New Photo Hosting Site

Here is a single photo from our recent construction project. This photo is hosted on Zooomr.com which is attempting to unseat Flickr.

P6222454 Hosted on Zooomr

Grasshopper

As we were getting ready to go out at noon today, I noticed we had a visitor on the front door window. He inched his way up the glass till he arrived at the top aluminum frame whereupon he jumped/flew fifty feet to the driveway.

Nature sure is amazing.

Architects

I had a lengthy discussion with one this afternoon and will likely forgo his services.

He left me with the distinct impression he would not add enough value to make a difference.

We know the orientation and location where we want the house placed on the lot. We have a general idea of what rooms will go where. (We are still struggling with bedroom and office/den placement.)

But there is little choice as to where the kitchen, great room and garage will go due to our having purchased a corner lot and its relationship to the lake.

Onward with the planning.

Gerber Daisy

The weather has cooperated a little recently and the gerber daisies are not burned to a crisp.

We are in motion - albeit inching along

I just had a discussion with the sales rep from the house builder and we have shifted gears. I am now working on building a timeline for all the details needed with the aim of seeing the rep on Monday or Tuesday to start working on a first stage floor plan.

He doesn't feel we are in need of an architect's services and I suspect we will decide that once we see him next week.

The tale of the tree - part 2

The tale of the tree

The tree is gone. As a matter of fact, both trees are gone. I suspect the wood was valuable and so the tree service guy decided to take them both while the taking was good.

Picture courtesy of my brother-in-law.


Going



Gone

Asiatic Lilies

A few years ago a woman I worked with brought in a bouquet of flowers that turned out to be Asiatic Lilies. She has them growing semi-wild down the side of a long driveway.

I loved the look and bought a few bulbs. Over the past few years I've suffered through Lily Beetle infestations and hungry livestock that devasted spring growth. I had some nice shows of flowers, but nothing extraordinary.

This morning I was rewarded with my first blooms of a species I planted from bulblets, given to me by Deb.

The flowers are breath-taking.

Included in these shots are pictures of the bulblets that grow along the stalks of the plants. Harvest them, plant them, nurture them and you, too, can have flowers like these.

The tale of the tree

When we purchased the property it was under snow. We did know there was at least one dead tree on it so we added a clause to the offer to have the vendor remove the tree before closing. Closing happened May 1st and the tree was still in place as the vendor claimed there was simply too much snow to allow the tree to be taken down. We did get a written undertaking on closing, and subsequently learned from the locals that trees can be taken down 365 days of the year. We're learning.

However, this has now dragged on for 15 months with me writing the vendor's lawyer a few times. Last Friday we were at the site and happened to run into the vendor and cornered him about the tree. As we were talking a truck drove buy with "Tree Service" painted on the side.

So, negotiations took place and the vendor has assured us the tree will be down this week. We'll see. My brother-in-law lives two lots over so will report what he sees.

We also have one more dead tree that is virtually on the lot line and a third one likely on the adjacent property. Oh, yes, we also want to buy that property to ensure we have a view of greenery rather than someone else's yard.

Here's the tree we hope to see disappear this week:

Modular Homes and our proposed journey

In May, 2004 we acquired a building lot 90 minutes north of Toronto, primarily as an investment. In October, the company I worked for sold our division and I found myself out of a job. I had not planned on retiring for a few years, but after some time off and a futile job search (too old, too specialized, etc.) I decided to retire formally. We then decided there was no time like the present to build and move.

My wife suffers with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) ( for details on that), and so moving will present its own challenges. More on that later.

But, we are now ready to start to begin to plan to see what all needs to be done to get a home into which we can move. This blog will likely detail and document a lot of that journey.

We've been trying to get a plan on paper. But first, we need to settle on what rooms we want, where we want them, and determine if there is a giant granite boulder where our basement should be, similar to what our new neighbour discovered.

I've called an architect and the sales person for the builder we've chosen. Both were unavailable today, so I'll be back to them tomorrow.

CLOES homestead in St. Thomas, Ontario - 1904

In 1904 about 50 of my CLOES ancestors gathered in front of the new house for a photograph. The little baby on my great grandfather's knee sat perfectly still. Two of the women and a young boy turned their heads, blurring their images.

I am going to see if I can get one of my Aunt's to identify some of the people in the photo.