Asparagus!

Well, we finally have some reward for the long hard winter we endured! That's right, peeps, it's Asparagus Time. So important, it deserves capitals! We are lucky enough to have three well-established beds of beautiful asparagus that provide us with a seemingly endless bounty for several weeks in the spring. This year my mother even got ambitious and pickled some. I am giving this experiment some shelf-time before breaking down and cracking open a jar. For now, we still have fresh asparagus, so it does not make practical sense!

Every year I try a few new recipes to expand my repertoire. At times, the copious amounts of asparagus seems daunting, and we make a lot of people happy with a "bouquet" of stalks, so I am always looking for creative ways to serve it up. This recipe has received thumbs-up from everyone:

Dijon Caper Dressing for Asparagus

(I assume you already know how to steam or boil or barbecue or roast asparagus...)

1/2 cup regular mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon finely chopped capers
1 tablespoon milk

Mix all above ingredients together. I serve each guest with their own ramekin filled with this dressing. One of our favorite spring meals features barbequed steaks, steamed asparagus with Dijon caper dressing and baked potatoes on the menu.

It's our reward for shoveling snow and enduring deep-freeze temperatures for months on end.

May 21st

Like May 14th, May 21st came and went. Winds howling at upwards of 80 km/h threw off the air-tightness test results with such wild variations that the audit was rescheduled for the beginning of June. That means we just bought ourselves a few more days. It also means we can't take the pace we've been working at down a notch.

Eric managed to creatively fix the rotten beam. Here's the before:

Another more detailed photo of the damage prior to cleaning:

Here's the during:

And here's the after:

Pretty crafty, huh? Job well done, Eric. I never cease to be amazed.

Don't worry about the rot on the outside wall - when we get around to changing the siding of the house (not next year, please!), we'll replace the wood. There was no easy way to repair it from the inside of the house, and it won't get much worse. It's probably taken 80 years for it to get that bad anyhow. A year or two more won't make much difference.

I cannot believe how quickly this repair went - we really gave it a go and worked non-stop for 2 days. The audit on the 21st gave us the motivation we needed to get this job done as soon as we could.
Here Eric is using the circular saw to start the pocket that will accommodate the partly-rotten beam. I had removed the rot from the existing beam with a reciprocating saw, and Eric took precise measurements of the new beam (that weighed about 100 pounds and took 3 guys to manoeuvre upstairs, (thanks JL and Frank for letting us abuse you once again). Eric made a template on a 2x6 that he temporarily screwed onto the formerly rotten beam, and then transferred these measurements to the beam above. I think if something would have screwed up here, we both would have had to leave the house for a few days to help repair our mental states.

It's 9:00 at night - Eric has managed to chisel out the pocket. Now all we have to do is lift it in place...screw it on...and call it a night. The extra work of the template proved to be beneficial, because the beam went up without a hitch.

Today we put up the insulation and finally closed the wall. Here's the before:

And after:

Everything is insulated with 2 layers of Roxul rock wool as well, but I have spared you the sordid photos of yet more insulation. You're probably getting the jist of it by now anyhow.

Yet another before:


And another after:

Tomorrow we are going to finish the reflective vapour barrier here and seal everything well, and then tackle the last exterior section in the stair well. We will have to jury-rig a scaffolding of sorts so we can work safely, and then we'll be on the home stretch.

Eric was going to sub the drywall installation out, but the person who will be doing this work will also be doing structural work on our barn, and honestly, the structure of the barn takes priority over the drywall in the house. It'll give me more time to chose paint colours and figure out what we are going to put on the floor, all those lovely interior details that take hours of shopping trips and leg-work. One more trip to Home Depot and this girl might become unhinged!

Today was an unseasonably hot day - about 28C or 84F - but already we felt more comfortable upstairs. As long as the structural aspects are complete, the insulation and vapour barrier up and sealed, we should be a lot more comfortable during summer hot spells than in the last few years. So bring on the warm weather, we're waiting!

Oh...and I forgot to mention...

...that we went on another road trip, and you know what that means, don't you?

It means that Ann, AKA She-who-walks-with-horseshoe-firmly-planted-up-posterior, found another, YES, another circular sock machine, or CSM for those in the know.

Drum roll please!

Albert and Marie, meet your new friend Victoria:

A close up of the crud, and I truly mean CRUD:

This machine is going to need major elbow grease to bring back its original shine. It's already in pieces, liberally sprayed with WD-40, each piece beckoning me one-by-one.


I wish I knew more about this machine. I haven't found a serial number, but from what I can tell, I think it is a Legare 47, probably one of their earlier machines.

Do you think it's time I actually cranked out a pair of socks?

Yeah, me too!

Once our renovations are over, and we have finished the slate patio, completed rebuilding the fence, and done a multitude of other outdoor chores, I hope to have some spare time to crank to my heart's content!

May 14th

May 14th came and went. We had been looking forward to this day, you have no clue how much, so when the auditor called to cancel his appointment and reschedule a week later, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...

You see, we are no where near finished. By the 21st, we should have the upstairs air-tight, even if the Gyproc is not finished by then. Frankly, the Gyproc will be but a minor detail compared to the rebuilding we have done up until now.

Here is a brief synopsis of where we're at and what we found:

This was the former guest room, the 2x4 on the ground is where the wall is going...

And a view in the other direction, showing the window that was added above the front door at the turn of the century, completely screwing up the structure of the house.

Slowly, the division is taking place. Studs are up, the wiring follows, and soon we have:

...a new division! Complete with wiring and insulation. The only thing missing is the vapour barrier and the Gyproc.

I completed my tear-down of the wall on the left side of the window above. Lovely surprise behind the pine paneling:

More rot and mildew...worst we have seen yet! Wait, wait...there's MORE!

How's that for discouraging?!? Once everything was cleaned up, we assessed the whole situation:

I went wild with the reciprocating saw, and let's just say we're not exactly looking forward to rebuilding this. Part of the outside wall will have to be replaced when we take down the siding on the house because the rot is just to big to attempt from this side. The rotten wood literally shatters into splinters between my fingers, so working here needed a new set of rules. I call it "finesse", whereupon Eric rolls his eyes and puts on his hearing protectors to cut down the din...of my incessant complaining.

But forge on is what we are doing:





And yet another wall is completed!

And yet another! Can you tell we're just storming along? We finished the vapour barrier in this room also, so now we have matching disco rooms!

(And yes, we are aware the ceiling above the window is a bit crooked...we could have shimmed the living daylights out of it, but we decided it adds "character").

At least that's what we like to call it!

Reno Update

Things are chugging along upstairs. We are busy rebuilding the final outside wall and are slowly edging towards the last corner.

We have a D-Day of May 14th; this is the day the auditor will be coming in to do the air-tightness tests. Based on the results, we will receive a rebate under the federal ecoENERGY initiative. The cheque better be greater than the audit cost in the first place, which I think was around $180. But let's face it: we're not doing this for the ecoENERGY rebate, we're doing this for the long-term comfort of our house, our heating bills, and the quality of our life. The audit was just a bench-mark and proved that the air loss in our house was akin to leaving a door open 24/7, heating the great outdoors.

The facade of the house features a Widow's Peak that was added in the early 1900's. By adding this little feature, the look of the house changed dramatically from a typical French-Canadian farmhouse with the front porch running the length of the house, to a steep-roofed Victorian Gothic Revival-style. Unfortunately, in making these changes, major structural work was also done, not necessarily to the benefit of the house's main structure. It is due to this work that the facade of the house has bulged out by probably 4" or so.

Here's a view of the window directly above the front door:

Last weekend I removed most of the remaining interior pine paneling; I started to remove some of the old pine boards in behind, but wanted to go slow and steady as opposed to taking the Rambo approach and destroy everything in my sight. With warmer temperatures, things are getting easier because I simply pitch everything I tear down out of the window, and cut everything to wood-stove size outside with our trusty Dewalt circular saw. This invariably keeps the interior of the house much cleaner and easier to navigate around. It's enough to have to deal with piles of wood for the rebuilding, having to step over piles of broken wood full of nails becomes prohibitive and dangerous. The floor is sometimes very slippery; with a layer of sawdust, it nearly becomes a skating rink.

So Eric was pretty crafty with the repair of the mega-rot. These boards are joined with halved lap joints and joined with screws and washers. The 2 metal stays in the above photo are screwed into the joists with 6-1/4" Spax screws. This wall is going nowhere. In fact, with periodically re-torquing of the stays, Eric managed to bring the wall back by a 1/4":

It's not sophisticated, but there's the proof. We started at 2-1/2" and are now at 2-1/4". Slowly, we are bringing the wall back in. It's like architectural orthodontics.

I thought I'd seen enough sawdust to last me a lifetime when we cleaned out the attic, but apparently there is no rest for the wicked. I must be very, very bad because but when I removed these boards, the sawdust was so tightly packed it didn't even fall out from between the studs. I just banged it out with my hammer, scooped it up with a dustpan and threw it right into the garbage. This quantity of sawdust in the vacuum would have warranted an immediate emptying of the canister. Sometimes, the manual method is the fastest.

This last lovely photo shows a detail of the knotty pine, which if you are observant, you will already have noticed the 2x4 used as a shim to add the illusion of a straight ceiling. Nice try is all I can say. Under the knotty pine, we have the added bonus of a vapour barrier, moldy Gyproc, and tar paper. Hopefully by the end of April I will have taken down most of these layers. Removing the pine is simple, generally I just tug at one end and can rip the entire length of panelling down in one fell swoop, but the Gyproc is a different matter. Not only is it dusty, dirty, moldy, heavy, joined by rusty nails every few inches that need to be pulled out, it's back breaking because I have to work on a ladder or step-ladder. I will have a perma-kink in my neck by the time this job is done.

Eric is off the first week of May; hopefully during this week he will have managed to accomplish most of the work. I can just visualize us putting up the vapour barrier in the wee hours of the morning before the audit.

May 14th will be here before we blink - wish us luck is all I can add.

Ginger Sparkler Cookies

This recipe comes from an ancient Robin Hood flour booklet that formed the back-bone of my cookie making exploits for many, many years. There is no date, no copy write, no publishing information whatsoever inside, so I can sleep at night posting this recipe. My booklet is full of dollops of unidentifiable ingredients, some pages are stuck together, and cryptic notes fill the margins of the pages, things like, "do NOT double - massive quantity of dough". This recipe can be easily doubled, and friends and family might thank you if you do.

As a self-confessed chocoholic, I like cookies that contain copious amounts of chocolate or cocoa; these cookies contain none, yet they still deliver not only in the taste department, but also in the bring-back-the-good-old days department. Nothing takes me back in time like a home-made ginger cookie.

Ginger Sparklers

2 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg

Granulated sugar for rolling

Spoon flour into dry measuring cup. Level off and add soda, salt and spices; stir well to blend.

Cream brown sugar, butter, molasses and egg together thoroughly.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Mix well.

Shape dough into 1" balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place 2" apart on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375° degrees for 8 - 10 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan.

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies.

Mega Rot

That could be the name for a heavy metal band (and maybe it is already!), but Mega Rot is what Eric found when he opened the knee wall on the south side of the house. Happy Birthday Eric!

What a lovely surprise! The tar paper you see through the hole is actually the tar paper that is behind the siding of the house if you are standing outside. Basically, what I am saying is, if I wanted to put my fist through the wall of the house, this is the place I could do it without any effort.

Eric has to fix this before moving on...

From the hammer in this photo, you can get an idea of the scale of the hole. Eric cleaned everything, and using our small circular saw, straightened out the ragged edges in preparation for the rebuilding. I am not sure exactly how Eric is going to repair this, in fact, I am not even sure Eric knows how he is going to repair this, but I will be sure to let you know with a blow-by-blow account.

On the bright side, spring is right around the corner, the days are getting longer, and the geese are overhead and in the fields, enjoying last years' corn. The Robins and Red-winged Black birds are back, but the swallows' return is still several weeks away. It might have been my imagination, but one field had a tinge of green today.

The fields are still too wet for walking, but I did a little foray with Cooper to test things out. By the time we got back, the dog was ready to be hosed down, he was that wet and muddy! I think we will have to wait another week or so before resuming our regular walks. And on a totally different note:

The Howarnator is so funny. Sometimes, he likes to sleep with all of his paws and tail tucked in beneath him. Our blobbular cat, sleeping happily on his sheepskin, dreaming of squirrels and birds. Howie looks like he needs a diet, stat, but he's all fur. In fact, he is the most unmotivated cat when it comes to food; all the others run to my side when I go in the kitchen, waiting in anticipation, but The Nator just sits on the back ledge of the couch and looks at the desperation of BobCat and Schatzie and Baby Grey with disdain. Those poor souls, he must think. No, The Nator comes into the kitchen, sits below the drawer that holds the cat nip, and meows his little demand. The meow comes out sounding like this: Ack mack. That's the cat nip call. He's my little junkie, what more can I say?