I'VE BEEN TOO BUSY TO BLOG

Life on this property give me daily laughs.

Ellie leaves for school every morning around 8:00.

 She doesn't carry books in her knapsack.

The entire Knapsack is her lunch.

She eats more than the average construction worker.

She even went to the office one lunch and said she was still hungry.

Carrie explained how the office has food only for kids who can't afford a good lunch.

She's not allowed to do that any more and she now understands why.

I think Carrie was embarrassed.

Luckily Carrie's friend is Ellie's teacher. 

I think that she found it funny.

Ellie is a major party girl.

She was at a birthday party on Saturday and came home loaded with treats.

Two weeks ago we had a woodpecker move in.

Ruth convinced me that if I built the woodpecker house  she saw on the internet
 our problems would be solved.
 Instead of living under our eve it would move into its own forest house.

I built it and went to install it in a tree on our property.

Carrie was busy painting inside the new build and then she saw the contraption
I had put together to get up the tree. She said she would go up instead.

She's such a good help.

First I set up a 6 foot ladder to get into the extended bucket. 

Next I had a 16 foot ladder extended up the tree.

I learned a few new words as she fought the 40 inch tall woodpecker house up the ladder.

Success.

And I think Ruth may be right.

The woodpecker has been spotted moving into the house.

We'll see if it stays moved in.

Back inside we have the pine ceilings completed 

and Carrie is up there spraying on a clear varnish.

Next came the dark trim around the ridge beam.

Carrie doesn't seem to mind the heights.

The ceiling looks really nice .

It reminds me of a church.

The second coat brought it home.

I stepped out to pick up more nails and Bob was taking a nap when I got back.

We also drywalled and painted my workshop/basement.

My friend Mark (From Leesburg, Florida) would love the wildlife here.

The deer ar really fat this fall.

No fear here. They come right up to the door.

Yesterday we had Iron Horse excavators come and massage the property.

No more drop-off's around the house.

That's another blog.

Back inside , the south wall and gable end doesn't look finished.

We need a post to continue up the wall to the ridge beam to finish it off.

I want it to look more like the north wall.

We need another post custom cut so I headed back to the mill.

John (Paul Bunyan) the lumberjack cut me another post.

I got it home and notched it for the ridge beam but it still needed to be sculpted.

John had left his shoe planer for me at the mill but I had never used one before.

I had seen him sculpt logs with it which gave me some false confidence.

Here is our conversation after I tried using it for the first time.

He's a great guy.

It's hard to see in this picture but my job turned out fine.

Not as good as he does but it's still acceptable.

Two more coats of stain and then a couple of coats of varnish before its ready to set in place.

GETTING SOME TRACTION WITH THE HOUSE BUILD

We took our friends from Winnipeg to the Scenic Canyon Regional Park to see the Chinese Ovens.

This is a beautiful hike.

The Regional District has erected a sign explaining the ovens.

The Chinese (They built the railway thru the Okanagan) use to come down here beside the river and have family picnics on their time off.There are caves cutting into this rock formation that they use to have cook fires in. Hence the name Chinese ovens.

Me and my sweetie.

When our friend Tracy passed away 6 years ago 

a bunch of us chipped in and bought this bench in her memory.

There were about 18 of us who all hung out together at that time.

It's nice come on this walk and think of our friendship with her.

She was a pistol.

This was one of Tracy's favourite views.

It was only fitting of us to have the bench placed here looking at Layer Cake Mountain.

Back at the build we have started to do the ceiling.

This picture is actually a reminder of where this wire is being buried.

We'll dig it out of the ceiling in the future and connect it to a pot light.

Carrie took Wednesday and Thursday off from work .

With her and bob measuring and nailing the boards onto the ceiling and me measuring and cutting them we made good time with the installation.

The gable ends were quite slow because of all the angles.

They looked great when finished.

The big side was finished in one day.

The white pine looks wonderful.

Sunday afternoon we took a hike with some new friends.

I love the interesting people I get to meet thru the piano industry.

They are tuning customers who just moved here from Ottawa.

We did a hike that Ruth has done with the Kelowna Hiking Association.

I didn't even know this place existed.

The canyon walls were amazing.

Another picture of me and my sweetie.

We were talking with a dog walker as we were leaving and he said 

this was a favourite place for the rock wall climbers. 

I can see why.

Back at work Monday I needed 8 more boards for the gable ends.

I asked John how much the logs cost that he buys.

He use to go into the forest and cut his own trees but it became too time consuming.

He said that he gets them for about $100. per cubic or Square meter.

I should have been listening more closely.

He did say that this log was about one of those meters.

John reminds me of Paul Bunyan.

Back home Carrie and I finished the ceiling on Sunday and Monday.

All that's left to do now is some trim and then spray with a clear coat.

I'VE BEEN TOO BUSY TO POST

Halloween is a big deal around here.

Carrie made a brain cake for Jack to take to school . 

She made one of these when Jack was in grade one but the kids were too scared to eat it.

Didn't seem to bother the grade 5 class. They all loved it.

Ellie took shortbread fingers. It was a hit according to Ellie.

So the night before Halloween the kids came into our side of the house dressed as me and Ruth.

Ellie came in yelling " Close the door " and "Pick up your toys". 

Funny . 

Thats supposed to sound like me.

Jack came in pretending to be Ruth saying things like "Who wants to walk to the garden " and 

"I'll buy you a donut if you cut your bangs". 

For all the things we do around here and that's all the kids hear.

Ellie's real costume was a mouse. Cute.

Jack was not so cute.

This is what 10 year old boys are made of.

I took a picture of them leaving for trick or treating thru the window.

What's with the leg in the air pose?

Back at the house project.

We now have electricity.

These guys were great.

But they should be for a $1200. connection fee.

Hydro made me put a second meter on our house and run a line underground to 

the new build.That was another unnecessary expense thanks to our Damn electrician.

He never called hydro like he was supposed to  and he put a meter and stack on the new house.

When I called to have it hooked up they told me they wouldn't do it until I moved the meter .

That meant a new underground cable at $30. per foot because the electrician had cut it too short as well as Now I had to install a breaker box on the new house that I wouldn't have needed

if he had done this job properly in the first place.

This cost me an extra $2500.

I'm a little pissed with this guy.

I ran out of siding for the inside walls so I spent some time yesterday 

helping John cut up a few logs at the mill.
First he had to take the log and wash it off.
Everything is so dirty with all the mud and rain.
He says if there is even one little stone stuck in the bark it ruins his saw blade.

This milling machine is cool. It automatically rolls the log into position.

John then aims the blade and lets her rip.

After we cut the planks we had to trim the sides and then bevel the corners.

This made it match the logs we used for building the house.

These interior planks are 10 foot long and 1.5 inches thick by 12 inches wide.

Needless to say , I'm a little stiff today.

Hard to tell but the mill site is a mud bog. 

I thought I was going to get stuck.

The rain didn't help.

Our friends Bob and Karen are friends from Winnipeg who have moved to Kelowna for the winter.

Bob is a builder and I have hired him to help me work on the house.

It goes so much faster when I have help. This wall is finished.

I'm just on my way back to the mill when I  finish doing this blog to cut the wood for the wall 

on the other side of the room. 

After that comes the ceiling.