Home and Home - which is your favorite view?

This is the view from my sister's new place in Toronto.  It is a rooftop open deck area that will make a nice roof garden, east facing and on the horizon is Lake Ontario.




On the other hand....

This is the view that I prefer, Angie and her friends in the field.  I am going home tomorrow and will see Bob and the fur gang again.

More projects for Bob??

I discovered Restoration Hardware, very interesting spot.  They sell furniture and items made from recovered wood and metal materials.  Rustic and suitable for a log house.  Attached are photos of a chandelier made from old wooden wine casks and  a table made from salvaged wood.  Bob will be thrilled to see these shots with ideas of what HE could fabricate for us.   He will be delighted, don't you think???  On the other hand we could just order from their extensive catalogue....

Wheeling and dealing

I am still in Toronto helping my chum, we have had a number of adventures and she is learning to tolerate me making the vrooom and errrrrrrrkkkk sound for go like stink and stop with the wheelchair.   She orchestrated furniture shopping from the car whilst I parked illegally on Queen Street so that she could see the shop window and I could start the negotiations for a legal bookcase (illustrated).  If challenged, she was to burst into tears and hold off the police until I could return, claiming some mission of mercy.








Illustrated below is the chaise lounge chair used for the negotiations

Mago plays and tries to be handsome

After I refilled the loose mineral pail (pictured in the background to the left),  Mago conspired to scoot away with the empty paper bag and fling it around like a flag.  He had a little trouble tossing it up to get it over the doorway to give it back to me, knowing that this was the way to regain approval and get a treat.

Now he poses trying to look handsome and appeal to me to brush him and not leave for a few days.  I've never had a horse quite like him before.   And darn it if I don't miss him too.  They manage to get under your skin somehow.

Spring on the road

Definitely the ice cream truck is a sign of  spring in Toronto.  I am here for a visit and knowing that the truck will not be showing up any time at Angara.  Best that I get some goats in and learn how to crank the old fashioned ice cream maker instead.....   I didn't realize there still were these traveling treat trucks!!!  Harley the Wonder Dog would love the idea.  He gets excited enough now to go through the Tim Horton's drive through window to get one plain Timbit..... thanks to Bob for teaching him this bad habit.

Deer and sandhill cranes

Such graceful creatures, two deer are pictured having a snack near the horse's paddock.   We heard the sandhill cranes on April 2, so they have heralded their return but we have not seen them yet.   They have such a unique "prehistoric" call, so we can be sure who it is.

Spring sporing and rest

 Mago kicks up his heels and flags his tail to celebrate better footing for running around.

The cats celebrate the improved spring sunshine - this appears to be a preferred spot...

Stair construction

After my agonizingly slow updates on the main floor to basement stair building, I can now report that the stairs are finally built!   Maybe a particularly welcome bit of news to everyone who found the temporary stairs to be wobbly and frightening?   We attempted to do finish carpentry stair building and as a result have ended up with a sturdy, square and building code compliant version that is paintable but not exactly at precision furniture grade.  If I checked one more stair tread with the level, I hesitate to think what Bob would have done with me and the level....    Suffice to say that we are within a sixteenth of an inch tolerance in both vertical and horizontal planes.   Not bad for having salvaged and ripped much of the two inch thick spruce from earlier construction activities!  George (the cat) found the removal of the temporary stairs and installation of the stringers to be quite exciting.   He was initially relegated to the basement with the other two cats, because that is where the cat litter is located.   He was having no part of missing out on the action and insisted on climbing up up the bare stringers (first photo) and climbing around the stairwell opening to see what we were doing.  He is also aware that the cat food is located upstairs, clearly his priority.  This first photo is of the in-progress installation.  

Harley the Wonder Dog is shown with the completed stairs.   I have put filler in the screw holes, next up is to sand and paint them.    When we had about half of the stair treads in place, Harley tried to sneak upstairs, only to find that he was on a bit of a stairway to heaven with imaginary upper steps.   He beat a retreat and was wary about trying them again when we insisted to him that they were finished.   I demonstrated by descending and ascending first so that he would see that it was safe, now he has resumed trusting this route.