Our new home

So November 15th was the day we got possession of our new home. We were up early in the morning packing and waiting for 12:00 to come for our first load of boxes to be delivered. It was many trips back and forth, lots of lifting, up and down stairs, etc. We had enough of our things moved here the first day which enabled us to have our first night in our new house. The following day we bagan the digging for the foundation of the new shop and we also dug our new pond. We continued for a few days moving things and then........ the snow started falling. It fell and fell and put about 11 inches on the ground. The temperature dropped to -13 with the wind chill, the roads became icy and this made it nearly impossible to continue on. Our old house has a vey steep and long driveway which quickly was iced over. Luckily our old landlord called and let us know that there was no rush to have everything moved by the 1st. Phew!!! The house is about 95 percent done but the shop is still full. The weather is slowly getting better and the snow has begun to melt. We are expecting temperatures of 8 degrees for the next few days with rain. The snow will be gone and we will get on with our moving and building.

Here are a few pictures of the new house.......we LOVE it!!!

The pond....before the snow

The pond.....after the snow

Yay foundation dug!!!

And.........snow :(

The snowy house

our living room

hallway





notice the Christmas tree!!!!

spare room

our new dining room table








MY CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!

SNOW

Dawson enjoying his new bed

Dawson enjoying his other new bed!!!!

The happy home owners!!!!!

A busy day

Today was a busy day!! We got up at 7 am today, just in time to get Sierrah into Mill Bay to meet her friend. She was picked up and swept away for a 5 day camping trip in Lake Cowichan. She was very excited! Brooks and I then continued on with our day and installed 35 fence panels, drove downtown for an estimate, drove home, I then worked on my cutting boards, then off to bootcamp I went! Tonight I am so tired I feel like I want to sleep for days!!! BUT I must get up tomorrow and build some more panels, while Brooks goes to dig a few holes at a job and hopefully pick up a cheque. I have yet to take pictures of the cutting boards. Tomorrow!! For now I must go to bed and rest my aching bones.....tomorrow is a new day!!!

I'm back!!!

Well I figured today was a good day to start back up with this blog thing. It has been nearly two months, and what a couple of months it has been!!! July was busy with work, as well as a road trip for a week with Croft and Norma to Kimberley for a wedding. It was a marvelous time and the wedding was good fun! August has now started and work is busy busy busy. Last week we were busy with a new 60 panel job which we got all posts in and have built about 3/4 of the panels now. Tomorrow we will install what we have built so far and carry on. This weekend Sierrah came to stay and we have been busy making cutting boards. I am making one cutting board and on cheese board for my cousin. He is getting married in September and I thought it would be a great gift for him and Saveena. I will buy a couple of knives to go along with it. Sierrah made a board for her Nana. I also made a small cheese board for us here. I love making them. It helps me put my "creative side" to good use!!!! I will post photos when they are finished. I will sand them tomorrow night. I am tired tonight, and am going to retire to my bed early. I just know tomorrow will be a busy day and I need all the rest I can get!! Until next time....

oooooops!!

Holy cow it has been a long time!!! I will blog soon! I promise!

Happy sunny weekend!!!!

It was a beautiful sunny weekend here in Shawnigan Lake. I got up Saturday morning and headed outside, and that is where I stayed all day!! I tidied up the yard a bit, watered the garden, and cleaned the pond. Brooks went in to Victoria to pick up the kids and up they came!! We had a great time playing in the newly filled pond. We decided to buy a floating chair for the pond. Why not??? It is like a pool, and it was so refreshing. The kids loved it and we had an afternoon filled with laughter!!! Sunday morning we woke up early and took Jayde to her baseball game in Duncan. We met up with Nanna and Avery (Jaydes boyfriend) when we got there, and a little later Jaydes mom Colleen showed up to cheer Jayde on!! And boy oh boy can Jayde throw a baseball. She is a brilliant player and I can see her go far with this sport! All and all it was a great afternnoon at the ball field. Last night we had a relaxing night at home and got to bed early. We worked in Victoria today and tomorrow I will be building some panels in the shop and Brooks will paint. Then Wednesday we install the final panels for our subdivision, and out in our final invoice!!! We made it!!!










Me watching my fishies swim around






Sierrah and her planter box we made

Ahhhhhh

So the week is over and thank goodness it is going to be a sunny one!!! The weather hasn't been too bad this week. Quite a bit of sun, but all and all it was warm. We finished up the week at the subdivision digging the final holes. Now building the final panels and installing, and handing out the final invoice will follow Monday and Tuesday. This subdivision for us was a blessing. it got us through the winter and through the spring. Hopefully there are more of these to come!!!
Tomorrow Brooks is going to pick up both of his girls for the day. Jayde has a baseball game in Duncan Sunday morning so he will drop them off there for the game. As for me....I am going to work on my tan this weekend. I am going to relax, and enjoy every moment!

Wednesday

Well it has been awhile. My Blog has been shut down and I am still unsure to the reason. My Gmail account was also closed due to "suspicious activity"....whatever that may mean. However I am back and ready to write!!! SO far we have had a busy week. Started a job Sunday, finished it Monday. Finished my first U-Build job Tuesday and Wednesday. As for tomorrow and Friday, we are booked in to finish up some loose ends at our sub division. I am having a bit of stress this week about money. It feels like we are making so much but have none. Working hard, but still broke. It doesn't make sense to me and it is driving me crazy. ANYWAYS, on to brighter things....we had some company this past weekend and had a blast. A bunch of Brooks closest friends came to the island to celebrate turning 40. I had a most fantastic time and hope to do it again every year. This is a great group of people to know! A month from now we are heading to Kimberley for Brooks cousins wedding and I look forward to it so much. We will be travelling there with Brooks parents and it is sure to be a fabulous time!!! I need to get away and the timing should be just PERFECT!!!

Brooks and his friends!

Me and Audra...I loved her!!!

Me and my drink!

Me, Corwin, and Audra

The four mouse-cateers!!

June

So today is June 1st....and it is STILL raining. Not even so much as raining, but it is grey. Grey grey grey. I am not one of those people who gets depressed when it is grey and rainy, or one who cannot get up in the morning when I look outside to yet another grey day. I wake up everyday happy. Whether or not it is sunny or grey. I of course would prefer the sun to be shining, and giving me a nice glow, but if it is raining....well what can I do about it???? Nothing. I go on with my day!! However, Brooks is a different story. He WANTS sun! he NEEDS sun! So I guess the next opportunity we get we must head towards the sun. Even if just for 3 days. If it shut up about it, I will go! Tee hee hee. Today I successfully made 19 fence panels in the shop, which we are going to deliver tomorrow for our friend Jon. It is an insurance claim and it is his and his wife Melissa's first house so they are very excited about it. I will take pictures tomorrow and post them. Tonight I had yet another night of Bootcamp, and I came home to yet another beautiful tuna salad for my dinner with teriyaki prawns on the side. How lucky am I?? Now if he would just shut up about the damn weather, he might be lucky too......hmmmmmmmm

Sunday

It was a good weekend!! We picked up a couple of cheques today which is a huge sigh of relief. We now have $6000 owing to us from jobs we finished more than 2 weeks ago. But I will tell you it is so nice to have that amount of money owed to us and not be in a panic about it. This is the first year out of the last 3 that we have been able to wait for cheques in the mail and not be worried about when they will get here. It feels good! The less stress on Brooks about money, the better!!!! Tomorrow I am staying home to build panels with Cecil (our main panel dude) and Brooks is off to dig some more holes. Our first U-Build job is coming to a close and it worked out pretty good. A few things to iron out but all and all it was fun and the customers are extremely happy about their fence!! We have another job to start at the end of this week but it is one that has to be built on site. it is a "roll with the land" fence. Friday Brooks friends are all arriving for the weekend and I look forward to it very much. I have met everyone but one that is showing up and I enjoy each and every one of them! And that is about all that is going on in the life of Lindy. It is a good one!!!

Tuesday

Today was one of those days. We got up early to head into town to buy material, hoping to be home by noonish so we could build some panels. 2 o'clock rolls around and we are still in town. It always seems like there is something else to do. Some other place to go. Something else to buy.... I ended up going to Home Depot and buying some marigolds and Dahlia's for my garden, and then we bought some "tester" goldfish for the new pond. We have monitored the water in the pond for a few days now masking sure the ph level stayed low with the new cement we have just put down. It was perfect this morning so in went the "tester" fish. Poor little guys, seems mean to me to just put perfectly good fish into a newly cemented pond fully knowing they will probably die within seconds, or atleast suffer for a minute or two. BUT approximately 8 hours now and they are all alive and well. We think we have done it!!! We bought a few plants as well and in two days if they fish stay alive we will add water and connect the two ponds. I have become quite fond of my fish in the old pond and would hate to see them die.

Tonight I went off to bootcamp. 16 classes of bootcamp and that was my 15th. One more to go on Thursday. I feel fantastic. I have so much more energy and was able to run 5 kms tonight without any problem. I love it....so much that I have signed on for another 6 week session. Brooks thinks I am nuts!!! But he did make me the most fabulous salad with tuna tonight and it awaited me when I got home. DELICIOUS!! I am a lucky girl!!! So because of today, we have to get up extra early tomorrow and build 13 panels and deliver them into town. But you know what??? It was a great day and was worth it!!!

Our view of the second pond from the house

Our new pond

Check out this salad...MMMMM

A busy weekend!!!

We had a wonderful weekend campiong in our new trailer!! The weather went from sunny to cloudy to rainy all weekend. But the weather wasn't stopping us from having a great time. Brooks daughter Sierrah came up on Friday after work. She is always great to have around!! Friday night we stayed home and took it easy. We woke early Saturday morning and off we went....camping!!!! We were able to take our dog Yukon as he is the dog that actually listens and sticks around. Dawson went off to the kennel where he can play about with many other dogs whose folks couldn't take them camping either. Saturday was pretty mellow. We made a fire pit and hung out around it all day. We found out that the furnace in the trailer works, as it was quite chilly at night but we were warm and snug in our trailer!!! Sunday Brooks and Mike worked on the truck, installing new batteries and an ourdoor plug in the toolbox. The truck now produces power for all of our tools without having to plug into a house. It is "frickin exciting" Brooks says. * hours of power without turning the truck on. Jayde came up Sunday to spend the night in the trailer. We rode the quad around and roasted marshmellows. Had a fabulous time!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsol_Trestle We went for a walk to the Trestle finally and WOW....it is probably the neatest structure I have ever seen. The word is that they are going to repair it enough to make it a walking path. I think it is a little too tall for me to ever walk on it!!! But check out the website...it is very cool!!!

So today we came home early and Sierrah Brooks and I planted out vegetable garden. Corn, peas, carrots, onions, beets, and watermelons. Neither of us have ever planted a garden so who knows if we will even grow anything. Time will tell I guess!!!

a few days later

So this week has been busy so far. Monday Brooks and I headed to Nanaimo to finish up a 20 ft fence around a baseball field. Job finished and we now move on!!! Both yesterday and today we headed to the subdivision to tie up a few loose ends with hanging some gates and building a retaining wall. Tomorrow the panel building begins. We have approximately 30 panels to make and the material arrived today. So tomorrow will be busy building with a bit of running around.
It has been raining a bit up here at the house so the cement drying in the pond is taking a little longer. The plan for that will be delayed until we get a week of consistant sunny weather. This weekend we look forward to camping in our new trailer and fixing up a few things. I will blog again soon!!

The pond

Today we re cemented one of our two pond. We went into town early to get some sand and cement. Once we got home we began our project. I mixed the cement in a wheel barrel, while Brooks and our friend Joe spread the cement smooth around the pond. It was a tough day but it is done now and the cement has to cure for 4 or 5 days before we put the waterproofer on it. We are thinking of painting it blue with rubber paint, before putting the fish in it. How neat would that be??? Anyways tomorrow we are off to Nanaimo to finish of a job and put in a bill for that. I am off to bed now as my arms are still numb!!! Goodnight

The pond before....

The pond after!!!

Happy sunny Saturday

It was a busy week finishing up little jobs and finally getting paid!! We picked up a few cheques yesterday, and will get a big one from the subdivision we have been doing on Monday. All and all a very good week!!! We got out first Ubuild job yesterday which is very exciting. 40 panels and 2 gates. So next week will be busy busy building and installing panels!!!

Today I am heading into Victoria for a day of shopping with my friend Audrey. Brooks is off in Nanaimo working with Matt on a 30 foot tall fence. I am just useless on those jobs as everything is too heavy for me to lift and I am quite afraid of heights. So Brooks said " go shopping, and have a fun day with Audrey"....so that is what I intend to do!!! Tonight we are going to have a bbq up at our house with a bonfire with some good friends!! I love summer!!!

Busy Day

Goodmorning, I sit here in my living room drinking my second cup of coffee, contemplating heading out to the shop to work. Brooks is already gone up to Honeymoon Bay for an estimate and I have 15 fence panels to fabricate. It is a beautiful morning filled with sunshine and birds chirping. I love summer!! We have a small job up here in Shawnigan to do this afternoon and then we are thinking we might head over to our new trailer and pretend to camp fpr a couple of hours tonight. We love our trailer, and are very happy about our purchase!!! Getting it up our driveway might be a challenge so for now it stays put at Mike and Audreys. Anyways, here I go out to the shop. I will try to blog later to let you know how the day went!!

Here she is....our new trailer!!

A sunshiney day!!

The sun finally came out today and it was WARM!!!!! We did some work up here at the house, painting panels andgetting ready for an install and a dig and set tomorrow in Victoria. I spent a couple of hours cleaning out one of our two ponds, getting it ready to be re-cemented, and ready to buy some new fishies!!!! I love my pond. I could watch my fish swim for hours!!! Brooks went our for a ride on his motorbike finally as well. Tonight I headed off to bootcamp then met Brooks and our friends Mike and Audrey for dinner at the pub. Now home, showered, and heading to bed. All in all today was a great day!!!



Dogs in the pond


my fishies!!


our latest fence




Brooks and his bike!! :)

A Busy Weekend

It was a weekend filled with festivities and laughter. We headed up to Campbell River on Friday for Brooks dads 65th Bday bash. We had a relaxing night on Friday, preparing for what we all knew was going to be a night of drinking, drinking and more drinking for Saturday. It was a beautiful and sunny day Saturday as we rushed around preparing for the festivities. I had pre made some chocolate cupcakes, which I spent and hour or so icing for the cupcake tree. Norma prepared her usual delicious trays of appies. Many friends of Crofts showed up to share his Bday night with him. I think all and all it was yet another successful party at The Randles!!! We woke up early this morningn and hit the road for home. We stopped in Coombs of course to see the Goats on the rooftop, but to my dismay didn't see them. We contined on, making our way closer to home when all of a sudden as we were driving through Duncan, a trailer caught both Brooks and my eye. It was sitting in a Safe way parking lot with a huge FOR SALE sign on it. We decided a few months ago that we would start looking for a trailer to buy as we are going to sell the motorhome we have. It is just too big and epensive to run for us. Anyways this trailer was perfect.....so we bought it!!! Just like that we are now the proud owners of a 30ft hitch trailer. It has been a whirlwind of a weekend and now I must retire for the evening. I am going to try and post pictures to go along with this post....I hope it works.

Croft and his cupcake tree