Last year, we had no snow at this time. It all came in early December (and then melted) and between Boxing Day and mid-January.  We have had several small snowfalls this year already.  The difference is that while it has not been cold, it also has not been much above zero so the snow is hanging around.  And just after Christmas, we got about 20cm, which is the average snowfall for the entire month.  These cut up logs will be benches next year.

A dusting of snow on a Douglas Fir……

… and on a Lodgepole pine.  Almost all our trees are one or the other – our land lies in the midst of a climatic/elevation transition zone between 660 and 760 meters above sea level.

We are looking forward to using the cocktail table in the spring.

It has been quite a year for Mizuho and I up here on the mountain.  The house and property will continue to unfold over the next year.  Since Christmas, we have been getting some colder (-5 to -10 at night) and snowier (we now have about 25cm on the ground) weather.  Big White, a sky area 30 minutes from us in the mountains, has over 2 metres of snow.  The heat pump and insulation and sealing have worked great so far – it has cost about $4 to $5 a day to heat the house.  The last bit of good news we got was just before Christmas when they took 130k off the assessment to reflect the work that remains to be done (I figure about 30k in materials, and the rest in labour equivalence).  Looking forward to crossing several things off our list next year, and to slow down and expand our leisure time, and to enjoy the lava lamp and telescope I received for Christmas.  In the interim, we wish you all good things for the new year, and hope to see you somewhere, sometime next year.  D and M and Hime.

We have had a few dustings of snow the past two weeks, with an accumulation of about 10cm or 4″. The snow is dry powder but begins to melt whenever the sun comes out. I have been using the ATV with the snow blade and find it works great. Takes about 20 minutes to clear the entire driveway, although I need to go slow as there are still many bumps and rock.  By next winter, I should be able to blast up and down the driveway.  Will need goggles.  Last winter, we had a cold spell with snow at the end of November and then a two week warming that melted all the snow.  At this time last year, there was no snow and we were putting the roof trusses on the house but had only the footings/foundation completed for the garage/shop.  The snow arrived after we got the trusses up but before we got the tall wall up and the roof over the living/dining/kitchen so we had to shovel out the house a few times.  Roof is working well this year 🙂

This is the rock wall at the switchback looking nice with a dusting of snow.

These are the baseboards for the upstairs, made out of the same flooring material used for the floor.  Still need two coats of tung oil, and two coats of wipe-on polyurethane, and then I will cut the pieces to length and miter the ends and install them.  The wood stove in the background is great.  In the morning, the garage/shop typically is about 8 degrees and will drop another degree by the following morning if not heated or used.  The stove heats it up to about 12 degrees (a good working temperature) in an hour, and to 18 in two hours (better for glue and oil and polyurethane). 

This is the new floor for my den/library, about 500 sq ft.  This is the wood I got from a local sawmill that went out of business.  I was planning on doing this myself but given what else needs to be done, I decided to have one guy install it and another company to sand, seal and finish it.  They were telling me about 2 other hardwood flooring jobs they have going for two different hockey players – 6,500 sq ft for one and 7,000 sq ft for the other.  There are apparently more than 100 NHLers who have properties in the valley, mostly used only in the summer (a bit longer for the Toronto players as they are usually here before the playoffs start). 

The wood needs to dry for about 48 hours before I can place things on it.  My plan is to install the baseboards, and then to start bringing up my desk (piece of plywood on boxes) and the many boxes of books that will eventually be kept up here.  This will be followed by some planning for bookcases and railings (actual construction will be after the kitchen and bathroom cupboards are completed Mizuho tells me), and then the art and photos can go up, along with the feet. 

We had the pleasure of hosting Canada’s current and former Ambassadors to Japan a few weeks ago.  One I have known for 30 years (and with whom many adventures were had), and the other for 20 (and who brought me into Foreign Affairs).  They drove up from Vancouver for an inspection tour and overnight stay and drove back the next day.  We really appreciated them making the trip (one is a loyal blog reader) and we had a great time catching up and showing what we have done, and what remains to be done.  We had a light snowfall that night and more in the mountain passes so their drive back to Vancouver was a bit more exciting than anticipated.  They shall always be welcome.

A few days after the visit, we had a bit more snow.  The clean air and lack of vehicle traffic means the snow around us stays virgin white, and sparkles in the sunlight.

This is the remains of a large pile of brush I was finally able to burn two days ago, about the size of a small car.  The Regional Municipality only issues open burning permits in the winter, and only when the conditions are right for the smoke to dissipate out of the valley.  This was the first time this winter it was ok to burn.  I am burning mostly knarly branches, rotten wood and twigs and needles which would otherwise be fuel on the forest floor in the event of a fire.  The rest of the wood goes into the wood stove in the shop and keeps it warm.  I have one more pile to burn when they next issue the ok.

Decided to advances things a bit and hired a guy to install the fir flooring on the upper floor.  Next step, in a few weeks, will be a different crew to sand, fill, seal and finish the floor.  The flooring was obtained from a mill that went out of business – it is about 5 years old, and most of it is vertical grain 7 or 8 foot pieces.  Am thinking of using two pieces of flooring as baseboards, stained dark, with a bevel on the top, and other pieces to build the bookshelf/barrier around the stair opening.  Still no decision on the stairs.  Once the  floor and baseboards are done, I will have a functioning den and can put up art and photos, a desk, etc.  Good project for the upcoming holidays.

Put up a few Christmas decorations in our new house, as we are expecting a visit from Santa. Decided to not do a tree this year but to begin to select and trim trees for future years. We have a lot of trees.

We get some nice sunset views as the sun goes down over Kelowna, the lake and the mountains in the distance.

We also get snow from time to time. We had about 10cm on the 24th of November, which is good news as Kelowna averages only one snowfall of 10cm or more each year. Total snowfall is about 60cms, but this usually comes about 5cms a time, and often melts in between snowfalls.  Up here on the mountain, everything is quite beautiful with the green evergreens and the white white snow.  And the snow stays very white as the air is quite clean up here.  Shall have to try out our new sport snowshoes.  The snow is courtesy of an Artic Air Mass that occasionally comes down from the North to give us much colder than normal weather.  It was -4 and sunny today, and -12 and dark last night – about 10 degrees lower than average.  Had fires going in both the stoves today, in the house and in the shop. 

This rock came out of the garage/shop excavation. I finally got around to shifting it a bit (too heavy to lift) with the bobcat to level and position it as a cocktail table. Works great now.  There will be some minor landscaping done around it next year.

This is a view of the lower parking area, just below the house. One year ago, this entire area was filled with fill, about 200 tons. It has been used all around the house and there is not much, but enough I hope, left. I had arranged to get it moved here a few years ago when a neighbor said I was welcome to it, but I needed to move it that year. It is a combination of rock, gravel, clay and dirt.  This year or next the berm at the end will be gone.

This is a view behind the shop. The foreground are the benches-to-be, sliced with a chainsaw from a tree that we had to cut down (middle of the garage). The benches will be situated in various view points on the property next year. To the left is a pile of firewood for the shop. In the background is a pile of wood that will be burned as soon as we have an ok for a open fire burn day.  Should be a good fire!  Open fires are only allowed on larger properties when the “venting index” is above 55 – I believe this means there is some wind and not much cloud.  Since the start of the open burning season 6 weeks ago, we have only had one permissible day.

The back yard. This is the result of about 50 bobcat buckets of fill.  I will do another 10 or so in the next few days before the ground freezes up and then top dress it in the spring with about 6″ of topsoil.  This area will take about 12 cubic meters of top soil, or about 14 tonnes.

In between jobs, or when I am going up/down the drive with the bobcat, I try to do a little landscaping.  The far side of the drive has been cleaned up by removing dead trees and branches, and loose rocks.  There is still more than needs to be done.  The idea is to smooth out the part nearest the drive and have it revert to natural green vegetation.  The upper part will remain untouched.  The foreground will have a short rock wall enclosing dirt and natural plantings.  Hard to envisage I know – check back next year on this.

Sorry for the delay in postings – been a bit cloudy and there was not a lot of progress than warranted a photo or commentary.  I decided to move the upstairs (my den) higher up the priority list ( Mizuho is being a good sport about the lack of doors, closets and kitchen drawers) so Mizuho and I painted the two remaining walls – one the same colour as the other two and the 4th wall is painted the same colour as the bedroom walls.  It looks orange but it is more of a terracotta.  The three windows on these walls need only the top and the plinth, and some filling, sanding, and touch ups.

The other side of the den-to-be. The ladder is now removed as the windows over the stairs are now all done.  Have decided to contract out the installation of the fir flooring (seen in the background) and its sanding and finishing.  Will need to make a stair nosing and take out the railings.

This is a view of the area in front of the garage and shop (they are at the right, while there is a parking/turnabout area at the left – back end of the truck is visable).  The plan is to dig a a few feet more into the bank at the rear (some sand is in front of it) and then make a rock retaining wall with the large rocks that are too big to pick up with the bobcat but small enough to shove into place.  A job for next spring.  To the right of the photo you can see some the result of some crushed rock and sand that I am using to build up the driveway about 8″.  I found some steel screens with 2″ holes for which I build a frame and that I am using to screen the rocks and get 2″ minus crushed rock for the driveway.  Photo in a subsequent update.

Today was a delightful +5 and sunny. Got the bobcat’s drive belt tighten up, did some backfilling, and Mizuho painted some more trim. Beautiful sunset.

My sister gave us this metal rack to get us started.  The rest of our wine had been sitting in boxes on the floor for the past 4 months, and I wanted to get it all organized and up off the floor.  So last week, I built a wine rack out of fir off-cuts and scraps, based on a rack I had seen at a local winery.  Once that was filled up, our whiskey bottles and canned preserves looked a bit neglected, so I had to build another small shelving unit for them.   Now that that high priority job is out of the way, I can return to interior trim.  Have also finally decided on the colours for the last 2 walls in my upstairs den so shall try to get that painted in the days ahead.  First priority, however, remains backfilling and landscaping before the ground gets hard.

So we decided to go to Banff for 3 nights for some R and R.  Had a great time.  We were between seasons so there were very few people there but the weather was sunny and warm and the air magnificent.  We stayed at the Banff Springs Hotel – I hadn’t been there in about 15 years and it was about 25 years since Mizuho was there.  Delightful.  The hotel was built by the CPR about 100 years ago to attract guest from Europe and the US.  They would often stay for several months.   A nice 6 hour drive from our place, stopping in Golden on the way out and Field on the way back (highly recommend the Truffled Pig Café in Field).  A view of the front corner of the hotel (it is rather large).

A view during a stroll in the woods with Hime.

The back patio of the hotel.

Mizuho and Hime on the staircase beside the concierge.

There were lots of Elks about. We saw this one while walking Hime right beside the back patio. He was non-plussed and continued grazing after giving us a look

View from the 7th ( I believe) tee of the golf course. Shall have to give it a go the next time we are there.

Drove up to Lake Louise – nice spot.

Had a visit from my cousin the day after we got back, and then went to a neighbourhood barbeque. Both were great. Am now back working round the house.

I thought (prompted by a request by His Excellency) I would put out some photos of the house from different perspectives to mark the one year anniversary of the build. This is a view from just below the house of the back (view) of the house, in the direction of the view of Kelowna and the lake.  The heap of material to the left of the tree is the backfilling I am doing bit by bit – rock, sand and dirt.  It is about 1/3 done, and has a rock wall on the left to address the 2 meter difference in elevation.

This is a view late in the afternoon of the back of the house and shop/garage.  The area in front of the garage and shop will be left natural while the area in front of the house and between it and the garage/shop will have some shaping done.  There will be a porch off the dining room next year and some landscaping done (according to the plan/hope)

This is the least attractive view of the house, seen as you approach it coming up the driveway.  There is more texture in the green stucco than shows in the photo.  In the fullness of time, I will be making a stone wall in the area in the foreground and will fill it with dirt and plantings to bisect the two driveways.  The two propane tanks will be screened with some Japanese screens I bought many years ago.

This is a view along the back (view) of the house.  To the left (and not in the photo) is the entrance to the guest suite, to the right is the rock wall supporting the upper level in front of the living room.  Behind me will be the terrace for the guest suite.

View of the front of the house.  The property continues behind me for 300 meters and rises about 50 meters.  Mostly large trees and meadows.

View of the winery nearest to us, just down the hill. We were there a few weeks ago for a fund raiser for dogs and cats and the grapes were all on the vines, which have now turned golden and look delightful.