A.S.S.U.M.E. x2

Remember the saying never assume anything, cuz it'll make an ASS out of U M E?

Well, I think the window salesman will remember that next time. Apparently, when he came out to measure the windows, he measured them downstairs and they came out bang on to what was on the plans. So he decided he didn't need to climb up the ladder to the upstairs, he'd just go off the plans.

I suppose it's a compliment really, but we had changed things on the 2nd storey. We had removed the dormers and raised the sides of the walls from 6 feet to 8, which allowed making most of the windows bigger.

So, out of the 6 windows upstairs, only the side ones fit.

The salemans second mistake was to assume that the window in the bathroom was the same as the kitchen and not bother measuring it. I'm not sure where he got that idea, there are no inside walls yet, and the bathroom is right next to the kitchen, so you look at one and you see the other as well. Luckily the window he ordered for the bathroom fit perfectly into one of the window openings upstairs, so our contractor was able to use it. So Mr Salesman only has to eat 3 windows.

Bet he got a tummy ache over that one.

Mary and the windows from the inside 

Bill and the new windows 

rain, rain go away

It's been raining too much to get the windows in. They're there, inside the building, looking pretty as can be. BUT they'd be much prettier if they were where they were supposed to be.

We spent Saturday morning working on that last footing for the deck. Well, actually... technically that's what I worked on. But only after I picked up a nice selection of gorgeous red, orange and yellow maple leaves for my autumn table decoration at home. The colours at the cottage were much brighter than in town. I couldn't resist.

But we did our job, then tidied things up and were able to go home by lunch time. Feels lazy to be going home so early.

Thanksgiving mushroom experiment

On a previous visit, some fellow cottagers stopped by. They had been out mushroom hunting for shaggy manes and saw us working and so stopped by to see the progress. They had only found one (a very small meal), but showed it to us and talked about how delicious they were.

I have a book of edible mushrooms at home, but so far had only ever tried morels, which are so easy to identify that I never questioned their edible-ness.

Anyway, the very next time we were up at the cottage (Thanksgiving Day), must have been prime shaggy mane season, cuz they were sprouting all over. I managed to pick a good assortment of very fine looking ones. Once I got home, I dug out the book and double checked. There really were no poisonous ones that were close enough to mistake them for.

So I made a delicous cream of mushroom soup for dinner. Shanna was there for dinner and I made her a vegan version as well. Though I noticed that she scrutinized the pics and descriptions VERY closely before agreeing to try the soup. Bill on the other hand refused to try them, opting instead to see if I was alive in the morning.

The soup was delicious (and of course the creamy non-vegan version gets my vote). And as you can see (I AM typing this afterall) I survived, so Bill happily ate some leftovers the next evening and agreed that it was very good.

So, this was a successful experiment. And I was thankful.

where are the windows?

No windows yet. But we did get a phone call from the contractor. The windows were delivered to the warehouse last Thursday and are to be delivered to the site Tuesday (today). The contractor will put them in Wednesday. I can hardly wait to see the cottage with them in.

We went up Monday to work and made good progress on the deck footings. We got all of the forms for them filled except one. This one is quite deep so and we'll have to build a taller form.

Bill was digging at it yesterday and there was a loose rock that was in the way. But it was a huge rock and the hole was too deep to get it out using the big pry bar (and we have a really big one).
But Bill certainly can't be faulted for lack of trying. I was really worried he'd strain himself or crush some major body part (like a leg). So I suggested that he just roll it off to the side of the pit so it's out of the way. He had to make the hole bigger to make that idea work. Its a waste really. That rock would have done really well on the part of the shoreline that is eroding (which is most of it). But, it is way better than crushed body parts.

Bill mixing cement. That hat just about makes you wanna sing the theme to Beverly Hillbillies, doesn't it? 

bets on

No windows yet. They were supposed to be delivered Thursday, but that is the day we had a pretty bad storm. Lots of wind and trees coming down (including in our backyard). The cottage lot fared pretty well, but we can understand why the company might not want to move thousands of dollars worth of windows in it. Hopefully this week.

Bill and I did get up there to work on the footings for the deck again. We got the back porch footings done this week, but the meauring, and mixing of cement is slow going. We keep measuring and remeasuring and still never seem to get the forms placement just right. We may even have to redo one of the footings we did get done next week. We wouldn't worry about it too much (it is after all a deck), but....this is the section of deck in which we want to put a roof over and this particular footing supports one of the corner posts. Wanna take any bets on whether Bill insists on redoing it?