Just a few sheets left

 

Deborah in her bedroom

 

How we left things Tuesday night

 

The MB lays the sub-floor

 

The MB'S beams

 

The MB is the king beam-maker

 

Tuesday and Wednesday 19-20 July 2011 How the floor appeared beneath our feet

Tuesday it rained again, showers really, and we were able to put the massive beams in place for the screened-in porch. These beams, 12 by 6, epitomize what I hope for this building: it will be a most unusual design, over-sized and ingenious, pioneering at its best. The MB finds his way around the various mistakes we've made with earlier phases of the construction. We even adjust the porch beams to make sure the building is square. Wednesday I spend a hot day in the sun screwing 2 inch screws into the OSB boarding which we used for making our wall and which I spent many hours cleaning them off. Excellent re-cycling. The sub-floor is nearly down and the MB decides to move some of the excess earth to open up the site. How will he be able to keep away from the project when we leave this Friday? We shall see...

Monday 18 July On with the floor

Another day with the MB. He's putting in the blocking for the joists and I install the joist rim, that is until it thunders and pours at 2 pm. We are moving towards a floor. We will leave cape Breton on Friday with a floor...

 

 

 

Sunday 17 July 2011 Feasting

The first feast is at Colin's and Margaret's where we brunch with thie family and watch Darren Clarke win the British Open, smiling his way through difficulties. He must be used to playing in rain and squalls. Colin shows off his garden to Deborah. His graand daughter entertains us all. Then on to Antigonish, to watch the Jpaanese women beat the US giants, then out to Bayfield to feast with David and Rosemary who are battling rain and ill-health with great courage. Arriving back at the Cape in the dark to unload all the stuff we are bringing from Frances. What a struggle to downsize! I can't wait (NOT). I can't imagine going through our books...

 

 

 

 

Saturday 16 July 2011 Cruising Halifax

I drop DC off at Frances's place where they will spend the next two days deciding what to do with F's memorabilia, with Frank's books, with all the bits of lives lived in this apartment. I do a Dragon's Breath visit to the Saturday market, then I use GPS to find the Renovators' Resource which is in an old Irish area (ie run-down?), meet the two owners who are ex-Toronto people who've become Haligonians, then cross over to Dartmouth to Happy Harrys and Home Depot where I wander through acres of shelves looking for someone who knows something more than I do about all this construction material... Sorry, "associates" who know more... Then back to Janet's for a break, then on to Frances to hear the heartbreak of having to decide what to leave in the recycling, what to abandon on the beach... To visit Frank who is once again very happy with the visit, and on to MIX, a very good restaurant on Barrington. A great pint of McAuslan Cream Ale, a bottle of Argentinian Torrontes with its fruity taste, a cheese plate hors d'ouevre followed by beef, tastes of fish and sushi, good bread and good desserts. Altogether a great day not working.. Meanwhile back in Cape Breton the MB enrolls Janet and Wayne installing joists and drinking homebrew... Life is hard at the Cape.

Friday 15 July 2011 How we fly to Halifax to escape the MB

From 8 to 2.30 we labour in partial rain. This was almost as hard as the concreting. Distributing shale and gravel across the last part of the crawl space floor... The sucking sinking Fireclay making an approach by backhoe impossible, we have to wheelbarrow the stuff. And laying plastic on the foot of water now in the basement might have been fun at the age of ten, but at 65 it's soggy frustration... I'm dead by the time we're done. So, I eat a table full of food and we're off by 4 to Halifax. DC has a date with Frances who is beginning to scale down, ie try to create a bit of room in her apartment. Off to Johns for clams and chips... The joint is run by a Spartan, the Peter Vlakos of Dartmouth! The Greeks are so good at fish n chips!

 

Thursday 14 July 2011 How peace was made with the BI and we moved on

24 hours talking about the BI, the Building Inspector: our Master Builder is outraged that the Building Inspector is questioning his authority to grade lumber, somehow expects the Grader to guarantee that the lumber is 19% humidity which is the standard set in the National Building Code. However, a wood grader only has to guarantee that wood is of structural quality: the humidity is the BI's problem and he'd need a special tool to establish humidity and anyway humidity in wood changes dramatically very quickly... So, we are quietly making lumber when the BI arrives and comes to a halt on our road. Sainte-Anne neighbour, Sherman Touchburn, you see in the photos for yesterday. We drop tools and drive ahead of the BI to inspect the site. Not a word is said about humidity in the wood. The BI seems to be limping: has a damaged knee! How can he do his job in such a state? 5600 kms claimed in one month! His territory is huge. The MB quietly awaits the BI's judgement on the garage. The BI isn't harassed, isn't even challenged. I've even filled in the little holes made by the snap ties... So, it's a "Carry on working, boys! Carry on, Michael!" Michael? The BI must have discovered that the MB has his reputation and knows wood. The BI limps off the site, doesn't sign anything (so I do), and the crisis is over. All we need now is an address which he can get for us. We've all come to an understanding, I hope. Cause for a little celebration as we move on to the framing of the walls and the roof, the real challenge...

 

 

Wednesday 13 July 2011 How the BI responds to an e-mail and how we decide to deal with him

The BI is once again the star of the day. The MB spends his afternoon applying his official stamp to all the lumber laid out as joists. After lunch the MB calls the BI and some well-chosen heated words fly from the giant swiss towards the BI. Meanwhile I go down to St Petes to get some "contact cement" to plug the little slits left by the snap-ties. The job takes 20 minutes and costs 7.50$. Why didn't he just tell me to remember to do this? This isn't worth an underlined "re-inspection"... And the MB is furious about the BI: there will be a confrontation tomorrow which I hope passes well and we move on. We lose an afternoon of lumber-making fussing over this tardy BI!
Photos show most of the joists in place! We nearly have a floor.

Tuesday 12 July 2011 How the joists are laid and the Building Inspector demands a halt to construction!

Well, we have a main beam and now start laying down joists. We work until 11 am when rain starts and we call off work. We retreat to the cabins for an early lunch and in our absence the Building Inspector, whom I contacted back on June 29 for an inspection, calls by and decides our lumber isn't approved and that we haven't filled in the little holes left by the snap-ties! The MB is furious but we think the Building Inspector (BI) just doesn't know that the MB is an authorized Structural Wood Grader. And didn't I just paint on two coats of waterproofing?
Gisela and Sherman arrive reminding me of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and our departure next week. The drama of the BI's angry halt called to our construction fills our evening chatter.

Monday 11 July 2011 How the beam was born

The MB told me that the wooden part of the construction would be much more fun than the concrete and shale struggle for the foundation. He was right: in one morning we proceed to build the main beam right down the middle of the floor, 3 2 by 10 boards nailed together resting on 4 6 by 6 posts. Amazing but by lunchtime there is a main beam and by 5 in the evening a third of the joists are up on the beam. I even manage to do another fall, this time tripping while walking backwards over the compressor. Again I am lucky. The MB shouts: Oh no, not again, as I go down but I jump up right away and shake myself down. I'll check later to see if anything's damaged.
Tomorrow we'll have the major part of the floor joists in place...

 

 

 

Sunday 10 July 2011 How the sun came back

Coming home late last night means starting the day in place. Wander down to the site. Deborah outlines how her vision of the landscape is evolving and it doesn't seem to me to be too backbreaking. We can now get an idea of the level of the house floor: wonderful view up over the lake which is, on one side, at 60 paces. The MB has backfilled on two sides, so now we can finish the crawlspace floor. Laying out thick plastic sheeting and spreading gravel over the whole floor, now up level with the footer. We are ready for some serious construction. But where is the building inspector? Vaguely worried about him, but I have sent 3 messages asking for a foundation inspection. Maybe he's forgotten us?
Making more beer to tie them over while we're away. Getting into a scramble to get ready to drop the project for 3 weeks... I'm actually looking forward to a holiday with no work every day...

Saturday 9 July 2011 How the Highland Games went awash

Took off early to see the Highland Games Parade in Antigonish. It rains but the parade goes ahead. I should join the Shriners of the Karnak Temple and ride a kid's car around the streets of Antigonish. But am I old enough yet?
The rain thickens and we feel sorry for those pipe bands and dancers who will have to perform indoors. It pours. Anna's house is full and we wonder how many will be with us for dinner. This house was built to be full, constructed for domestic confusion as people come and go. Anna smiles serenely and seems to be delighted with all the action.
To the market then with the crowds to meet the Tracadie butchers, the James River shepherdess who makes the gorgeous blankets and has the dog which lies in wait for innocent coyote coming down for supper,for organic food farmers, jewelry artists, photographers and Valley wine-makers... Then back to the house for, yes it's that time again, lunch and on to watch the French women beat the English women's soccer team in the World Cup and later to watch the Japanese women, incredibly inspired and non-stop in a cloud of yellow cards, beat the great German team in an overtime game. Germany goes into mourning.
Out to look at local art, in the new library where Alan Syliboys, the Mic Mac artist from Truro, has been persuaded to paint a large and rather disappointing piece for a main wall. An interesting collection of small paintings, including a piece of painted or stained silk which Conor has bought, his first Artwork. Do we have the beginnings of a great collector here? Rosemary has two paintings in the show, including one fiery autumn leaves. Then to Lyghtesome to admire an Adam MacDonald monoprint and Group of 7 inspired paintings by a Brennan from NB. Then an excellent chicken supper made by DC and off to the Antigonish Festival play, an English farce with lots of door-banging and angry shouting as a bigamist's children from the two arrangements discover each other on Facebook. i can't say I enjoy being transported to London in the 90s.
Driving home (yes, I am starting to use that word of this beautiful lakeside place) we almost get stuck in a ditch at the Monastery turn onto the highway and then have the pleasure of being stopped by a colored policeman in Port Hawkesbury who tells us that at 66 kph we were speeding and have a good holiday in St Peters. He must have been so relieved that he didn't have to speak French with us!

 

 

 

 

Friday 8 July 2011 How the Master Builder picks up wheels

The MB last year bought a 1980s Ford Mustang at an auction in New Brunswick which almost instantly stopped working. It is now at the Canso Ford dealer in Port Hawkesbury to which I drive the MB: he needs wheels.Apparently the problem is part of the ignition system, a "coil" and the MB is off in a red flash back to his Cape George eerie, if that's the correct spelling for an eagle's nest. Meanwhile, the bumbling non-builder goes back to Central to get some hangers for building the floor and more shims to level up the building. Then back to Canadian Tire to get some cleaning materials because Deborah can no longer stand the car and wants to clean it up. But how, I ask innocently, will I be able to recognize it in a parking lot? Without the Cape George mud all over it?

Back to making lumber, I seem to remember three days later... Too much sun I suppose on the old head. Too many falls on the building site. And then there is the lobster feast later that night with Mary-Anne hauling in a box of lobster from a patient and Hannah and Victoria entertaining us with songs and the optimism of the very young... Please note the MB eating at least two lobsters...