Week 7 Things really start happening

I was on my knees for most of Week 6 of this building season, laying out the floor. I'm feeling surprisingly good after the experience of wrestling 2 by 6s into position on the floor. Takes longer than I expected, mainly because you have to do the whole process: measure, cut, install, but I get to two thirds of the main floor done. I didn't realize how big this room was: 24 by 24...

Time isn't the issue anymore.

And then it turns to week 7 and the summer begins with Noreen and Paul visiting, bringing West Coast sunshine, shorts and Cape Bretoners complaining about the heat and the humidity. Somehow Noreen has the knack of bringing gorgeous weather to Nova Scotia. This is not the first time.

Knowing there are heat warnings back in Montreal and Toronto, it is hard not to feel a bit smug and absolutely delighted with the temperatures in NS.

Deborah is beginning to win some battles in her slug wars: but Cape Breton slugs and snails climb right over copper wire which we've reclaimed from ends of old wires. They are still fatally attracted to beer and distracted by melon skins but somehow they continue to produce armies of reserves. This battle with nature is permanent.

Noreen and Paul arrive at midnight in Sydney. In her pink suitcase packages of ICI's latest weapons against slugs which even Cape Breton slugs will not be able to resist. Little blue pellets like slug viagra, promising slug-delight delivering slug conclusion. Mary-Anne's house in Sydney is the scene of a Master Builder intervention as he cuts out old windows and installs new ones from the Baddeck company which supplied several windows for the chalet.

We start their visit with a full Cape Breton breakfast, including white and black pudding. See blog photo of Paul at work. Then we spend an hour at Home Depot loading up more supplies for the floor before careering off down the lake to Cape George.

But not before visiting George at Lobsters r Us for 8 lobsters to make a welcoming feast. Young Hannah is in fine form: getting into Ottawa U for medecine has boosted her confidence to the point where she happily splatters me across the table with lobster juice.

Meanwhile Mary-Anne coaches her fellow medics Noreen and Paul in the Cape Breton art of demolishing a lobster which they both accomplish with distinction.

And so to work, this time under the watchful eye of our Swiss Professor, the Master Builder, who is now playing the role of instructor and coach. Paul seems to understand his directions immediately, mainly because he's already spent a lifetime building boats and houses. The Master Builder gives us a list of tips, explains some of the recommended tools, then prepares the yard to receive the wood for the walls, inside and out. He clears out the Wood Miser trimming machine, cranks up the excavator to make sure it's working, then goes back to his cabin to tend Kola who has once again strained her hip to the point of exhaustion.

Meanwhile Dr Griffiths measures and cuts floorboards and I go back into my praying position to screw them onto the insulation and straps. By the end of the day we have a floor completed, although I still have to attach a couple of boards.

At six Glenn Higgins arrives, backing in, with the wood for the walls, inside and out and 25 boards for future decks. As we close down this first day of labour with my Welsh ally, the yard is full of lumber and I can see the endpoint. We plan to finish at least the main room...

This will be fun.