Cold Couple of Days

I woke up at about 5:30 in the morning on Wednesday December 15th.  The furnace was running and all the room heaters were going.  It was a little chilly in the main cottage as the fire in the wood stove had gone out over night.  But plenty comfortable for sleeping.  I checked the outside thermometer and it was clear and cold and -29C.  Not sure if we hit thirty at any point, but definitely the coldest day so far this fall.

Eventually I went over to the guest cottage and got a fire going and after an hour or two, once the place warmed up, Jon and I went to work.  We got 11 rows of panelling installed on the ceiling through the course of the day, which got us just beyond the 2/3 point.  This also took us around the pot light fixture in the mezzanine, and we installed that while we were at it.  We made a point of checking the continuity of all the wiring that I had installed to these pot lights.  That way if there was a problem with anything, we could fix it before we closed the ceiling.  But everything was good..  

We have to quit working fairly early in the day as it gets dark at around 4:30 in the afternoon at this time of year.  While we working on the ceiling, I didn't bother to continue with any lacquering, as it would have got in the way of the scaffold.  But at the end and beginning of each day I would finish a handful of boards, so that we had enough to continue.  It was still just late afternoon when we got back to the main cottage, which left us lots of time to prepare a hearty meal and relax through the evening.  On Wednesday I made a roast chicken with all the fixings.

We got a little snow on Thursday but it was very fine, and didn't amount to much.  The accumulation was only a quarter inch or so.  It started out at about -15 in the morning and got progressively colder through the day.  By the time we packed things in late in the afternoon it had dropped to about -21.  We managed to finish the west side of the high ceiling on Thursday.  The work progresses a little slower as we had to work from the very top of the scaffold.  We also had to cut around a couple of electrical boxes for light fixtures and smoke detectors.

We had leftovers for dinner on Thursday, and turned in relatively early.  There was a great sense of accomplishment at finishing half the ceiling.  I was very appreciative of the help that Jon gave me as it would have been impossible to do this work by myself.  The lower walls and bedroom ceilings can be a solo project, but the high ceiling can not.  There were only a handful of boards left when we finished up so I will have to bring out another load when the time comes to finish the other side.  It got really clear and cold on Thursday night and the temperature dropped down to -32.  Jon was planning to head back to the city on Friday so we plugged his truck in to make sure it would start.