And Then the Kitchen & Garage

Buoyed by the delight of seeing permanent lighting in the great room, I delayed the return to hardwood flooring and got busy with hooking up the kitchen and garage lights – both being areas where the lights were not dependent on the coincident hook-up of receptacles on the same circuit.

After getting the relay for the heat detector wired in (using macro photography inside a wall cavity to determine which wire was which) – as the detectors are to be on a frequently-used circuit, I was pleased to find that the kitchen light switches were already installed. Imagine my surprise, then, when I got the circuit wired into the panel and heard the detectors set, but was unable to get the lights up. Suffice to say, after a period of pondering, puzzling and such, I was able to determine that the three-way switches had been wired up incorrectly. Shortly thereafter, there was light in the kitchen.

With that knowledge in hand, I went out to the garage where I thought I would be able to apply the same solution to the problem of non-working lights out there. After much testing and retesting, no luck. I even tried installing another four-way switch, thinking it might be the culprit. Finally, I checked the Leviton website. Happily, their listing for the 5604 switch also included a wiring diagram. Imagine my surprise when their diagram in no way resembled the one in the Black & Decker guide I've been using as my electrical bible.

Small, but important progress today. Tomorrow, back on my knees.

Hey J&J, what light from yonder windows breaks?

Oftentimes our dear friends and neighbours, Jim & Johanna Rodger, will ask if I've made any of the interior lights operative.

As of this afternoon the answer is, "Yes, folks, I let there be light."
Now, back to flooring in the morning.

I'm Down on my Knees Prayin' "How Long, Lord?"

Today made the fourth day of hardwood flooring installation: I've marked last Tuesday as an orientation day – and not just to make my daily productivity look better!
So far, I'm crawling at between 50% and 33% of the rate of an experienced installer. Greg Martin of Finmac Lumber says a good solo installer will rack (arrange the pieces) and nail 100 - 150 sq. ft. per day. After four days, I've installed about 220 sq. ft. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but 'zat is vot it iss.' Given that we decided to go with mill select (sometimes known as Country Grade) unfinished maple, the colour and grain variation is quite dramatic. Add to that random lengths between 9" and 84", the desirability of randomizing all variables, having every other spike hit a floor joist, generally having 6" of separation between adjacent end-joins... well, you get the picture of what is involved in creating 1,400 sq. ft. of abstract mosaic.
We bought a pneumatic MasterCraft floor nailer which was desperately lacking in useful "how to use this sucker" information. Unfortunately, the 1-800 number so prominently promoted on Canadian Tire's in-store brand provided no more help so, with some careful testing, I divined the inner workings of the nailer and it has delivered fine results.

Meanwhile, Ruth has been spending three-to-four weekend days painting.

And, everyday, the light outdoors continues to inspire as we labour and perspire in what will – some many months down the road – be our dream home.

Off to bed to dream about it (I hope). The waking thoughts of protracted timelines as I roused at 4:23 this morning were definitely not dream-like.


P.S. A few weeks ago I again took a huge trailer of trash to the dump. I noticed this stuffed horse abandoned in the pile next to where I was unloading and, knowing Sadie's of things plush, brought it home. Yesterday, after watching Sadie head downstairs several times a day to visit Horsey, Ruth finally brought it up, where Sadie immediately tried to nurse (we think) from it. Of course, it may just have been typical doggie butt-sniff behaviour.

Second New-Year Post from the Ridge

Happy New Year, blog watchers if, indeed, there are any left.

It's been well over a month since the last post, and the reasons for this lapse are various. Firstly, as a mostly single-man crew these days, the pronoun "I" would be too much used. I really loved telling the story of time and building creativity shared with others. That time is now past.

Secondly, there have been few signs of substantive progress until this past week or so. The old saw, "more fun than watching paint dry," comes to mind. Much time and problem-solving effort has been consumed by issues regarding paint, the nature of which I will spare you.

Lastly, the sum of the above has resulted in a lack of motivation for blogging. That situation, I hope, is now being put behind us.

The foregoing notwithstanding, the time up here on Ruth's Ridge continues to delight the eye and inspire the soul. The profound good fortune of having the sun shine in our kitchen window each morning, watching the awesome march of light and colour throughout the day, and then having the moon rise outside the kitchen window most every night has made every hold-up or setback seem relatively insignificant. Ruth & I continue to marvel at the gift of this magical place. For the first time in a decade or more, I am enjoying winter... even if mostly from the confines of our new home. My friend, Jim, says he hasn't seen me this happy in years. Funny, I have never equated exhaustion and happiness until now.

The number of creature comforts continues to slowly improve. From the New Year's Eve first-flush, we have moved on to a tub and sink, clothes washer and dryer, a heat-recovery ventilator and an array of kitchen goodies like a kettle, griddle, coffee maker. Still, the one thing that I will never again take for granted is the flush of a toilet. I now know how much work goes into such a seemingly simple function, but every time I actuate the toilet, I thank my lucky stars that it worked in the first place and continues to work repeatedly.

So, other than wallowing in pigment, what remains to report? In short, the addition of lights, fans, smoke/CO2 alarms, the installation of kitchen cabinets and the immanent installation of hardwood flooring.

Ceiling Fans. A 70 lb. fan now hangs in the great room, thanks almost entirely to the extended use of David Ives' scaffolding. Another fan graces the stairwell, and a third hangs in what is sure to be the 'hot' master bedroom!

Lights. Pot lights in the kitchen and loft, hanging lights in the great room, main entrance, water closet (a huge school classroom globe restored by my father after reclaiming it from the original Plum Coulee Collegiate), and dining room. Ceiling fixtures in the closets, washrooms, mudroom and pantry. Lights and receptacles in the basement.

For the past week, I have been engaged in demystifying the workings of Ikea packaging and kitchen componentry. I have to say that Ruth did an amazing job of designing the kitchen, and I have had the privilege of bringing her conceptualization to life. As of this morning, all of the cabinets (save two, which are in transit) have been assembled, positioned and secured to the walls. What remains is to install the Ikea butcher-block countertops, the oven, the cooktop, the sink, the dishwasher, and to tweak the door and drawer alignment.

Perhaps even more exciting for me, is the start of hardwood flooring tomorrow morning. I have been greatly aided by Greg Martin of Finmac Lumber. He supplied the unfinished 2 1/4" maple and, in addition, has been a font of invaluable information about the installation procedure.

Yesterday, after allowing the hardwood to condition in our home for 12 days, I distributed the 4,500 lbs. of wood to the sides of the great room and lugged 36 bundles up to the loft. Today, after doing some work on the kitchen and enjoying a visit from Jim & Johanna Rodger, I established the starter line for the first course of hardwood in the great room, then stapled down the wax paper, and prepped the equipment for the morning.

It's wonderfully quiet up here on the ridge this evening. Ruth & I had a lovely Valentine's weekend. Ruth was especially Valentine-minded after spending a few days in Winnipeg with our grand-daughter, Kate, and her parents. She discovered the little person growing inside Kate this weekend and, frankly, fell in love. So lovely to see... and Kate is truly a lovable child.

Our family is more dispersed than usual, which makes life even quieter than normal. With Lee in Vancouver for 5 weeks with the Olympics, Jill headed to Arizona for a few weeks with her mother. Cole and his girlfriend, Sarah, flew down to join them for a couple of weeks. Claire and Thomas are immersed in university. Since we're going to adopt Jill's cats, and since our place isn't quite ready to accomodate them, Ruth offered to house-sit Jill & Lee's house while they're gone. Less commuting, more proper bathrooms and mirrors, more comfort for her until our home looks more like one by month's end.

Well, enough for today. I hope to be posting again in the next few days with updates on the progress of our flooring.

'Till then, schritt fuer schritt.