..... Starting to winterize...

 Oh my... it has been an incredibly busy couple of weeks.... starting with our first snowfall of the season... it was just a dusting of snow and it was over and done with - but, I know, it's coming.  Jim was at the cabin this past weekend, and the days were comfortable, about mid 50's, but the nights were in the low 20's... I've been sick this past week, so I avoided the cold and stayed home.

My son, Brad and his family, who live in Alaska, bought a snow blower at the beginning of this season... after 7" of snow that had already made an appearance.  I just don't think I could handle that much snow... and I'm from Toronto!!! I think when I was younger and was a skier, it was exciting when it snowed... But now... not so much.   (My son just told me that they now have 18" of snow...)

Ben, my grandson, had an other idea how to spend his time.  He found a Leaf's' hockey game and stayed cozy inside!  Makes perfect sense to me.

We didn't make it to the cabin a couple of weeks ago, hence the pause in the blog.. We made a 5 day trip to Atlanta, Georgia...  Jim was asked to speak at CAMX - which is an Engineering conference.  It really was an amazing trip!  I was so proud of him as he spoke with such poise and passion about autoclaves..  And, there was a whole crowd afterwards that wanted to speak with my celebrity husband.  He did amazingly well!

The best part of the trip... I think, was that we ate our way through Atlanta, and the food was amazing.  We found this amazing little restaurant called, "Atkins Park".  Great food, and the atmosphere was beautiful.  I took this picture and I love it because Jim "almost" has a smile...  Almost - I'll take it!

The restaurant used to be a butcher shop/delicatessen on the top floor, and a lot of the architecture has been preserved.  I did a little research and found out that it was first opened in 1922, and it is Atlanta's oldest continually licensed tavern... It is one of those places where you can't decide what part of the dinner you liked the most... All of it was that good - the flavors were amazing.

And, of course, we had to have breakfast at a Waffle House!  Giggle.

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis, and again, the architecture was spectacular.  Jim didn't want to look up from the lobby and see all this, but I thought it was fascinating.

As mentioned in previous blogs, we have been trying to catch a little visitor. The last time Jim was there, which was before Atlanta, he put out a live trap, and we caught this squirrel.  We don't know how he was getting in, and don't know what he ate because we make sure there is no food left when we leave.. But, this guy came to visit and had a snack in the trap...  uhuh...  I'll keep this picture small.

Now, Jim was at the cabin this past Saturday and Sunday, and after he emptied the trap on Saturday morning, he set the traps again, and, Monday morning, Ben was there letting in Will and his sons to finish the ceramics job in the bathroom...  And, this little guy, was alive and well, in the trap.  This is a Pika... I have never heard of a pika, but apparently, they are cousins to rabbits...  smaller, with no tail, and, in my estimation, a pain in the rear.  They are native to the area around our cabin.  I never thought I would have Pikachu in my cabin, but apparently, he found an entry, and wanted it to be home.  He is not invited...

The ceramics job continued this past weekend, and when Jim left, Will said they weren't quite done and would be working one more day..  it really looks beautiful - Will is quite the artist.

Here's the work in progress.

We decided to put grey granite on the window sills...  We found this granite in an old federal courthouse in Price, Utah - many years ago.  It was being demolished, and they were getting rid of all the window sills.  At first we put the regular ceramic tile on the sill and Jim saw it and decided a piece of this grey granite in the 2nd window might look better.. When I saw the tiled window sill job, I wasn't too impressed.   When Will came back Sunday morning, he told Jim that it was really bothering him, so, he broke out the one window sill and replaced it with another grey granite window sill, and it looks amazing.  I like the look because it accents perfectly, but, I really like the history of it too.

And, this is what is looks like.. dusty and almost finished.  Without the grouting.

And, this is what it looks like installed and WITH the grouting...

I think it looks amazing.

This is one of Will's sons who comes to help. Will has had three of his sons lend a helping hand.  Good kids..

And, the floor in the shower is completed...

We had several pieces of white ceramic corners to make little shelves in this shower, and we realized that these don't quite match.  So, I ordered samples of corner shelves.  I'm going to return the two bottom pieces and have already ordered one additional piece that will match of the top triangle.

And, here's the finished product.  Jim will be back this next week to reinstall the commode. cabinet and the sink and hang the mirror.  We still have to purchase the glass shower doors and get them installed, but I think that's a project for next year.  I am absolutely thrilled how this turned out.

I had an interesting thing happen on Saturday morning.  I got a knock on the door and when I opened it, there was a Sheriff's department officer standing there.  He asked if James Streeter was home, and I told him he was not.  He said he had an arrest warrant for Jim and wanted to serve him with papers.  I told him I was his wife and asked what was this regarding.  This is so not like Jim, so I was really questioning everything.   The officer said that Jim was summoned to serve on a grand jury panel back in July and did not show up.  I told him that there was a really good reason why Jim didn't show up... he kind of looked at me and said, "And, what is that reason?"  I told him that Jim is a Canadian citizen and is not allowed to vote or serve on a jury.  He just looked at me for a couple of seconds and said, "I'll have this warrant dismissed....." and walked away.  Was weird.  Every once in a while Jim gets a jury duty notice and we just usually send it back with the Canadian excuse and we don't hear anything else.  But, for this one, we never got a notice.. Strange.  So for a few hours on the weekend, Jim was a wanted fugitive.

When we have subcontractors come in to work, we usually feed them lunch.  Because I wasn't there to make "something" for them, I had Jim make them a stew for lunch.  He apparently did an amazing job because 2nds were offered and received happily..

It was so cold in the cabin, I thought they needed something piping hot and it would be appreciated.  I told Jim that this one crock pot of stew would feed, "one elder, two sisters, or a family of 10".  I figure it nobody complained and they went for 2nds, it was a win.

The back deck was resealed this past weekend.  Jim and Ben are starting the process to winterize the cabin, and this was a necessity.

We had used two different kinds of sealer, and one of them didn't quite cut it.. So, now, it's so much better.

They also put sealer on my plant stands...

I had a vision of what I wanted to do with these plant stands, but now, I've gone a different direction... so, I think for now, we'll bring these in the cabin over the winter, and I'll make decisions in the spring.

And, the whole weekend ended with hot chocolate, and whipped cream...  Great weekend.  Poor Jim and Ben are both hurting and need a break...  Hard work... lots of hard work.

And, as always, the adventure continues.

Love, Jim and Cheri

"Keep an open mind - you never know what might crawl in"