Yes I love technology, but not as much as N (does) you see

I admit, I love my digital cameras, my iPod, my computer, the Internet, light timers…in other words, all the technology that makes my life easier or more enjoyable. But this? This may be too much for me.

Exhibit A

Our control room is something N has been scheming about with the plumber. I have heard strange murmurings and hushed telephone calls to product managers not used to dealing with residential applications of their commercial systems, but I guess I never really believed it would happen. Lately, every time the plumber comes over, things get a little more Byzantine in the basement. Soon, I’m going to find myself living in a house that I have no idea how to control—in fact, not soon, but now. Already, I have no idea how to run my own home. These blue boxes require inputs, from a human.

I don't speak Tekmar, do you?

Today, after our plumber left, I went downstairs to see find this interesting informational display he’d left of all of the manuals I’m going to need just to know how to control the temperature in my house.

The learning station

I was really hoping to have some pictures to document the bathroom renovation taking shape, but while I’ve been up in my top floor studio, my house has been infiltrated from below. We’ve become strangers. I don’t know what N has up his sleeve, maybe this is the new command central for controlling the entire neighbourhood, or possibly the world. I’ll keep you posted.

yikes

There is always something

The promising start to the day

Yesterday our plumber came to install some of the fixtures in the bathroom, but once again some little details have arisen to block our progress. First, the rail for the hand held shower came with the wrong hardware which made it difficult to mount to the wall. Unfortunately, after the rail was mounted the plumber discovered two little hairline cracks in the tile, which will mean prying out the cracked tile and replacing it.

The hairline cracks in the tile

We hope the tight fitting rail won’t give the plumber as much trouble coming off the wall as it did going on. Our plumber discovered another problem when he tried to install the toilet. One square glass tile from the slightly raised glass tile border is in the way (this in spite of the template I made to determine tile placement!). It too will have to be pried out and replaced with a porcelain tile. Supposedly all this tile repair and fixture installation will resume on Thursday when the stars will align and bring both our plumber and tile installer into the orbit of our bathroom on the same day (we’ll see).

The x marks the culprit tile impeding the toilet installation

Yesterday did bring two successes: the shower drain is now connected, and we have a new sleek pump on our boiler. The original boiler pump was very old and had been leaking oil for a couple of months.

Our new streamlined water pump (left) and the old pump languishing in a bucket

Last October the house next door sold to a young couple with a small baby and a big dog. We were happy to have another family move in next door. They turn out to have very ambitious plans for their house and very deep pockets. In addition to the full renovation they are already doing on the existing house, this spring they plan to begin an addition to add 35% more floor space to their home. We genuinely like our new neighbours and they have been very generous about sharing their plans with us, but we are still a little worried about how the changes may affect us. One of the additions to their house will be only a couple of feet from our property line. In particular we worry that if they roof the new addition with the same kind of steel roof they currently have, the resulting annual avalanches of snow will fall right into our side yard and will prevent us from planting the small trees we had been hoping to plant in our much anticipated secluded side garden. We are determined to smile and bear everything graciously. We must keep calm and stay optimistic. Plus, with weather like this, it’s hard to believe we will ever be gardening again.

The backyard earlier today during yet another snow storm

It is spring here in name only. I know it must be spring somewhere. I wish I was there.

Forced cherry branches--my make-believe, indoor harbinger of spring

Two more of our backyard trees—serviceberries this time—have been completely girdled by rabbits. This is proving to be a very costly winter.