July 9-10 -- pondering

Monday's chores:

-- mortar perimeter tiles in bedroom (just a small batch of mortar to fix more of these tiles). There are still five left that will wait until I lay the main area tiles that meet up with them

-- mud bedroom closet -- 8 inner corners -- I constructed the closet after the rest of the room was finished and primed

-- lay Ditra in bathroom -- another room goes orange ! Because the bathroom needs to be waterproof at the floor and 6" tiles will come up the wall forming the baseboard, I need to construct the shower threshold and run the Kerdi membrane at the walls -- so this room needs more prep than the others.

-- ponder tile layout -- I think that I've come to a conclusion here. I'll cut the bottoms of the posts and hopefully be able to cut slots in the tiles that meet up with them. I'll have to cut these tiles before laying any just in case it's an impossible cut (with the tools that I have) and the layout has to be adjusted.

-- ponder darkroom layout -- you'd think that this was a forgone conclusion but my planning was a bit off here. I should have placed the doorway 6" to the left which would have left room for a full counter width on the other side -- I think that I've nailed this one down though. The next time I'm in Home Depot I'll probably pick up the necessary counter pieces and move forward. Alternatively I can buy a sheet of formica and try laying it ... hmmm ... or tile the counter ... hmmm. That might be an interesting project when everything else is done.

-- ponder laundry room counter -- one of the planned chores is to build a base for the washer and dryer and put a countertop over the two and include the sink. It's not something that I'll be tackling immediately but the platform will probably be 4-5 inches high, tiled, and the countertop just over the washer/dryer. I'll cut a hole for the sink but it will be free standing.

As you can see, I did a lot of pondering today. Perhaps I was stalling, not wanting to start grouting the bedroom ... but I did get some other things done.

Sandy got organized for staining in the barn, moving the pickets etc. and setting up horses to work on. She and Kylie went into Port Loring to pick up mail etc. from the General Store and primer for the gavanized brackets on the deck and cleaner for the deck posts. Once cleaned and primed, Kylie is going to paint the posts.

I talked to Dave Lowry for a long time after dinner, catching up on his ski trip to Whistler, his current projects etc. He also had news of Tyler Clair, our sales person from Normerica who has landed with a design place that does commercial work. That's great -- Tyler was instrumental in both the sale to us and the design of our home. We were really ticked off when Normerica let him go -- I even sent an email to Normerica but never received a response -- poor form on their part.

Dave also gave me some advice on the design of my gazebo (yes, another project awaiting attention, I'll never run out). My plan is that the gazebo will sit on the existing deck by the water with four posts using the spare 8x8's that I have up in the barn. It will be rectangular with a shed roof with removeable screens. I'm thinking about this as I write -- the four posts will stand on the deck bolted down with saddles; there will be laterals across the top of the 8x8 posts, front and back (I don't know what these are called); knee braces for structural strength ?; rafters lying on these laterals; v-groove ceiling (spare material from the cottage, already stained ...); plywood on top of that and shingles (spare from the build). If I want to continue the post-and-beam look I'll have to get 4x8's for the laterals and rafters. Properly done the 8x8's and 4x8's would be notched where they meet ... hmmm.

Bonnie Matthews, her daughter Pauline and son-in-law Mark came over with their two children. They live in England and are here visiting. Mark goes home at the end of this week but Pauline is here through the end of the month. Mark needed to check his email because they have their house up for sale.

Bonnie's other daughter Pam arrives today with her children -- noteably Lauren, Kylie's friend. She is only here for a few days and then goes back down to Barrie for a soccer tournament and then comes back up again. It will be good for Kylie to have someone to play with.

There was a lot of ruckus (sp?) at the Reddick's yesterday, kids playing in the lake and tubing. The Reddicks are the next cottage to the left of us -- the Davies are on the right and the Reddicks on the left, if you are facing the lake. We are separated from the Reddicks by a couple of hundred yards of lake frontage that is Crown Land so we cannot see them and only occasionally hear them.

Donnie (cottage next to Jason) and his son were up for a week, having left on the weekend. Donnie is retired but his wife Claudia still works -- she was up on the July 1st weekend.

Jason was due to arrive last night with his gang. They will be here for a week or so.

The plan for today ?

-- Sandy is going into Sudbury -- Abby to the vet for checkup and grooming; recycling to depot; pick up closet material from Home Depot; pick up mortar from tile place; food shopping at Costco, Tarini's, Smith's ... wherever else she tends to hit.

-- and me ?

-- I should probably start the grouting;

-- I should go for a bike ride but cannot leave Kylie alone -- I'll work something out there if Kylie is up at the Matthews for a couple of hours or it can wait until tomorrow. I've had so many rainy days in a row that one more day off doesn't make any difference.;

-- I could do the shower threshold or could leave it until the mortar under the Ditra is harder;

-- another project, not mentioned before, is to finally install the external venting for the range hood. Perhaps I could tackle that ... it's something that I want done before the gang gets here. I hate cutting a hole in the exterior wall though. It's a messy job getting through cabinet back, drywall, 6" of styrofoam insulation, wall studs, external strapping & siding -- all sorts of potential problems.

The tile is supposed to arrive in Toronto tomorrow. Once we have confirmation on that, I can start the Ditra for the rest of the floor -- and tiles, the main event !

Oh -- and in between stuff, I'm keeping an eye on the Tour de France.