Refinishing the wood floors

The previous owner of this church did a bit of a ham-fisted job sanding and staining the sanctuary floor, and he never sealed the wood, so the whole thing looks dusty and is prone to damage. We had someone in to look it over, and he thinks it's in good condition -- likely because it was under carpet for many years - and he'll give us a good deal to refinish it. They start today, sanding down the fir in 40+-celsius temperatures, bless their hearts. We offered to delay until it's cooler, but he says it's not a problem. I'm hoping they have vacuum attachments on their sanders, or imagine the clinging sawdust!

He's trying to convince us that it's usual to leave the wood a natural colour and just apply a sealant on it. I'm unconvinced, as I think it would look too much like a gym floor. I'm not sure "basketball court" is the look I'm going for, and how would it be with the old dark trim and windowsills? At the same time, I know that an elegant dark floor would show every scratch and scuff and bit of dust and dog hair. Even a Roomba can't cure all (I know, because we had one here before, and after half an hour of aimlessly wandering the massive room, it gave up, stopped in the middle of the floor, and began wailing in German, unable to find its docking station).

I am going to leave the colour decision up to my husband because I've found I'm useless with colour, he's going to be the one using the room the most, and he knows the budget constraints. I trust his judgment.

Meanwhile, I'm hiding in the basement with a fan and my laptop, madly doing rewrites for my publisher. I have the dog with me, who will not be happy about the sanding going on upstairs, but it can't be helped. It's too hot to keep him outdoors away from the noise.

I'll post photos once it's sanded down and we see the natural colour. It will be easier to decide once we see the whole room in the bare wood.

Baby Trees

Have spent the last few days gingerly tiptoeing on the new clover to pull out a billion baby trees. The roots go down surprisingly far already, even though the seedlings themselves are only a few inches tall. Must yank them out before they get into the fancy-dancy new septic system. 

Note to self: next fall cover the entire yard with landscape fabric to catch the stupid maple keys before they can take root. Like spreading nets under olive trees.

On the plus side, the clover is dainty and cute and starting to fill in nicely. I'll have to re-seed a few places where my feet crushed the poor things, but in general I'm very pleased with how it's coming along.

Clover starting to take root

The microclover has started to surface, along with a million baby maple trees. Trying to figure out how to remove the trees without disturbing the baby clover before the tree roots get to the level of the septic system.

I grew up in Utah, where you coaxed and pleaded with plants to grow. Here, you garden with a machete. It's more a process of elimination, really.

Pictures to follow once things look semi decent.

Relying on Miracles

Hubby dropped me off at the church to spend ten days working on various projects. So far I've raked the entire side yard (hardpan duly broken up and smoothed, and about half of the million baby maple trees removed). I've seeded with microclover, because it will reduce the mowing and watering requirements, though with the number of rabbits I've seen lately, it will likely just provide them with good feeding. And I'll likely have to mow sometimes anyway, just to behead all the baby trees I've missed.

In this area, the maintenance of beautiful lawns appears to be a competitive sport. Our neighbours have vast stretches of the most smooth, perfect, amazing green lawns, and our yard now looks like I'm about to plant potatoes.

Our yard is big, though, and our hose won't reach all of it, so I've been wondering how to water the new seed. But last night we got a light rain, enough to dampen it all down, and the forecast is calling for three more days of rain later this week.

Thank you.

Side Yard Seeding

The weather has finally turned cold and damp, bringing winter a bit late, but it won't last long. The leaves are coming out on the trees, the spring bulbs are blooming, the garlic is five inches tall, and the other day I counted 35 robins standing around in the park like they were schmoozing at a sales convention. So I think it will soon be warm enough to seed the side yard at the church.

We have plans for a garden there, eventually, but until we can do that project, we need to do something about the field of mud left behind by the septic installation. If I put it to grass, it will need mowing. I thought about investing in the expensive low-mow/no-mow varieties of grass, but it seems silly to do that if I'm going to be ripping it out again in a year or two to do the garden. I've thought about planting the whole thing in saffron crocus or strawberries to get a cash crop out of it, but there are so many dogs running loose in the area that it wouldn't succeed. I considered a field of wildflowers, but I think the roots would be too deep and interfere with the septic system. I think we've landed on seeding it with white clover for now, which has to be mown less frequently than grass and will build up the soil with nitrogen. I can chop-and-drop whatever is left for compost after the garden goes in (and yes, the garden will have a fence to keep the dogs out). 

When I harvest my broccoli and cauliflower from the garden in the city, I know chickens would love those leaves, and so I feel the need to one day get chickens. Verlyn Klinkenborg, in his book The Rural Life, writes that the idea that cattle would eat his tree seed pods will haunt him until he gets cattle. Similarly, I know if I have clover, I'm going to end up with a beehive or two...

Movie Premier February 17

Spreading the word!

Warwick resident Paul Janes and the Parks and Recreation Department invite all to attend the film premier and screening of The Township of Warwick: Our Journey Through Time. Paul worked tirelessly over the last 3 years to create this unique film following a fictitious family and their journey in settling into Warwick Township. The film covers Warwick history from approximately 1832 to 1952. Paul gives great credit to those who freely used their skills to add to this project (you'll even hear a certain bagpiper I know providing background music in one segment).

Light refreshments and popcorn will be provided. There will be two screenings, one in Warwick and one in Watford:

A peaceful rainy day

Filled the gouges and dents in two bannisters with wood filler. Sanded. Stained. Varnished. Will let it dry and sand again tomorrow and apply another coat. I don't want to eliminate all the wear and tear on them. I like the patina, the evidence of a life well-loved. But I had to do a little work to keep us from getting splinters from them.

While waiting for the polyurethane to dry, I wrote for a while and sent off another manuscript. The dog is patiently curled at my feet under the desk. The rain patters the windows. The air still smells of the jerk pork I cooked for dinner. Nothing else needed, nothing required or expected. Quiet and cozy and solitary.

I was made for evenings like this.