The best that time and fate of all their vintage pressed.

Will someone please design a met office with a window in it so forecasters can at least look out of a window to see what the weather is like before they give their forecast. Last week snow was forecast almost everyday and we had bright sunny days with a few clouds. Today it was forecast to be sunny with a few clouds and it is overcast and snowing. But, I guess somethings are the same the world over and will never change.

Other things didn't go quite according to plan this fortnight either. I was hoping to have all the panelling finished and I nearly made it. That is, I got everything done except the main bathroom, which is only half finished. This was mainly due to a few interruptions and having to wait for a few materials that have been on order for some weeks but didn't turn up until almost the end of the fortnight or that still haven't arrived. More on all that later.

I started the fortnight by staining the bed in the second bedroom. I put a grey wash on the beetle kill pine panels and thinned a darker stain for the posts. This has left all the wood grain still visible and added a bit of colour to the room.

So the room now really is ready for my first guests.

Having got the bed sorted I turned my attention to panelling the remainder of the North Wing. I wanted to start with the main bathroom but, the fan/light for the shower hadn't arrived, despite being ordered on 13 December. I needed to get the ceiling done before doing the wall panelling and without the fan/light I couldn't do this. 

It only took a couple of days to get this wall done and then I was able to do the two bedrooms.

First however, I had to buy some more insulation and install it in order to improve the sound barrier between all the rooms in the North Wing.

The insulation conveniently comes in strips that don't require cutting to fit into the gaps between the studs which are on 16 inch centres. This is just as well because the insulation is made of very fine glass fibre and is really awful to work with. It gets in your eyes and mouth and therefore a mask and eye protection are a good idea - not that I had either.

Again, the panels went on easily enough and …..

….. it only took a couple of days to get the first bedroom done.

It was the same routine for the other bedroom .…

…. which, has a shed dormer in it and is therefore slightly larger.

I'm going to leave the staining, trim and doors until after I have got the floor in the Great Room done but, at least now I have got most of the wood off the main floor which will now enable me to do this.

All the main walls of the North Wing are now panelled and that leaves only the smaller dormer walls and a few other minor places left to do. I'm am going to have to get some more panels because I have only enough left to do the main bathroom. There are also a number of doors and other things that I need this type of wood for. Therefore, when I have got the bathroom done, I'll have to make an estimate of how much more wood I need and put in an order with Glen Mcdonald at McDonald's Mill.

To do the bathroom I needed the fan/light that will go in the shower, exactly the same as the one in the shower in the en suite bathroom. The first one took about four weeks to arrive and so I ordered the second one two weeks before Christmas imagining that with the break for the festive season imposing delays it would be here in about six weeks, which is almost exactly what it took.

Almost on que, the fan/light arrived and it took me a day to mount it, get the vent in to the outside wall and join the two with some insulated ducting.

The vent to the outside wall on the left of the picture and ….. 

….. the insulated ducting across the ceiling to the fan.

With that done, I put dry walling board on the ceiling and  fiberock board for the shower tiles on the walls.

There was some tricky cutting out to do to negotiate the boarding around all the beams but, …..

….. it didn't go too badly and I will be able to patch the gaps and joins when I do the mudding.

I then started panelling the rest of the bathroom walls ..…

….. which again went pretty smoothly.

Then, I came to install the bath only to find that the faucets I bought didn't come with all the valves and piping that I need to connect them up underneath the mounting. Needless to say, I was irritated that the sales person in Home Depot hadn't informed me that I needed to buy this additional stuff when I ordered the faucets two months ago. So now there will be a delay while for the rest of the assembly comes on special order. However, this shouldn't stop me  finishing the panelling next week and then building the vanity unit for the sink.

In the meantime, life goes on as usual. Snow blankets the ground, hushing the winter landscape with a cosy silence. There is wood to bring in from the wood pile that is slowly but surely shrinking as the winter passes. An ear is forever out for woodpeckers and an eye for cougars and wolves. Deer are common visitors scraping at the snow in the search for something half decent to eat. Weasels in white ermine coats visit at night and leave their tracks in the snow on the deck. Mozart and Beethoven serenade the untouched wilderness with the occasional accompaniment from a wolf or coyote. Weekend evenings bring friends, wine and food, the best that time and fate of all their vintage pressed that in the early hours give way to the long winter nights that bring dreams of those once loved. Oh happy days.