This is the year our house project evolved into a lifestyle.  We built a firewood shelter and garden/motorbike shed, installed 100m of fencing and three gates to keep the dog in and the deer out, felled several dead trees and cleaned up branches, spread several tons of 1″ round stone around the house, terraced and leveled several parts of the yard, built some more rock retaining walls, and finished a few projects inside the house. We found time for several trips and a great deal of leisure activities, as well as teaching a course at UBCO and giving several interviews, and the welcoming of our new Shiba, Taisho. Shall now turn to interior projects for the winter, and sporting activities outside.

Getting rid of a pile of small branches and twigs.

New hovercraft ($50 on sale) that moves heavy equipment by using compressed air. Works like a charm.

View of the kitchen cupboards as they have looked for a few years now.

No idea how we will find anything now.  Next on the kitchen list is two more banks of drawers, and maple/cherry trim above the uppers.  And then doors for the corner cabinets, and another set of uppers, and the cherry trim on the peninsula.

And here is Taisho playing with a neighbour’s dog. Lots of spunk.

Gate finally finished with Christmas lights and Japanesy furniture tacks on each of the vertical slats.  May end up putting a small roof on this gate next year.  Finished lectures for the trade policy course for the year, final was yesterday.  All that is left is grading the exams (a bit of a grind punctuated by thoughtfulness and unintended humor).  First snowfall a few days ago but highs of plus 5 in the days ahead should melt most of it.

Found a perfect Christmas tree on the lower part of the property, about 4 meters tall. Will need to get more lights before dressing it.

And a video of Taisho playing with his new friend for the first time.

December 1st and our neighborhood golf course is still open, as are the ski hills. No snow yet in the valley.  Finished classes last week, only the exam left.  Gave a 2hr presentation on Saudi to a continuing education group, and had another couple of interviews.  Went to an opera performance (opera singers with a piano accompaniment) and a Junior A hockey game – both great fun.  Taisho started puppy classes and had a play date with another 6 Shibas at the local dog park.  Busy moving rocks and dirt before the ground freezes, cutting branches up to burn in stove or mulch in the spring, cleaning the eaves, draining the hoses and putting up the Christmas lights.  This tree, just above the switchback, died in the spring so I cut it down today.

ATV is useful in moving the branches to the burn/mulch pile, and the logs to the firewood pile.  The white tarp is covering a 3m high pile of branches.  Have put 500kms on the ATV in last 3 years, almost all on the property.

Finally completely finished the fence and gates with the final front gate today.  Will be getting a barrel bolt tomorrow as other ideas for latches did not work.

And Taisho channeling DiCaprio.  He believes his domain encompasses all he can see.