Halloween Update

BOO!

Mike had a pre-employment physical today for a job in 100 Mile, and was declared healthy and drug-free. More on the job when's it's officially official.

Sandra emailed to say that the interior painting is done! You know things are getting close to being finished when there's paint on the walls. The CSA inspection is on November 9. And that's all for now.

SOLD!

The house is sold. The original buyers were able to remove their subjects last night, and Tracy came over to put on the "sold" sticker. This is a change to what we were expecting, and the closing date for this deal is January 26. That date could change, depending on the sale of the buyers' house. It's nice to be able to forget about being immaculately tidy at all times. It's been a very hectic week. Time for an afternoon nap. 

All's Well with the Wellhouse

Fawn Lake Lumber is going to build our wellhouse. The wellhouse is just a very small insulated shed that will hold the pressure tank; water is pumped from the well to the pressure tank and, obviously, is pressurized to give you good water pressure. Most folks with houses have their pressure tank in the house. Because we're having a smallish mobile home, we don't have room, and therefore it has to stay outside. It has to be insulated and kept above freezing in the winter, for obvious reasons. We're going to talk to FLL about a shed too. Unfortunately I can't get a pic uploaded at the moment. We have lots of stuff that'll need to go somewhere until we get a garage built in the spring. So much stuff to do.

Another Offer...

We got another full price offer yesterday. The original would-be buyers now have less than 48 hours to remove their subjects, or it goes to the new would be buyers, provided their subjects are removed by November 4. Closing day would be December 5, and possession for them December 6. This all seems to be happening very quickly. No wonder I'm wide awake at 3 a.m. every morning.

Not only is the house all but sold, showings are suspended. I have dirty dishes in the sink - how reckless!

Mike has managed to arrange for a real live electrical contractor to give us a real live estimate for hooking us up to real live electricity. This is encouraging. The other guy avoided us for 6 weeks; these folks went out to our place within 24 hours. Two thumbs up for Bridge Creek Electric.

Excavating

One of our best Cariboo finds has been Cliff, our friend and neighbour with really big toys. Cliff has done all kinds of stuff for us; some initial tidy up, widened our driveway, installed our septic system, made a landing pad for Don to skid logs onto, loaded and trucked our logs to the mill, cleared our house site, cleared the fenceline, and there's still more to do. He and Elaine throw a great party too! Thanks Cliff. 

Logging

Here's Don, hauling trees with his skidder in June.

This spring, several of our large pines were dead. Throughout the Cariboo, the result of the pine beetle infestation is evident everywhere - there are stands of mature pine that last year were alive and well, and this year are dead and brown. Our place was not seriously affected -yet. To be proactive and avoid the inevitable, we contracted Don to selectively log our lot. We were able to sell 8 loads of timber to West Fraser mills. We still have loads of trees, and a lot of immature pine.

In current happenings, the electrical contractor, who seems to have a patent on "Cariboo time", still hasn't gotten back to us. Everything else seems to be on track.

Two more sets of looky-loos are coming to view the house this afternoon. Off to tidy up.

Drumroll, please...

We have a full price offer for the house. The first (and only, so far) people who viewed it. It's subject to sale of their home, so all fingers are crossed. In the meantime the clutter-free crusade continues, and the showings must go on. Drat.

Three of the Many Reasons We're Moving

How much wood would a woodshed shed if a woodshed would shed wood?

Here's Dwight in May, busy with woodshed construction. Karen & Dwight came up to visit for some r&r, only to be put to work. After 87 trips to Timbermart, Mike & Dwight had all the supplies they needed, and did a very fine job. By July the woodshed was filled, ready for the woodstove (which has been purchased, but not delivered or installed).

Butch installed the pump in the well yesterday. Once Mike builds the wellhouse, the pressure tank can be installed. We're waiting to hear from Garth about electricity. That is all.

Well, well

This pic was taken the day after Labour Day. At 8 a.m. Jerry Weston and his helper arrived to drill our well. It was a fascinating process, and rather loud. Everybody in the neighbourhood had been telling us that we'd only need to go about 100 feet. They struck water at 60 ft, but only at the agonizingly slow rate of about 1 litre per minute. At the end of the day, the well was 120 feet and producing 1 gallon per minute. Jerry said they'd see how it did overnight and start again in the morning. By morning the well was 80 ft full, but without a better flow rate. At 140 ft, I drove up to Hwy 24 for better cell reception and called Mike to let him know that things weren't going especially well - no pun intended. By 160 feet I was beginning to panic slightly, each extra 20 feet costing $600. Jerry said the well was okay for running a house, but wouldn't support any prolonged garden watering or running a hose for any length of time. After conferring with Mike again from the parking lot of Lone Butte Sporting Goods we decided to push on and go deeper still. I took the pups for a short drive and arrived back to see Jerry beaming and giving me 2 thumbs up. They'd hit a good flow of water at 180 feet. By the time they'd packed up and measured, there was a 156' reservoir of water in the well.

The next project is to build a wellhouse to house the pressure tank. This needs to be done in the next few weeks.

In other news, the house is being shown at 3:45 this afternoon.

Drywall Required

Here's what Todd has been up to. The drywall should arrive today, and then we'll have interior walls! I believe siding and roofing goes on next week.

My "keep the house presentable for showing at any given time" campaign is in full swing. I think it might kill me. Whoever heard of vacuuming at 6 a.m.? Certainly no one in this house. 

Fenced In

10 acres of fencing is just about finished. Jasper, Lucy and Gillis won't be pleased, but we are. Mike is home from the Cariboo with building permit in hand. Cliff and Butch will be running the water line from the well to the house site later this week. Things are good. 

On the Market

We have listed with genuinely nice guy. Last night, four hours after we signed the contract the doorbell rang, and the brother of the people who live across the street offered to buy our house privately without ever setting foot in it. He didn't know we'd just listed. Anyway, they can talk to genuinely nice guy if they want to proceed.

The above picture was taken on our property in Lone Butte at 6 a.m. in early September. I'd come out of the trailer in my nightgown and wellies to let the dogs out of the back of the truck. I raced back in to grab the camera, leaving the dogs very puzzled about their continued confinement. It was one of those rare moments of awe and wonder when you marvel at how you could have been chosen to witness something so incredibly beautiful. The photo doesn't do the moment justice at all. As soon as I'd taken pics, I realized that everywhere was very frosty, let the dogs out to romp, and dove back inside to get dressed and warmed up.

Michael called from 100 Mile. He has been speaking with someone about a potential job. He also went out to the property, and said that Dave has nearly finished fencing - Dave called here this morning, looking for Mike, and said he thought they'd be done by Tuesday night. Cliff has done some more work and the septic line is in and ready. Nice to know that things are progressing! 

For Sale...

After several weeks of dejunking, organizing and stashing things out of sight, we are ready to list our house. This time we're going to use the services of a local realtor, and we've narrowed it down to two: one is a genuinely nice guy; the other is a well-oiled selling machine. We're meeting with genuinely nice guy again this afternoon, and then will decide who gets the honours.

How I am looking forward to daily vacuuming, cleaning toilets far more frequently than I care to, and generally being far too tidy. I only hope the house sells quickly.

Mike has gone to Maple Ridge to pick up a U-haul trailer so he can haul a load of stuff up to storage tomorrow. On Monday morning, he's picking up the building permit, which finally found its way to 100 Mile after sitting on someone's desk in Williams Lake for nearly a month. Cariboo time. We'd better get used to it.