Chilly Little House

It was -17 degrees Celsius outside (not that cold considering the time of year) but the temperature inside the house was -10! We have a thermometer inside the entrance of the LBH, and we always laugh at it because it's still in the packaging, hanging on a small nail near our coats. It says, "extra-easy reading," ha ha.

The LBH was frozen solid when I arrived... I think the house looks smaller when there's snow on the ground. I was thankful not to see evidence of any mice this time (unlike last time). Our mouse traps were empty. Just peanut butter, no mice.

I had to wear my parka and toque for the first several hours, despite turning all of the heaters on and lighting a fire in the antique cook stove. See and hear the stove in the video below, despite being over 120 years old! It's the kind of wood stove that needs frequent tending, but it's justified. :)

It took about 24 hours for the house to warm up to 13 degrees, so that is about a degree an hour from -10...

Atlin Lake on Monday, with a cloudy view of First Island (did I mention the creative naming of the islands near Atlin? First, second, third, etc.) The lake hasn't frozen yet, and it usually freezes in January! There's wildlife wanting to get across, and now they are stuck. I looked for packs of wolves, knowing they're around, but I didn't see any...

As Promised, New Photos of the Master Bedroom!

Here are some photos of the master bedroom, and although it is still not finished, at least the floor is done! It looks really beautiful, and I think that once we remove the linoleum in the parlour (adjoining the bedroom) and restore the fir flooring underneath, it will tie in nicely.

It's so hard to be patient...

Photo from last year: see the sub-floor painted grey?

Rick's work, partway through the job, in Nov 2018

Our youngest child, Violet, posing with the new floor!

Violet, age 8, helped me move the massive wardrobe & furniture...

Such an improvement...

:)

Wow, I've Really Neglected My Blog!

Hi (sheepishly)... Looks like it's been a while since I have written anything at all. Launching a few businesses and raising children probably has something to do with that, but then it sounds like I am making excuses!

The Little Blue House (or LBH if you've read my old posts) is doing just fine. We have had our renovations largely on-hold for the past 2 years, due to costs. That is how it goes with an old house, right? We threw a lot of money and time at our LBH, and we prevented the house from falling down. She was on a downward trajectory, for sure, listing to starboard, sinking, and home to many types of rodents.

We did recently complete a small improvement, however! We purchased some used walnut flooring from a local builder. A client of his had pulled it up, after he became bored with it... Lucky us! We waited for a couple of years to install the flooring in the master bedroom. In the intervening time, some type of large rodent took up residence in the pallet where the walnut flooring was stored. This may have occurred when the pallet of flooring was outdoors at the home of its previous owner.

In any case, when our trusty carpenter Rick opened up the pallet, the stench was quite unbearable. Much of the flooring was destroyed by the urine and feces of this animal (martin, mink, weasel, ermine??). Yuck.

He cleaned the flooring (narrow, tongue-and-groove type) and installed it over the sub-floor of the master bedroom. He put the sub-floor in after a total excavation of that room several years ago. We'd simply painted the sub-floor so we could use it while we waited and saved our pennies!

Here's a series of shots that show the original master bedroom, in what was once a 2-room cabin hauled from the gold-mining ghost town of Discovery, about 7 km away...

2013

Mousy Madness in 2013, tearing down the interior wallpaper...

Laid Bare

2013 excavation, part of which was carried out from inside the bedroom!

LBH on cribbing to dry out as foundation work is done

My next post will have the recent photos of the master bedroom, so you can see the improvement. Baby steps... We still haven't finished the ceiling, walls, or trim in that room... Not to mention finishing the parlour or even starting on the kitchen!

Thank you for tuning back in to my neglected blog!