leder legends

  The water meter was replaced as promised. The cast iron pipe was replaced and it looks great.    Why not do one more project before we clean up?  The furnace.  The furnace was getting on  in years and a few years ago the fan blew out. Of course it was not an easy repair because that fan was no longer being manufactured. Our repairman installed an "emergency" so that we would have heat and AC in the meantime.  What that meant was a trip to the basement every morning to turn on the fan so that the furnace would run,   It's been two or so! It's funny what you can get used to. In November the furnace man came over to reacquaint himself with the situation and said he would call with numbers etc.  It so happened, that one of the guys helping with the pipe replacement also worked with furnace installation etc. He needed work so he came up with a price that we thought was reasonable and away we went! The furnace was ordered and delivered ...

  Every once in awhile I cook a pretty decent meal but I’ll admit it’s probably only 3 times a week. I have some photos that I will save here. This was a decent meal! lol Flank steak, fresh spinach, wild rice and applesauce. Chicken, spaghetti squash, fresh Brussels sprouts and French bread. Chicken, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and leftover rice. Bad picture of a really tasty chicken noodle soup! Hamburger soup and crusty French bread! Last night I made a beautiful bacon, spinach quiche. It was so tasty. Lazy Sunday afternoon lunch! It was just as good the second day!

 This past week has been eventful! A letter from the city saying they had been trying to get ahold of us and that we had 10 days to respond to their letter.  The water meter had to be replaced...or else! I called and set up an appointment and proceeded to clean out the corner of the basement where the water meter was located! Unfortunately, I had the wrong corner! So,  another corner was cleared so they would have access when they came.  No one would want to see  the basement right now! The first corner that was cleared out revealed another rather awful problem! The cast iron pipes were leaking slightly in two spots and the main pipe was corroding.  Time to replace them, I guess! Joe and two friends came on Friday and tore them all out and replaced all with PVC.  Such a messy job!  Arie and I cleared out the entire side of the basement and added all that stuff to the other area etc — I’m sure you can picture the chaos! We covered things with plast...

When we bought this house in 1995/96, there was an old vintage range in the basement. It even worked. Eventually, we put it in the tornedo shelter (yes...you read that right but more about that another day) and forgot about it. In my urge to clean, sort, and organize the basement, I have decided to get rid of it. It's posted on Facebook marketplace for now.  If there is no interest, I might get Nathan to help me get it out of there so I can clean it up properly.  I'm not really in a hurry. There are plenty of of other corners to clean up.

December 2019 I put up the wreathe on the front door .  March 2020 the covid pandemic was announced along with shutdowns, masks and warnings! I decided to keep the wreathe up on my front door until this was over but never imagining that almost a year later we would still be living this way. Today, January 19, 2021the wreathe came down. I'm so tired of all this !!!!!

Years ago we had a small problem with mice. There was evidence in the basement and sounds coming from the attic. Not the kind of guests one appreciates, right? We went on a campaign to erradicate the problem...traps, poison in the attic, etc. They were soon gone.  So why am I bringing this up??  I am working on cleaning up the neglected corners of our house. The last few days I worked on the spare bedroom. It's done. Today I  thought the basement might benefit from a visit. It all started with three ball canning jars that I had found in that bedroom.  You know that story, right?...If you give a Mouse a Cookie. I started by organizing the canning jars that were in a bin on top of a few boxes, etc. The canning jars are now in a nice large plastic bin ...without a top mind you, but it will turn up. The boxes and bags that were snuggling in that corner came next. All was going well as I put all the odds and ends in specifically designated boxes: electrical, painting, plu...

https://chugachress.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-hatcher-nap-followed-by-sun-up-high.html?fbclid=IwAR1-Phv39WIp7UuxrpBiN5q86xu9HvUXUNa24dzTLOLa0MpJiTPAPpnds7Q My son-in-law posted on his blog 7 years ago!  It came up as memory on my Facebook page. I put it here as a reminder of how fragile life can be.

  How many CDs do you have?  We have not gone out to buy one for years!  In my quest to organize and sort things, I have been focusing on the spare bedroom and there I found a large quantity of CDs on the top shelf of the closet. They have been there for about 3 yrs.  I decided that would be today’s project.  I looked at each and every one of them and sorted them.  Classical music definitely was the winner! In a corner, in the spare bedroom. In a drawer in the spare bedroom.  There are 200!

  The bathroom has a large cabinet with a large drawers underneath. It’s such a dumping ground. On top of that, whatever is “dumped” there is never done so in an orderly fashion.   This morning’s task was to empty, sort and reorganize the space. The cabinet's three large shelves now are looking so much better and useable.  One of the drawers also looks better.  The trash can is also filled with empty containers and boxes.  My goal is to keep it that way ( just like no more dumping at the bottom of the stairs).

  I have been trying to find the motivation to vacuum the basement stairs.  It was so in need of a clean!   I did that and then moved on to put away other areas. These are not in the correct order but I’ll do that on the computer later. It was nice to see all the empty carpet space.   I really hope to keep the bottom of the stairs clear!  We shall see!!

  We might need to motivate our furnaceman.  We turn off the furnace at night for various reasons and it has worked out just fine --up until today! This morning it was 57 degrees in the front room and 52 in the back room. That’s a bit much.  It’s 16 degrees outside.  That’s the lowest temp this winter.  The upside is that it is predicted to go up to 34 this afternoon because it will be clear and sunny all day!

  We have an authentic Dutch heritage.  Hubby and I were both born in the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada a long time ago. We have Arie’s grandparent’s antique sideboard or buffet.  We use it and love it even though it’s old.  It fits in with all the other ethnic corners of our house. Decorated with some Delftware  We also have a another ethnic corner with reminders from our time in Haiti, Honduras, and Costa Rica. The wooden bowl is from an artist in Port Graham, Alaska. The lampshade was made by my oldest sister in northern British Columbia.  Good memories!

  Fast scrabble is something my girls, granddaughter and I love to play this.  Everyone grabs 7 tiles and the fun begins. At least it is fun as long as you can keep up but oh so stressful when your pile of tiles gets too big!  When the tin of tiles came flying down off the top shelf, it was a good opportunity to count them. 307 tiles equals 3 sets of tiles - enough for 5-6 players. Ava and I play.  We have challenging games with all these tiles-- just the two of us.  Have you played.??

 It's the end of a rather strange year.