Okay, So I've Become a Bumbling Blogger

Thomas is sitting at Jill & Lee's diningroom table with Pete, Jill & Lee. He just asked if I'd updated the blog recently. Yep, six days ago.

We've congregated here for Christmas because Ruth's Ridge isn't ready for family gatherings yet. Claire, Cole and his girlfriend, Sara, should be here soon. The turkey is in the oven, the pumpkin pies are on the sideboard, the sweet potatoes are cooked, and now the younglings are heading out for a bit of iceskating on the community centre a block away.

Back up on Ruth's Ridge, the drywall – all 6,500 square feet of it – is now undercoated with a Level 5 surfacer, the paint equivalent of a skim or scratch coat. Ruth & I managed to get the job done in 5 relatively short days. The finish is amazing and should go a long way to ensuring that the top-coats of paint create a lovely finish for the interior.

Pictures to follow with the next blog.

The biggest challenge for the past three weeks has been humidity. Ruth picked up a humidistat which, upon setting it up, went to 78%. No wonder we had moisture dripping from every window and door. At any rate, the dehumidifier Jim & Johanna lent us has been crunching away since David & Dale showed up and, with the help of opened windows, we managed to get relative humidity down to 67% before we left Friday noon.

Speaking of Jim & Johanna, it was a very unusual experience to depart their place on Friday morning. Jim was on the front porch waving good-bye as Ruth & I, the dogs, and the last of my possessions headed down the driveway after just over two months of having Chez Argyle as the homebase for this DP (displaced person). Their extreme kindness in offering their hospitality to me/us is matched only by that of Audrey & Allan McPhaden, where Ruth stayed until this weekend. This demonstration of friendship has been greatly humbling for both of us, and we feel a debt of love to both sets of friends which we will be most pleased to work at repaying for decades to come.

Next week, we get busy with setting up the loft bathroom before we continue with ceiling painting and the application of the first top-coat.

We pulled away from Ruth's Ridge about noon yesterday with the car laden with gifts, food stuffs and a water sample for getting nutrient levels measured in anticipation of ordering a water softener. The most important stop for me was for a haircut; the uncut locks were becoming a working safety hazard, I confess.

Other than for Ruth's time off around the holidays, I will now be a work crew of one – attended by the two dogs and a burgeoning population of cats over the next month or so.

On other fronts, we will be hooked up to the www on Tuesday or so. Unfortunately, because MTS didn't inform me that rural hook-ups only happen during "the summer construction season," we'll be cell phone-accessible only for the winter. Ruth continues to be adamant that TV is not a part of our future on the ridge. Hallelujah.

Just as we were pulling up to Jill's yesterday, my cell rang and I answered it to find my motorcycling mentor, Chas Peters (no relation) on the line. I was immediately certain that his call would be to inform me that his wife, Viola, had finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. She passed away this past Wednesday, and Chas phoned to invite me to a private ceremony tomorrow and/or the funeral Monday afternoon. He added that she had complained once throughout the grueling course that this particular cancer inflicts. Vi was not much older than I, and I am reminded again how important it is to take great comfort and joy in whatever life offers up in the day-to-day.

Ruth & I wish Chas, his daughters and their families much comfort in the face of such a loss during the Advent season.

We remember, too, Muriel and her family as they celebrate this Advent without Orville. It was our great blessing to be Muriel's "Advent Angels" last year.