Windows Windows Windows!

Greetings!

The past week (well, the past two weeks, really) have been a whirlwind. We’ve had contractors here continually removing old windows and replacing them with new ones. Here’s an example:

As you can see, they brought in scaffolding to get to several places. It was here for four days.

At this point all the simple window replacements are done. In what amounts to nine days of two people working, they removed and replaced 31 windows and installed all the associated trim. There is some caulking left to do, and other work remains, but it’s more complicated. In one case we are removing an exterior door and replacing it with a window. In another we are removing a set of French doors and replacing them with a sliding glass door. Then we have all the siding fixes to do.

We’re getting a day off today (Friday) as both guys have things they have to take care of. The dogs really appreciate a quiet day, let me tell you. Cruzer has taken to sleeping in a downstairs bathroom to get away from the chaos.

Once again I won’t bore you with pictures of every window, but I will share this one:

That’s a final shot of one large window and three glass blocks that collectively took nearly two days to get done. The large window is huge (nearly eight feet tall), heavy, and wedged into a corner of the house. It was challenging to get it replaced, and it alone took most of a day. Once it was done they were going to simply trim out the three glass blocks so they look similar, but that turned out to be a can of worms.

There was rot in the siding around two of them, and even in some of the sheathing beneath. The original installation was not great, and after 25 years water had found its way into places it should not have been. Thankfully we caught it early and the damage stopped there. They cut out the rotten siding and sheathing, replaced it, reworked the trim, and reset the blocks very differently. They are now flush with the trim, so water has no place to pool, and there is flashing above them, to keep water from getting behind them.

All in all, it was a very large job.

Here’s a closer look:

And closer still:

Yes, Tinkerbelle still has her lookout, and she definitely uses it.

As with last week I spent the entire time they were here assisting, cleaning up, answering questions, and breaking down the old windows for recycling and disposal.

Next week the project continues.

In other news, the public art piece designed by my friend Heather has been picked up by the Capilano Salmon Hatchery! This is the one:

They have taken it off to storage until a new building is complete. It will hang permanently in that new location. I was home with the contractors so I couldn’t be there with Heather to see it off. I feel really bad about that, but it has gone to a new home and I will break down doors to be there for the grand unveiling.

Congratulations to Heather!

In other big news, there is more progress on our citizenship applications. I’ve had two more steps complete and it seems I am now only waiting on fiddly stuff. Even better, Anne has been told she will become a citizen this year! Paperwork about her citizenship oath ceremony is apparently on the way. Her application wasn’t delayed by the need for fingerprints like mine, so it seems she’s about three weeks ahead of me in the process. Regardless, we’re closing in on being Canadian citizens. This seems to be happening much more quickly than anticipated, which is good news from the perspective of avoiding renewing our permanent residency status.

We’re both very happy with this turn of events.

That’s a wrap for this time. Lots of good progress on a number of fronts. With luck next week will continue the trend. Cheers!

PS: Go watch Everything Everywhere All at Once. Great flick!