In this episode Our Country Cottage finally breaks free of winters grip, entering the summer months while In The Beginning, ITB, reveals some progress.
***In The Beginning, Month 26, September.***
ITB is the section of the podcast where I do my best to remember, through pictures, my log book, texts and invoices, well basically anything I can get my hands on.During this period of little getting done, it seems I also did little with my log book. That is to say sketchy notes.
The second month of year three of the creation of Our Country Cottage started with our contractor calling to say he won’t be back for another two weeks. If you remember, the previous month we didn’t see him at all. So you could say, things are looking up.
It appears that the month was broken into three, and a bit, trips.
The first trip was generally rainy and cold. I tried out the in floor heating for the first time but didn’t keep it on for long as there was hardly any sun. A fire was built to take the edge off. There was a trip to a nearby town to check on cell phone boosters.
My partner came up for a day and we went to visit friends in the area.
The next trip up wasn’t until the middle of the month. We were definitely at the peak of fly season when I arrived, running the fly buster 2000 down a couple of times trying to clean up.
The “spray and go away” tactic was then employed. Put out a good fog of anti fly stuff and go to town for supper. The shop vac was used to collect the, um, remains upon return.
My log book indicates that, between visits, there were warnings and errors along with low levels and generator start faults reported by the solar control unit, but all appeared normal. Hmmmm.
The next day Our Country Cottage had its first official guests for lunch. A good time was had by all even with the flies peaking in number in the afternoon. Ahhh country living.
The dishwasher was run with a full load for the first time. I recorded the time and power used for each cycle it went through. Bottom line the batteries were at 99% at start and at 98% upon completion. And this was after sunset!
Finally, the following day saw some Cottage items taken off of the to do list. The electricians showed up early and went to work. Among a long list of things done was, a wall switch in the mudroom to turn the well pump on and off. This was really handy as up to that point I had to flick a breaker in the utility room.
I never leave OCC for any length of time without turning the well pump off. My reasoning is that if anything fails, only the water already in the tanks would escape.
They ran an Ethernet cable from the generator to the utility room so I could get data inside OCC. Network cables were run from the utility room to the loft, over the garage, and to the kitchen.
They fixed the ac plugs in the master bedroom that were not working. They installed heat tape in the drain in front of the garage. They installed all cover plates missing and installed the tracks for track lighting in the loft.
By the time the electricians were done, most if not all of the electrical deficiencies were taken care off. Best day in months.
Five days pass and we are back at OCC again, this time to receive the new furniture that we had been shopping for in the city over the past little while.
Here is a bit of a cautionary tale. When the truck showed up the head dude proclaimed that they didn’t realize how far they had to come yahda yahda yahda. They wanted more money than the original estimate, of course. Always get a firm cost in writing for these sort of things and be very clear what is expected etc. etc…
In our case we thought that we were covered but the trucking company was hired by the furniture company was an independent and a few loose ends crept in. Not being totally heartless and seeing that they put the furniture in OCC where we wanted it, including a very heavy piece in our upstairs bedroom (they worked hard) we settled on a price.
It seems there is always something with moving or delivery costs. When I had the new cover for our Quonset delivered to our city house, the driver wanted to just push it off the back of his truck. When I insisted he use the power tailgate he told me it would cost more, well at least he did up to the point I produced the invoice clearly stating the use of his power tailgate was included.
OCC was coming together. My partner and I spent the next little while tidying up and putting things where they belong. Like the futon, that was being used as a couch in the living room, could now be shifted to the back bedrooms as intended.
Our contractor showed up, briefly, to drop off his work trailer. Great stuff, I thought, we are definitely getting some momentum going here. Well not so fast. Early the very next morning he was back to get his trailer as a problem had cropped up over night on another site.
But we still have our furniture!
Another five days fly by until OCC sees us again on the last day of the month. Our contractor and his trailer are back. There is also a large boom loader and a skid steer on site. There is still leftover construction material and garbage all over the site, but with prospects of things getting cleaned up, dare I say soon….
So with positive thoughts in mind, that evening, I sat on our new couch with a fire on one side and four or five deer grazing on the other. Scotch, anyone?
***Now on with the OCC update***
When last we spoke I was having difficulty just getting down the drive, in fact, the last reported visit had me snow shoeing in. See Episode #24, the details are too painful to go into again.
It was actually so painful that it took me almost a full month before I could convince myself to go back to Our Country Cottage.
28 days pass and my partner and I return to OCC. There are bare spots on the driveway. Gravel showing through, a very welcome sight. There was still plenty of snow in the woods but the drive was drivable. When we got to the cottage I turned on the heat trace that was in the drain in front of the garage. This would start the thawing process going so that water from the melt would go into the drainage system.
I ran the well pump to clear any sediment build up. Remember I had turned the water off to the cottage and put RV antifreeze in the toilets and traps. When I ran the pump I hooked up a hose to the bottom of the pressure tank and drained it directly into the sump. The house was still turned off and the hose connect point was before the sediment filter, so it wasn’t clogging up the filter for no reason.
While this was going on my partner was vaccing up the flies, etc.
The batteries were topped up with distilled water. Make a note, need more distilled water.
The generator had run less than an hour in the past 2 months.
A quick check on the progress of the heat trace in front of the garage showed the ice had thawed around the trace and water was flowing. Once you get it started it will improve by itself so I turned it off and we left.
Two weeks pass and I go back to OCC for a one day visit with the main intent of turning the water to the cottage back on. It had been a while since the temperature had dropped to freezing for any duration so I felt safe.
When I got there the batteries were fully charged and it was 21C in the living room. I changed the water filter and turned on the water. This I did with all the taps open. I then went to each tap, starting from the lowest (outside hose tap), turning them off as water started to flow, to the top bathroom taps. I reasoned this would be the best way to get the air out of the system. There were no apparent leaks, verified by running to all the places leaks might happen to check and the pressure seemed to hold, once all the taps were closed and the toilets filled.
The true test would be to see if the pressure would hold over time. At the base of the pressure tank there is a pressure gauge that shows the pressure in the tank and, with the valves open, the cottage water system. I took a note of the reading, wrote it on a piece of masking tape and stuck it to the well pump switch to check next visit. I turned the pump off and left.
The next visit to OCC was about ten days later, but for the first time, it wasn’t me. One of my adult kids with a friend was going to camp on the property but ended up inside OCC instead.
Detailed instructions on various aspects of OCC were passed on, along with, what was for me, the most important. Check the water pressure before doing anything. This was done and the pressure hadn’t dropped at all. The cottage water system held, as in, not leaking. OCC could hold its own water. Ok OK…. The only thing was that the domestic hot water was not turned on. So heating water on the cook top was the way to go.
Their visit went without incident and the place was left in great shape, as I found out when I went for my next visit only a couple of days later.
This trip was to be a full week long and had been planned for a while with the purchase of a new BBQ to replace the one up there that was on its last legs. Best recollection was that it was over 20 years old, and not easy years. Dragged across gravel pads, knocked over by marauding cattle (OK I think it got bumped off of the deck by a cow, once). Basically, an inexpensive BBQ treated with little respect. It was time.
The new BBQ came unassembled in a box that just fit in the back of my vehicle.
When I arrived I found the batteries fully charged, 25C in the living room and thanks to the previous visitors, no flies to vac. Happy, happy.
I backed my vehicle up to the deck on the south side of OCC with the tailgate down, which lined up perfectly. After pumping up the tires on the hand truck I slide the BBQ over the tailgate straight onto the hand truck. With the aid of some improvised ramps I rolled it into the sunroom ready for assembly.
That night I went to the nearby town for supper and supplies.
The next day I started the BBQ assembly. It didn’t go well. I could blame the instructions but I seemed to be doing everything twice, once the way I though the instruction said, then once the correct way. I gave up about half way through.
I decided that I would change the tractor from winter, snow thrower, rear blade mode to summer, mower deck mode. This was one of the harder conversions I remember doing. Things weren’t lining up. Clips and pins were hard to get out and in.
Hmmm, first the BBQ now the tractor, maybe it was me.
Well I got it done and tested. A little late in the day to start mowing so time for a nice hot shower. I had turned on the domestic hot water when I arrived the day before so should be good to go. Firstly it wasn’t very hot, in fact barely warm and low pressure to boot. Hmmm I turned the temp up on the hot water tank.
That night, sitting on the couch I saw one maybe two red foxes go down the toboggan run.
The next day started with great expectations of a BBQ supper on the new BBQ. Meat was taken from the freezer to thaw.
I had some maintenance to do on the tractor and mower deck, grease etc. Then on to the first mow of the season. Three hours later I was ready for another shower.
It was a bit better but still not great.
It was now time to finish off the BBQ assembly. It went a bit better than the day before but took much longer than expected. In fact by the time it was complete and I heated it to 600 degrees for 20 mins to burn off the manufacturing coating, let it cool and season the grills, I was done and the meat went back in the fridge. Not happy.
But the evening red fox did cruise by, allowing for some quick pix from the couch.
The next morning the batteries were solar charging at 6 AM. I love this time of year.
I got my camera ready for the, now deemed, six o’clock fox. While the red fox was a regular show in the evening it was also a regular show in the morning, too.
He or she did not disappoint, and I got some good pics given he or she was only in view for less than a minute.
The domestic hot water was becoming an issue and I started doing system flushes while observing pressure irregularities. I noticed that while draining hot water from the hot water pre-heater it would start off great then the pressure would drop substantially.
I called my plumber and he suggested a blockage might have formed, but I couldn’t figure out where. I came to the conclusion that the pre-heater might be giving me grief and made a note to call the supplier from the city when I got back.
I spent the rest of the day picking up bits and pieces in a larger nearby town.
The following day I finished off the Quonset cover. If you remember, last year we changed the cover on the Quonset. The Quonset is a metal frame structure covered with a heavy duty fabric of some kind. Where the fabric meets the ground there is about 2 feet of material that rests on the ground that you can put dirt and or gravel on to seal the bottom of the walls.
I hadn’t put the dirt and gravel back on the skirt as it was late in the season and I figured the snow would hold it in place till I was ready, and it did. Some of the work I could do with the skid steer and some I had to do by hand with a shovel and rake. I finished off by smoothing out the ground with the skid steer and I and the Quonset were done.
After moving one of those metal fire pits from the Quonset to the cottage with the skid steer I had one of the better showers of my visit. Long and hotter. Maybe the hot water just needed using more.
For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to used the BBQ that evening. I did manage to get some more fox pics later on though.
The next morning I decided to treat myself to breakfast in town. When I opened the garage door the box that the BBQ came in, the large heavy box that I had carefully placed on the woodpile, was on its side on the floor. I then began to notice other items that had moved. A tire had rolled out from its resting place to the tractor, another box on its side. Then I saw him. A black furry being with a pointy nose about the size of a small house cat. It wasn’t a house cat. More like a wood chucky kind-o-thang. I approached with caution only to have him run under the stack of firewood. I tried to flush him or her out by making noise but nothing so I headed off to my breakfast while leaving the garage door open. When I got to our gate I realized I had forgotten the empty diesel containers I was going to take with me to get filled. So back I went.
A close inspection under the log pile and with a look around a bit it became clear that he or she had taken the opportunity to escape. Fare enough. This time I’ll close the door. Well I would, if I could. For some reason these critters love to chew on wires and the wires that connect the safety beam at the bottom of the door had been broken. Five to ten minutes later, with the wires twisted together I was able to close the door and go to breakfast.
The remainder of the day was spent getting the old BBQ ready for its final road trip, back to the city and back to where I had bought the new one from, with a promise that they would recycle it for me.
I mistakenly started the process in the sun room, soon realizing that it was a dirty nasty job, with spiders, that would be best done in the garage. As I was dragging it down our gravel drive to the garage, a wheel came off and the BBQ took a header, spilling its lava rocks, grills and racks as a last comment to its last moments. Lovely.
That evening I had my first supper cooked on the new BBQ. I think I might have had a few adult beverages to take the edge off, too.
The last day of the visit was overcast and rainy. The box, that the new BBQ came in, was ideal for transporting the old one back to the city. A few cuts here and there and it slipped into the back of my vehicle perfectly.
Batteries were topped up, a trail cam SD card was swapped, logs were taken and the solar control info was collected.
I headed back to the city. Before going home, the old BBQ was dropped off at the BBQ place for recycling. They also took the modified box. Good stuff.
Still have a few more visits in the old log book to tell you about, but am going to save them till next time.
So tune in for Episode #26. Will I get the domestic hot water figured out, will there be anymore furry overnight guests in the garage and will my relationship with the new BBQ continue to improve, adult beverages aside?
Also, ITB month 27, will my proclaimed optimism be rewarded or kicked to the curb like so many times before.
At this time any promises of new pictures on the web site seem unfounded. Apparently I lie.
For pictures, and new ones coming soon,(someone has hope) and more info, you can visit our website at www.ourcountrycottageanarrative.com
If you have any comments, questions or if you would like to be added to the “Friends of OCCaN” Our Country Cottage a Narrative, mailing list, you can email me at John@ourcountrycottageanarrative.com.
Members on the mailing list will get website and podcast updates as soon as I do :). Find out when I get the new pix posted.
The Our Country Cottage a Narrative podcast is on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Play so you can subscribe there and get the podcast downloaded automatically when they get released.
Till next time….