Art Continues

We've tried a lot of art techniques over the many weeks of Art days.

The most important thing is having a nice visit and connecting with cousins.

We all definitely excel at some techniques better than others.. and enjoy some more than others.

This was mandala.  I found it tedious.. they said.. it was relaxing.. like doodling.  It was the first I ever realized, that I am not a doodler.

These were some non art day art projects.  Emerson and Ava I believe.

The boys put together some quick art pieces to send to Eden, Sadie, Ava and Grandma. (I didn't snap pictures of those paintings.)

They have found such fun in their art day adventures and are quite talented.

Art day tends to leave mess and leftover paint.

This particular week, there was a lot of leftover paint.  Even after these attempts at 'doodling' with the leftover paint, there was still leftover paint.

Lighthouse day. Some used acrylic exclusively, while others combined water colours and acrylics.

Whittaker's cat topped lighthouse was quite a surprise twist!

This was a technique of painting with watercolours, then touching the wet paint with rubbing alcohol to make a spotted look. It didn't work as well as we thought, but it did produce Whittaker's awesome crab.

His crab was the talk of the messenger chat for the evening.  Auntie Channa even purchased it to add to her ocean themed collection of paintings.  (the other was a painting by Auntie Jill.)

This was some of the reaction to the crab painting.  Ava painted her own version of 'shiny' the crab.  Kenzie reenacted the painting and Whittaker woke early the next morning to attempt more ocean creatures; this time a shark. 

Biker Gang

It began harmlessly enough.  The spring weather was beckoning and we'd been cooped up for a very long winter followed by isolation covid conditions.  We opted to go for a bike ride to get some fresh air and exercise.  After our first ride we discovered that we didn't have as much youthful energy as we thought. We were winded, spaghetti noodle legged, and plain tuckered out. 

A few days later we tried again.  It was better but we were still winded.  Jim claimed he would need a written invitation to go on another of those exhaustion rides.  

Whittaker found a blank card in the stationary box and wrote him an invitation.  So we went again.  We began riding once a week.  Only rain deterred us.  

We began to gain stamina and to feel more adventurous.  The little boys have been learning about setting goals.  They asked how long we thought the ride was.  Unsure, I loaded an app on the phone and we set off on another ride.  After we returned home, we consulted the app; 4 miles.  Not too shabby.  The boys decided this could be a goal.  They wanted to ride 5 miles.  Okay.

So we began to ride twice a week.  And low and behold we rode 5 miles.  They decided a new goal was needed... maybe something bigger!  We mulled for a bit and then we decided, a destination might be a good goal.

The big goal: We would ride to the post office!

We looked it up.  It was about 11 miles.  So we began taking more frequent rides.  We began trying new roads in the neighbourhood until we had ridden every road.  We were still only averaging a little over 5 miles per ride, but now we were conquering rougher terrain and hills.

Daddy joined us on Sunday rides.  Jim began doing little off-roading adventures when he got so far ahead of the boys and I.  Riding in the sagebrush did not appeal to me and the boys.

We did not ride on rainy days.  Our roads became mud.  We also didn't venture out on overly hazy days. (due to the wildfires we had a few days of smoky air that we didn't think we should be breathing in)

We took visitors on rides with us.  Caleb was vocal about his preference for shorter rides taken in cooler temperatures.  Derek only wanted to go on one ride with us.  Sarah had no qualms, but it tuckered out poor Boomer who ran the whole way.

There were a few injuries.  Emerson took a tumble in some fresh soft road dirt and skinned his knees and ate some dirt.  Whittaker took two tumbles.  Once just turning a corner and misjudging the angle around some rocks.  A second time, we were just riding along the road and he announced that he was going to fall.  Only moments later, Jim veered to far left and bumped his back tire causing him to fall into me sending me into the ditch on the side of the road.  Only Whittaker had scratches and a bad temper afterwards. But we all got back on the bike and kept riding. 

By August we discovered that there was a road we hadn't yet explored.  The adventure beckoned and off we went.  We discovered that this was the biggest hill yet and would maybe even be a 6 mile ride.  At one point as we were waiting at the top of a hill for the boys, I began to gather some rocks in my basket.  I have a plan for many rocks and decided I shouldn't waste a rock gathering opportunity.  

I should have wasted it.

(photo top left was the fateful hill) (This is the terrain we were riding in these days. I had no idea I was an off road mountain biker) (okay.. I tend to stick to trails.. bottom right photo is Jim out among the sagebrush)

It wasn't more than a few minutes later as were descending the new hill that we discovered that it was the steepest and rockiest terrain to date.  The rocks in my basket didn't help my balance and I went headfirst off my bike and landed on my nose.  I must have also landed on my left wrist and hip because as the day went on I discovered them to be very tender, but it was my cut and swelling nose that hurt the most.  My sunglasses had cut into the outer nose and there was definitely some damage inside.  A lady came out of her house to see how I was after she heard Whittaker yelling to Jim and Duncan, who were still riding ahead of us, to stop!  He had abandoned his bike and begun running after them.  Emerson had also abandoned his bike to come check on his mother sprawled on the rocky hillside.  We assured her that other than my dirty, bloody face I was okay.  We then turned around and rode home.  Only a 5 mile day.

My basket was dented and they threw all of my collected rocks away.

From a minute after the wreck to about a week later.  I really should have captured a photo when it was in its double black-eyed, swollen nosed glory.. but I had this dreadful headache. 

We took a break from riding.  It was almost ten days before we rode again.  The hazy days and my recuperating necessitated it.  But we set off again.  A few simple rides at first.  It wasn't long before we were tackling hills again.  On one of the simple rides, Jim set off into the sagebrush as he often did.  He had taken to trying to crash into some thistles.  (he claims he was helping to reseed them.)

This particular thistle crashing expedition did not end well though.  His bike hit the thistle and crashed Jim.  He went down.  From the road we saw him fall.  Then we saw him stand up and then fall over again.  Then we saw him stand up and fall over again.  He was like a cycling jack in the box among the sage brush.  After the third attempt to stand, we held back some of our laughing as we realized that the reason he kept falling back was he was injured.  His hip.  As soon as he stood he couldn't put weight on his leg.  He couldn't lift his leg to get back on his bike. He finally straddled the bike and lifted it up to him.  He was able to gingerly ride home again.  

Once again we took a recuperating break.  As the days were getting shorter and cooler, we agreed that the ride to the post office might have to happen next year.

And then the weather rebounded.  There were some nice days again.  So one Sunday we decided to return to the scene of my crash.  We hadn't attempted to ride there since my fall.  We were determined to make that ride because we thought it might connect to a road that would lead to an overlook of the green river.  We had seen the river from the other side and felt certain that there must be a way to see the river on our neighbourhood side. 

We set off.  No rush, we paced ourselves.  I was a bit nervous as we approached the fateful hill and took it much slower, and without any rocks in my basket.

We all made it safely to the bottom and so we continued on in our quest to find the river.  This was definitely our longest ride to date.  We discovered a rarely used access road that appeared to lead in the direction of the river so we turned and followed it up.. up.. up, but it began to veer away from where we knew the river to be.  We could see another road in the distance that seemed to be the one we needed to be on but we weren't sure how to access it.  Duncan went ahead trying to scout a path.. and then we opted to follow an antelope trail through the sagebrush that seemed to head toward this other road. 

We began by riding.  Riding through sagebrush isn't for the faint of heart.  Every few pedals you hit the bush and it starts to send your bike leaning too far over and then you hit a rock or another bush and you're propelled the other way.  Meanwhile the branches are scratching at your legs.  Antelope trails are not ideal bike trails.  Duncan and Jim forged on and soon were out of sight.  I was doing my best with Emerson until I realized why Duncan and Jim had so quickly disappeared out of sight.  The antelope trail we had been following  did NOT lead to the upper road, it just looped around and took us back to the road we had been on before.  We could now see that Duncan and Jim had headed back down the road in search of a fork that might lead to the upper road.  There are no trees to block the views but the turns and hills do make seeing challenging, but eventually we could tell that they had indeed found the access.  I sent Emerson to follow them and turned back to let Patrick and Whittaker know which way to head.  

But they were gone.  How could they disappear they should have been seconds behind me.  Patrick is too tall for me not to see him.  I was baffled.  I turned and headed back toward the awful antelope trail.  Then over the sound of the wind I heard some calling.  I looked up toward where we thought the trail would lead.  Apparently Whittaker had been struggling on the trail and Patrick finally gave up helping him every few feet and had instead hoisted both bikes up over his shoulders and they forged their own trail to the upper road.  

Patrick then returned and carried my bike over the sagebrush and I followed along.  We would be checking for ticks when we got home after all our adventuring.  Within moments of my ascension to the upper road, Jim, Duncan and Emerson appeared coming up the road.  We were a mere few hundred feet from the top.  We rode on.

Low and behold at the top we discovered the river.  We assumed it would be a cliff, but it wasn't it was a gradual descent down to the river's edge.  We didn't go down, because we didn't want to have to climb back up and it was getting later and chillier.  We sure felt accomplished though. A great end to our summer rides!

Except that it wasn't.  

A few days later we determined that if we could ride 7.6 miles up over treacherous terrain and hike through the sagebrush, we should be able to tackle the ride to the post office.  It was mostly a flat ride. We checked the weather.  Arranged with Patrick to call every day as he left the job site.  We figured if the conditions were good, we could leave when he called and meet him at the post office.  (We were prepared to ride to the post office... but not home again!)

Three days later everything was perfect.  So.. we took off. Indeed the terrain was mostly flat.  Dirt roads, gravel roads, good temperature and no wind.  

The vistas as we ride are of wide open spaces.  

Sometimes there's wildlife... (the buffalo on the ridge are actually metal).. but the goats and antelope were real.  The horses actually came running up to the road to greet us.  The sheep just watched as we sped along. 

For the first time all summer, we rode on pavement.  Almost 4 miles of smooth riding.  It was the first time we had to teach the boys to stay on the right edge and ride single file.  Every so often there was a car, but most of the time, the road flowed out before us.  One car that passed slowed and rolled it's window down and gave us a thumbs up and then there was some hollering as they passed Duncan... (friends of his) I'm sure they didn't expect to see cyclists, let alone one they knew.

We reached the highway and turned.. not onto the highway but into the cattle drift that runs alongside the highway.  We planned to stay in the drift until we reached the post office.  The highway isn't designed for cyclists, as lovely as riding on the pavement was, safety was preferred.

91 minutes and 11.3 miles later we succeeded.  Reached the post office, reached our goal and boy did it feel good.  And remarkably, we weren't exhausted or too sore!  Duncan kept pace with us slowpokes but I think he could have done it in less than an hour.

We consider ourselves professional riders.. the official neighbourhood biker gang.  We even went for another Sunday gander at the river, this time following the canal road to a lower spot on the river, only to discover that the grassy area before the river is very marshy.  As long as the weather cooperates, we'll continue to ride.  We're talking about riding to the junction (gas station), or maybe to the fish hatchery.  Who knows maybe we'll ride to town some day.  

The boys need a new goal. And bike riding has taught them that they can do big things, that they can overcome obstacles and get back up when they fall, that looking at what is right in front of you is the key to ascending a big hill instead of focusing on how big that hill is and that when the down hill, seemingly easy parts come, caution should still be taken so you don't end up flying over the handlebars and setting yourself back a few days.  

Tidbits and Obsessions

Obsessed with nests

Obsessed with Lego.. even the cat wants to play

Obsessed with creating with cardboard and hot glue.

Whittaker has built almost as much as the construction crew... using cardboard scraps and a hot glue gun.  An action figure house for Emerson's birthday, a baby chick obstacle course (a few of those.. they poop it up to an useable degree), a mini pool table, a birthday hat for Jim, a marble game/toy, and other creations.

Obsessed with Star Wars movies and play

Emerson is officially taller than Whittaker... it's slight but they're both excited that it finally happened.

Obsessed with art days

Glue and watercolours

Kitty Portraits

Sarah's commissioned project.  A skateboard.

Obsessed with biking

The rides are getting longer and the hills steeper.

Inner house demo.

Phase 3.. and 4

Phase one:  Build new room off of living room to the enclosed stage. (projected completion July 17)-- on schedule

Phase two:  Build new combination bathroom/laundry and dining area to the enclosed stage. (projected completion Aug. 3rd ) -- behind 2 weeks

Phase three:  Build new pantry and kitchen space to the enclosed stage.  (projected completion Aug. 31st){possibly Sept. 15th, since Phase 2 had delays}

Here we go again.

Before pictures.

Time for some demolition.

If we were beginning to second guess our decision to upend our lives and live in utter chaos, just to have a nicer pantry, this demolition section confirmed the NEED for removing the utility room and rebuilding a new one.  

We discovered that not only was the old utility room oddly built a step down from the rest of the house and accessed only 'through' the bathroom, but it was also built on the ground.  No foundation of any kind.. no barrier for the snow melt or rain runoff.  Since it was built this way, the boards were rotting away.  Since the boards were rotting away the entire floor was sagging and literally disconnecting the utility room from the house.  Since it was sagging, there was extra pressure on the water lines from the well/pump to the pressure tank.  Since there was extra pressure on the water lines the fittings didn't fit together properly... which caused them to leak.  Since the water lines below the floor were leaking, more moisture was rotting away the floor boards.  Since the floor was rotten, there were sections of floor that had caved in and a thin linoleum had been placed over it... to 'hide it?'.  

But it gets better.. worse... well.. 

Since the room was sagging and pulling away from the house, mice found a way into the walls of the room.  As the demolition continued and they pulled off the wall panels, they discovered an enormous and very disgusting 'mouse poop pinata'.  It showered down on them.  ewww!!!  very gross.  The evidence would suggest that they had been living in the walls for a number of years.. before we arrived.  

There's more!

Since the mice had been living in the walls, they had also taken to chewing on the electrical wires.  They had chewed through both the wires and had exposed the bare wires.. As annoyed and disgusted as we were, we were also very grateful that their fire hazard attempts had not succeeded in causing an electrical fire!

To complete our demolition of danger and disturbance, we discovered a bee hive in the rafters.

We were pleased to see the rented dumpster cart off all of the disgusting remains.

Now to rebuild the utility/pantry room.  Once again, dig holes and pour concrete.  

The weather is cooperating and we're full steam ahead.  

There's a haze in the air... We aren't certain where it's coming from, and we're not enjoying breathing it in, but on with the renovations.

Floor joists.

The lumber store delivered the wrong size.  12" instead of 9".  They were sorry.. and would happily exchange them.. in about a week.  Already behind schedule and unable to put off construction, some recalculating was done and the 12" joist were made to work.  (Lumber store, apologized and only charged for the 9" ones.)

Adjustments were applied and the floor building continued.  

Plumbing.... Full Stop.  

This seemed to be the beginning of the real inconveniences.

Water had to be turned off for an entire day!  And electrical was also turned off periodically.  

the pressure tank system had to be rebuilt in it's new location.  It took longer than anticipated.. (learning that most phases take longer than anticipated).

After a day and a half of no water, everything was turned back on.  By the next morning, we discovered that it was leaking.  A lot.  

It wasn't a matter of tightening, it had to be rebuilt again.  After consulting the internet, and asking at the store, another day was spent without water while the system was rebuilt, again.  This time a new approach to the gluing and threading of connectors was tried.  

It worked. 

We had water again.

I showered, ran load after load of laundry and washed every dish we owned.

That night, it snowed.

The new pressure tank system which will one day be enclosed since it's in our new and improved and enlarged, wonderful utility/pantry room, was not yet enclosed.  No walls or roof had yet been constructed.  So it was essentially sitting outside on a glorious open to the freezing elements deck. 

Yes.. pipes. froze.

We turned off the water for yet another day, and drained the pressure tank.  When Patrick returned he made a few adjustments and we were once again back in business.

Now we wrapped bats of insulation, blankets and a tarp around our water giving friend and ran a trickle of water in the sinks at night.  

The pressure to finish the exterior of the construction before anymore freezing conditions was mounting. 

Every spare minute had already been devoted to construction, but now with the days getting shorter, more and more was being done by flood lights and in the dark.

In our extra spare time.. when Mr. Boss Nougat Nutbar (Patrick's new name) isn't around (wasting time at that other money paying job)... we sometimes do things other than eat, cook, clean, school and play games... The new room needed some work before guests arrived.  It also would help to keep the house a bit warmer if it had some insulation.  So Jim and Duncan donned protective masks and goggles and began insulating and then drywalling the room.  It really is going to be nice to have it finished. 

We put up the last piece of drywall in the room about an hour before Caleb and Connolly's arrived.

Visitors for Labour day weekend or no visitors.. the weather forecast for a steep drop in temperatures and more snow kept us focused on continuing the construction.  Thankfully the visitors were willing to assist with the next stage.  Hefting the 600 pound beam into the rafters.  

This beam was so that I can have the open span in my new open kitchen area.  We discussed multiple ways to lift it and in the end, it went up without a hiccup. 

Duncan, even felt like doing some chin-ups afterward, so it couldn't have been too arduous.

Walls

They make the other parts of the construction look as tedious as they are.. The walls go up quickly and seem so impressive.  They define that we aren't just goofing off, there is a method to all this and it's beginning to literally, take shape.  With visitors here for the long weekend, we made great headway...

but... then the extra help had to leave... But the forecast was still calling for SNOW!  so we had to call in reinforcements.  The 'B' crew. 

We measured between the 2x4 framing and wrote the measurements down.  We were very exact.

We also discussed fractions and reducing fractions.. but we didn't mention the backward numbers... Writing with a sharpie on wood, upright is a new skill.

Then we called out the measurements to the sawman, (Daddy).  Then we tapped them into place in between each stud.  Jim and Duncan followed behind to nail them in more securely.

They didn't appreciate our whimsical arrangements.  (So boring!)

Another task that we took care of was knocking down the temporary supports, (they weren't needed anymore) and removing the nails. 

Minors (and I) have specific working conditions that must be adhered to.  One is no power tools.  Another is no long hours... or rather, long hour.  It was definitely break time.  (And I had sawdust in my eyes and a sliver already.)

We have high tech safety measures implemented.  

There is a metal rack for stacking our winter firewood on the porch.  I hadn't given it any thought at all, but it was in front of the new wall to the addition.  The only way to access the addition is in between the framing off of the porch.  Apparently construction workers over the height of 5'4" have all been banging their heads on the metal post.  So now the high tech safety measures. (a yellow streamer)

Had I known, I'd have suggested moving it out of the way.

The dedicated workers continued into the wee hours concerned over the cold forecast. 

And snow it did.  And temperature plummet, it did!

Not a lot of snow.  It did melt by the end of the day, but the bigger concern was the temperature.  

Without a roof yet, we haven't chimneys, so we can't light a fire.  So we bundled up.  It was only forecasting a week of freezing temperatures!  We kept building right through the cold.. Okay.. Patrick kept building.. I bundled up some more!  

And then on one of our cold mornings, we woke to discover no water pressure.  We were baffled until,  a confession from the boys that when they were driving their wiggle cars recklessly in the new addition, they ACCIDENTALLY bumped the valve on the water tank and water starting going everywhere.  So the floor and the insulation below became waterlogged and the plastic sheeting below ripped.  (Patrick had to remove the wet insulation and reinsulate a section of floor and then patch the plastic sheeting.  The water tank was not permanently damaged, but the boys were banned from riding their cars in the addition anymore.

 

We spent a day without heat or water.

When I say we were without heat... I neglect to mention the electric heater that we moved to where ever we were congregated.  It was well loved.

The boys built robot suits from the chimney pipe boxes!  Complete with cat carrying compartments.

Windows were installed.  Exterior walls were put up.  Enclosing the addition was much desired.  And then... 

In order to complete the exterior enclosing, a hole needed to be put in the wall... my bedroom wall!  The two windows in my room were being removed.  No problem!  It's only 36 degrees outside. 

But they did need to go.  One was becoming a wall instead of a window that looked into the new pantry.  The other was being replaced since it was broken.  Replaced with a larger one that opened.  So I packed up my room, moved the bed out of the way and covered everything left with plastic.  One long day and my room was all buttoned up again.  Better than ever.  And construction left my room and returned to the exterior enclosing once again.  (It seems that construction reaches a certain stage in each area and then it's moving on time.  My walls now need painting.. but since there will be another demolition on the other wall, we wait to paint.)

Phase four:  New Roof  (projected completion Sept. 7) {probably more like Sept. 18th}

This phase snuck in and became part of phase 3 when we weren't looking.  It may have just been a HUGE priority and we tackled parts of it whenever we could.  Heat was priority number 1.  

Every spare minute and some we couldn't spare were spent enclosing the house so we could put the roof on!  Late, cold nights.  Early morning starts.  Long... long days.  Gratefully Patrick worked half days for a week and came home and worked some more... on the roof.  Even before the exterior siding was on the house, the roof and subsequently THE CHIMNEY's, began to go on.

When the first day of roofing finally arrived, Patrick made an offhand comment.  "Probably should have had you painting the trim so the drip edge won't be in the way."

umm.. what??  I could have been painting all this time?  So.. I changed into my painting clothes in a jiffy and was racing to paint the trim as fast as I could ahead of the roofers.  One evening and an afternoon and I had finished.  There was a section that I couldn't quite reach, so the handy roofers lay on the roof and reached over the edge to paint it for me.  Then I carried on.  Until... this section... where I had to be on the roof.  It wasn't even the steep section.  I am not a fan.  Don't know why I'm fine on the ladder but not on the roof.  Sure hope it never needs another coat of paint.

Back to the waiting game. If the weather cooperates and they finish the exterior paneling, I may get a chance to do some house painting also.  (keeping my fingers crossed).

As for suggested completion dates.... It's still September, just, and we're starting some areas of phase 5 while we finish up the tail ends of phases 3.  Phase 4 thankfully is completed.  (Pesky.. oh, we need to get some firewood for winter, keeps rearing its ugly head also.)  

Meanwhile supply deliveries have become so commonplace that I don't take photos anymore.  They also signal more work... In the dry summer weeks we could have the pallets placed near the work area and use the supplies from there, but now items need to be tarped or carried into the house or addition areas to stay dry or keep from freezing.   I helped pack 126 boxes of flooring, 22 packages of insulation and 10 sheets of drywall.. the other 60 sheets of drywall... well I held the door.  (drywall is both heavy and awkward to carry)

There's rarely a moment of peace and quiet and every task is interrupted. And everyone still wants to eat.

Coming up... the final finishing of Phases 3 and then full force into phase 5.. which we are sneaking in and starting a little bit already.  Plus hopefully some painting.

Phase five:  Interior drywall, electrical and plumbing. (projected completion Sept 14){maybe Nov. 1st?}

Phase six:  Arrange cabinetry in kitchen and install counters  (projected completion Sept 21){maybe Nov. 15th?}

Phase seven:  Flooring throughout house ?} (projected completion Oct. 10){maybe Dec. 1st}

Phase eight:  Complete interior of kitchen/pantry  (projected completion Oct 17){maybe Dec. 15th?}

Phase nine:  Complete interior of  bathroom/laundry  (projected completion Nov. 2nd){maybe Jan. 15th?}

Phase ten:  Complete new room off of living room (projected completion Nov. 14){somehow this got bumped and will likely be completed.. Oct. 10th?}