Feeling pudgy and lazy I am trying to get back into shape again after the last 6 months of letting myself go. I had thought I’d be able to use the UPEI gym now that I am a student however only full time students have a gym membership included in their tuition and I’d have to pay a fee (a reasonable one) to use it. Not being a fan of indoor exercise anyway I started thinking of alternatives.
This morning at 6:00am I got up, put on some thermals, sweater and pants, jacket, hat, boots and gloves and strapped on some snowshoes and set out for a long walk in the fields around the Shire. I was accompanied by Rosie and the sweet sweet voice of my new musical obsession Ariana Gillis in my headphones. 40 minutes and 2.5 kilometers later I arrived back home my heart rate up, jacket open and feeling great.
The really nice thing about snow shoeing is that your route is pretty much whatever you want it to be. This boundless type of exercising appeals to me even more than my morning runs on the Mill Road did and is definitely something I want to continue year round, snow shoes and maybe x-country skis in the winter and trail/x-country running possibly paddling in the summer.
When I was a kid I remember one of the joys of being in the woods was getting off the farm/logging trails and just scrambling cross country in a straight(ish) line finding ways through around and over obstacles. I’m sure it also is a more natural way to exercise with a full body component that jogging down a road could never match. It speaks to me like rock climbing (also on my to do list) and tree climbing (which I miss!) do. So here’s to a more natural year of activity and enjoying the woods and hills and fields all around me!
Finally I have gotten round to getting some photos uploaded! We are officially moved in, the mortgage has been completed, and we are “done”, although I don’t think the work will ever stop! There’s some niggly trim work to complete, a few touch-ups, there will be on-going stucco maintenance and inspections, fire wood to cut and split, a wood shed to build, the storage/garden shed to finish and organize, an addition in the next couple of years probably, landscaping, a garden or two, walkways, decks, etc… But for the next little while we are going to take it easy and enjoy a little break!
Enjoy the photos!
Forms for the concrete countertops. Keith wanted to try his hand at concrete countertops and we volunteered as the test case!
No photos of the pour itself, we were to busy trying to keep ahead of the setting concrete to take photos. Keith, Cayden and I did the pour in a couple hours or so.
Here are the kitchen counters in place after a nervous truck ride up from Keith’s shop, no cracks from transport though!
And here is the bathroom vanity with it’s top. I made the vanity from leftover cedar lumber we had.
The bathroom shower fully tiled and grouted, it’s one of my favourite parts of the house now!
Izmo on our bed the first night we stayed at the house, she was pretty amused to see our bed here in what had always just been “that place Dad spends his evenings…”
Fixing stucco, we switched to lime stucco last fall and the areas where we simply went over the old caly finish coat it didn’t adhere as the clay was too smooth. So grooves were scored in the underlying clay for the lime stucco to key into.
Kitchen counter-tops ready for carnuba/beeswax/oil finish
The kitchen nears completion!
Couch is brought up and instantly makes the house feel like a home! Note the pile of tools still in the foreground.
Stove and fridge are in place!
As well as the dishwasher and coffeemaker!
The funky blue sectional gets set-up too!
Thanksgiving dinner at our place, I filled up our firewood nook for the day although the cooking and number of people made having a fire unnecessary that day!
Debie and Izzy chillin on the couch.
Dad and Keith having a drink and waiting for supper. (Ignore the dirty windows!)
We had two tables set up for extra mouths to feed for Thanksgiving.
Izzy outside the house, at this point we have just the north wall to paint. The wall facing the camera in this photo was done first and has held up to at least 4 hard rains with wind since being finished, so far so good.
Tomorrow I will be applying to go back to school, enrolling in the BSc physics program with a parallel diploma in engineering. I will be attending part time, doing two courses per semester hopefully with the support of my workplace. It’s pretty exciting for me and the courses I will be taking will be both exciting and useful in my career.
I am a little worried that I will be able to handle the workload, however I think things on the house and at home should be calming down somewhat soon. We have moved into our house, are finished of three outside walls and 99.5% of the interior. Two weeks of rain have given us a good test for the wall system and it seems to be performing admirably.
*SIGH*
Relief.
I will hopefully be putting up some new photos of the house moved in and dressed up, as well as some photos of the completed outside walls. I wish Aliant would hurry up with the high speed expansion so we could get internet at home, but alas it is not available yet to us.
