Cheruby went to the Harris museum the other day and found more information than our plaque provides on our house. Mostly it is information about who owned our house since it was built in 1927, but that includes some interesting information itself. There is even a picture of the building when it was a C.N.R. Station at Crystal Beach. Most of the other information is about Crystal Beach which was a lake that dried up in the 50s. The government pitched in some money for a swimming pool to keep the resort alive (it had events held there which 4000 people attended), but then a fire took the pavilion, dance hall, and concession. That's what really killed it.

The lot is 100" wide by 120" deep so we have a lot of space. It makes the house look proportionally sized to lot, not the ginormous 1420 sq. ft. bungalow that it is.


The potatoes and corn haven't started growing yet so we haven't erected the fence around the garden yet. Asparagus, peas, and carrots are yet to be planted. The previous owner left behind some raspberries, rhubarb, chives, and poppies. There are a few too many chives, but they'll be pretty when they bloom.




Cheruby is putting together a bookshelf while I write this. And then he's going to ask me to move so he can rearrange the living room.

The bathroom is off the kitchen which is a little odd, but serviceable so it doesn't really matter. And the carpets, in my opinion, all need to be replaced as I can continue to smell the previous occupants and their smoke.

Wish list of renos includes all new floors, painted walls in all the bedrooms, flooring other than concrete in the basement, all new closet structures, making the walls in the living room match (three different wall treatments), upgrading the furnace and water heater, installing air conditioning, repairing and repainting the soffits, insulating the garage/workshop, etc. Of course, the first two priorities are a/c and a new bedroom floor. I'll sleep even better at night.

The garage has a new tin roof. We agreed to buy the place with the crappy falling apart roof on the garage - this was a very pleasant surprise. It has a new wood stove as of four years ago and is quite large. It's more likely that we'll use this space as a workshop than garage.


There is also a carport type structure in the yard which we've decided to use as a picnic type area. Here's our view from said structure.


As we get the rooms cleaned up, I'll post more. I bought a jigsaw today and installed the cat door to the basement. It was awesome. I think I need more saws.

Our house's plaque.

Life in Harris is full of small town cliches. I wouldn't have imagined any of them to be true, but they are.

The post office lady is Sheila and she was at the bank when Cheruby was there so he came home for 15 minutes before heading to the post office to pick up a package. The local hotel doesn't actually let any rooms, it's just the bar. Our neighbour, Lila, brought us a cake and a dahlia yesterday. She went through the trouble of putting the cake on her own plate, but then immediately had to tell me that she didn't make the cake. She just tried to make it look like she made the cake. I was highly amused.


So one of our other neighbours is Norman. He just got back from the sunny, warm south somewhere. Apparently, quite a few folks just spend their summers here. And there is an old catholic church in town that's boarded up - it is occupied for one week a year when the owner and family/friends come up to go hunting.

We do need a restaurant in town. There's a story about the Harris Grill which is for sale, but it's asking price is too high so it just sits. Anyone interested in moving to Harris to open a restaurant? There are a few other properties for sale here. ::grin::

Janelle at the credit union is almost due so has just started training her replacement. It won't be long now.

The birds at 4 a.m. can be a bit raucous, but then, I'd rather have that than sirens or yelling people in the apartment building across the alley.

We have to protect our garden from the deer. Cheruby is learning to be a handyman and gardener. We bought a book called, "Back to Basics - A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills". Somebody's going to have to know these things especially how to craft a dulcimer.


There are few photos of inside the house yet because it still looks like a box storage place.

An mostly acceptable picture of the kitchen.