Merry Christmas everyone that reads my blog! I want to thank you all for taking the time to read up on all our adventures up here in Canada. I really try hard to post something each week and add as many pictures as I can so you can have a small idea of the things we are seeing and doing and I do appreciate hearing that it is being read. We had taken the bottom picture specifically for our holiday card, but Jeremy ended up liking the first picture better so we ended up creating the top one too(taken in my parent's backyard when we visited in July). I guess I'll write this as a summary of all we've accomplished in 2010(I'll say accomplished since I think that more accurately portrays our activities for the year as you'll see or I'm sure have read about).
After we moved into our house last fall and did a few small closet reno's we focused on getting to the gym the rest of the winter. It was a fairly cold winter, but we didn't get as much snow as is the norm. We also liked to watch a lot of movies and stay inside cuddled up in blankets. I continued to run outside all winter with Hayde and did a lot of running thru the nearby park. I can't forget to mention we had to replace the oil tank outside last January. I'll mention later the last bits we had to do to it once it warmed up.
In early spring, we got around to doing a facelift on our master bedroom - finally! We riped out the pinkish carpeting, tore out the baseboard(some of it was missing), painted the walls (ceiling had been painted upon moving in and we had replace all the fans in the bedrooms with new fixtures), put in new laminate flooring in the room and closet. Jeremy did up some new baseboards and added those all around the room. I put up new curtain rods, we found a curtain panel we liked and I altered the single panel into two and added gromets to hang. We finished it up with a large area rug that's almost big enough to cover the entire room. I was then finally able to get my pictures up and other misc things out.
Jeremy also ripped out the old dish washer that didn't work very well. In it's place he tried to build a pull-out cart so we could add extra counter space in the kitchen since we have very little. He almost finished it up, but then stopped as we couldn't figure out how to do the last touches on it. Later, we ended up finding a pre-built cart so he has yet to rip out the one he did and "install" the new one. It's not ment to be installed, but we're going to try to install it under the counter so we can slide it out when we want and put it away when not in use.
We then started thinking about things to do with the yard. First on order was cutting down the dead tree in the middle of the back yard. Jeremy invited a friend from work over who had a chainsaw and they were able to drop the tree. We then spent some nights after work trying to get the stump out. That sure was a feat! We hacked and hacked at it and dug and dug and finally with the help of the truck, it came out! In it's place we had decided to build a fire pit. We had to look up all the rules and regulations and were able to do it! We used some bricks mentioned later from the flower garden to make the ring and were able to get it inspected and got our burn permit.
We tried to level the big lump in the front of the house where they threw all the dirt when they dug up the septic tank and we didn't have much grass growing anyway. We ended up building the vegetable garden there and we planted onions, strawberries, peppers, beans, peas, tomatoes, asparagus, and corn. We also tore down and rebuilt the brick wall for the front flower bed and replanted the tulips I had planted last fall. We built another flower bed along the other front side of the house and planted many varieties of perennials. Jeremy made a miniature picket fence and painted it white. We found some trellises for the clematises. We added another flower bed along the side of the house and planted wild flower seeds. In between plantings, I put in two climbing rose bushes. In the back, behind the shed/garage, we built our berry garden and transplanted and planted additional berry bushes including raspberries, I tried blackberries but they didn't do anything, blueberries and we build another trellis for some grapes. We also seeded the lawn since so much of the front was dirt from all of this. I got some mulch and mulched all these gardens for the summer and remulched prior to winter.
Our biggest accomplishment was replaceing the roof on the entire house/garage/shed! We managed to do it between the two of us with three days help after work from our friend, Lee. I think we figured we finished it in about 10 days with Jeremy taking one day off of work - I think he figured it is about 2,500 sq ft with 8 valleys where the house, addition, hallway, garage, shed, and shed entry come together. We also added some extra gutters over the backdoor entryway. That was a huge relief to get done and I still don't know how we managed it in 80-90+ degree weather amongst the rain.
In August, about 10 days before we expected Jeremy's family to arrive, our neighbor had decided to "trim" the cedar trees between our properties. Instead of trimming them a bit, they got cut down to about 6 feet tall! They used to probably be 15-20 feet tall! WHOA! We frantically tried to decide what to do with this mess and ended up cutting all the branches off on our side which left some bare looking stumps! So, we rushed out and ordered 35 new 6 foot cedars. I got a truck load of dirt and we got them all planted within a morning. We then rushed to clean up the mess from all the branches and debris, in a downpour, that had been hiden for the last 20 years or so. We made two trips to the dump using the truck and a borrowed trailer. We still have another two truckloads of branches sitting in the backyard yet. We also dug up and cut down a chicken wire fence that had been up between the trees and we but in a new one. I was able to plant some bulbs this fall so hopefully with a new year's growth and some additional greenery, things will start filling in.
We also finally got around the pouring a cement slab underneth the oil tank now moved to the backyard. We had to wait for the oil to go down so the tank could be lifted. They had put it on two temporary cement blocks for the meantime. That was no easy task as the tank was still extremely heavy! But, we did get it done. Jeremy also got it all painted as we were told to do so.
Throughout all this, I continued my running and going to running club twice a week, and trying to hit the gym. I did a half marathon in May in Ottawa and a full marathon at the end of September in Toronto. I had my best training this year and never seemed to have that dreadful "bad" long run. Thanks so much to Janice and Jodi-biking(and Steve) and of course my most loyal, best running partner ever - Hayde, to accompany me on so many long runs between April and Sept, and in the heat of the summer amongst all our hard work - yard and roof! I don't know how I manged to stay on my feet without falling over from exhaustion! Of course, Jeremy continued with his hockey. He's typically in three leagues. However, in the summer, there's only one leagues going in town. This fall, he's added a fourth league that he's a back-up player in if they're short players. He also continued to travel a bit for conferences, meetings and trainning. He didn't go to any international conferences this year. We drove back to WI to my parents for the 4th of July since my sister came out as well. It was a very short trip with four long days of driving, but it was so nice to see my sister and her family again and to all be "home". Jeremy's mom, aunt and uncle came to visit for about 10 days in August and my parents came for a week in September to visit and to watch my marathon.
We did manage to get out fishing mostly 2-4 times a week. We went out here on the river and also did several trips up river to Stonecliff. Somehow we manged to find the fish this year and had luck with walleye, northern and some great fighting catfish. Come fall, we spent many weekends out hunting grouse, duck and geese. And, last of all, we managed nearly a 2-1/2 week trip back to WI again for fall hunting - first to Madison, then Jeremy went to the cabin and I went back to my parents.
So, unless I've forgotten something (quite likely), this is what our last year has consisted of. We sure are ready for our 10 day vacation coming up over x-mas to relax and maybe work on a few small projects around the house. We're looking forward to next summer when we can finish up a few smaller projects outside and hopefully be able to enjoy our house and yard more after all the work we've done with it. Of course, we'd like to get out fishing and hunting more next year, so we shall see. We still have endless places and things to go explore! AND, of course, we always welcome visitors and would love for you to see our home, be able to cook for you and take you out to see all the places we frequent! It's a beautiful country here and I'm amazed and thankful for all the wonderful views I get to see each and every day(even in sub-zero temps)!
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