November Island Trip – Day One

The day has clipped along, including getting on the earlier ferry as it was running late. The boat took its ‘heavy weather’ route. There was a point when I think the vessel was actually breaching. It was an exciting ride.

I picked up the remote for the insert, and arrived to an insert that doesn’t want to work. The installer will be out tomorrow. The oil stove is chugging along. The house should be warmish tomorrow. I’ll have my fight with the water heater after dinner.

Things that happened today:

• The rotten half of the deck is no longer attached to the house!
• The remaining half has been pressure washed and had a hatch built into it for agricultural water pump and pressure tank access.
• The front walk (the one mom clocked her head on 3.5 years ago) was pressure washed.
• The electrical inspection was arranged for tomorrow. 
• The mechanical inspection (for the insert) was arranged for Thursday.
• I called mom’s favorite tree guy to take a look at the big spruce next to the house. It’s full of holes and weeping impressive amounts of sap. Even with descent knowledge in this field, I am concerned about the health of this tree, and want the opinion of an expert. He was going to stop by, but it’s dark now. All tree people are oversubscribed today. I’ll call again tomorrow.
• The drilled well fellow came out, knows his stuff, agreed with our idea for where the pump could go, and will get me a bid. 
• The electrical folks stopped by to replace an outlet that was arcing when I tried to plug anything into it. They also coached me re tomorrow’s inspection. The main instruction was, “Don’t let him out the back of the house. There are too many problems (that will be solved when the well gets hooked up) out there.” Um, yes Sir!”
• I got the top of the kitchen cabinets clean. As this involved using oven cleaner at heights in the room in which I cook, and will soon paint, I also:
• Wiped down the walls and 75% of the ceiling (it’s a very small kitchen).
• Washed the light fixture over the sink, see below.
• Cleaned the counters, sink and stove.
• Put everything hanging over the stove through the dishwasher, except the cast iron pan. Mama didn’t raise no fool.
• Wiped down the drawer fronts, and
• Washed the tile floor.
• The tile/grout repair looks fabulous, yet the stove counter still hasn’t been touched… Working on expectations!

The wind is gusting hard enough to flex the eight foot wide sliding glass door. It’s time to light a candle, and pour a glass of wine. Light a candle, the power stays on, or at least that’s how the superstition goes!