Made the Leap and Moved In. Merry Christmas Everyone - (Dec 14

December 25, 2019

Made the Leap and Moved In. Merry Christmas Everyone - (Dec 14 - 22, 2019)

An exciting couple of weeks and we've made the leap out of the RV and into the house. With the electrical rough-in completed the wait for the panel to connect to was on. We opted for a Square D panel with a built in generator section which was sold out on the island so it was Amazon to the rescue.

Studs and electrical rough-in completed. View from mudroom into the hall and through to kitchen (large left window) and living room (right side of front door)

No rest for the weary though, plenty to do while waiting. Scott got to work on dry-walling the main floor with the idea of getting the living room / kitchen taped and mudded, maybe even painted before moving in.

Drywall start - as usual nothing is straight, takes longer than it should

A fun family break on the Dec 14th weekend with Nephew Jim, Angela and kids, Peyton and baby Liam, pre-Christmas visit.

Liam and mom, Angela

Liam and Great-Grandma, Veda

Kayla watching Liam in the mirror

Liam loves seeing himself in mirrors - laughs his head off

"I'm a weeble, I wobble, but don't fall down"

Scott enjoyed himself more than he realized and was swaying when he got up to go. He's quite proud of his excellent balance which is evident when you see him climbing ladders or walking on joists. Imagine his surprise when he fell down between the RV bed on wall. To make matters funnier that space is tight and it took a while for him to get up again. Enough time for the required picture. The next morning we found a scrape on his head from the plastic bottom of the blind. Pretty funny all round since he's always telling me he's a weeble, wobbles but doesn't fall down.

Earlier arrival of Maritime Electric to put up new poll and 200 amp service

Our electrical panel arrived and the push was on to finish the hook-up. Maritime Electric came a day early. With the ground frozen and snow free it was easy for them to drive across the fields to put in a new hydro pole and new 200 amp transformer. It was a surprise to see them when I drove on the driveway and I was initially worried since the electrician had planned to come that day to get the panel up, mast and conduit outside ready for them. It all worked out when he arranged for Maritime Electric to come back the next day to do the final hook-up.

Scott digging on the right. Electrician Steve working on left.

Scott was lamenting having to dig down into the frozen ground exactly where we'd previously had the entire foundation dug up around the house. He was kicking himself for filling it all in a few months ago when he knew we needed a hole for the ground plate and wire. These things happen when there is so much to do and didn't take too long in the end. Did take the pouf out of him though.

Maritime Electric wrapping up
The two units on the left are the heat pump units to be hooked up in January

After regaining his energy.. drywalled the staircase and put the stringers in place.

Stair stringer in place - still using the ladder for now

Brother-in-law Trevor "Mr. Campbell" and his Christmas Tree Farm made the paper. Tree farmers had a better year this year without the late frost which hurt them last year.

No shortage of drywall to put up

Between everything going on and some crazy winds we hadn't taken the RV in for a propane refill and knew it was getting very low. No surprise when the propane ran out during the night of December 19th. It had been getting impossible to heat the RV to a comfortable level in the past couple of weeks so we decided to make the leap and move into the front of the main floor.

New Plan - move in as is with unfinished walls on main floor, finish upstairs, move up, then finish downstairs. We've spent the better part of 4 days getting everything in from the motorhome.. what we need daily as well as anything we'd be upset losing if a mouse decided to chew on it. Also making the inside comfortable... a makeshift sink and counter (counter came with the house), crates to organize and store food.

By luck and co-incidence the appliances we bought in October were delivered on the 19th. They didn't want to keep them any longer which worked out well too.

After 3 days without a shower I was feeling.. and looking a bit rough. We did have offers of showers in Montague but as long as no one was visiting we didn't worry about it. That said, it was a real treat when Scott got the "guest room" shower hooked up. He managed even after miscalculating the amount of Kerdi wall board which meant using vapour barrier on 2 sides of the shower. It's like taking a shower in one of those 2 sided see through fireplaces LOL!! Getting there is also an adventure. Usually I undress downstairs in the living room, everything except my workboots so I'm comfortable climbing the ladder to the shower.

Stairs coming soon.. sorry for any unpleasant imagery :-)

Looking forward to a shower

Kitchen before moving in

Morning coffee / tea one morning before
getting the stove plug hooked up

Airing out the fridge

View from bed (pull out sofa) 1st morning

3 wall hung heaters and a very nicely insulated house is keeping us a lot warmer and comfortable than the motorhome. The pull out sofa isn't the best - they never are but overall no worries.

Starting to get organized - the boxes contain our kitchen cabinets which we wait to install rather than risk scratching them

We wanted to get together with Matt, Chas to give the kids there Christmas presents. Chasity picked up an ugly sweater cookie decoration kit and we all got to work. Some were ugly, some definitely not (pointing finger at Chasity who decorated hers beautifully) .. fun time.