Christmas at Gull Lake Ranch

At the airport a few days before Christmas

It was a quiet and mostly peaceful Christmas this year. Alex drove to Vancouver on the 19th to spend some holiday time with his dad and his sister, who had flown in from Toronto. That left Carol, me and the two dogs at the ranch. As per our usual practice, we had closed the office for the week between Christmas and New Year's so would have more than a week and a half at home. We were up early on Saturday, Christmas Eve, baking pies and preparing for the following day's feast. The pies were gifts for friends so we spent the afternoon visiting Bud and Lea Thorson and Sara at Dreamscape Ranch. We have all been busy with our lives recently so it was nice to meet up and share an eggnog and some good conversation. They've been renovating the modular home that sits by the entrance to their ranch and Lea was kind enough to show us the progress they've been making. It looks very cozy and will be a wonderful rental home. We made it home shortly after dark (sadly, only about 4pm!) and spent the evening watching a variety of old Christmas favourites on the tv.

We did sleep in until 8am on Christmas Day but were quickly busy getting the turkey in the oven, in preparation for our planned early dinner (3pm). We opened gifts, phoned various family members spread out across the country, and continued our tv marathon viewing session. The meal was fantastic, if a little much for just the two of us. It's a good thing we both like turkey sandwiches! It was the first real test for our new kitchen, and everything worked out perfectly. I have to say that it is REALLY nice to have a proper kitchen sink and a dishwasher!
Apart from the dogs going berserk every so often, it was a peaceful time. The weather continues to be unseasonably warm, but not warm enough to melt our snow yet. Carol has been working hard on her puzzle (thanks, Reen!) and I have made several forays down the driveway cutting and loading firewood to replenish our wood shed. It is turning out to be a wonderful holiday - one that is well earned after our busy building schedule this year. We are planning to wire and insulate the basement before heading back to work later next week so I had better go and get at it. Happy New Year!

Kitchen Sink

Home Depot called on Friday morning to inform us that our kitchen counter tops were ready for pickup. Of course, I had driven the car to the office so I went home at lunch time and swapped it for the truck. A few hours later, I was home with the counters. It is fiddly work getting them put together and mounted correctly so we opted to wait for daylight and do it on Saturday. The smaller chunk went in just fine in the corner between the stove and the fridge and looked great, but the larger piece comprising the peninsula had a problem. We were missing the draw bolts for that section and a small piece that finished off the backsplash at the end. The draw bolts (4 of them) hold the two sections of counter top together at the long mitred seam in the corner. Without them we couldn't mount the counters on the cabinets and therefore couldn't install the sink. I took some pics of the offending backsplash piece but seeing as it was very late in the day decided that an early trip back to HD on Sunday morning was in order.
After a beautiful early drive down the hill, I quickly located Carmen (our HD sales rep), showed her the pics and told her my tale of woe regarding the draw bolts. She quickly got me fixed up with the bolts, ordered the missing backsplash piece and got me on my way. The part should be here on Wednesday, she said.
So, back at home, I managed to get the two pieces of counter top bolted together and slipped into position on the cabinets. It looked great! Carol was busy prepping for an early mini-Xmas dinner for the three of us - Alex was heading to his Dad's place in Vancouver the next day. When she finished with her pie crust pastry, I screwed it all down, marked the position of the sink and proceeded to cut out the scary large hole in our beautiful new counter! We had assembled the sinks, drains, taps and water feed lines and just had to drop them into the opening. I must be getting better at this stuff because it fit perfectly! I still needed to make the connections to the supply lines and glue the drain pipes and trap in the correct position. Again, it all went smoothly and the sink was ready to go.
Carol came over to be the first to try it out. Remember we have been without a sink, other than the small one in the downstairs bathroom, since mid-August. This was a big moment for us! Luckily, it all worked great! We are very happy with our choices regarding the kitchen. The cabinets, counters and sinks all look really nice and work exactly as we'd hoped. The kitchen has been through several "looks too small", "looks bigger than we planned" phases as we got it all put together. I have to say though, that we're very pleased with how it turned out, and the size seems perfect.
Now that Carol is home from her trip to Ontario, we were finally able to get the Christmas tree and decorations out. Alex helped his mom put the tree up and Carol played `elf` decorating the place with the few bits and pieces that we have. The house looks really nice and the tree, nestled in the corner, really "warms" it up.

We will try and post again before "the day", but if we don't, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year. Thanks, for following along on our blog and we hope that you are gaining something from our experiences building this house.

Kitchen Coming Along

In preparation for the counter tops arriving sometime in the next day or two, I worked on the peninsula wiring and installing the range hood and associated ducting. The roughed-in wiring was already in place but needed to be tidied up. The space under the counter for the dishwasher also accommodates a GFCI outlet and switches for the dining room chandelier and pendant lights that hang over the peninsula. While not difficult, the openings for the electrical boxes have to be cut into the decorative wood panels. My dremel tool came in handy for this job, but a steady hand is required as you can't easily repair a gaffe like you would if the boxes were being installed in drywall. The result looks great!
Installing the range hood was much more involved, requiring a 4" hole in the wall to the outside and a series of galvanized tin pieces. The hole went right through my precious cabinets, but was not such a big deal after cutting the 3.5"x 10" opening for the range hood exhaust itself in the bottom of the same cabinet! The range hood installed under the cabinet quite easily with only 4 pan head screws. Hooking up the wiring was a snap as was installing the breaker in the panel. A little metallic duct tape to seal all the joints in the tin parts and we were ready to go. Well, almost...I had to install the 2 LED downlight bulbs into their sockets, and then...Bazinga! It all works! The fan is very quiet, which was one of my requirements and the lights illuminate the stove surface perfectly.

Dishwasher

I managed to get the peninsula that houses the dishwasher and the kitchen sink in place on Sunday. It is quite fiddly as it needs to be anchored to the floor so it stays in place and presented a variety of wiring and plumbing challenges to boot. Our plumber, Jeff, had earlier roughed-in the 1 1/2" drain and vent pipes and ran the supply lines to the correct position, but it is our job to get it all connected up properly and to code. The vent for the drain is the most complicated in that it must be routed through 3 different cabinet bases and then make a tall loop under the sink - not really difficult but it did require a bit of planning to get it all to work. The drains are easier in that all the action is right there, under the sink. The dishwasher plumbing is quite straightforward if you have the correct pieces in place. I hooked up the clearly-marked power feed cable in the panel (thanks, James!) and voila, clean dishes! Yay!
After getting the cabinets and fascia panels in place, I made the final measurements for the counter tops and took them down to Carmen at Home Depot. We were hoping to have them back and installed before Christmas so I had to make a concession. Carol and I had chosen a rounded bull-nose edge for the laminate tops, but they would take 2-4 weeks to arrive as the shop had to custom order that profile. They could deliver the counters in a week if we would instead accept a rectangular profile that had rounded edges. With Carol away until next week, I made an executive decision and went the more expeditious route. Hopefully, I won't regret that decision later!
I found a nice Broan range hood on Craigslist and picked that up last night.
Today, it is "Seniors Day" at Rona, so it is with mixed feelings that I am off to buy a new kitchen sink and faucet - at 55 years old, I qualify for the 10% discount! The good news is that I might be able to have the counters, sink and taps ready to go by the time Carol gets home. Here's hoping...!