December 27: House Tour, the Border and Critters

House Tour

Now that we have almost organized ourselves (or have sufficient places to hide things), I thought I’d give you a little house tour. 

Our front door is guarded vigilantly by Sinister and Dexter, our two annoyed warrior monks (but they are not visible in this gloom).

Right inside the front door is a little washroom (and you can see my brother’s ice crystal pictures reflecting in the mirror).

After a closet, there is a nice little office for Brian, with an opening onto the dining room to give him even more light.

Beyond that is the dining room that looks out onto the valley beneath us (and sliding doors to the deck).

Directly left is the living room (also with doors to the deck).

Opposite the living room is the kitchen.

Behind the living room is the master bedroom with a huge ensuite (massive soaker tubs are the norm here), stacking washer and dryer, and walk-in closet.  There is a little deck outside the master bedroom for morning coffee in the summer.

Downstairs, there is a rec area (again with huge windows) and access to what will become the patio.

The guest bedroom is really a bit more than average.  First of all, there is a little entrance foyer that has been named the “Library”.  Beyond that is the guest bedroom (with sliding doors to the patio).  There is also an ensuite bathroom with shower.  Just to let you know what you will be experiencing when you visit.

There are three storage/utility areas as well as a nice corner for my workouts, another little bathroom, and my workroom (of course with sliding doors to the patio).

The garage is a separate building with room for two cars and a little suite that was lived in by the previous owners while the house was being built.  (And this was downsizing?)

The Border

We went to the US Border yesterday.  All it took was a five minute walk up the driveway of a vacant lot to the left.  The border is marked by aluminum towers with long barbed wire on fenceposts strung in between. 

Naturally I stepped over the border, but Trump appeared not to notice, and no fighter jets showed up.  Out border marker is #121 and you can see the plate on it.

Critters

I have set up the game camera, but appear not to need it as the deer happily walked between the house and the garage a couple of days ago.  These were the famous five, but I only grabbed the camera in time to catch last-minute Charlie.  What you can’t see is one of neighbours at the end of the garage, grandly gesturing all five through.  The deer weren’t fussed at all.

Behind the deer you see my Christmas present bird feeder pole.  It has been up for about a week, with absolutely no signs of life.  Three days ago I saw a hairy woodpecker, two days ago I saw grey jays, and today all hell has broken loose.  There have been several grey jays, several stellar jays, a red-shafted flicker, chickadees and several Clark’s Nutcrackers (a first for me).  These guys are big—about 25% bigger than a blue jay, and they are noisy.  They also fight with anything.

Cheers!