Basement and vineyard work

Before...

...after. Ready for Bonnie and Little Bear.

Where is Little Bear?

Click to enlarge.

Another busy weekend. We took separate cars to the farm because Kathy was not going to spend the night. Her dog, Millie, has been very sick and she didn't want to take Millie to the farm where she might be upset and where Kathy would not be able to pay much attention to her.

In the mail on Saturday was the Certificate for Occupancy for the cottage. Hooray!

On the agenda for the weekend was the basement and the vineyard.

We moved everything from the main part of the basement into the utility room and Kathy swept the basement for the second time this week. By the time this was done on Saturday, it was late enough for Kathy to leave for The Fort. She had also had another success at trash-burning and had climbed a very high ladder to screw some halogen bulbs into our security light at the walk-out.

Bonnie mopped the basement concrete twice Saturday night and once Sunday morning. It still looks dirty. We have concrete paint and will soon begin applying coats of it. It worked very well for us in our 4-seasons room in The Fort and makes sense for as long as we have the dogs and bird.

Kathy was dismayed to see that the crack in the basement floor has gotten worse. Was it poured maybe 6 months ago? There is surely a way to repair it and keep it from getting even worse. So far there does not seem to be any water entering the basement through the crack which runs the entire width of the basement. Darn!

The leak under the bathroom sink has returned so we will need to tell Rex so he can look at it when he comes out to finish the electrical and plumbing on the cottage and hook up the gas line. We ran out of hot water this weekend so there is an issue somewhere, and the reverse osmosis sill needs to be hooked up before we move in and have our fridge hooked up. Then there are the two outside lights that need to be finished. So we still have quite a few things that need to be done.

Mike will be returning to caulk the fiber cement siding and put latches on the doors under the porch. Then there are the two areas on the cottage where the siding buckled and needs to be replaced. And Kathy wants screen doors too, so maybe she should start shopping for them so Mike can hang them.

Well, that was depressing. Even more to do than we thought!

Today we concentrated on the vineyard and now have 80 vines and 11 varieties. There are 3 or 4 vines that Kathy isn't sure will make it. We have 4 extra in the garden that can be transplanted if any of the vines in the vineyard die. The varieties we have are:

Whites - Vidal, Vignole, Traminette, Traminette-Ravat, Niagara, Frontenac Gris.

Reds - Corot Noir, Marquette, Noiret, Concord, Cabernet Franc.

Kathy is excited about having the own-rooted native varieties that she loves.

So Bonnie and Little Bear spent Saturday night and Kathy drove home to take care of the 6 pets at home and watch a movie (Iron Man) which was excellent. Bonnie did not sleep well because she couldn't get comfy on her futon, and she was overly tired and had a sore lower back. So even though it was nice being at the cottage and working outside, it was still tiring and not in the least restful. After we move in we have agreed that we will set aside at least one day a week to enjoy the farm and not work!