MORE PRP IN VANCOUVER

I can hardly believe that I am looking and about to have a coffee and cookie on Air Canada .

Their customer service is terrible and I swore I would never fly with them again if possible.

My Dr. cancelled my last appointment due to a death in his family 

so Air Canada said they would give me a credit.  

I rebooked a flight for yesterday and with the credit from the original $310.00 flight

 I was having to pay an additional $210.00 .

That seemed like a lot so I told the gal on the phone I would call back.

I got on the web  and booked a return flight without using my credit for $211.00.

??????????????

I hate Air Canada.

So I still have the credit.

It's actually worth nothing as far as I can tell.

Lot's of snow on the mountains between here and Vancouver.

The larger syringe is the actual PRP from my blood.

The smaller one is a human growth hormone .

This combo seems to work quite well.

One day later and I have no pain .

The flight home was cool.

We're at 17,000 feet and on top of the clouds.

The Rockies poked thru for a little while.

It was a beautiful ride.

I always worry at times like this that if we had to put down for an emergency landing .

Yikes. We can't even see a flat spot.

I'm feeling a little sad tonight.

My buddy's son sent me a picture of my last bike and it's looking great.

I sold it to him a few years ago and he loves it.

I bumped the motor up when I bought it and he bumped it up even more this last winter.

As much as I'm sad to see it go I'm glad Gavin got it.

He loves it and has put thousands of miles on it since he took it over.

This was the best bike I owned and its nice to see someone own it  

with the same passion I had for the love of the ride.

Speaking of the passion of the ride .

Our friend Kris built this Bobber in his garage over the last few winters and is entering it in the bike show this weekend at the Leesburg bike week in florida .

If anyone should win I think Kris is the one.

He builds nice machines.

He also built this RUPP for his wife Dianne .

I / we met Dianne about 40 years ago (yikes) in Winnipeg when we were hanging out

at the Manitoba Yacht Club. 

Her mom and dad managed the Yacht Club and we met her thru her sister Julie.

We were originally friends with Julie.

We also met their other sister Sue who also was involved at the Yacht club.

We bought our first boat thru Sue's husband Wayne who became a 

Floridian Yacht broker in Ft Lauderdale once they moved south.

They all moved to Florida in the 80's ??? and we have kept in touch with them all over the years.

They are still living there and are now our Floridian contacts and Buddies.

Hopefully we will get to spend more American Thanksgivings 

and Christmas's together in the next few years.

JUST IN. 

THE RESULTS FROM THE BIKE SHOW.

YAHOO. YOU DESERVE IT.

What a beautiful bike.

THE BOYS GOT A LOT DONE TODAY

Things really started to accelerate yesterday.

The boys installed the main post in the basement yesterday afternoon.

This is the post that holds up the main post in the house which holds up the ridge beam .

 That is the beam which holds up the house and it is important.

So I'm using my tractor's bucket to lift the post up (it's about 600 lbs's) 

and the end can only get about 7 feet off the ground . 

John says "Let's just lift it the rest of the way".

He hunkers down before anyone can get beside him and starts lifting.

He did need a little help but did most of it himself.

Whenever I look at him I think of Paul Bunyan.

I wish I could have taken a picture of that but I was busy moving the tractor.

Back on the main floor John has finished installing the beams for the loft.

He took a shoe plainer to hit the loft logs to give them a hand crafted look.

This does a rough job but once we sand them with a 60 grit they won't grab dust or spider webs .

Carrie took the day off of work to do the sanding.

She's a hard worker. 

 I wish she was here full time.

Once they are sanded John suggests we put a light stain on them for an accent.

Everyone who sees them thinks the hand hued look is beautiful.

They certainly will pop.

One of the lag bolts that tie the gable to the house came thru on this 2x6.

John is like a surgeon with his chain saw and did a nice straight incursion.

Problem solved.

So it was up and away.

Tim here took Monday and Tuesday off because he was getting a Stem Cell 

injection for his knees in the states. He was so excited for this.

He wears knee braces on both knees just so he can work.

This was an operation offered to him because it was needed and he was being given it for free by a clinic that helps people who can't afford such treatment.They select a few people once a year.

Tim was turned away at the boarder even thou he was in Vegas last December.

Tim is 57 years old , He's a hard working Canadian tax payer who says out of trouble.

He did get into a bar fight when he was 21 years old in the U.S.

 The chargers were dropped but apparently that doesn't matter.

 Trump just brought in a new law omitting guys like him.

 Thanks a lot TRUMP.

You're a real piece.

So there was a pause in craning the gable and because it was early in the day 

Appy  just sat down. He is one to enjoy the moment.

Tim is on the logs waiting for the gable and Ruth is standing beside me 

sucking in her breath every time he takes a step.

It's likely not the best place for her . I think it bothered her more than him .

I can't wait to see what she thinks when he starts walking the ridge beam.

John lowered it perfectly.

Now all they need to do is bolt it in place.

Bolted and upright.

This is going to be a tall house.

This gave us a bit of an idea of how much room there will be inside. 

We like it.

I wonder what people will think when we paint the logs black?

I'VE BEEN SICK

I don't know if it was the meatballs that were out in the sun for a few days or that bug going around Kelowna this month but I had such a sore , cramped up stomach on Thursday and Friday I couldn't move. On Thursday I just laid on the couch watching TV all afternoon and at one point I had to go back to bed and sleep for a few hours because I was exhausted.

I've never gotten exhausted from watching TV before.

It was horrible.

By Saturday I felt almost human again.

A little drained but fairly functional.

The weather has gotten warmer and Ruth decided to paint Ellie's tree house.

 It's going to match our log house.

I would have left it but she was determined to make it beautiful.

Fresh red paint on the roof (after she scraped it ) and 

a nice new coat of Sharkskin black on the walls.

It is looking pretty cute. So is she.

 Driving home today I stopped to take this picture.

It will look nice in front of the new build If we ever get it finished.

Carrie bought me some new work coveralls on Saturday.

I think she is tired of me looking so grubby in my torn work jeans.

Now I just need her to spring for some shoes for me.

Our main log house is pretty much done but I decided to install 

one of those hidden screen doors on our main entrance today.

What a job. I tore the old framework off of the logs to discover this mess.

I'll cut and build a fresh doorjamb tomorrow.

Log homes can be a lot of work if not kept up.

The last owner is proof of that.

LOTS DONE ON THE HOUSE TODAY

So John had a full crew there today.

When that happens  just sit back and watch. 

Suites me just fine. I"m just in the way of the log guys on days like this anyways.

I think this is the last load of logs to complete the house.

John doesn't seem to have any fear.

THESE GUYS ARE EVEN WORKING ON SUNDAY

It's getting pretty obvious that John wants to see this building up sooner than later.

He was here at 8:00 Sunday morning with his guys.

I was in the house when I heard the crane fire up.

Now he is making the female side of a mortice joint in the main upright post for the loft.

John uses the chainsaw like most guys use a hand saw.

The dovetail on this top log was too tight and was hard to get in.

Now this made me laugh.

John is standing on the top rung of a 6 foot step ladder and needs to trim the post to make it fit.

His helper , Appy tries to hand him his chain saw. I'm thinking this is a bad idea.

John says No Thanks. Get me my chisel and hammer. WHEW.

It's in and is a perfect fit.

Now I'm getting excited.

John just has to trim the end off of the main upright he made at the mill.

He has such control of his chainsaw.

While doing the cut he leans over the post and watches to make sure it is going straight.

His dad started Northern Log and Timber in 1952 

and John started working with his dad in about 1983.

He took the company over with his sister around 2000 .

Northern Log and Timber has built over 2800 log homes all around

 the world and John has been there to assemble many of them since the mid 90"s

This is a big deal.

We're raising the main post that will support the ridge beam.

Thank goodness we have the crane.

That's a big tree.

It's up and John's making sure it's squared up to the walls.

Tim scampered up to release the chain.

I'm not a fan of heights. Glad its him up there.

This house is going to have a high ceiling when it's finished.

This is the bean that will be holding the deck. 

John uses a shoe router to carve dips out of the log. 

It makes it look like it has been hand hued. Nice effect.

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

Dave use to live in the mobile home that was on our property when we bought it.

We let him stay an extra 4 months after we purchased the farm.

He left on good terms and now he helps with the yard work.

Today he actually told me how much he appreciated us letting him stay

 on after we bought the place and that we can always count on him

 to be there to help out with the yard.

The reason we let him stay was because his dog was about to have a puppy and 

he didn't want to have to move at the same time as the pup was being born.

The mother (Princess) died about 6 months after Stripe was born.

She was a sweet boxer and the father was a traveling pit bull.

Stripe is now a very sweet 2 year old but out of control.

I think he could be a wonderful dog but he needs more training.

BACK ON THE JOB

Garbage day is every Wednesday.

I use to drag the can up the hill to our roadside and hated doing it.

Now I take it up in the tractor  .

The best thing about this new tractor is that Carrie can drive it.

Sunday afternoon Carrie , myself and the kids went for a walk by the lake.

We sure live in a beautiful part of Canada.

Spring is now here.

The sail boats were racing down the lake.

It's just another sign of spring.

Sunday dinner I found a new Greek Kabob recipe. Yumm.

Monday after school Ellie had her first soccer practice.

She's so cute in her uniform.

Ruth, Carrie and Jack went to her practice.

Apparently she did really well.

I bought a nearly new air compressor off of Dan from Ace Hardware as well as a

nearly new air nailer. My old Rigid air compressor is going to retire.

It is too heavy and doesn't work all that well anymore.

We built the gable ends on the floor and covered them with batt and board.

I finished boarding them today with my new air nailer and Ruth 

started to get them painted.

When the house is built the top of the gable will be about 34 feet in the air on one side 

so we decided it would be smart to finish them before they get put in place.

We're starting to build the loft tomorrow and the gables are in the way.

The easiest solution was to sling them onto the driveway.

Lots of creaking from the gables when they first started to get lifted up.

This crane is a life saver.

We laid the one that Ruth has already got two coats of paint on beside the driveway.

We were going to leave this one on the floor of the house but it would be hard 

for Ruth to paint it while the guys are working.

I put some dunnage on the painted gable so that when we laid the next one on top 

we wouldn't ruin its paint job.

The gables looked a lot smaller when they were on the floor.

There was no rain today and tomorrow looks like it should be nice.

Ruth will be done painting tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting.

I'm looking forward to having this part finished.

Ellie stuck it out for about 30 minutes helping Ruth paint.

She's such a sweetheart.

John spent the last two weeks in Mexico so there was nothing done on the logs.

He got back to work yesterday and we're seeing a lot of progress.

He's truly a log home craftsman.

He's built over 2800 log homes in his life all around the world.

http://www.northernlogandtimber.com

Nice to see the walls going up.

One more round of logs and we're ready for the gables.

We noticed that a family of cow birds had pecked away the ventilation screens 

on our soffits. They filled the space between the rafters with grass and had built a nest.

Carrie tore the outside boards off the house and replaced the screen with a bullet proof mesh.

the birds tried getting back in this morning and were not happy.