May 18-31, 2019 More Work, Travel And $$$

Hey guys, it's Leslie here. Dave's away for a couple days and it's raining so I thought I'd get another blog started. 

Saturday morning Dave and I took a trip into Stony Plain to pick up some drywall, insulation and poly so we could complete the interior firewall of the garage. Our building permit expires in a couple weeks so we best get on it. We got back home and got organized shortly before Ryan kindly arrived to help us.  He has plans for this evening so we got straight to work. It is so nice having him here to help out. I enjoy doing this kind of stuff but my back isn't terribly happy lifting full sheets of drywall. It's nice to have two sets of man muscles for the heavy lifting!! We got all the major work done and got him home on time. Thanks for all your help Ry. It's really appreciated.

Ryan's rockin' the fanny pack screw pouch!

The heavy work is done!

Sunday

After breakfast and coffee Dave and I got back to work in the garage doing the finishing work. Since this is a 45 minute rated fire wall we have to run the drywall all the way to the roof line. This requires multiple cuts to fit it around the trusses. It's time consuming with lots of measurements, cuts and trips up and down the ladder but we finished up by noon.

Drywall has to run right up to the roof between trusses.

Fitting the last piece.

We hit the showers and packed up for a trip to Edmonton. Since we were in Bonnyville for Mother's Day we decided to celebrate today with a nice dinner out. We met up with Ryan, Ashtyn, Sam and my sister, Lorin, at a Greek restaurant in Sherwood Park called Vicky's. Unfortunately Lorin had not been feeling very good all day. She tried her best to tough it out but it was obvious she needed to go home and go to bed. She left right after the food came out taking her meal as a to-go box. Get better my sister. The rest of us had a fabulous meal and a great visit. We had a few drinks and even some dessert. It was great.

Happy Mom!

We all headed back to Ryan's for Game of Thrones and a sleepover as it is a long weekend so no-one has work tomorrow. What a great day!!

Monday

We had a great sleep and once we were up decided to go to Tim Hortons for coffee and breakfast with Ryan and Ashtyn. We had some running around to do before heading back to Pineridge. Once home we started cleaning up. I ran a small bag of garbage to the dumpster and found it overflowing. A short time later Dave and I took a walk and noticed a few people taking even more garbage to the dumpster. What a mess!!

People own these lots and still do this!!

Being the first long weekend of the summer the bin was packed with empty boxes and construction materials etc. On top of that was all the household garbage falling out where the birds (and scarier animals) could get at it. The garbage truck isn't scheduled to come until Friday. Dave and I grabbed the truck and loaded up what we could reach to drive it to the landfill 15 minutes away. It's closed today of course so we will head there tomorrow.

Filled our dually with garbage from the ground.

The property owner is sending his guys to move some trash to another bin.

Tuesday

Dave has still been having some trouble with his hamstring so today he is trying a bike ride instead of a run. Margaret and I headed out for a walk and when she had enough I dropped her back at home and set out at a brisk pace on my own. Dave got home just after me and reported his leg was feeling good. Yay!! After a quick shower we headed out for our "date day" to the dump and then out for lunch at the RV Pub & Grill. Pretty fancy date, eh? Next was packing up for our trip back to Bonnyville Wednesday. Uneventful travel day from PGR to our house in Bonnyville.

Thursday

Right after breakfast Dave drove down to St. Paul to pick up our new zero turn lawn mower.

Our new Toro MX5000 50 inch zero turn mower!

He didn't get much chance to try it out before we had to head into town for our annual doctors appointments. I had my lab work pre-ordered and all results were better than ever. Apparently retirement is really good for me!! lol. Now if only my back would smarten up. Dave has to go get his lab work done but he checked out healthy too :)

Friday

I have to go to work today for some mandatory education (CPR, bELite and a few computer courses)  Dave is planning on giving the new mower a work out. He texted me around noon to let me know that the mower was not working right and will only turn left. The left drive motor is just squealing. He is more than a little angry and frustrated. Oh man! Less than an hour in and it broke down?? WTH! The shop is sending someone, with a replacement mower, to pick ours up and repair it. Good news is they dropped off a slightly used Kubota zero turn, even better!

Saturday

We got moving fairly early and were over at Paul and Di's just after 10:00 to help with some yard work. The guys loaded up the ATV's with gear and headed off to take care of some trees and mowing while Di and I caned and mulched the raspberries and planted and caged the tomatoes. Di then made us a huge, delicious brunch. So good. We visited for a bit before heading home. So nice to spend some time with our friends.

Sunday and Monday was spent doing house work and yard work. I managed to get most of the weeding done and got some fresh mulch down.

Before

After

We had noticed a small bit of water staining on the drywall in our basement utility room a couple weeks ago. We contacted our builder, Ron Kalinsky of Bayrock Homes, and he had come out with some of his guys to fix it. They had to dig down about five feet at the front of the house to repair the foundation seal as it was getting water behind it. It was quite a big job but he wanted to do it right as our 10 year new home warranty runs out in July. They came back today to fill it all back in and to re-grade the slope away from the house. Pretty awesome builder to come back in year 10 for free and repair the foundation! Thanks Ron.

Had to remove my huge false spirea and some lawn.

Of course Dave jumped into the truck to help out Jared & Ron.

All put back together (except we need to figure out where to put the downspout)

Not staying there!

Tuesday

After breakfast I headed in to town for an assessment with a chiropractor. I'm trying another one to see if I can find some help for my back. My doctor has asked me to try to "reset" things by taking anti-inflammatories, using ice and trying a chiropractor for two weeks. While doing this I will also try to work on my core strength. Fingers crossed!  When I got home Dave was gearing up for a run so me and Margaret went for a walk. Dave managed 7 km with no pain. Yay! 

We had also noticed that our water pressure was surging so today the plumbers are coming to install a new pressure tank and clean and flush the interior of the water heater. Unfortunately while doing that they discovered numerous holes in the exchanger and it also needs to be replaced. $$$$ Ugghh. Of course no warranty coverage on this one. The joys of a 10 year old house.

They counted 18 small holes.

The joys of hard well water and a softener system.

New system installed. A.O Thompson instead of Navien. Better warranty.

Wednesday

Dave drove me into town for another chiro appointment while he went to grab material for the new downspout. I ran across to the grocery store where we met up again. We stopped in at our insurance agency to pay our house and the Harley insurance. More $$$.

Thursday and Friday I had to work. I was a little jealous looking at Dave and Margaret all snuggled up comfy cozy in bed as I'm leaving but someone has to replenish the bank account!! lol 

Dave took my new Subaru in to our friend Joyce at Sign Solutions to get 3M coating applied. We do so much highway driving that it really is a good investment to avoid rock chips. I met him there after work and we had a nice visit with both Joyce and Trent at Sign Solutions. Great to see some old friends. 

That's enough for one post. Hopefully the next one isn't as expensive!! lol