Christmas is Here. 2016

So a buddy of mine told me a few weeks ago that he had an extra Sansom 46' smart TV
still in the box that he would like to give to me as a house warming gift. 

WOW. I didn't know what to say but THANKS.

I'm still not too sure how to acknowledge this but I'm thrilled.

I will do something nice for him in return.

Christmas Eve day Yvonne and myself went thru the trap door onto our condo roof

 to clear the snow from some roof vents.

I am now part of the strata for the building.

 Even though we are moving to the log home soon I want to make sure our investment here is kept strong.

 Seems there is a problem with the vents but it's a spring time fix.

What a nice view from up here

.

Christmas eve day Carrie and I worked on the bedroom floors .

It's coming along.

Christmas morning. 

I can't believe that i'm up and ready to go to the kid's house to open gifts at this hour.

Daisy loves Jack.

She doesn't cuddle to many people but she does him.

Carrie got an old school 70's video game and was thrilled.

Daisy got a dog house built by the grandkids full of treats.

She loved it.

Carry is playing Santa and Daisy is having a Dog Treat Brain Freeze/Pass out.

Brad got a cap from Chris and on the gift wrapping 

it said "Love Chris."

Brad's thrilled.

 After 10 years of being in the family Chris finally acknowledges his feelings to Brad.

So we gave Brad a Hemp Toque. It's cool.

He wanted to know when to expect his execution.

Jack took it upon himself to give Carrie and Brad a card saying how much he loved them

 and he taped 5 loonies into the card. 

This was something he thought of doing on his own.

Very thoughtful.

Christmas Day

Ruth talked us into going snowshoeing in the back 40.

It was a very nice activity.

We stomped past our RV.

I felt sorry for it.

I feel that it was thinking it should be it the hot sun and not this terrible snow.

There is a steep hill at the end of the property that I didn't think Ellie would make 

but she climbed it better than the adults.

The view from the top of that hill looking at what we see from the house.

It looks better from up high.

Ellie and Ruth hiking up the trail on the way home.

So I think I gave Daisy too much turkey this Christmas.

Here I am giving her Hell for puking on the nice white wool carpet.

Now here she is 2 minutes later and she won't look in my eyes anymore.

I think she's ashamed for doing that.

2300 Sq. Feet of house and she has to find a corner of a 9x12 white rug we just put down yesterday.

Brad got a blueberry pie from one of his electrical customers and wanted whip cream with it.

We don't have a beater at tho house yet so he did it old school. By Hand.

It worked really well. Took him 15 minutes. We were all impressed.

One Week Before Christmas

So Carrie bought some pine boards , spent endless hours and built these beautiful doors for our pantry. Then she scrounged up some metal and built the hinges to hang the doors.

Next she got some gray stain and black stain and coloured them before she did the varnish.

It was a lot more work then she expected but they turned out beautiful.

The big surprise was this morning when we showed up at the reno.

She built some racks for inside the pantry that will hold spices , cereals and more.

She snuck over to the log house last night and installed them after I left her home.

I walk Daisy every night around 9:00 and usually end up visiting her for a few minutes.

She headed out just after I left. 

What a kid. These are beautiful . 

So Carrie doesn't know how to quit or relax.

It's near the end of the day but she is on the phone talking to someone (likely Brad) and 

sanding dapp off the door frames she has installed .

We're getting set up to have Christmas on the farm.

We work here all day , every day and go back to the condo for night.

Christmas dinner will be here in the log home with the kids and we're hoping 

to be moved into the house sometime in early January.

Jack and Ellie were over for dinner last night.

She is such a sweetheart.

So she comes over to where I am , climbs onto my lap and says "I Love You Granddad".

How sweet is that. I'm a lucky guy.

I'm also a lucky guy because I own a John Deere Tractor.

We had a big dump of snow last night and I was excited to see it.

I get to plow our driveway as well as the road in front of the neighbours houses.

Yippee. Ruth says I look like a happy little boy when I'm out there on my tractor.

Not Much Done On The Farm This Week

We were cutting some trees down in the bush at the north end of the farm last week 

when the chainsaw hit a piece of metal on the far side of the tree.

This cool little old plow was buried in the bush and we didn't see it until it sparked.

I'm glad we live in this day and age. Our ancestors worked very hard to survive.

 We've just gone thru an arctic blast which has made our evening walks very uncomfortable.

Little Daisy can only manage a few hundred yards outside before her pads on her feet start to hurt.

I ended up caring her back to the condo a few nights ago. We both hate this weather.

So after our slide into the ditch the other day we decided to get a decent 

4 wheel drive car for our winter driving.

Carrie has an Outlander that she loves 

so we thought that would be a good choice for ourselves.

I think this was a good move.

I've had a hankering for one of my Lemon Meringue pies lately 

so that's what I did this afternoon.

It was delicious. 

I also gave out neighbours a couple of slices for their desert.

Too many calories to leave hanging around our countertop.

Grand Kids Are Great

Jack had a big day.

First he was in the classroom play.

After the play he did a Christmas duet with his Mom while

his class sang along. He did really well.

 We were very proud grandparents when he did this.

I wish I had a better picture .

We had gone to the noon concert.

Ruth and I took care of Ellie when they did the evening concert.

Ellie got Mennonite sausage with cream gravy for dinner.

This is like a brain freeze from rich mennonite food.

Her eyes were closed and she said "I Love This". Hahaha.

She fits into this foodie family perfectly.

So after dinner I'm sitting on the couch having my regular evening 

when Ellie comes over and climbs on.

How can you not love this.

Winter Is Here

I really don't like winter.

It is beautiful with all the fresh snow but that comes with challenges.

The view from our condo.

The pool area looks better in the summer.

So Ruth and I were heading up to the farm this morning in the Mercedes 

but decided it was too slippery to drive , even though we have snow tires.

We were only 500 feet from our condo when we stopped to wait for traffic to pass before turning left into a turn around . We were going to head back , park the car and walk the 2 kilometres to the farm.

So we are at a dead stop when the car starts to slide sideways. Yikes. What the !!!!!!!!

The slope of the road suddenly got us.

So three hours later the tow truck company showed up and pulled me out sideways. 

Same way we went in.

He was so careful and did such a good job I tipped enough to buy a nice dinner for himself.

We've parked the car now for the winter . 

Unfortunately I did hear a clunk in the front end when I drove it back to the condo. Damn.

I put this picture on Facebook but took it off right away when I got a few smart ass remarks from a few dumbass friends who tried to make funny remarks about being in a ditch.

I was already in a bad mood.

I'm rethinking Facebook.

I did get one friend from our Florida Marina who was glad we were OK.

That was nice.

On a happier note , the log home is starting to be a cozy place to hang out in.

The drywall rooms were finished today on the other side.

Now we need paint , flooring , tiling the shower and we're in.

The kids had a Christmas Party to go to in Kelowna tonight so

I drove them into town using their car and they took a cab home.

They make a beautiful couple.

Another Finishing Day At The Farm

So the finishing is coming along really well.

Carrie has a shop where she can be creative and I dropped in yesterday

 to pick up the solid pine doors she built for the log house.

She took them back to the shop to finish them.

They turned out great. 

I love how they look in the kitchen.

I think I should buy myself a white helmet because I am starting to do more of this lately.

Watching her and supervising while sitting back drinking wine.

It's my turn to rest. Actually , I am a little tired these days.

It's been a big job and I really appreciate all the work Carrie is doing.

She's carrying on the torch so to speak.

The great room is ready and tomorrow we get new furniture.

I can't wait to see it turn into a home.

Ellie Turned The Big 05

It's a celebration.

Keeping in the Moir Tradition she has dragged her birthday on for a few weeks.

This was her 3rd birthday party. Lots of presents.

First gift was a party dress that Ruth got for her.

It was so cute when she opened it up and excused herself to go change.

She loves opening gifts.

Doesn't matter what it is, she loves everything.

Even a pomegranate.

The main gift was a thrill. She sure can smile.

We had a beautiful musical interlude.

I love hearing Carrie play Christmas duets with Jack. 

I'm looking forward to getting a new piano once we get into the log home.

So we cut a tree down at the farm yesterday and got it back to Carrie and Brad's.

Ellie was in charge of decorating before dinner.

She has a creative eye but we finally put her on the coffee table 

to get more decorations off the lower branches.

Ruth started an Angle Food Cake for the celebration 

but there was a slight mishap when Carrie took it from the oven.

No big deal. It still tasted great.

Here she is contemplating her wish of the year.

Here she obviously got it and Jack coached her immediately not to say what it 

was or it wouldn't come true.