kept watch. The next time I looked out, they were gone and I spotted them, out the front window, sitting on the trailer having a drink of water. After their ten minute break, they moved some tools around to the back, and took a number of branches from the large tree that is being removed down. After dumping those into the trailer, they left. All told, they were here about an hour. I sent a text to my brother, "At this rate, they'll be done in a month." His response, "Which month, October?"

The photos I posted on Wednesday were taken Monday evening. I'm not surprised that some commentors didn't realize any work had been completed.

Tuesday, the young woman (Cass) showed up on her own about 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning. I knew she would be late as she'd told me the day prior, she has a child she drives to school in the morning, but I had hoped she would arrive earlier. Over the course of the day, she had questions and we had a chance to chat. It turns out she and Ch (the landscaper) are a couple. They had been together for some time, the relationship broke down, and they just recently got back together. Part of what precipated her return was Ch's health issues. Apparently, he had a heart attack a couple of months ago and isn't able to do much of the work any longer. Hence, she's pretty much on her own. I will tell you, she can out work and out-muscle many of the men I know. Although she left early (to pick up child after school), she had added bracing to the existing lower deck, had removed the joists for the deck being removed, added the board that will be used as a connection for the steps she'll build (after returning and replacing the piece Ch had erroneously measured), and hauled all of the debris out to the front. Later that evening, she and Ch arrived with the trailer to remove those items.

Wednesday, they both arrived, again late but for a good reason. They work with a bobcat operator on some jobs and the bobcat had lost all of its transmission oil all over the street. That spill had to be properly cleaned up, and that took a bit of time. Cass spent her time digging out the posts from the site where the deck had been removed, digging out roots, and moving rock around, while Ch took down the remainder of the tree. By late afternoon, he'd used a rototiller to dig up the old sod. He explained that his regular equipment just wouldn't fit through the space between the house and the fence, so everything else would have to be done by hand. I also learned, (who knew) that the old sod will be used a a filler under the new sod. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with this because there are weeds that I'm certain will make their presence known sooner rather than later. 

By Thursday morning, I'd figured there would likely be another delay so I ran some errands, and did a bit of yardwork. Sure enough, Cass showed up around 10:30 or 11:00. I'm not entirely sure the reason, but she said Ch was dealing with the bobcat issue again that morning and would be by later. She tackled the portion of a chain link fence that had been left behind by the previous owner - I assume it had once been part of a dog run. It was cemented in, so she had to dig and then use a sledge hammer to break up the concrete before she could remove the poles. In addition, she tackled more tree roots and the wood borders that had kept the rock and grass from encroaching on each other's area. She had moved all the debris by the time Ch arrived (about 2:30 or 3), and together they loaded those items into the trailer.

Ch took this load, and left to pick up some more rock. Meantime Cass continued to work, installing a short piece of railing on the deck and raking the old sod. Ch wasn't long, and then they brought the new rock into the back yard. I was busy in the house, prepping dinner so I didn't get outside until 5 p.m. when they were preparing to leave for the day. Ch told me that they'd be back Friday with the new dirt that will build up the yard, the sod will be ordered on Monday and delivered next Thursday. Hopefully we don't have a lot of rain between tomorrow and next week as I suspect it will be a mud pit back there.

In any event, this is how things looked on Thursday evening.

The mower and wheelbarrow are temporarily housed here, and I have other ideas for this corner. The telephone companies box is beside the tree, which I kept in order to hide the box.  I foresee a chair and small table where one could read in the shade. Or maybe I'll just put the bird bath there with a couple of containers. The tree that held the bird feeder is gone, and since I hope not to be here this winter, that's okay.

The railing piece that was added is behind the towering tomatoes (and marigolds) on the right had side. This spring there was a fair amount of heaving due to the amount of water draining through the yard, and several boards came loose as that portion of the deck was pushed up by several inches. Cass will replace those and build the steps, one for either side of the deck next week. 

John asked about the little shed on Wednesday. I have to assume that it was used by the previous owners as a play house for their children/daycare children. When we moved in there was a rug inside and there a few toys left out in the yard. This was many years before Eli and all of that was tossed. When I removed the large shed, that I used for storage of garden tools and supplies, I moved everything into this small shed. I should mention, I have to duck to get in the door (I'm 5'2") though the height inside is decent and there is even a small loft.

There is a bird house on the front of it that my brother built and installed. This year there is a family of wrens living in it and we can hear the babies chirping. The adults have been coming and going feeding them, except when the power tools are being used. Perhaps it is a good thing that the larger equipment couldn't be brought into the yard.

Although somewhat disappointed, I wasn't entirely surprised when they didn't show at all on Friday. Since Monday is a statutory holiday for most people, I'm not really expected to see them until Tuesday. (Canada Day, July 1 falls on Saturday). It's probably just as well as we had storm blow through on Friday evening, bringing about a 1/4 inch of rain. Enough to make the backyard a sodden mess, and of course, after I'd watered the front flower bed earlier in the day.

Today is Canada Day, the 156th birthday of this country that my great-great grandparents emigrated to prior to confederation. It seems fitting to spend part of the day on Ancestry, searching for more information on family members. I won't be attending any of the local activities, I will watch some of the news programs for the performances in Ottawa. Of course there are baseball and football games to watch too. The forecast suggests more thunderstorms are likely today, with a high temperature of 32C (90F) and humidity creating the perfect conditions. Mother Nature's fireworks!

Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers. Do enjoy your day, however you decide to spend it. Have a great week ahead everyone.

 

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Delayed again, but a good week all round

The week started off well, as spending time with my friend C is always a lot of fun - lots of laughter ensues. We hit a dozen or more garage sales on Sunday and didn't buy a single garage. It's always helpful when a block has several houses participating. My best deal was an almost brand new Black and Decker toaster for $5. I have a toaster oven, but my son doesn't like using it. This toaster is meant for him, though I did use test it out and it works great. I did not buy any yarn, though I was tempted more than once. I had told C before we started, not to let me buy any just in case, but I behaved myself.

Monday morning, I had a text from the landscaper. We'd had a heavy rain (again) the night before and he advised he was going to be delayed for a few days. At least he let me know. I can't remember what I did for the rest of the day, though I pretty certain it involved a jigsaw puzzle, some knitting, and a baseball game. I did manage to pull some items for my garage sale as well.

The following morning, I had to run out to do an errand for my daughter. And of course, since it was Tuesday, and I was out anyway, I decided to hit up the thrift stores. Except I was too early, so I went to the Dollar store first where I picked up a couple of items for use on our camping trip before heading back to Value Village. There I found a 16 quart Coleman cooler for $3.85 after my seniors discount and taxes. I also found a large bag of Lego for Eli. It's one of his favorite activities, so now he'll have some to play with when he visits here. I talked to D, and all of the baby/toddler toys have been set aside for the garage sale.

We had more showers overnight, but just a wee bit of rain in the gauge on Wednesday morning. As you saw in the photo, the tomatoes are starting to develop. These are starts I seeded earlier in the spring. I'm happy they are doing so well. I noticed I have buds on my peppers as well, and though it continues to flower, the sole cucumber isn't growing at all. It was an experiment to see what would happen so I'm not too concerned. 

Wednesday was also stitch and chat. Just S and I were there. She had her first cataract surgery about 3 weeks ago, and the second a week or 10 days later. Now she needs new glasses but couldn't get an appointment with her optometrist until mid-July. As a result she didn't get a whole lot of stitching done, but we had a good chat. I had started a mitten before I left home, and came close to finishing it. 

We needed a few groceries so I took care of that on Thursday. I picked up a decent sized watermelon at Co-op for less than $5. When I mentioned it to my son that evening, he told me he doesn't like watermelon! I know my daughter doesn't care for it either - they both say they don't think it has much flavor and dislike the texture. I've already eaten half of the melon so it won't last long.  

On Friday morning, I drove out to my brother's to pick up the camping mats. We sat and had tea on the veranda before we took a walk around the yard. There were a number of birds to be seen and occasionally just heard as we visited. A Cat bird was calling, a western King bird flew by several times, an Oriole went to the feeder in the front yard, and a purple Martin made an appearance. (I can thank R for identifying each of them for me.) I got photos of none of these, but did capture a shot of the hummingbird visiting the feeder hanging on the veranda.

After a couple of cups of a tea and a chat, I prepared to head home. Before I left, we went out to the garage/shop where R had built a couple of Adirondack chairs. He took careful measurements of the chair they own, made patterns out of rough lumber, and used these to cut the pieces of the chair. One of the chairs was created using old cabinet doors and the second from lumber salvaged from a friend's tear-down of an old porch. The first is quite lightweight but still solid. The second is heavy and he plans to gift it to his friend.

From there we headed out to the garden their friend M planted. She lives in the city and R or his daughter L water it for her. They don't weed it though, and it appears a lot didn't germinate. She's planning to re-seed next week as she is staying at the farm for two weeks while the family is off on their Iceland adventures. On our way to the garden, R spotted this frog. I could not see it in the grass until he pointed it out. 

It certainly is camouflaged well in the grass. When we walked back to the house, it didn't even move.

Back at home I finished the jigsaw puzzle I'd bought at a garage sale on the weekend. I purchased it because it referenced 100 chickens and a worm on the box; both C and I looked over the picture on the box, but neither of us could find the worm...so I had to buy it to try to find the darned worm. I did not count the chickens, nor was I able to find the worm either. Even though it is missing three pieces, I've told C I'm giving it to her and she can hunt for it.

I never heard another word from the landscaper. I'll give him the weekend, and then I plan to phone him on Monday morning to (hopefully) get a straight answer as to when I can expect him here. I realize it isn't a large job but still I want it done, and done soon.

There was some housework completed this week, though I must admit to slacking off somewhat. The major task was replacing the paper on top of the kitchen cabinets. I learned this hack from another blogger, who sadly isn't with us anymore, and it sure helps to keep the dust off the top of the cabinets. With all the drywall dust it was a much needed task.

Instead, I spent more time on Ancestry. The 1931 census records are now available and the hints are populating. I haven't had much luck with close family members (yet) as the detailed information is slowing being added to the database. I can search by location rather than name - but specifically with my great-grandparents, I'm not certain where they were living. I turned my attention to earlier members of the family and was excited to find a newspaper notice for my 3X great grandmother's death. Published in December, 1886, in Scotland, it provided the date of her death. 

It also provides a clue as to the occupation of my 3X great-grandfather. I've learned that a carrier regularly delivered goods between towns and villages. 

I also located in a Canadian newspaper a notice of my great-grandparents marriage in 1889. Mary Adamson was my great-grandfather's maternal grandmother. His paternal side of the family continues to be a mystery.

Today is going to be another restful day. I'll putter on Ancestry to see what else I might find, there is football and baseball to watch, and I'll continue my mitten knitting. I've got the first mitt of a fourth pair on the needles. There are "mom burgers" thawing in refridgerator for tonight's dinner, and I've got pasta cooking on the stove for a salad. I hop you are all enjoying the start of your weekend too.

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Friday Funny

 

Wordless Wednesday

 

One finish, no start

Wednesday's photo was lifted from an e-mail my brother sent me - you can see the runners ahead of him on the trail. Taken at the top of leg one of his 53 km/33 mile run, the first 20 mile leg had the runners climb 2145 feet, the next 13 miles required an additional 2122 feet of climb. As R said, he was quickly at the back of the pack, but he reminded himself that only 8 months ago he was on crutches and wearing a boot due to damaging his ankle on a fall down rocky terrain. He had the three dogs on leashes and they took off on him, pulling him down the trail. I, helpfully, reminded him he is  also now 61 years old. By the end of the race he had passed some runners ahead of him, and was pleased to not finish in last place. The entire run took him about 9 hours! I think he's nuts, but on the other hand he saw some absolutely incredible scenery.

It's been another week of some hurry up and wait. The landscaper wasn't able to start on Monday, but the flooring showed up and the crew was back on Wednesday to finish the flooring and baseboards. Meanwhile on Monday, the fence company finally appeared to repair the leaning fence my neighbour and I had installed less than two years ago. G contacted them, a year ago, but they failed to show up so her husband had tried to repair it using some foam material. By this spring, two of the posts were leaning, and the gate latch had snapped off as it kept coming loose in the wind.

About three weeks ago, I contacted the owner to make the necessary repairs, and although he responded quickly, again they failed to show. For my second e-mail, I channeled a tone I previously used in my career, expressed my concerns and suggested that legal action might be taken if a resolution wasn't reached. Apparently that lit a fire under his butt, as they were at the house mid-morning. There was quite a bit of grumbling over the foam material, as it all had to be removed before new concrete could be poured. My response was, you should have been here last year as requested. It took an hour or so, but everything was taken care, the posts were straight and level, and the metal handle and latch had been replaced by steel ones. When I checked out the gate later, it was clear the reason the old one had been damaged because the latch was installed in the wrong place. Sheesh!

After the fence guys were gone, I headed out to pick up some groceries. Our local Co-op had meat on sale, and most of the $60 I spent there re-filled the fridge freezer. It should keep us going for a few weeks. Safeway had some decent sale items too, and Walmart provided the rest of the items on my list.  It was stinking hot (32C/90F) so I was in and out of the stores quickly.

Tuesday I tackled the bathrooms and gave them a top to bottom scrub. Normally I mop the floors but this time I got down on my hands and knees to scrub to get into the corners. Doing so meant I identified a few areas were the baseboards needed touch up or paint. By the time that was done, I was ready to relax, so I started a mitten and watched some PVR'ed episodes of the various iterations of FBI. 

The crew showed up by 8 a.m. on Wednesday, worked their tails off, finishing up around 5 p.m. One of the fellows worked on the flooring in the master bedroom, while the other two tackled the baseboards in the spare room. I had moved my stuff out of the closet into the other spare bedroom to give them access, and they moved the furniture to the center of the room to finish off the baseboards. By about noon, everything was installed, and the baseboards had been sanded and one coat of paint applied. They took a short break and then got back at it. More sanding, more paint, lots of sweeping and mopping, and then they moved my furniture back into the bedroom. Last of all, they cleaned their way out of the house (one swept, one mopped), while the other fellow was loading things up outdoors. I noticed he brought out a leaf blower and blew most of the dust off the patio as well. 

I spent a half hour or so moving the contents of the closet and making up the bed. 

The rug is new - I purchased it from Amazon, and it is sooo soft and plush. I was concerned that the bed frame might scratch the flooring and I had a $100 gift card to apply, so paid about $60 for it in total. 

I texted the landscaper on Thursday and heard back from him later in the day, that he would be here Friday. Since Friday started cooler than it has been, I decided to tackle the garage while waiting for him to appear. I'd been out there a few weeks ago breaking down some cardboard boxes and getting rid of the winter debris. This time, I sorted the recycling, loaded the car with it and some old electronic items, swept, re-swept, and re-swept the floor some more. I also sorted items on the shelves and organized the items stored there by what will up in storage and what belongs to C, or will be going to his place. I had an old armoire in the garage I'd been using for storage after I bought a dresser several years ago. I offered it on the FB Free Regina and it was picked up shortly after lunch. 

Next up was cleaning the weeds that have grown in at the edge of the sidewalk in the xeriscape rocks. This is thankless chore as they'll grow in again in a week or so. I must ask my neighbour what they use because they don't seem to see as many weeds. I've used sprays, salt, hot water, and nothing seems to thwart these tenacious plants.

You may have noticed I haven't said anything about the landscaper. That's because he was a no-show. I texted him again, indicating I understood he might have been delayed on another job and asking that he contact me with a start date...perferably Monday. He responded to say, he'd was trying to finish another job, but didn't confirm for Monday. I've asked him to keep me in the loop, but I suspect I may have be persistent.

My life for the next while will be sorting, cleaning, and more cleaning. I've been washing windows, vacuuming screens (and rugs), and dusting window ledges, and cabinet doors. I want to tackle the closets and cupboards - if you only saw the amount of stuff I had crammed in the closet! As I'm doing the clearing, I'm deciding what will move to my son's and what will go into storage for the time being. I might be jumping the gun as the house isn't even listed yet, but I'm hopeful and eager to move on.

I'm off to spend a few hours with my friend C today. There may be a few garage sales to be visited, and definitely a coffee shop stop. It's been a few weeks since I've seen her so it will be good to catch up.

Since I have no landscaping photos to share, I'll leave you with some photos from my containers. With all the rain and heat, the plants are doing exceptionally well.