Sunday, 30 September 2012

A little rain a little pain

So Janet and Wayne came up for the weekend and we spent Friday cutting into the last big jobs. The playful backandforth banter of this ideal married couple was better than CBC radio. I could listen to their dialogue all day, and did. Even funnier than my script with Deborah.

We decided to tackle the Westend gable wall which hadn't had any attention at all, not even tyvek. It has more than strategic importance because it houses to screen-in porch and overlooks Deborah's award-winning monumental garden.

So we tyvekked, strapped, tar-papered and built a dividing line at the base of the top triangle to accommodate our 10 foot planks and Wayne was deeply disappointed to only complete 1/3 of the surface. But what can you expect if you have to learn how to do it before you start? By the time you get to the end you are racing along. And I explain that now it represents only a good day's work to finish and shows me what I have to do down the other end. We even managed to complete the tyvekking on the other gable wall which I hadn't managed to cover by myself. And I was able to install the fascia metal sheet along the south side so that we can now put on the gutters. Rain in the cistern!
I'm blogging here in Sydney at Mary-Anne's home where we're hanging out with Patrick while she treks off up to the highlands. It's pouring and I can't wait until our drains are directing all this water into our cistern. We really needed a couple of day's rest, with Deborah straining her back sanding overhead beams and I slamming my ribs down on the bathedge.

Amazing though what a couple of days can do to restore muscular energy. I can now actually imagine finishing everything we want to do with the house in the next 15 days. And even enjoying the 16-hour drive back to Quebec to get started in on a hard 6-months Premiership soccer, Cinéma du Parc, trips to Toronto and Ottawa and, why not?, Thanksgiving in Princeton and New York with David and Rosemary.

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