Monday, June 20, 2011

Trail Hike and a Paint Job.


Parked at the trail head
Based on my previous  hike through one of Langley's many trails, the other day, Jeanette wished to hike the same trail.  After an early dinner last night, we headed off to the trail head.

Entrance to this trail.
It was a decent day but not overly warm....certainly not the typical summer weather we expect at this time of the year.  It was evening so I put on a sweat top and Jeanette took a jacket along.
Part way up the trail, Jeanette found the two chairs I featured on the previous blog. She sat long enough for this photo.  We pressed onwards.

Jeanette commented on how nice this trail was.  I did not see any wildlife on my earlier walk but we saw several rabbits and a couple of deer on this walk.
There is an abundance of these rabbits.  They are everywhere.
Tough to photograph from a distance....and in a deep and dark thicket.
Walking ahead, I'm waiting while Jeanette took this photo.

Just loved the way the sun beamed through between the large cedar trees.
We continued along - well into the first hour of the hike - when we spotted this new home being built on a private lake in south Langley.
 Beautiful setting.
I happen to mention how nice this home would be when Jeanette reminded me that we moved to reduce our residential work load.  She's right!  As nice as this place is, it requires a lot of outdoor gardening and general yard maintenance.  This is ideal for a young family or someone who enjoys being a home body.  

As many of you know, the  goal with our move was to buy the freedom of time to roam around more often.  In the spring, summer and early fall months, we enjoy seeing new territory and exploring new countryside in our own country - especially our province of British Columbia.  Our winter priority is to snowbird in the southern US and Mexico.  That said, the lakeside home idea faded very quickly.

Private setting to enjoy reading a book or simply looking out on the private lake,

Jeanette is always keen on discovering plants she is not familiar with.  This walk proved that there are some plants she doesn't yet know or recognize.  More research in the offing, I believe.

Somewhere in this lush greenery is a plant Jeanette could not identify.

We made our way along this road and, following the curve, we headed back eastward towards the trail and our vehicle.

We came along this home in the final throes of construction.  It is a beautiful setting.... but requires a huge undertaking to complete the driveway, sidewalks and landscaping.

When we came out of the trail near our vehicle, as the light of day was fading, we took one more shot of this pastoral farm yard with a well restored 70 year old home.
Two hours after we headed out, we returned to our vehicle and headed back for home.  That was a Sunday evening well spent in the wilds of south Langley.

Monday saw us drive off to Bellingham, WA, to visit Lowes home improvement store.  We have had little success finding a specialty shower door system for our master bath.  Well we found exactly what needed at Lowes......and at a much better price than here in the Langley/Surrey/White Rock, BC, area.  We were thrilled with our find.  Lowes is a favourite home improvement store.  Unlike Home Depot, the service there is second to none and there is always stock on hand.  Price is always much lower than comparable items here on the Canadian south coast.  After lunch at one of our favourite spots along  US I-5, we headed back home. With a good four to five hours remaining in the mid to late afternoon and evening, Jeanette and I put solid colour stain to brushes and spent four hours staining the pergola type privacy wall on our back yard patio. 

A few weeks ago I painted all of the wood trim on our home.

The original trim colour was 'salmon pinkish' like.  That was changed to this grey/pepper colour.
Early on in the project.  The  pergola wall was pressure washed a couple of weeks back.

Jeanette worked the brush on one side.....

.......I worked the other side.

Making progress....but this is tedious work.
Four hours later and both sides are done.

I had the local Home Hardware owner do a colour match and he was able to exact a solid colour stain to match the  melamine paint we used on the trim of the house.
That pretty well colours our last 48 hours.

This week is shaping up to be a busy one.  There are a few home maintenance things to do, a few mid week appointments to fulfill and, later in the week, we welcome our kids and their significant others to our home for the weekend.  All four of them - Deni/Courtney & Ginette/Trevor are flying in to attend a wedding.  We are really looking forward to that.

Wishing you all a wonderful week.  Thanks for dropping by.

4 comments:

  1. I think that pergola wall definately looks better with the stain on it. Nice to get out for a hike & see new things.

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  2. Nice job on the painting, I would have found that pergola pretty frustrating to paint.

    Thanks for the nice walking tour in Langley. That was a nice home by the lake, but it would take a lot of upkeep.

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  3. what a great weekend you had..productive and blogworthy all rolled into one!!..nice work on the painting..love the colour of the pergola!

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  4. I love Windmills,,,,,I just know you took that shot just for me!!!
    Good job..

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