To the tenacious few and/or surfers who happen to stumble upon this little blog, my apologies for the span of time between posts these days. When you have nothing of note to pass on, best to keep your typing fingers to yourself.
Happily, unlike the folks along the Assiniboine, our waters have receded. These photos were as of April 12th. There's only a small stream now.
Progress, I am loath to say, has been painfully limited of late. On the downside, sleep apnea had pretty much robbed me of any ability to fuse will with focus. Hence, little progress. On the upside, I've been able to help Lee, my daughter Jill's husband, renovate their main floor bath (plumbing, tub install, tiling) and the rewiring of their now gutted living room, kitchen & dining room.
The other good news is that we've made some progress in addressing the affects of sleep apnea. Now for that Level One sleep study after I see the Sleep Disorder Centre in 5 weeks.
On the non-building front, the return of wildlife and the ongoing delight of Fercos, the new Corgi, have been bright spots in this dull spring. The Sandhill Cranes are back. So are the Gold Finches, Baltimore Orioles. Something new for us is the arrival of the Common Snipe. (For photos & info check out my new photo blog.) We have also seen fresh evidence of Moose crossings at the north boundary of our property.
On April 20th, Kenton Byle was again on-site applying a layer of quarter-down to our driveway. It looks much more finished and should allow me to set the snowblower for a more thorough clearing.
Our first minor disaster visited on May 3rd. I'd been wiring at Lee's all day. Ruth got home around 6:30 and went to the basement to turn on the water. Just before jumping into bed at 10:45, I went to the basement – for what I don't remember anymore, as I heard and saw water on the floor as I rounded the landing.
The sump pump, when I pulled it out of the pit, was steaming. Clearly, it had seized early in the day, allowing water to rise in the 12" fill below the concrete, then slowly start tracking all over the basement some time after Ruth's turning on the water.
What followed was a frantic hour or more as we worked to get boxes of books, artwork and other susceptible items out of harm's way. Sometime during this process, I got a 1/6 hp pump pushing water out the window via a garden hose. Once the boxes, etc. were raised, I began vacuuming up the water, then carrying it up the stairs and outside, two buckets at a time. Until 3 a.m., Ruth was able to stay awake and open doors for me. I carried on until 5 a.m., carrying a total of somewhere 80 and 120 pails up and out.
By this time, most of the water was off the floor and the pump was just barely keeping up. I slept for an hour, went down to vacuum up a few more pail-fulls, and was on the way to Home Depot by 6:22. By 8:26, I was back home, sloshing through a bit of overflow, and installing the new pump. Once hooked up, it ran for almost 2 hours before most of the catch-up was complete. Suffice to say, I am now in the process of installing a second new pump about 8" higher to act as a backup in case the primary pump ever fails.
The laundry area is the most current item slated for completion. Now feeling quite a bit better, I got the cupboards installed in fairly short order. Then, on the day I installed the drawers and doors (hoping to give Ruth something to smile about) she came in, looked, and said, "Those aren't the right doors."
Ikea somehow changed the order from one style to another. This laundry area is so nice because, as they say, I'll get to do it twice. Happily this will involve only the doors and side cover panels. Still, never fun to redo.
I expect I'll be able to move a number of projects along over the next month or so. Time will tell.
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