Our Lifestyle Blog as We Create a Homestead in Northern Ontario
As you know, last year we tried purchasing a quonset shelter for Donna to park her car in during the winter months. It worked really well in the sense of making the morning start to her workday much easier – no more sweeping off loads of snow and scraping windows. As you also know, I … Read more
So Donna is still making the daily trek into the city for work, and now that temperatures have dropped below zero, she’s starting to encounter frost and snow some mornings. After a brief discussion about whether or not we could find a way to make the morning routine a bit easier, we green-lit the notion … Read more
If I recall correctly, last year I only cut two or three beams on the sawmill. I didn’t have any big projects in mind, but did have some large logs on the skidway. One of the largest was a huge birch that had blown down previously, and Grandpa helped me to portion it off and … Read more
In an effort to overcome procrastination and prove to myself that I could still accomplish important chores around the homestead, I awoke a few days ago with the conviction that I would clean out our stovepipe before anything else. It was a calm, warm, sunny day – no excuses! As soon as Donna headed down … Read more
My excitement to post this is tempered with the fact that I didn’t tell Donna I had done the work, and she took an extended sauna last night, and didn’t even notice the change! In any case, after working on the aeration of the pond and well, I really wanted to at least make a … Read more
I am generally pleased with the performance of the acrylic as storm windows. One issue that arose shortly afterwards was that the inward air pressure caused the tape on them to pull free down the centre and they began to bulge into the room. After a short while it became apparent that I wouldn’t be … Read more
I recently got a chance to do some computer work for Surecraft Plastics again and it was a great excuse to pick up some much larger pieces of acrylic to try to make a better “storm” window for the patio doors. I even was able to get them to notch the panels for where the … Read more
Last year, before we installed the ceiling, we noticed a few times where water would occasionally seem to drip in behind the stove from somewhere near the stovepipe. I thought that perhaps it was condensation forming up in the chimney cone and running back down. I hoped that it would be cured by finishing the … Read more
So we’ve had the sauna for a number of years now and have become quite comfortable using it “in the buff” so to speak. Of course, Mummu and Grandpa are really the only neighbours we would ever expect to drop in from behind the sauna (one of the paths to their place runs alongside and … Read more
With the new tile work around the inside and outside of the sauna stove complete, and much of the trim, it was time to add the heat shield on the inside. This should also protect the walls a bit from thrown water, which can tend to stain the walls with drops or water spots. Leftover … Read more