Okanagan girl

I'm here! While my brain has yearned to set 'pen to paper' or is that 'digits to keys', the muse floats in the air, along with all the sawdust and hasn't had a chance to settle. We had a reno break at Christmas, then packed away all (5) of the decorations. The powertools were then plugged in for a solid 3 months. Where ever there was a wall, there isn't. Where ever there wasn't a wall, there is. Same for doors and windows, ceilings and plumbing and wiring and kitchen cabinets. We now have a 2nd floor that has a cosy reading room/guest room & eventually a separate office - well there is no power up there yet, but it's coming! Our masterbedroom shrunk to make room for a hallway (no more walking through the bathroom to get to our bedroom!), most of the interior walls have cedar planks (gone is the drywall - yay!), we moved the kitchen from the side wall to the back wall and installed new cupboards and countertops.
Bob's dad flew here from Winnipeg on Jan 13th and worked non-stop 8-10 hours everyday. He celebrated his 75th birthday with us, and we couldn't keep up with him! He seemed to really enjoy being busy - He started off by tearing down a greenhouse & shed that were attached to our tenant's cabin. Then he burned the rubbish (don't tell Al Gore). He had quite the fire going, and our firepit is now significantly larger than before he arrived. I told him we'd be listed in the paper as the newest location for crop circle siteings! Indoors he tore down all the gyproc, virtually built the floor and supporting walls in the attic to make the reading room, along with the stairwell etc. etc. He even mixed and poured the concrete for 'Bob's room' which of course is the workshed out in the back yard. He spoiled Chile with daily walks and toast & lots of attention. Cleo bit him on day 1, but by the end of 2 months they would tolerate each other. We really enjoyed our time with him, he is quite the character and so thoughtful. It was a real pleasure to have him with us. He came here to get away from the cold winter. I'm sure there were some days he wondered why, as we had no power in the house (rewiring) and he had to dress in his outdoor clothes to stay warm indoors! Bob took 2 weeks vacation to 'help' him - it was amazing to watch them work together - very in tune with the job and how to do it. Their hero Mike Holmes would be proud. Dad has flown back to Winnipeg, and last I heard he was harvesting sap to make Maple Syrup. He's like the EverReady Bunny!!
Meanwhile I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible - which proved easy enough because of the extra hours I had to put in at work. Although my factory is shutdown temporarily (we're installing a crane), I'm administrating (is that a word?) our other factory in Westbank (Kelowna). It's a challenge, but as always my work is never boring. For someone who needs to know what's around the corner, I think I cope rather well with the fact that the corner keeps moving!
Bob loves being able to demolish and rebuild and is quite enjoying our WIP (work in progress) aka our abode. We've named it "Valhalla Lite Hus" which translated loosely from Norwegian means "little heavenly cabin". And we live in the area known as "Lighthouse Country", so it is also a play on words. I wanted to name our cabin in memory of my mom, so when I researched the Norwegian dictionary it just seemed natural to choose that term. I think Bob will call his workshed 'La Cabane' - French for 'cabin'.
Living in the country is wonderful, although it sure challenged our city survival skills this winter. The week long power outage meant walking around with headlamps, boiling water for coffee on the woodstove, shoveling a path to the woodshed, progressively cooler & quicker showers each morning, sidestepping the lumber stacked in the living room, preserving the freezer full of fresh caught salmon etc. etc. We finally snagged a generator (there were none on the island) and I'm just glad that I have camping experience and knew I'd survive without amenities. We'll be better prepared next winter. ChrisNess have been very generous with their visits, and didn't mind moving into the AREVEE while pepere had their room. It is always a pleasure to have them here, although they do whine alot when the power goes out (hee, hee).

To be continued.....