Stage 1 done

The job came in on time, stage 1 of the dining room/kitchen project finished with the primer going on the dining room by the end of the month. The next stage is finishing a drywall panel around the door and finishing the ceiling through the kitchen. These two are going to be rainy day projects this spring and summer, until next January when the whole kitchen will be redone including cabinets, final paint, tile, and floor to be finished by next spring.

Sundown at the beaver pond

Out checking Diabase and then down to the beaver pond for some pictures. No sign of any beavers but lots of otter tracks.

After getting home a great moonrise.

Woke up to snow this AM

Wet snow about 2 cm. or less, lasted the whole day and then tonight a sleet, freezing rain. Working on finishing up the drywall, filling up some imperfections and sanding abit again I am now ready for primer. Tomorrow looks like a great day to start as it will be a high of 4 C and sunny but after that the temps go a way up to around 16 C by Thursday. I don't want to be inside when that happens.

Down to the dam to check out the water levels, 2 logs are out of the center of the dam and the water in Gowganda Lake isn't even touching the gauge it's so low. Pic of the river and some balsam needles.

More pics from Diabase

Busy finishing the drywall sanding today and heading to town (ptuiii) for primer so I don't have to look at it any more. A couple more pics of the cliff at Diabase Lake.

Another fishing day

Another day fishing before the ice gets too bad. It's starting to get wet along the edges but still lots of ice on the lake. It was making a lot of noise today, moaning and cracking all over the lake, some of them seemed to go right underneath of you. This happens all the time, a couple of nights ago something woke me up in the middle of the night and it took awhile to figure out that it was Gowganda Lake moaning and cracking.

Good day fishing with 3 nice pike and 3 perch all for the fry pan. Lots of pics of the lichen on the cliff and the talus at the bottom. Some Wooly Foam Lichen and Rock Tripe. Tucked away in a warm spot a fern starting to emerge.

Back to Diabase Lake

Walked into Diabase to see the condition of the ice yesterday, still 4 inches of white ice on top and a foot of clear solid ice underneath. Might even get in another fishing day.

While there climbed up the cliff on the west side, found a new lichen? and a picture of a huge piece of rock that had split off the cliff. Further up a Birch polypore or razor strop fungus.

Lake panorama from Forestry Point

Out to the forestry point as the sun was going down and took several pics across the lake. Put them all in Photoshop and you have a panorama of just about all the east side of the lake.

Pics on the way back from town...ptui!

To calm myself after going to town (ptui) I stopped in Elk Lake to take some pictures. With the melt well under way I ended up at the Makobe River which runs into the Montreal River. The river runs under a bailey bridge one of the few left around. These bridges were used to cross rivers all through the north, they were quick to erect, strong and very functional. The main bridge in Gowganda used to be a bailey bridge and one at the Wapus crossing too, these have both been replaced by modern structures.

Great sunset tonight

Another nice day although a bit cooler. By the end of next week a return to normal temps and even some snow maybe. We can't complain at all, I have had several days where I haven't put the fire on at night at all. It's been cool in the AM but warms up fairly quickly.

Tonight a sunset thru the tamaracks.

Spring around the corner

Catching up on lots of small jobs and sorting out jobs to come.

Out for some pictures today and found with this warm weather and the sun on the south slopes that it's bringing life to some of the warmer spots. Some plants and grasses are starting to sprout. This has got to be the earliest spring I've seen up here.

Out for some pics this afternoon

Just couldn't stay in today, although I did get up and clean the chimney and flue pipes. With all the warm weather the slow fires sure build up a lot of stuff in the pipes. Nice and clean now with a new fire started this evening.

Lots of melting going on all over the driveway is now clear of snow and ice from top to bottom. Creeks are starting to open up with the flow of meltwater and the snow on the sides of the road has changed from white to brown with the dirt.

First coat of drywall compound finished

The weather is just too nice to be putting mud on drywall. Two great big windows to look out at great skies, warm temps and the snow just melting away. I'll have to get some blinds on the windows so I can't look out.

Finally finished the first coat, which usually takes the longest so now only 2 more to go. Maybe I should go fishing instead.

Great fishing

Out on the ice by 9:30 AM. No fish until 11:30 and on the way home by 2:30PM with three nice pike the largest 24 1/2 inches. Two other small ones released. Beautiful day lots of sun and little wind. After fileting there is enough for two good meals,

Cleaning Up and enjoying the sun

Started cleaning up all the tools that I put the drywall on with and getting ready to start the mudding. Still a couple of small jobs but they can be done while waiting between coats of compound. Besides that it was just to nice to do anything inside. Puttered around doing all sorts of small jobs and went over and got some minnows from Ron, tomorrow is a fishing day.

Later on I snowshoed from the bridge south toward the dam and took some pics.

Good look at the International Space Station tonight about 7:18pm, 4 minutes to cross the sky from SW to E. Sky was perfect. You can look this up for your area at this link.

Beautiful weather

Not quite as nice working on the drywall, still. I'm just one job from starting the mudding, thats boxing in the pipes that come from upstairs. The plan is to box it in with 2.5 inch steel studs (to save space) and then cover with drywall. This will be tomorrow's job as the walls and ceiling are done even the one door way is drywalled in too.

By the way if you notice that yellow brace on the tresle, thats Slim my helper together we have pretty well finished drywalling all of this house. He's very quiet and I guess thats why we get along so well.