Diary of a Canadian Home Owner

By Arnie Gess

I started this diary of things that we do around the house, so it will give a first-time homeowner or want-to-be homeowner an education on what it takes to be a homeowner and the trials and tribulations that go along with it. Sure sometimes renting is a good option to buying but I strongly believe that home ownership is not only the "right thing to do economically in the long run" but also within reach of any Canadian citizen who wants it.

So here it goes, below are the things we have done over the past month to maintain and live in our home.

January 2, 2012

• The Christmas and New Year holiday break was time to visit family and friends. We certainly enjoyed ourselves but I am happy to be getting back to work and the routine that comes with it;
• Today we took down the Christmas decorations inside the house and put them away in the basement crawl space;
• While I was down in the crawl space, I cleaned the water filter between my well and water pump. We do try to do this every 3 to 4 weeks to ensure that our well water is of high quality and safe for us to drink;
• Checked the holding tanks for the septic system and we have about one week left before we need to get it pumped out. We collect all the grey water as well as the more nasty things. It usually takes five to six weeks to fill both of our 1000 gallon tanks. We'll call the septic truck closer to the end of the week for early pick up next week.

January 3

• It was a beautiful day so we took advantage and removed the remainder of the Christmas lights and decorations from the outside of the house. It is a little sad to see them come down but it will seem like no time at all and we'll be putting them back up in late November;
• With the weather being so warm, we also took advantage and cleaned all the mud and road-salt off the garage floor where our truck is normally parked. It is so clean now that I almost feel like parking the truck outside;
• Did a major house cleaning today and got all the hardwood floors washed and ready for the next round of dirt.

January 4

• It has been super windy the last day or so and one of the clips came off our Canadian flag which hangs outside of our house. I had to get out the step ladder and climb up to install the clip. Always proud to see that good old Canadian flag waving in the sky.

January 7

• Another fantastic day outside and took this opportunity to fill up all the bird feeders in our yard so the poor little birds have something to eat for the next month.

January 8

• Had to take off the aerator from the main floor bathroom tap. It was partially plugged and I soaked it in vinegar for an hour. Vinegar did the trick and now our tap flows without restriction once again;
• The back door was not shutting properly. The door latch was partially sticking so I sprayed a bit of WD-40 on it and now it works like new.

January 9

• The septic cleaning company arrived this morning and cleaned out our holding tanks. Good to go for another 5 to six weeks;
• The curtain rod on one of our master bedroom windows ripped off on one corner and put a whole in the drywall. We managed to patch the drywall and get the curtain rod securely fastened once again.

January 10

• After all the mild weather, old man winter arrived this morning with a few centimeters of snow. Unfortunately the snow lightly covers the ice in our yard which makes it very slippery and dangerous for us as well as visitors to the property. After clearing all the snow, we added environmentally-friendly ice melt and sand to make walking in our yard a little safer.

January 14

• The birds have been feeding like crazy and we had to fill up the bird feeders again. Oh well, doing our part to keep them alive during the winter.

January 15

• Winter has finally arrived. Woke up to -18 degrees and it is only getting colder for the rest of the week. Swept off the decks and driveway in the morning. In the afternoon, we covered a few windows in the sunroom to keep the heat in and started a fire in the wood stove which made it a nice comfortable winter afternoon and evening.

January 18

• Again had to fill up the bird feeders. We also hung up some suet in the trees so the birds can keep fat during these cold days.

January 20

• Finally had the opportunity to sand the drywall patch and re-paint that section of the wall (see curtain rod reference of January 9).

January 22

• I think our main TV is starting to die. We noticed a light blue upside down V shaped spot on the screen. When you watch the hockey game, it looks like a spot light is shining on a player when he skates into that section of the screen. Too bad Santa Claus did not bring a TV on Boxing Day! We will monitor but I do suspect to see a new TV in our household soon.

January 27

• Today we cleaned all the blinds and windows in the garage. There was a bunch of dead bugs lying around and it was nice to get them cleaned up. We also washed out the garage floor as it was a nice day. So now good to go until Spring!