July 13,2020

We rented a wood chipper at the mill last week. Buck and I got busy

 getting rid of the pile of cuttings from the edger.

This pile has been growing for the last 3 years.

                                                             

We'd scoop up up the wood and drive it over to the mouth of the chipper.

                             

The results were a mound of chips I took home for our garden and pathways.

We have a Marmot problem at the house.

These little guys get into the garden and eat everything in sight.

Our garden is doing great considering we are feeding a colony of marmots.

I've made so many raspberry/rhubarb pies in the last three weeks I've gained 5 pounds.

It's hard not to eat the whole pie.

Carrie finally got the lettering done for the name on her boat.

I started calling her my little diamond.

She let me do the stern.

So proud of myself. 

I even got it straight.

Here we go. This was a real test to see if the new truck 

could pull it up the driveway and onto the street.

No problem. 

It surprised me how easily it went .

Here we are at the marina.

we've launched the boat , found the slip and I'm going to go park the trailer 

about 3 miles down the highway in their storage facility.

Carrie couldn't find her car keys anywhere.

As I walked past the parking lots I decided to see if she had left them in her car.

As I got near her car I realised it was still running.

She had parked it about 90 minutes ago.

She was so excited about the launch she forgot to turn it off. Haha

Unfortunately I can relate.

Here we go.

She did great.

Unfortunately her port engine keeps stalling which makes it hard to control.

It's a boat. Nothing ever goes as planned. We'll get it fixed.

She's fitting right into the boating life.

Relaxing and enjoying the views.

She was telling us how wonderful this is and can't figure out why not everyone has a boat.

The next morning she phoned me to say that her anxiety caught up to her 

and at 2:00 A.M  she found herself puking over the side while asking herself 

what the hell was I thinking.

She was laughing as she told me this.

Once again , I can relate.

The next day we got her dingy ready for the water.

We were both excited to see how fast this little guy would go.

Carrie bought a new Suzuki 9.9 hp for an 8 foot dingy rated for an 8 hp.

First ride.

It won't plane. such a disappointment.

Turns out there wasn't enough air in the pontoons.

We loaded it up as hard as the pump would go and tried again. 

It barely planes. 

It's a nice dingy but it's built for an electric motor or something smaller than hers. 

Too much weight in the back and not enough hull in the water to give any lift.

Sharon came out for a visit.

Sounds like they had a blast.

On her way to the Shuswap she dropped Elliot , our grandson off with us for a few days.

We had a great time with him. He's got a great sense of humour.

Very subtle.

He got a virtual reality head set for his birthday.

Unbelievable.

On Wednesday evening our dear old friends Kim and Bruce came 

for a sleep over in their new motor home.

This is the best way to visit.

Appies at their place , Wiener Roast at the fire pit, and 

desert in the house.

Kim wasn't as keen on doing the virtual fun but bruce walked the plank.

It is absolutely amazing . I'd like one of these head sets.

A few days later Ruth and I drove back to the Shuswap with a new and bigger dingy.

This one is 10 feet long.

It's a miserable day. Rainy and cold.

To top it off Carrie is bringing the small dingy over to the landing where we can 

swap out the motor and see if a bigger dingy is better.

She stopped a little farther out than I would have. 

Turned the motor off and swung her legs over the side.

She thought the water was only knee deep.

It was up to her nose.

We both laughed about that for the rest of the day.

I felt sorry for her. She was frozen and shaking for the next 30 minutes.

The good news is that the dingy gets on plane and is very fast. Nice.

Now I have a new 8 foot for sale. Damn.

And this is why we keep the gates closed.

Carrie watched this little guy get born in our back 40 last month.

That was pretty cool.

HERE GOES ANOTHER HOME RENOVATION PROJECT

We like the french door so much on the east side of the great room

 that we decided to install one on the west side as well.

First thing to do with this job is to get into the crawl space and disconnect 

any wiring that goes into the power plugs on that wall.

Carrie kindly offered to crawl around the crawlspace and do the disconnection.

We all hate being down there ,

Lots of spiders.

The windows here needed changing anyways so the timing is right.

I had a glass company out to give a price on the upper triangles.

He had a good laugh. 

No argon between panes and the glass is so thin. It's the glass they usually put in picture frames.

No wonder that room is always cold.

This was a fairly big job.

It took a bit of persuasion to clear out the windows.

I was going to do this cut with my chainsaw but ended up using my sawzall.

Luckily the wires went straight down.

I was glad Carrie had disconnected them ahead of time.

I can't wait to get this door in.

We love the opening already.

I'll reinstall the plugs inside and outside once we know where the supports will sit.

Buck came over and helped me drag in the best investment I have ever made.

I rented a genie lift capable of lifting 1500 lbs.

Now all we had to do is get these posts up to the work area.

The top beam 10x14 and is 14 feet long. It weighs about 800 lbs.

 That was not easy but we got it done.

John showed up to help with the final details.

There is no way that three of us could have gotten this beam that high in the air.

I think all four of us were pretty pleased with how smoothly that went.

Next job was to measure the support posts and trim them off.

I used 8 engineered screws to hold the beam in place.

Not sure what Carrie was doing but it must have  been funny.

John got the posts trimmed.

He's a master on that chain saw.

It's coming together nicely.

I love being the supervisor  best.

I also love working with Carrie.

She just jumps in and does any job that needs to be done.

John never waits for help.

He won't be lifting these big beams in another 10 years.

Beams and doors in. 

Looking good.

These plywood windows will have to do for now.

All sealed and trimmed out for now.

I had to extend the holes in the logs to fit the electrical boxes.

The upright posts covered them and I still want plugs on these walls.

Brad came over and reconnected the wires for me.

It's nice to have an electrician around.

I'm not allowed to touch anything electrical.

With good reason.

All thats left to do now is get rid of these old windows.