It looks marvellous....

I have picked some of neighbours' over the brown fence cherries last week. They were not quite ripe. I froze them. I have picked some of the neighbours' over the back fence cherries over the weekend. I froze some, ate some, made a cherry cobbler and I ate it. Today I picked my cherries. I believe that all three cherry trees are different types. 

It was certainly easier to pick my tree when I sawed off the branches! I decided to lop off the high branches and the ones that are growing toward the neighbours. I am trying to shape the tree so that it grows in my yard and at a height that I can reach most.... And only a few for the birds.

The neighbours trees are way too big for me and will provide all the needs of the birds.

We have a pesky spotted fly that has been infesting the cherries in the general area, so I wanted to keep things to a manageable size.

Here is my tree with its new haircut.....

The painter was busy last week painting all the window and door trim. Floor guy was not progressing as fast as my contractor had said he would. I brought this to his attention...

Things look busy inside... Even if not much has been done.

Tiles are getting sized up and ready....

The bedroom has its new cable in.... Much better.

The next step is putting down a layer of thinset for the tiles.

So here is the den with its coat of thinset. Tomorrow (I hope) each tile gets a butter of thinset on its underside and then placed on the floor. .... Tiling like usual.

The apple tree is looking nice and the hazelnut tree does not appear to be too mad at me for its haircut last week. I gave it a good soak of water and hopefully it will not hold a grudge. The fence line is almost clear. There are a few more shoots that have grown up right on the fence line, or slightly on the other side. We can clear those out when we are ready to fence...which is I don't know when.

I have been encouraging the fig tree to grow away from the greenhouse. And I have been reading how you know figs are ripe and how to pick them! Last year they would spoil very quickly after picking them. I love figs.

The yellow plum tree is looking marvellous!  I really hope I am in this house by the time they ripen, but we shall see.

A fence in my future?

The rock wall is complete, except for a little grout. Now I need some topsoil and some colourful plants.

Rock wall/ floor guy was outside most of day finishing the wall. Either the crew was on site as well earlier or rock wall guy did a little site clean up of all the wood scraps.

I decided to cut back my hazel nut tree and dig out the fence line a bit more, as sometime in the future a fence will actually be erected. It appears this will give my yard a little more sun and I loose a bit of privacy... But on that side of the yard I am okay with that.

The branches by the rocks are part of what I cut down that was hanging over- or what would be through the fence... If there was one. I also trimmed the low hanging branches. That way I will be able to see the bear when he sleeps under the tree. There is still more to do.

I can see more garden area on this corner.. Potatoes, asparagus?

My contractor was by at the end of day to check in. Sounds like tiling just might start tomorrow in the den.

Hide and seek

While my contractor gets a different cable for the bedroom floor, the floor guy attached the thermostat in the den and then worked on the front wall. Almost done, one more row lower.

I have minor staining on one end of each of the front spindles still to do, but the crew was on site and all the spindles are in place. The stairs are done....after the crew shortened the width of the bottom stairs as the spindles did not sit right...  I am not sure it has been good to watch the stair building process as now I know all the very minor issues... Where I may or may not have discovered them over time.

This is my house.....

This my house hiding...

Cherry. Stains.

I started the day by picking some of the neighbours cherries (by invitation) as they did not want them. Their tree is much bigger and a different variety of cherry than my tree. Mine are not ripe yet. I only picked one bin, as not all were ripe and the tree was not easily picked. Here is the view from their yard.

So you may have noticed the spindles in the above picture. Yes the crew was on site today and since I only painted three sides of the last load, eventually I figured that I should climb down from the ladder and start staining some more. My reluctance to stain today was because I spent the last three days at it and I was getting tired of it.... Why not pick free cherries. Anyway more on staining later.

Floor guy has all the mats in place in the bedroom and the den. The cable has been tested and now it is layed out in the mat..... Except it's not right. Too bad he left before I could comment. I phoned my contractor and we discussed it.

They had a longer cable for this room but it appeared too long, so a shorter one was used and you can see how he kinda ran out near the end. Well that is exactly where I want the cable as I will walk around the bed to look out the window. If they have to use a shorter cable, they should make the bigger spaces under where the bed will go. This is unacceptable.

Below is the den. Now I am okay with this setup as a daybed will be under the window on the left and the main floor is covered well.

Here is hoping they fix the bedroom.....

Okay outside ..... The back deck is done! All spindles are up and I have stained the fresh cut ends (these were the first ones I stained that did not have the fancy ends).

I will give the brown treated wood cut ends a brown stain and give the whole deck a once over... But not until I almost move in.... After appliances go in!

So the front deck spindles are in place and the fancy ends were stained already. I do need to stain the square ends though. The crew could not put the other spindles in place because they were still damp and I had not stained the post and railings yet. I thought they were going to sand a couple of spots first, but it looks like I will stain again after sanding...... So as everyone was leaving the site for the day I carried on staining until the post and raillngs were done.

There is my cabin in the woods, my little house in the fruit trees....my little house on a basement.

Bonus day...

Yes indeed it is Saturday, but I shall post today because I was not the only one working today. How very exciting.

Rock wall man was on site for a bit working to bring the wall lower. 

The crew even showed up to complete the railings on the stairs.

I will get to staining everything, but I will let them sand things a bit first... A few rough edges.

It was another spindle stain day for me. Yesterday I stained all that were cut. I stained 3 sides and then went back and stained the 4th. Well it turns out I was a little rushed with my 4th side and there are messy drips on some of them. Hopefully the crew can hide my inexperience when they attach them. 

But alas there was still a very big pile that needed to be cut in half and then stained. Before the crew started the stairs I asked them to cut the remaining spindles in half. So this 'batch' have the nice cut end on them already.

I moved the ones I did yesterday. Some were still a little wet, so I stacked creatively so things would not stick together with the sun.

There were a few that still needed the 4th side done - about half of the farther pile.

I spent another day in the bright sun doing 3 sides, then the 4th on the other half of the farther pile and the higher part of the closer pile. ... The lower part of the closer pile needs the 4th side still.

And then there is tomorrow..... 

About the same amount that I did today. I will need more stain.

I had a few cherries from a neighbours tree that hangs over the back fence. My cherries are a different type I think.. They are not near ripe yet. Another neighbour gave me an invite to raid their tree as they will be out town this week when they will be ripe.

Flower break...

I planted a few little one flowers around the rocks and the water shut off. You can see some of the oregano took, but some did not. And further along my neighbour across the street gave me something in the hens and chick family that appears to be happy.

The same neighbour planted the same stuff here and gave me something else as well. 

It's sprouting up fast like a sunflower... And that's what it is.

Pigpen?

For those that have been following this blog since my travels... You would be aware that I have been know to take pictures through windows. Here is what is going on in the bedroom this morning. It has been primed and is ready for the thinset and the mats. Why through the window you may ask....

Well I have been banished from the interior. 

You have to say that with a Shakespearean flavour..... I have been 'bani.. shed'. 

This is to keep the dust and dirt out. When did I switch from Peppermint Patty to Pig Pen? Oh well.

I was quite busy today staining spindles. The painter was floor guy's helper today and the crew were working on stair railings. My realization today was that everyone was busy. I was paying everyone, but no one was paying me. ..... But I get to keep the house, so it's okay.

So I peeked in the windows later to see what was accomplished. The mats are down in the bedroom.

Things stop at the door as each room will be on its own thermostat.

It looks like the den is not quite finished having the mats put in place.

And a peek was needed from the front as well.

I felt like I accomplished quite a bit today. I stained three sides of quite a few spindles and the sun dried them so that I was able to stain the fourth side on most as well. I stained all the railings in the back.

But there is still more to do! These ones have not been cut in half yet.

So the back is looking good.... Some nice stained cedar and some treated wood as well. 

I will touch up with brown stain the cut ends of the treated wood and I will throw down a coat on the stairs so that I am drinking my coffee while sitting on stain, rather than the treated wood.

Here is a (slightly crooked) view of the front stairs still missing the top railings.

I decided to go with post caps on the bottom two posts and the two at the bottom of the second set of stairs as well.   Nice copper ones or solar... Hmmm...

I like the way (in summer anyhow) my walnut tree hides the stairs.

The ocd is strong in that one.

I did not visit the site until after lunch today.

Rock wall/ floor guy was busy inside cleaning the drywall off the floor and basically getting to know the surface of the floor.. He was making sure that things were flat and there were no divots that needed to be filled.

All the tile is now here. There is the main floor tile and then three more tiles in the bathroom: the shower walls and around the tub; a small accent tile in the shower; and then the shower floor. The main floor tile will actually come into the bathroom around the toilet and vanity.

Today's decision was whether or not I really could use the tile that I had chosen for the shower floor. It was little rocks on a mesh sheet. The reality is that they will not glue down properly. But I did kinda fall in love with the tile.... So they all will be placed in by hand, and it will just be an extra day of work as it will be a little rock wall on the bathroom floor. And then I chose the grout colour to match the tiles in the bathroom. Decisions decisions.... 

Then I put on my painting/ staining clothes and got to work. Not the spindles yet.. First the railings.

Did I mention that the basement, which is not yet finished, is the storage of everything! 

Below, if you can see past the spindles are the supplies for the in floor heat, that were moved in at the end of the day.

My toilet, sink, vanity, and faucets are below the mess... You know with signs advising not to store heavy stuff on it....

Upstairs, it looks like things will be starting in the bedroom.

I spend the afternoon on the front deck- not with a glass of wine but with a paint brush.

You are noticing how nice the railings look! 

All done in the front, so I did a little in the back to use up the stain in the tray. I will not have to stain quite as much in the back, not just because the area is smaller, but because much of the back is just the brown treated wood, rather than the nice cedar.

The cedar does look sharp when it has the stain on it. 

Okay the front railings are not yet done, because they have more to build- on the stairs!

.... The ocd in me can't wait to pick up more brown stain so that I can make the bottom pillars brown, rather than green.