It's Been a Wild Ride on Ruth's Ark

A lot has transpired since the last blog entry back in late May.

I've been able to finally feel that my head's generally above water on the house project and, after six months of feeling that the to-do list was not shrinking, this is a very good thing. Then, too, Delaeno Rempel returned for a few days last week and expects to be back for perhaps a couple more short stints. And, as of this past Friday, I have an assistant – my son, Thomas, for a few weeks. Finally, speaking of heads above water, we had a deluge last week Tuesday.
Delaeno & I were returning from a buying junket to Winnipeg last Tuesday afternoon. The skies out toward Balmoral were the most amazing shade of purple. Light rain began falling about 10 minutes from home, but the bladder of heaven absolutely ruptured as we pulled onto the yard. It only took a couple of minutes to unload the trailer, but we were both drenched by then. We learned the next day that our area got up to 5 inches of rain within an hour, making the week's tally over 8 inches.

By nightfall, Greg of the RM of Rockwood was at the end of our drive setting up "Road Closed" signs because the Jackfish Creek one mile east of us was flowing over the road. In addition, water was running over the road half a mile west of us, and the intersection of our road and Road 6E one and a half miles east of us was completely submerged. An hour later, the water was running over our drive, and so it continued for almost 36 hours. Our sump pump kicked in every three minutes for almost a week thereafter, spewing out 30 gallons every cycle.

On more pleasantly exciting fronts, Delaeno spent two and a half days installing our bi-fold doors and our loft stair treads, and also working with me to plan our railing system. We're looking forward to his return in the next short while to coordinate the installation of our railings and, possibly to get me started with building a stairway to our bonus room above the garage.

Meanwhile, Thomas started his employ here by restacking the 4-5 cords of wood I cut last year. After that, we got busy wrapping the verandah posts with pre-finished material and installed the lighting. Today, we managed to get the entire verandah perimeter framing done. With luck, we will have this particular project completed well before week's end.

On the weekend, I managed to get most of the last four wiring circuits done. We should be able to call for final electrical inspection within the week.

Oh, and our shower should be functional within a week or so. Can't imagine what having showers instead of baths will be like. Much to be thrilled about in here. Meanwhile, the light outside continues to amaze now that the heavy rainclouds have departed.

I Think I Can See the End...

... and it looks like Rudolph's butt – way up ahead, catapulting through the black ether of mid-winter; a winking star-burst of exhaustive potential. Yep, the list is shorter, more definitive, but I see Christmas 2010 as the likely terminus for the work of essentially completing this little task I set for myself.
That said, the shell that, for nearly six months, served as a heated campsite is now beginning to manifest evidence in many corners that a real house is in the offing here. Recently, Bruce Oughten and his assistant, Fred, came by for two days of work to get the eavestroughs and gutters installed.Then, much to my astonishment, a Ditch Witch showed up on the driveway late last week. Murray Klassen, the operator for Wiebe's Trenching (Morden) advised me that we are slated to finally get a phone land line in early June. MTS seemed unwilling or unable to share this tidbit with us.

What else? Costco sent a recall notice for my prized Cummins Onan generator. "No, Cummins will not endeavour to repair the unit. No, we won't be carrying Cummins for the foreseeable future." So I found a nearly-new genset over three times more generative that will allow us to run even our air-source heat pump/AC unit and a bunch of other stuff.Oh, and Paula from Manitoba Hydro's Stonewall office phoned with a friendly reminder that my wiring has to be complete by mid-July. And the verandah wood package from Parkside Home Hardware (Winkler) is featured front-and-centre of the house awaiting installation. And McMunn & Yates should be delivering the last of my siding supplies in the next few days.

The inside story is that the tiling David & Dale did looks fabulous. Since they finished that (for me) monumental task, I have finished installing all the pre-hung doors, the dishwasher, the kitchen kickplates, the kitchen cupboard trim, two more toilets, the loft vanity/sink, three medicine cabinets, the master bath lighting, tidy the garage and basement a bit....
Oh, and I managed to swap the snowblower for the lawnmower on the John Deere. What a prize that owner's manual is: cryptic, poorly illustrated and, mostly, pretty useless.
As of tomorrow, I'm switching priorities to three things: the cladding of the verandah beams, completing all electrical installation, and starting the construction of the back porch and the verandah. To add a little pressure to an otherwise leisurely completion backwards principle (decades-old musical allusion there), we are having a birthday celebration for Thomas & Claire in early June, are hosting the choir wrap-up party on June 26th, and the hosting granddaughter, Kate's, first b'day at the end of June.

Hey, the grass and trees are green, the temperatures are pleasant, the flies and mosquitoes are no-existent, and the ticks are few and lackadaisical. What more could a BMW riding photographer ask for, I ask you.

Oh, a post script. The three cats are showing the first signs of getting along.

Der letzte Teil von Fussboden

There's a pun in the title, which translates roughly as, "the last part (installment) on flooring." We're talking tile flooring here.

Ruth had surgery on April 29th to correct the triggering of her fingers on her right hand. On the following Tuesday, daughter Allison drove Ruth and grand-daughter, Kate, to Minneapolis to visit Ruth's sister, Sharon, and her family. It had always been Ruth's plan to do the tiling of our shower and floors, but the diminished hand function overruled that intention. So I was set to learn how to do this particular task while she was gone.

Just as they were crossing the U.S. border, my cell phone rang. It was David Ives. He and his nephew, Dale, had done our taping and plastering and, a few weeks earlier, I had called to see if they might have a few days to do the tile floors. Both of them have done and, more particularly, enjoy, tiling. I, on the other hand, have never done tiling (other than vinyl) and, after the 1,300 sq. ft. of hardwood, was loath to get back down on my knees again. But, back to the Tuesday call from David.
Turns out, they now had some uncommitted time on their hands and David wanted to know how I was getting on with the tiling. I was thrilled to say I could have the place in readiness for first thing Wednesday morning. I hooked up the trailer and headed off to pick up the sub-flooring and other supplies then, upon returning to Ruth's Ridge, cleared the bathrooms, kitchen and mudroom floors.

By Wednesday evening, the sub-flooring was installed. By Thursday evening, the two bathrooms and most of the kitchen tiles were laid. By Friday, the majority of the mudroom was tiled. On Sunday evening, Ruth returned from Minneapolis. It's fair to say she enjoyed her Mother's Day surprise.David & Dale returned on Monday to complete the mudroom tiling which, because this house has more angles than a Federal politician (and most politicians seem to enjoy hanging out in the mudroom) posed a major challenge for measuring and cutting. On Tuesday, they returned for the grouting and, voila, the living-space floors on Ruth's Ridge were completed. What remains is to paint the basement and garage floors to eliminate perpetual concrete dust.

The five days D&D spent have saved me/us a couple of weeks, I'm sure. I can now get to tasks with which I'm more familiar: installing sinks, toilets, dishwashers, etc. I've already hung about half of the interior doors (the first one taking a day; the next, less than 2 hours).
Pictures of the completed floors next post. Thanks so much, D&D, for the great Ruth-surprise and the marvelous Gord-relief intervention.

Yesterday, the verandah wood package showed up. Can't wait to finally get to some outside work after being confined to quarters for the past 6 months.

Time for a Kitchen Party

Well, I was able to keep to my hoped-for target of a working kitchen by the end of April.

When I first suggested to Ruth this interim goal, she said she'd rather not expect its achievement, as everything around here has been taking longer than intended. A very reasonable coping response, but I plodded on. So, it was doubly nice that both of us were surprised and pleased when, yesterday, the oven and cooktop joined the kitchen sink in being commissioned into service.

Ruth's delighted sporadic giggles are wonderful payment for the hours that went into installing the butcher block countertop and appliances. Being a one-man crew meant hauling up two 97 lb., 8 ft.-long butcher block slabs (plus two 6 ft. pieces) out of the basement on my own, followed by the 116 lb. cast-iron sink and the 146 lb. oven (this out of the garage). The butcher block was moved and repositioned many times, the sink got lifted onto the counter and then dropped into place, and the oven got pushed up a ramp and onto a Workmate in order to get into its hole in the wall. In summary, my geriatric fitness program continues apace.

I had a delightful surprise visit from my brother-in-law, Ross, this past Monday. He was in Manitoba for his son, Jotham's, university graduation and so he came to see what all the blog was about before heading back home to Vineland, ON. It was a treat to see the smile on his face and to hear him say that the photos of the location don't do this place justice. Ross has had a long-time wish to build his own place, and he says that following our build online has allowed him to live out that fantasy – although he doubts he'll do it our way now that he sees the price we are paying by way of lack of day-to-day or near-term creature comfort. I must say that I did not fully appreciate (other than in an abstracted intellectual way) how trying this interregnum would be. Ah well, every day is another day closer to completion... and completion is likely to be circa the coming Christmas at this rate.

That said, the days have embraced us with the delights of early spring. The ridge is now pretty much green, with all but the oaks having budded out. We've had our first rains of the year over the past several days, so I'm put in mind of Dylan Thomas' poem, the first two verses being:

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

On Thursday, Ruth had her second of four eventual surgeries to correct hand function as a result of carpal tunnel issues and arthritis. She now strolls around with a "Zieg, heil" hand posture, emitting dictates to the moustacheod pilgrim that is your humble blogger: "Wash the dishes; I can't."

So, lieing all around me are the guts of 25 packing boxes (packed by Ruth six months ago, unpacked by me yesterday and this morning) representing the stuff which now needs to be organized and housed in the kitchen cupboards. To the satisfaction of that end, I should now sign off and get the unpacking packed away.

Until next time.

A Little Closer to Home

It's been just over two weeks since the last post, and I think it's fair to say the glacier is thawing a bit. The snow is gone. The temperatures have occasionally topped 20º C. The Meadow Larks, frogs, and even crickets are back along with Junkos and other birds. The Pileated Woodpeckers are more frequent visitors again; I even saw one of them hopping around on the ground in the verges yesterday.

Home ownership involves utility bills. We finally got our first Hydro (electricity) bill in early April. The funny thing is I had to phone and ask for it. Seems that some unfortunate soul named Gordon Peters in Lac du Bonnet had been getting our bill. The line had been connected on August 7th, and we began drawing significant current when the electric furnace was hooked up in late October/early November. Unfortunately, the other Gordon Peters had not paid our bill which had risen to $1,255 by mid-March: not bad for months of construction draw and five months of winter heating. It appears our next bill will be slightly over $100; again, very good for this time of year. It seems that our investment in an air-source heat pump will serve us very well.

The last while has been made busier by non-construction activities as well. Our church choir sang Buxtehude's Membre Jesu Nostri (with chamber orchestra) as part of a three-hour Good Friday service and, following the Great Holy hoohaa on Easter morning, performed Bach's Easter Oratorio (again with chamber orchestra) on April 10th.

Ruth had her first carpal tunnel surgery a few weeks ago. Indications are that it was successful. She is now scheduled for the second of three more procedures to improves hand function. We are also very grateful that the astronomically expensive arthritis meds seem to be yielding results. The challenge for Ruth has been the inability to take on the mammoth list of tasks she would like to accomplish. This is compounded by our continued indoor camping lifestyle, but I hope to alter these circumstances markedly over the next two or three weeks.
Speaking of markedly, our choir friend, Mark McLellan, had a bit of time between job changes and took on the task of tiling our shower. Ironically, his efforts were bent on darkening one corner of our home while I focused on bringing light to every corner of the house. Once Mark has completed the grouting, I'll be able to install the fittings and glass wall. Who knows? We may be able to finally enjoy showering again in a week or so.
Light and access to electricity is now a reality in virtually every corner of the house. I still have a few connections to make in the kitchen, basement and for exterior applications, but it's wonderful to be have permanent lighting and receptacles, and to have retired the extension cords. I managed to get the dining room and great room looking less like a warehouse yesterday so that, when Ruth returns today from a delivery trip up to Pete & Allison's new permanent home at Riding Mountain, maybe she'll feel more like this is truly her new home. I know I certainly need to get this place to that state soon.
The closets are also now ready for our stored wardrobes. Once we've dust off the stored clothes, we'll be able to sport more than two outfits each again. Oh, the fashion possibilities.

The 53' trailer that has blighted our yard for six months is also gone. Just before Easter, our neighbour, Allan Trippier (who is also building his own home), came by with one of his highway tractors and turned the trailer around. On Easter Sunday, Pete and Thomas showed up and helped us empty everything into the basement and garage. It's added a bit to congestion, but we near the point of being to stow and organize our material lives... I think.
What's next? Well, Bruce Oughten should be here any day to install our eavestroughing. Ruth and I are seeing Delaeno and his wife, Micki, tonight and hope to be able to entice him to return for a short while to help with interior doors, the deck, the siding and a couple of other small jobs. It would be wonderful to have his skilled hands on-site again.

For your humble nail bender, the next tasks floor tiling and kitchen counters and appliances. Maybe even dusting off the motorcycles one day and seeing if they fire up. Now that would be a red-letter day.

Now with More Character than the Floor of the Freakin' House of Commons

Yes, I'm on to other items on the to-do list, thanks to the completion of the hardwood flooring component on Ruth's Ridge.
I've described this house as having more angles than a federal politician. Now it can also be said that, with the Country Maple flooring installed and finished, Ruth's Ridge has more character than the House of Commons when it's in session.
Larry, the owner of Beaver Flooring, and his assistant, JP, showed last Wednesday with a van full of noisy equipment, prepared to lay siege to all the rough bits of the hardwood I'd spent over 20 days installing. My overriding concern had been whether they would fall over laughing at my novice efforts, but they seemed genuinely pleased with what I had been able to accomplish. After the get-acquainted session and a walk-around, they brought out the Hummel floor sander and got to work.
The process of finishing a maple hardwood floor involves sanding the entire floor with 40-grit, then 80-grit, then 100-grit, and then screening the entire floor with a 100-grit metal screen attached to a circular buffer. Thereafter, once the edges have been sanded twice with a hand-held circular sander, the sealer/filler is applied, followed by the penetrating oil, which is buffed off with #2 steel wool after an hour or so. Lastly, a second misted coating of oil is buffed off.
That final buffing was completed just after lunch on Sunday.

The completion of the wood flooring allowed us to release the cats from their basement prison and add our last animal, Chester, the loud orange puss-cat. Happily, the weather has turned wonderfully warm here in Manitoba, so we've been able to crack the windows and air the petroleum odours fairly successfully.

Yesterday, Jim Rodger phoned to say they had heard Sandhill Cranes and had Goldfinches at their feeders. Today I heard a Meadow Lark, but no nailers, compressors, sanders or buffers. Oh, also the occasional hiss or yowl as the three cats try to find peace amongst themselves.