Upper cabinet under consturction

Now that winter is almost over......Kurt is (finally) working on what was supposed to be his "winter project"....... a new upper cabinet for our kitchen.
Here is one last picture of the old upper cabinets.  They have served us well.  Kurt built the original cabinet and Jeff Howat made the doors.  You can still see the original 30 year old+ kitchen wallpaper on the back wall of the cabinet......
Here is the new set taking shape in the wood shop.  Plywood back and center shelves.  Tamarack fir sides and side shelves.  When complete there will be two glass-front doors in the center and solid doors on the two side sections.  

they are a little taller and a little wider than the old set.  And there will be some open shelves and a plate rack to the left of this unit-coming later.  I am looking forward to more storage space.

 He does nice work, doesn't he!

Finally! Fish for dinner!

It has been a lousy fishing season this winter.  But Kurt still enjoys the break it gives him to go stand on the lake bank for a couple hours every couple of days. 
Out of the blue.....he caught a fish last Saturday!  This one was a native rainbow trout.  Quite a beauty.......

We shared the fish with company that evening and all proclaimed it was delicious!

Truck news

We can't manage our rural lifestyle without having a pickup truck.  There are 1001 needs- from going to the dump, to the lumber store and hauling manure or other garden supplies.  Sadly, we sold our trusty "ole yeller" 1966 Ford pickup when we lived in Sequim (as we had regular garbage pickup and a Buick station wagon that could haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood).

 When we moved back to Kettle Falls we needed a pickup.  Kurt found this one on craigs list-- an upgrade for him-- to a 1967 Ford pickup.

The new ford pickup turned out not to be as reliable as ole yeller.  Within a year it was parked with a blown engine.
Fast forward to the mild winter we are having-- perfect for doing engine work. 
So Kurt pulled the engine and sent it out to be rebuilt.  He couldn't be happier with the work the machine shop did.  Here is what the engine looked like when it came back

With the engine out he has been cleaning up the engine compartment

The engine got reinstalled this past weekend

Now he is awaiting the return of the carburator and it will be time to start 'er up.

Getting out in the snow

Since we chose to move back to snow country we made a pack that we would embrace the cold and snow-- by not complaining about any of it from onset until mid February.  (And after that we are free to wish for warmer climes.)

This year it hasn't been too insufferable since we only got our first dose of plow-able snow on Friday.  So, before we miss the opportunity, we went snow shoeing today.  The measly 6" out our back door wasn't worth the effort so we drove up the mountain pass across the river and found a place to walk in 2 and a 1/2 feet of snow.  We had to break our own trail and it turne out to be a little more exercise than we intended--- In hindsight, we have decided that walking in 6"would have been just fine.  Anyway, here are a few pictures...

Catch-up time- First, Fall projects

Between our failing camera and really not that much going on, we haven't posted for a while.  So here goes a little catch-up on projects and life in general..


SHOP UPGRADES:
In October Kurt installed a new beam to carry the weight of the car-shop roof and eliminate the need for a center post.  Here are two pictures of the new beam in place.  For those that don't know, this is the original shop that Kurt built when we first lived here.  At that time he labeled the shelves for where items should be stored.  When we moved back in 2006 it was funny to be able to put tools and supplies right back on their old shelves.

 One of the reasons for elimnating the post was so the TR3, that came back to KF in October, could be parked inside and still leave room for working on another vehicle in the other side of the shop.  So here is the triumph back in his old home. The little scraped area on the cement near the drivers door marks the location of the old center post in the shop- so you can see how it's removal has benefited the use of the space.

 Another shot of the triumph.... and notice the new garage door on the right in the background- that was Kurt's November project...see next pics.

When Kurt built the car shop in the 80's, all we could afford was home made swinging doors for the big opening.  They were heavy, leaked a lot of cold air and couldn't be used in the winter when the snow piled up outside. 

 So you can imagine that Kurt is a happy camper now with this new, insulated garage door that he installed in November.  And, doesn't it improve the look of the old shop!

And finally- Kurt's 2011 Christmas present was a Parts Washer.  Now, instead of 5-gallon buckets or an old bathtub being used to de-grease car parts, he has this official tub on legs to do the work.  Of couse he had to raise it on a box to make it a comfortable height for him. 

New (to us) furniture

Ever since we moved into our remodeled living room last fall I have wished for a leather couch.  Especially since our wood stove is so dusty and I figured leather would clean up better than fabric. 

I have been perusing craig's list for 12 months- often seeing a set I liked but always they were too far away to bother checking them out.  And then, this week, a leather couch and chair shows up on craigs list and the seller was 15 miles from me.  I was an easy sell.....

The pictures don't show very well that they are actually navy blue leather.  I am delighted.

Triumph on the move

October sure flew by. Kurt worked intently to get everything around the KF house buttoned up for winter- alas no pictures. 
Then he spent a week in Denver helping Amy and Tim get their new house move-in ready- also no pictures. 

At the end of the week he drove the TR3 from Denver back to Kettle Falls. Here are the few pictures from that event.....

First the car made the trip to the new house.  Lilly and Mark immediately wanted to drive it... and for some reason Lilly has no clothes on....

(well, she is 2) 

BTW- that is Lisa's and Betty's front yard behind Amy in this picture...'

Mark, on the other hand decided to wear grandpa's sweatshirt-below.

(and this is Amy and Tim's front yard in this picture)

Then Josie had to have a turn in the drivers seat....

 Then it was time to say goodbye to Grandpa. 

 Let's see... do I have everything.... 

 Kurt left Denver to head north on a sunny and warm afternoon.  Here he is driving along and he has the top down and he isn't even wearing gloves.   

 Later you can see in the odometer reflection that he is a little more bundled up-- and you can't really tell that he is in a 40 mph Wyoming side wind. 

 Nice shadow....

 The next day he went with the top up- but it didn't really offer much more warmth.

 This was the disheartening last picture of his trip--- heading into snow clouds.  Turns out he made it over the Rockies (17 degrees and light snow falling) without a hitch.

and now the TR3 is safely parked in the KF garage where the Denverites can visit it

until they have more than a one car garage.

We love our Garden shredder

Shredding Saturday....we cut down and shredded our corn patch in a mere two hours on Saturday.   Here is Kurt just starting to cut down the stalks.  Remember he is 6'7" tall- so that corn is towering over him. 

Working together we had the all 15 rows cut down pretty quickly.  Then we rolled in the gas powered shredder- the red thing in this picture

 Here is Kurt starting to feed the stalks into the shredder.  Once I got the hang of it he left the task to me.  The shredder chewed up a stalk in a matter of seconds.  Much better than what I have done for the last two years- using the lawn mower. 

 And a short while later- ta da! All the corn stalks are turned into little tiny peices.  Can't wait to see how the shredder goes through the sunflower stalks later. 

 After the shredding adventure it was time for another picking of tomatoes- easily 50 lbs! And the last ears of corn.  Sad to see the corn season end--but then my waistline will benefit from dropping my daily diet of corn on the cob.

September outdoor celebrations

#1 The fire wood is split and stacked.   Kurt took a picture of Joanie hoisting up the last few rounds- But really that was all I did- he did the rest.

Here is the whole stack-- it is 9 rows deep.  We should be plenty warm this winter.

#2 Kurt finished the little rock patio infront of the livingroom window.... (Thanks to Jody for helping to get this started)

#3  The 6 pine trees that got cut down this spring are finally bucked up and stacked to dry for a season.

#4,5,6, 7.....
In a flurry of activity this month, Kurt added an extension to the upper deck and then moved the hot tub there plus he re-wired the tub to include a shut off switch and put the wire in conduit.  He has started a railing for the upperdeck and stairs are coming soon.  THEN he tore up the section of old lower deck and put down redwood boards and sealed those.  And lastly we bought a new blue :)  hot tub cover and a lifter which he just installed yesterday.  

Salsa Saturday

Working from 8 to noon and 1 to 4 today I chopped, cooked and canned two stock pots of salsa.  Made 15 and a half quarts...Here are the raw ingrediants....

 And here is the finished canned salsa................

The new rock wall

Home projects have been on the back burner all summer.  But this week Kurt finished the rock trim under the living room window.

He found all the rocks on our upper property.  Now we need Lisa and Betty to come back to lay a rock patio on the ground in front of this.

Mark's early birthday gift

While we were on vacation at a condo in the mountains with the kids and grandkids- it seemed like the perfect time to give Mark his birthday present- a little early- a 2-wheeler bike.  Here are Grandpa and Mark discussing the intracacies of bike construction......

 Grandpa doing the final adjustments...

 Mark and Grandma checking the fit

 Looks good Mark says

 Now out to the parking area for the first ride-- lots of concentration needed for those first few pedals.....

 Now show the assembled adults how you feel about the bike---all smiles

 Then ride off into the sunset.........with daddy right behind...