new camera = downloads (=

lower level of deck in view because i demo-ed 1/2 of the second layer -- the remaining 1/2 of the second layer can be seen below, along with what is left of the upper deck.

downward shot of the remaining lower level
here is a peek at one of the upcoming pro-jects--digging out the back of the house (an add-on from years past) and supporting it properly with footing, foundation and framed wall (=
this last is a shot of the "driveway" which from the wood crossing the bottom of the picture will become a "side garden" as we have enough room for a driveway (where i am standing -- taking this shot=)

for those of you who have seen this already (christy and ken mostly=) it will be most informative. hopefully for the others it is not too confusing ... LOL

ahhh ... the transformation!!

rollin' along ...

this morning the boys packed up there things and headed out, we were ready to see them go. and there shoes will be filled by the sprinkler guy coming in for a day to re-lay the irrigation pipes and install a double check valve first thing next week.

yesterday we met with Susan, who presented us with her yard design proposal. the yard here is really just a patch of grass, a small border and not alot of height variation or depth to look at. so that alone inspired us to change it of course. we are shifting focus to the front & side yard for the time being -- as it was recently dug up and it is the first thing people see as they pass the house .... as well as it is a place we would like to enjoy even more than wee already do!

we are have had assessments/estimates all around and in April will have the custom storm windows installed, insulation blown into the exterior walls, as well as painting.

I will be gutting the basement starting in May.

When that is complete, we will move forward on electrical, plumbing and radiant heating needs -- finishing and lastly flooring.

Aside from the house projects, we have a few travel plans in order. Page will be heading to Arizona to staff a womyn's weekend in early March. Later that month, we will head south to pick up our things from SD. (Page will fly to SD to co-direct a youth camp while I drive down) and on our road trip back up in early April will stop in at Tawnya's along the way to celebrate Jesse's 13th birthday, meet up with Martin en route for a quick visit, and stop in for an overnight at Dad's (if he is around =). When we cross the border ~ approximately April 11th, we will officially "land" in Canada, declare our belongings and become Permanent Residents.

We look to be in Italy for a couple weeks in June with Page's dad, brother and his girlfriend Anna, along with our own special guide Marie (a close friend of the Rossiter family). She and her family are from Italy and she is ecstatic that we are coming to visit. A short week in Jackson Hole, WY in July -- (with CONNER!!!!) for a Ward family reunion (Page's mom's side) caps off our travel plans for now.

The rest of the summer -- July & August will be very busy here at 119. The back yard will be in full bloom, the front and side yard transformation underway. And when weather allows we will be kept busy on the interior alterations of the home as well.

Hope you all are enjoying the blog -- a bit more up to date than the bi-annual bios, eh.

one right after the other .....

the white is nearly gone, washed away by rainfall last night. it is sprinkling a bit now ... adding to the muck int he front yard -- sigh.

alterations one right after the other.... as the realignment of the sewer stack becomes more clear, minor alterations to the floor plan of the basement happen. keeping me on my toes, re-designing day to day. (=

our yard design proposals are being worked on ... as we venture out to different neighbourhoods looking at various species of native (and not) flora/fauna.

appointments too -- the engineer will be here within the hour and we will run through the possible structural changes to the house ... an hour later the city inspector comes to check off the first stage of the outside work -- the new sewer line is in and connected. now they will run a test on it. when it passes ... work will proceed (gravel fill in the trench) to prepare for laying the storm drains and weeping system.

i have another sprinkler guy coming out on saturday to give me a second estimate on installing the double check valve and re-locating the sprinkler valves.

on monday, i have someone in to do an assessment for the radiant heating. last night i spoke with a man who will try and stop in (he lives on galiano island) to see about assessing the condition of our original fir floors to see what we can salvage to re-lay atop the radiant heating. (=

ok -- that's all for now!

diggin' away ... plans ... visitors

I have to say it is probably best you all not see the yard at this point ... as it much resembles a quarry of sorts (the dirt kind) not so much a yard. )=

We have piles and piles and piles atop our piles of dirt in the yard and all around the perimeter of the house. As the winter sun melts the snow from the ground, the sidewalk becomes a mucky muddy mess. And with that mess comes softer soil and the sewer lines were exposed at the city connection this morning. YEA! With the 3-4 days of frozen ground -- that has been a long time coming. (=

Done with the chimney inspection, plumbing and sprinkler system inspection and consult. A structural engineer will be in on Thursday to confirm up the plans we have for a couple changes.

WHO is visiting 119 ? Lee had to cancel her upcoming visit, so instead of next week ... she is still coming up -- date TBD. We look forward to seeing her soon!

Looks like Tracy, Steve, Conner and Lu will pay us a visit next weekend. We are looking to go to The Star Wars Trilogy - One Man Show, at the University ( YES AGAIN ... Page and I took Conner to see it in SD last summer) It should be good fun. It is a very funny show.

Sarah and Joe will make their way back to Victoria (first time since their wedding in 2004) and we will get to meet baby Thomas for the first time. We are planning their visit the weekend of February 23.

We are looking at changing the date we fly to SD to drive our stuff back up .... hmmm

STILL white.... work continues

Yesterday was a snow day for all paid worker-bees here at 119. The ground was frozen solid, thus the perimeter excavation was halted.
Those of us who work for home cooked meals and good conversation ... well we kept busy all day. I demo-ed the upstairs washroom, known intimately as "dinky pinky"... named after the pink toilet that resides in a very small space. The original lath and plaster wall is actually in pretty good shape. Except for the places where someone clumped on adhesive to adhere the tongue and groove wainscoting (which covered up what looks to have been a wall formerly home to 4" tiles) it was all good. Some minor repair to salvage that 95 year old wall. Prime, paint and shelving will make it a very nice linen closet (once the toilet is removed that is =).

Page tore threw removing the wallpaper up to about 8 feet up the wall ... once we get the ladder in .. the upper parts will be removed as well. She has found another niche`...


Future yard design ideas continue to offer potential transformation to a somewhat bland curbside view of 119. Since trees and such grow at their pace, it will be a few years before the yard is truly underway and developing. A February pruning will keep the back yard

MORE SNOW -- YEA!!!!

well it is a good thing it "never" snows in Victoria. We have been dowsed with much more of the white stuff and we LOVE it!!

Yesterday morning we awoke to a dusting of white ... by the time we got our boots on and headed out for a walk (8am) .... it was starting to come down something fun! It snowed about 4 inches or so here during the day ... another inch or two through the night last night.

WHAT A BLAST !!! Even Tico and Smudge enjoy watching it from the front sills. (=

On Monday we began work on renewing the perimeter drains. Nearly 1/2 of the house has a big trench around it so far (the boys took the day off today - frozen ground). And things are going quite smoothly, as expected.

Yard design plans are underway. I am drafting up drawings for a new fence as well as a north side patio area.
We got estimates on our custom storm windows last week ... and just another inspection (replacing chimney) or two (re-routing sewer lines) on Monday will allow me to get that much closer to submitting our final drawings to the city for approval.

Happy New Year - 2007 has arrived. Renovations full steam ahead!!!

We spent another quiet evening in this new year's ... quite a contrast from our last NYE in Victoria. When we were here house hunting in December of 2004, we stayed downtown in the Best Western on Johnson. We were street side and the chatter didn't die down until well after midnight. There is also a club in the basement, so the bass was thumping until the wee hours.

The weather has been beautiful - a jaunt down the street yesterday revealed the Olympic mountain range across the water. So fabulous to be a block from the water! We haven't seen a storm in almost 10 days so yesterday Page requested rain and sure enough - It has rained all through the night and continues today.

Over the weekend, we made a trip to the paint store in search of just the right colors to cover our many bare walls. Still a bit to do there. 0=
We welcomed 2007 with several hours of removing wall paper - we are 3/4 of the way through. (=

Last week I spent a couple hours demo-ing the back deck. Chopping wood and hauling it into the shed was a good workout.
And this week our plans get underway to dig up around the house and update the perimeter drains and while we are at it replace the sewer lines. Due to the nature of the orientation of the house and our plants and what not ... all of the digging will be by hand. The digging will coincide with the start of the yard reno as well. We will be taking up the concrete walk leading to the house as well as the sidewalk to the suite downstairs. [I will not attempt to explain - I will post a "before and after" photo next month.]

Plans are beginning to solidify as I make some last (?) alterations to our drawings. When they are complete (by next month) I will submit them to the city for our building permits. If our proposed plans are accepted, permit granted, the inside renos will begin.