Jeanette's Island Visit....and shed update - Part trois....

The BC Ferries Terminal @ Tsawwassen on the mainland

While I was kept busy working on the shed project, Jeanette and friends took advantage of the nice weather to ferry over to Vancouver Island for a visit with another good friend who lives in Ladysmith.

Great day for sailing - last Wednesday.

Jeanette left early on Wednesday morning, dropped by Ione's home, then they both drove to Mariette's home in Delta.  From  there, Mariette's husband Lorne took over the driving duties and got them to the BC Ferries terminal for the 2 hour ferry ride to Duke Point terminal in Nanaimo.

L-R  Gwen (the hostess in Ladysmith) Mariette - from Delta, Ione and Jeanette from Langley, BC.

What about the coincidence that this photo happened to take place at a cash machine?  Yikes!  What were they up to?  Shopping?  You think?

Mariette, Gwen, Steve (Gwen's husband) and Ione.

Chemainus - on the Island - is a great place for Christmas shopping - so I am told!  It is a beautiful island town.

Steve drove the shoppers to Chemainus, a lovely town on the eastern ocean side of the Island.  There were plenty of stores to look into.

FYI:  This town is very, very close to where fellow bloggers, Rick & Paulette's RV Travels 
live when they aren't working on their suntans in Desert Hot Springs, CA. 

I know Jeanette enjoyed being here.  She took more than a few photos!

Check out the wood carvings!

Nice setting!

Great Christmas decorations.

The following day, with Gwen's sister Lynn at the wheel, the five girls left and drove into Duncan to tour the beautifully decorated Christmas stores.  Old Town is a real treat to visit, at any time of the year.

Here is one important photo that Jeanette took of her namesake store in Old town Duncan.

Night shot in downtown Ladysmith - north of Duncan, Vancouver Island.

The girls certainly didn't waste any of their 30+ hours during their visit.  By all accounts, they had a great time.  Thanks to Gwen and Steve for the great hospitality.

These smaller towns sure take pride in lighting up during the festive season.

Great view from the living room in Gwen and Steve's home in Ladysmith.

As the sun was setting, Lynn prepared to drive the three compadres back to Duke Point terminal for the two hour ferry ride back to the Mainland.

Meanwhile, back on the old home turf, I kept busy working to complete the shed exterior project.

Managed to get the front accomplished yesterday.

Yesterday's morning appointment ran a bit longer than anticipated but I did manage to put in a couple of hours with the vinyl siding and finished the front of the shed.  

Looking good from our vantage point.

 I suppose I could just end the work right here.  After all, the shed looks great from any of our windows in the house. The nieghbours to the north and west might have a different opinion though.  Keeping with the tradition of good neighbourliness, I will complete the two unfinished sides.  In fact, I was out there to do just that before starting this blog when the drizzle started.  I'm not keen on working in the rain....nor having my tools sitting out there...when there is no immediate pressure to finish this job. More sun is forecast in the coming days.

Big improvement.

The weather girl is calling for sun later this afternoon and, if so, I would get back out there and put in  a few more hours of work.  If not, I'll call it a day and think about getting back out there tomorrow.

With sunny days forecast ahead, it seemed right to wash the fleet.

Soon to load and soon to head south!  Sure am looking forward to hitching up.

That about colours our most recent activities.  Thanks for dropping by.

Shed Stuff - PART DEUX!

Started off with the building wrap.

Hey, don't kill the messenger!  If this topic is boring (and for many it must be), I promise not to be offended if you boot off!  For those who enjoy the progress report, hang in!

Building completely wrapped and ready for the vinyl siding.

The previous blog mentioned how I was going to source matching vinyl siding for the shed project while searching Miss Google on the Internet.  I found the original distributor - KayKan - and called them.  They had the product but would only sell to retailers - other than Home Depot. Home Depot do not have, nor can they access the vinyl we require.  I'm OK with that.  I am not a big Home Depot fan.  I prefer to support local owners who still understand quality customer service.  I drove the 5 km to the Irly Bird Home Improvement centre.  The woman who assisted me quickly found the product in their catalogue, made a telephone call to KayKan to confirm that the product was in stock, and I was told the product would arrive at their store by mid to late afternoon, this past Monday.  Yeah!  Order was placed and sure enough, I was able to pick up my siding and accessories later Monday afternoon.  That is service!

 'J ' channel is nailed around the window treatment.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a perfectly sunny and warm winter day to get working on the shed enveloped.  I enjoyed the warmth of sun and the reasonable winter temperatures of about 6-8 degrees Celsius - 42-48 degrees F.

Corner post nailed in place - starter strip in place too!

Once the corner posts were nailed in place, I cut and secured the starter strip at the base of the shed.  You can't see it in this photo because the first layer of siding is attached. It's an easy process to apply siding once the prep work is completed.

One side finished. 

With the fading light of late afternoon I put the tools away for another day.  That will be today, I hope.  Although I do have an appointment in the morning, I may well be able to put in a couple of hours this afternoon.  It is a lovely winter day here again and the forecast bodes well for the next three days too.  Sun and mild temperatures are in the forecast.  I will get this vinyl siding project completed.

Sitting and waiting for me to get back to work.

To shed some light on this blog, I simply have so little else to write about.  But from some of the comments - and private emails I receive - there are readers out there who enjoy following this build up.  So, hang in!

One month to go before we hitch up and head out!!!  Yeah!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Some Shed Stuff...!

The weather has been really nice here; sunny and reasonably nice west coast winter temperatures ranging between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius (40-50 degrees F.)

A few days back, Jeanette and I found the perfect window to install on the east facing wall of the shed.

The object!

The project!

The placement!

Must build the frame and header!

Required tools!

Another required tool!

Framing nail gun makes for quick work!

Header is in place!

Ready to install the window!

Window is in - tested - leveled - and secured!

Ready for exterior window treatment to match our home!

Inside view with the new ledge!

So, with the right tools, it took little time to cut, build out the frame, header and ledge, staple some black paper to the exterior, insert and finally secure the window.

Door is properly seated and framed!

Window trim - to be painted in the spring - makes this shed ready to accept some matching vinyl siding!

Just this little touch adds character to the project!

So, it's now time to run off to find a supplier for the vinyl siding and soffits.  I sourced a few suppliers on the internet and will drive off to see if any one of them can match our existing house colour.

What's with the flowers?

Jeanette celebrated another birthday this past Monday.  Her nursing friends - retired, semi retired and the working crew - took her out for lunch and she came home with this lovely bouquet.

Nice!

Hey, I didn't forget either!  We had dinner out last evening and took in a movie at the local Colossus giant screen theatre.

There you have it!  I shed a few pounds working on my shed!.  One more project accomplished!  Boring stuff for blog readers, I know!!!!!  'Twon't be long now before we offer a bit more interesting stuff to read.

Have a good one!

The week that was....

 

Typical winter prairie scene - north eastern Alberta.

Above and following are a few photos taken during Jeanette's trip to Alberta to look in on her parents - with sisters Deb and Darlene.  Jeanette was met at the Calgary airport by sister Deb and they drove the four hours north to the Vegreville area where their parents are presently lodged in care facilities.

Last Sunday was spent here watching the western CFL final....while I watched from home on the west coast. 

Darlene, Jeanette and Deb were invited to Deb's brother and sister in law's home (Stan and Bev) to watch the western CFL final.  Sure looks like they were having a great time.

 

L-R  Deb and Bev's mother in law  Ann,  Darlene, Bev, Jeanette and Deb.

All but Jeanette are Edmonton Eskimos fans.  Judging from this photo, it must have been taken before the BC Lions cleaned the Eskimos on the football field and wrote them out of the Canadian CFL Grey Cup that is the focus this Sunday.  Kick off today will see the BC Lions meet the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in our final Canadian Football League game of the year, the Grey Cup.  It's being held in our BC Place Stadium here in Vancouver, BC.

L-R  Jeanette, Deb, father John, and Darlene.

The sisters had a busy week tending to the needs of mom and dad and assisting with moving dad to the local lodge.

Mary (Jeanette's mom) with Jeanette as they examine the most recent ultrasound of our soon to be grandson, Easton.  Our daughter- son in law too - are expecting Easton next April, 2012.

Back in Calgary, Jeanette dropped in to see if Deb's son Jonathon was busy selling men's clothing at The Bay store near their home.  Jonathon works there part time while continuing his studies.

Back home on the coast, Jeanette and I ran some errands on sunny Thursday past.  This photo was taken at Crescent Beach.  One of our favourite restaurants was not open so we opted for another in the shopping district.

We stopped at the local White Spot restaurant for lunch.  Nice, new, modern restaurant that was recently opened in South Surrey.

Other than accomplishing house related tasks and completing a bit of inside work on the new (to us) shed, there really isn't a whole bunch of new stuff to report on.  

I crossed the 49th parallel early this Sunday morning to purchase some cheaper US fuel before crossing back in to Canada.

The famous Peace Arch near the border known by its namesake. To the left is the Pacific Ocean.

I was the only vehicle crossing into Canada.  Check out the downpour.  Man was it raining down hard.

As a NEXUS card holder, we have our own speed lanes to cross into the US and back into Canada.  It's like having a super passport.

For about ten minutes I was out of Canada.  Back in Canada, I beelined for our regular Sunday morning caucus at the place below to solve all of the world's problems.  It's a darn shame that no one listens though!

Problem solving meeting place. Located about 15 minutes from the Canada/USA border.

Jeanette had prepared a short list of grocery related items she wanted.  Just before dropping in at Tim Horton's above, I made a brief stop at the neighbouring grocery store. We are having a few friends over to watch the Grey Cup CFL football final this afternoon.  We'll be hooting for our BC Lions! 

That pretty well sums up the week that was. 

Thanks fro dropping in.