July 1st 

Canada Day

You have to love Canada. We may have our worst Premier and our worst Prime Minister in power at the same time but we are unalike any other country. We are recognized world wide for our politeness and kindness. We are known for our peace keeping and human rights. I hope with as many new Canadians we are accepting  that this doesn’t change.

Out of the house this a.m. and out to the course. Our weathermen have been so bad lately it is ridiculous. Rain today called for and it turned out sunny and warm. The people just didn’t come to the course. Talking to a few guys they even cancelled their camping and did a walk on. The course was only 1/2 full at best. Still a fun day chatting and spreading the joy.A weatherman has to be the only profession where we allow them to be so wrong. I just can’t start to stain and risk it. I can’t start building and risk it.

Decided to relax and watch Tiger play some golf. I was going to start doing my budget but got lazy and will do it Monday or Tuesday if it rains as they are calling for.

July 2nd and 3rd

Our weather guys continue to be BAD at their job. For years understanding the idiosyncrasies and complications of predicting weather patterns so near to a mountain range I was impressed with our guys. This year they are off by so much it is ridiculous. Jackie and I decided to head out to our lot in the possible rain to see what we could accomplish. Being wrong was good as it was cool but no rain. My lower deck turned out perfect. Today Jackie and I spent about 5 hours sanding off the popular buds so we can stain the upper deck properly. Turned out great with me using the belt and Jackie with the orbital. I completed the shed base except for squaring it off as i need to pull a vapour barrier under the beams first then I will nail it down.  We came up with a few decorating ideas when the weather cooperates I will implement. I am down to one game of golf a week which is starting to screw up my scoring. One game a week plus sore muscles is a killer. It is so nice out there with the quiet.

Watched the Bachorlette last night and just before that had a visit from Audrey. Always interesting to get someone else’s perceptive on things.Audrey doesn’t like Trump or the USA actions in the world. I don’t like Trump overall but think he is the best thing for a long time to start fixing a few issues that no one else would tackle. Obama was the weakest President in the last 25 years. He in fact reminds of Trudeau a bit in being wishy washy and nicy nice but useless. Trumps attitude, management style and bull hotheadedness doesn’t sit well with quite a few people. I think a lot of changes are long overdue. Immigration is out of control in the USA ( and now Canada), home land security should be welcomed by everyone, his tax reduction to businesses has caused a record setting DOW and profits for companies that end up paying more tax and employing more people, the unemployment rate is the lowest for decades  and the trade imbalance had to be corrected. Protecting the world is NOT their duty and countries like Canada should be helping fair payment. The USA paying the lion share of Nato and UN is not right and we all have taken advantage of the USA in protecting us.

Audrey is a proud to be British which is commendable as all of us should be more patriotic to our country but she was born there but only lived there 20 years, She is 60 years Canadian. Love the playful discussion taking the opposite side of the passion.

Thought of the Day

Just recently saw or heard this ” Years ago our parents gave us knives to play with, no helmets, and guns to shoot gophers with. The stupid ones didn’t survive”  

Perhaps we are weakening our society by not culling out the dumb. LOL 

July 4th – 5th

No celebration in Canada. Let those American’s have their own party. Love our Canada Day !!  It is funny with the controversy of trade with the USA. They quickly forget we won the war of 1812. They wanted to own all of the land to the North Pole but we WON.   Yes we need them but we can sell a lot of oil overseas if we get to build a pipeline. We can sell lumber,wheat , maple syrup etc to other countries. Perhaps this tension may help us to discover new markets so we are not so dependable on on country. My only fear with all of this conflict is our friend Trump forgets the positive impact on Florida and Arizona in particular that snowbirds have and wants to institute a tax or entry fee. If Canadians get scared of any kind of such action a million homes in these States will be up for sale and the home pricing will plummet as everyone wants out. Time will tell.

I received a call to marshal as we  were having a large tournament and they needed the extra help. Turned out to be 6 hours of help. I have to say this one goes down as my most interesting one to date. We basically closed down 18 holes today for them as we ran it as a shotgun. It was fun arranging the carts in groups. Leading out the groups to drop off the volunteers at each hole. This was a complete Par 3 set up on all holes with us moving the tees to around 160 yards on every hole. Each hole had a $50,000 hole in one prize.  It wasn’t the easiest tournament with some of the actions of the golfers. We had both beverage carts out and drink stations on two holes plus a huge food tent set up. Volunteers at every hole to ensure verification if anyone did get a hole in one. A few guys riding the roof of a cart, driving near the greens, guys peeing in sight and even caught a young lady squatting.

Each group had a “caddie” or two with their group. Interesting set up for sure.

They all arrived via limo which is good and they all left the same way. Responsible looking after the guys for sure. I counted 10 large extended limos.

A fun day. Interesting set up. Some odd going on’s and decent weather. The most important thing is some very worthwhile charities receiving money today. Inn from the Cold, YMCA, Distress Centre plus a couple others .

Thought of the Day

Golf tournament tip : If at first you don’t succeed find out if the loser wins a prize.

July 6th-8th

Had my men’s league today. I have been so busy lately that I have been only golfing once a week  and it is starting to show. I had another poor performance scoring a way to high with lost balls off the tee and some bad shots. I was feeling a little down with my score until after looking at the groups scores as a whole and realizing even a 6 handicapper was scoring in the 90’s it made me feel better. The whole group had an off day perhaps helped by the prevailing winds affecting the ball flight. I am going to start bumping up the golf to three times a week after next week.

Went out to the lot and with Jackie’s help we stained the large deck and perimeter boards. I love this “oil” stain. I have the same size decking as Fred but for some reason mine soaked up more stain. I had about 4 boards ( and I was trying to conserve) left and the privacy fence left when I ran out. All of the stores were closed as it was late in the evening so we had to wait. I phoned around and found the stain and Jackie whipped in and brought it back. We completed everything with the cedar being “oiled” natural and the structure stained solid color black. I love the contrast and have had numerous people impressed with the design and coloring. It looks sharp.

We moved all of the furniture back on it as it is dry enough after two days but left the rugs until next week to put down.

Jackie and I finished off the Saloon base. Sitting on 4 x 4 ‘s with a 2 x 6 structure and 5/8 treated plywood makes a solid base. All plumb square and level. I should have set it on 6 x 6 but  if it moves any it is easy to jack up and put gravel under to level again. The shed will be heavy.

Corey and I worked on the 11 ft tall wall by 12 ft long out of 2 x 6 and and 2 x 10 headers. HUGE wall and took a long time. I am going to say it took us at least 4 hours to do the one wall as i wanted the door and windows centered to each section.. It took 4 guys and 2 ladies to maneuver it into place. I was lucky both neighbors were around to help lift it. It is a beautiful big wall. Funny thing is the other three walls only took about 3 hours period and they went up sheathed. My new air gun for framing and sheathing makes fast work. It is all up now with just a bit of sheathing and then the roof structure to get it to a point I can start dicking with the trim and soffit etc.

When I was building the base I made a judgement error which I RARELY do and injured myself. I put a deck screw through my finger reaching  under to hold the plywood. Rips up the finger good and I have about a 1/4″ wide gap that has to heal with a scab. Perhaps a stitch or two needed but my hand modeling days are over anyways so i will let it heal. Two days later it bled at night while sleeping and i stained the comforter. Jackie wanted a new one anyways. Hurts, hard to grab stuff, hurts a lot,and can’t hold a golf club for a while. Dumb !

We got all of the walls up and and it is looking good. With all of the weight, my 4 x 4 ‘s sittings on a combo of gravel and ground sunk ever so slightly on the one end so I am out about a 1/4 bubble. Impossible for anyone to tell or know BUT i know it. I may, when done jack up the one skid and throw a bit more gravel under but it is so minute I could be considered anal for worrying about it.

As we were building one couple passed by and commented ” What are you building, a church ?”  Funny guys. I say ” Nope, a Saloon but some people may consider that their church !”

I am very happy again with my calculations of material except I am down to the roof and no rafters. Either the guys forgot to load them and I paid for something I didn’t get or my  guy screwed up the invoice. Turns out when I got home and looked at the invoice my clerk when inputting forgot to add them to my order. My order sheet lists them clearly. Home Depot was fantastic this time though following directions. I had one lift with the dimensional and one lift with the sheathing and they even put the pressure treated to the top of the lift. So NO moving product and re-stacking as everything was in order of the need. I had the soffit etc to move but that weighs nothing.  I did move the shingles and discovered something.

Years ago when I was working in the warehouse I would stack hundreds of bundles of shingles for individual orders each day. Years ago I would put a bundle of shingles on my shoulder and carry it to the roof to shingle as I have shingled approximately 7 times without any issue. Today just moving the bundles I said to Jackie they must be putting more sheets per bundle as they are HEAVY and I don’t think I could handle very many trips up a ladder with a bundle. Maybe one. I hate getting older !!!!

Jackie used the new BBQ and loved it. A good day. One more good day and it will be down to all of the fussy stuff and shingles which is a job I hate.  I have to look at ordering a door. It is annoying that a company I worked for close to 30 years is such a pain in the ass to get something from or even if they will sell it to me on the millwork side. Window division has always been good. I will check with Arnie next week.

Audrey turned 80 YEARS OLD this week. For her birthday we bought her a Fitbit as she always liked Jackie’s and wanted to track calories and steps etc. Current trendy thing to do. She came over to our house so Jackie could sync it with her phone and get it up running.

I sure hope Jackie told her it measures steps not sitting time as she doesn’t look like she is moving here . LOL   The new feature of a good electrical shock to the wrist if you are not going to reach your goal is a great motivator.  She put it on her left arm which is a mistake as when Audrey walks her left arm is a weapon flying back and forth so her actual steps may not be accurate. Awesome she is going to use it and make it work it for her.

We had her birthday gathering at Midnapore Lake which is such a wonderful facility. In Cranston we pay just about as much as a HOA fee and get a windmill and Midnapore has this huge lake, beach, boat rentals, fishing, ice skating and gathering spot. Nice!

We had Jackie & I, Alan & MaryAnn, David & Erin, Victoria & Corey, Kristen & Sheldon, Kennedy & Chris, Danielle, Jackson, James, Lora, Theresa & Cameron , a friend of Kristen’s and Micheal with Audrey.

I think she enjoyed the attention . IT IS NOT EVERYDAY YOU TURN 80.

Thought of the Day 

Age is just a number.     

WRONG       It is a word!

July 9 -10th

A warm one today. I consumed 6 bottles of water, two cans of ginger-ale and one glass of milk and still didn’t have to pee. Working by myself today as Jackie got a couple of days contract with the bank. First on the agenda was to cut the plywood to finish off the front. The back of the western front I won’t sheet until after the rafters are done. I then double plated each wall tying them together. From what i know a 4/12 pitch roof ( 4″ rise for every 12″ of run) the centre high peak should be 24″  ( 4 x 6 ) so I made the supports and cut the beam to throw up. It looks good even though I like the taller peak. This way though looks more similar to the gazebo. My drop downs for the front are in the perfect location with this angle of roof. I then installed a ledger board for the front porch. The ledger board also is used to tie the main wall all together as a unit as it has three headers and no top connector. Worked perfect and the height I need to clear the out-swing door works well. I cut out the windows and power nailed the sheathing around them also.  Another couple passed by and thought I was building the Taj Mahal. After the sheathing was done FINALLY the neighbor says ” Oh your building a western building ! ”  Yes a Saloon.LOL

Had supper with Jackie when she came out after work. It was gorgeous sitting on the deck in the sun looking at our accomplishments so far.

Walked around the park, talked to few fellow residents and enjoyed the evening. Jackie headed home as she had to work early in the morning. I sat on the deck, relaxed and had a cold beer. That is the life.

Up early and outside to set up everything. At this stage is heavy math with the angles to get the rafters to work. My angles aren’t working right. Up and down the ladder and pencil spitting out numerous angles and cuts.  I have to do a recheck as my roof line is appearing to work out closer to 3/12 than 4/12. When Fred and I did his I used the same formula and everything worked out perfect. Scratch my head.  I had to cover up three times as showers started then around 2pm the skies opened so I called it quits for the day and will get it done tomorrow. Huge storm supposed to hit around 6 pm

Frustrating yet fun to figure out the puzzle. I will make it work.

Thought of the Day 

Sometimes you just have to make a mistake to figure out what is right 

July 12-13th

It is an odd year with one day rain next four HOT then rain. The farmers should be loving this weather as things are growing fast.

I was lucky enough to have Corey’s help just about complete the roof. Two people make everything so much easier even though I usual figure out some way to do it. I have one side left to sheet of the roof then comes the ugly part of shingling. Need a cooler day. I am going to cover the entire roof with membrane and then shingle. I should have no leaks this way at all. Shingles, then house wrap and then the fun stuff.

It is funny how long things seem to take. Another good day on the roof and then I can start the the outside walls trim etc. Looking forward to that.

Jackson came out to stay with us Corey & Tor were out Stampeding. Lot of fun. Jackie and Jack went swimming at our pool which is wonderful.

You know where there is water kids will jumping.

After our water outing it was time for supper. What better than a hotdog cooked on a open fire. Love them as did Jackson.

After a great nights sleep which Jackson slept into 8:30 am we were up and had our smoothies.

Had a video call with August this morning as he is turning 3 years old today. He loves Jackson and has fun talking to him. Things I don’t understand

Happy 3rd Birthday August ( yes I know he was born in July)

 

Corey whipped by to pick Jackson up as they were heading to the grounds and we were heading to the 25th Annual Regal Building Stampede BBQ.  It seems like just yesterday when Roger, Barry and Bonnie started up Regal from scratch. To think of them now with their size compared to one bay and three guys it is amazing. Always the best to deal with. I enjoyed working with them from start date to retirement and still today enjoy talking and visiting them. The BBQ was the biggest ever with I bet close to 1000 people in attendance. Amazing.

Jackie & I had to Cowboy it up to go.

.

Another great success. Mini car show was awesome, wonderful prizes, games, food and ice cream. Had a chance to catch up with some old acquaintances which was nice.

Finger still too sore to golf. It is starting to heal but due to the width of the cut and the screw ripping out meat it will take time. It is even hard typing missing one finger in the process.

Thought of the Day

Stampede- Best 10 days of fun with your boots on !

July 13th

Friday the 13th. Odd I didn’t hear much about it this year. Jackie & I headed out to the lot mid morning. Bright sunny day. Let me correct that. BRIGHT SUNNY HOT HOT DAY! I will never complain about a hot day but when you are working outside and especially on a roof it is hot. Jackie was an excellent helper today as we sheathed the one side of roof, finished covering the back side of the wall of the western front, sheathed the back upper triangles, nailed down the siding and roofing and built the back upper wall. A couple more supports in there and it is done with siding, windows , soffit, fascia and shingling left. Not working on it for a couple of days as we are heading to Lethbridge for August’s birthday and I work on Sunday. Next week should be a good week on it.

My finger still is very painful and still bleeding when I hit it or squeeze it while working. Starting to get annoying as I want to fit some golf in. Hopefully it will scab over and being careful with it I can hold a club. I will check on Monday.

It was 32 degrees at 4pm today and sunny and hot. Enjoyable to work with Jackie all day and tiring. I just don’t have the stamina I would like.

Thought of the Day 

Just remember the 60’s aren’t for sissies !

July 14th

I got lucky and my supervisor was kind enough to move my shifts around on the golf course to allow me to go down to Lethbridge for August’s birthday. We picked up Audrey and headed out. The temperature was weird as it was only 12 degrees after being 32 yesterday. It stayed cool until about 1 pm then warmed up nicely. On our way we drove by Jess & Pen’s new lot and it is huge. A great corner lot and very nice that they don’t have a sidewalk along the long side to keep shoveled off with snow.

Lots and lots of kids at August party. Margy’s place is set up for kids with a swing set, loads of room to run around, a sand box and a large above ground swimming pool. The kids had a blast with every activity.

Jackson was very giving and gave his motorized Razor to August for his birthday. Big hit with it carrying 5 kids at once and numerous runs with a lot of kids. Only one incident where Penny was helping to drive out the gate and she hit the gate. LOL ( it was in high gear at the time)  Lots of time spent in the pool as the day warmed up.

Penny created homemade hamburger patties and cooked them perfectly. Awesome hamburgers for lunch. They had a quite a few friends and relatives at the party. But, Jackie & I drove all the way to Lethbridge expecting to see Heidi and her kids and they left already.

Loads of presents for August. So much so it is a little over whelming for him to take in.

I think with ALL of the presents August received he loved the tool box with tools in it the best. A real 20 oz hammer, tape measure, C Clamp, paint brush, laser light, flashlight and more. He carried it around for a long time everywhere he went.

It was a very enjoyable day, great food, nice to see people and fun to watch the kids have a blast.

Thought of the Day 

Where any famous men born on your birthday ?

Nope, only small babies 

July 15th

Start time of 9 am for my marshaling shift. It was cool at 9 driving the cart but it warmed up fast hitting 28 degrees by the time I left the course. A great group of people again today out on the course. Only one group not keeping up and very few rules being broken. I was just spreading the joy today and had a blast doing it. Loads of fun teasing people.

I found a lost club and on the way to find the group that lost it I stopped and tried to see if I could golf with my finger. Not a chance. It is still extremely sore to touch.

I will work on my shed this week and hopefully get it close to completion depending on Jackie’s helping schedule, Fred and or Corey’s.

Just relaxing today which I am quite enjoying.

Thought of the Day 

A relaxing peaceful day at home is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

July 16th

The weather is amazing. We are cold one day then cooking for 5 then rain. The farmers have to loving this. Crops should be awesome. Today was hot. I will never complain about hot weather but working outside it gets to. First thing this morning I headed to Star Building for my Canexel siding. Met with Daniel ( long time old acquaintance) to get my order placed knowing as a ILDC member they most likely have the best price for me. I am hoping to pick it up at CanWel tomorrow. Checked on my door but it appears to be NOT ordered as of yet so I will need to phone Regal to see what has gone wrong. Picked up a bunch of needed stuff at Home Depot and headed out. First thing was complete the back angle wall. I got that all done except for the ladder stringers on the last rafter. Tomorrow. Finished off the supports for the load bearing wall and then started to reconfigure the studs,king studs and trim studs and add a header for an additional window Jackie wanted for ventilation.

Made myself laugh. I had briefly checked the stock sizing at Depot and never looked closely at them. So I roughed in my opening without the windows. Get the windows and low and behold the rough openings are too big. A 30 x 30 Depot window is a 30 x 30 Rough Opening Window. Made myself smile but caused myself a lot of extra work. Now for Depot that is smart if someone looks at the window and realizes the size is RO it works perfect. First time I remember screwing up the RO size on a door or window. Fixed the three openings. Applied my Blueskin and installed the windows. Nice windows and look good. Even better when I make my “Fake” mullion bars to make them look like old windows.  A good days worth of work.

Jackie held the windows for me which made is easy to install and brought out supper as she had a contract today. Wonderful sitting on the deck in the country.

Time is flying. Our little Jackson lost his first tooth today. Big event for an adult tooth to be growing. I was lucky enough to keep a few of my baby teeth until I was 60 years old. I take care of them just that good. He didn’t care for the blood as I don’t. I always hated losing a tooth as no matter how loose I was scared to finally pull it out.

July 17th

Ok, I said I will never complain about the heat but working outside it is a killer. It hit 34 degrees.That is hot. Lots of water and a few breaks. Another good day. Confirmed siding will be for  ready for pickup on Thursday.   I have to say special thanks to Ken and Daniel on the pricing and helping get my Canexcel . Star Building was excellent.

Checked on my door and still a while away. Unfortunately.

Picked up the trim for the shed. This stuff is expensive but looks great and is meant for exterior usage. It is amazing how fast things add up. My bunkie is getting expensive. LOL

Started to work in the heat and tried to work on the shady side as much as possible. Difficult. Doing certain things by yourself are challenging but fun to figure out the how. I managed to Tyvek the building and get it quite tight and straight. I don’t like rolls and folds. I am still old school and used my hammer tacker to install it. They have new fasteners now. Got it all up. Cut out all of the windows and door and taped the seams plus over my staples. I have a small section on the top part I still need to do. I need to figure the how to make sure my overlaps are correct.

Started on the trim for the edges and windows. Two miss cuts and I had to reverse my cuts as I usually have the header extend over the legs but this shed will be different. I miscounted and miscuts so will need to pickup a couple more pieces.

A hot one so quit work around 5:30 as i was tired.

Thought of the Day

I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about the heat unless they are willing to remove all of their clothes. If still too hot I can then understand.

July 18th-19th

Hot again today. But not boiling. Very humid though.

I worked getting the roof ready. I installed stitches on the overhang. I installed a support beam for the snow load. I finished off the triangle back wall and did a bit of trim work. Fred arrived and we started on the shingles. First the edge trim. What i thought would be a simple job it turned out a little more difficult than I thought. The edge was a very deep thick one and getting the angles correct took time. Got it all done and then started to lay the membrane. Love this product as it was a peel and stick and stick it does. The wrap I bought was big enough to cover the entire roof. Should be no leaks. Ran the membrane up the back of the western wall and installed a metal flashing. No for everyone that has installed shingles knows you don’t want  a lot of waste. Your cutoff from one end goes as the starter on the next level. These fancy shingles use a different system with cutting at 5 inch, 7 inch and 11 inch or close to that. I tried for a few rows but the waste is huge so I went back to the normal 1/2 shingle system. The “look” may not be exactly the same but as we ended up with only one single shingle left if I hadn’t we would have been short. Fred and I worked all day and completed the roof that evening. I was both surprised and happy as i thought we would be working on this a little longer. Love the look. With the 4/12 pitch the design isn’t all that noticeable but even now it looks great. Having one single shingle and maybe 10 nails left I cut it close.

Jackie brought out or supper and we sat and relaxed as a storm hit. Sooo lucky to get jt all roofed. Had a few beer and a couple of rye while playing crib. I lost this time but every game was close. One game I was away ahead after a 22 point hand and Fred still managed to sneak in the win with a good crib and hand right at the end. Fun games but I do like to win.

First thing in the morning we head to Star Building to get my siding. Funny thing at check out i meet Cory Prentice at the gate check out. Two minutes later Blair Prentice walks by. Both of them are working at Star Building. Now that is a couple of good guys to have on your team. For those that don’t know Blair was my warehouse manager for years and Cory took over after Blair left. Hard working Saskatchewan boys. Corey was with me well over 20 years.

Speaking of Star Building. I had my best experience at a lumberyard in a long long time. Dianne the rep I was dealing with on my siding was amazing. Professional, knowledgeable, and very involved with communication and information. Between the excellent pricing Ken/ Daniel gave me and the great experience it was a wonderful pleasure dealing with Star Building. Try them I am sure you will be very pleased.

Unloaded everything and set up. Installed the trim boards on the one end and started with the siding. We completed the one end except for the last board as I didn’t have my table saw with me. The product looks unbelievable . I choose the Cliffside color and it is perfect for a Saloon.

Love it.

Fred and I then completed the back gable and front western front with Tyvek. It was getting later in the afternoon so Fred packed up and  headed home. I am happy with what we accomplished. Fred has lots to do coming up. I will be heading up to help with his shed on Sunday. Four guys should get this done fairly quickly.

I plan to rest tomorrow as I am tired of working for a bit. I need to install our new SIM cards and get Telus working. I Marshal on Saturday and then head up north.

Thought of the Day 

As tired as I feel I may have that Chinese disease Dragon Ass.

July 20-21st

Took a day and did NOTHING. Well close to. I contacted Telus and got both cell phones hooked up and sync’d. Telus was easy and good to deal with. We ported our existing phone numbers which was nice and Telus advised Koodo of the change. Pretty easy switch. Our monthly will be higher but less yearly as Telus is $10 a month when we are in the USA while Koodo was $ 7 per day up to $100 a month. Plus we had 500mb of data and now we have 4gb. Huge difference so pretty happy.

Did a few other things and the day flew by. Took Jackie out for a date night to Boston Pizza. Happy hour Ceaser’s were wonderful as was the steak, salad and deserts. Sitting outside on the patio in the sun for only second time this year was wonderful. We have been so busy to be only the second time is odd. Wonderful night. After Boston stopped at Canadian Tire and picked a couple of items we needed for our lot.

Up early and at the golf course bu 8:30. Great people on the course again today. Funny thing happened to me today. My water cooler was making any ice noise so I stopped and checked it to discover there was very little water and no ice left. I had to loosen it to check. A few hundred yards from the clubhouse it fell from my cart. Just then the manager happened to see it. When I was checking out he bugged me about it. He was smiling. As I left I said ” I will see about not dragging that cooler next time” He was smiling.

Thought of the Day 

I never make the same mistake twice. I like to make it 4 times at least just to be sure. LOL

July 22nd-28th

Until I get back.

I left for Edmonton Sunday around noon and arrived in Seba Beach mid afternoon. The little Dakota was like a dream and the temperature  outside perfect to drive in and work in.

We started on the base which went very well. The beams were leveled and we built the base plumb and square.  Cut all of insulation panels to fit between the joists and the afternoon ended. We had another wonderful supper and I had a lot of fun teasing Fred’s grand kids. I had a foot race with Scarlett, Kate and Martin. I was TRIPPED.  Fun kids.

I was lucky enough to have my unit to sleep in thanks to Ralph and Tracy. Terry gets up at 5 am for work and as everyone knows I am not a early riser. Turns out she got her revenge . 6 am in the morning a car alarm starts blasting. I figure Terry must have set hers off and will stop it right away. It kept blasting. Then I hear a pounding on my door. Turns out Terry trying to help set off my Dakota alarm. I jumped out of bed and ran across the road to stop it. It wouldn’t. I had Fred remove the battery cable

Luckily I was semi able to fall back to sleep.  Fred and I started. The power nailer I should have bought years ago saved us a boat load of time.  We got two walls built in no time at all. Troy and John showed up about 11 am and started to help. 4 guys make for easy work. With one caveat. Too many cooks in the kitchen can make a mistake. We ended up having the window not precisely centered. It works out perfect for Fred’s placement of bench etc in the shed. Easy math 10ft divide by two, window divide by two and everything should have worked out but it didn’t.  I had a online calculator and my third set of rafters to build so this time everything went fast, accurate and easier than ever. The birdsmouth cuts were tight and aligned perfect. Again 4 guys makes the work fast.  A true 6/12 pitch which previous experience taught me as I didn’t add the distance from the birdsmouth cut to the riser height.

We were able to complete the walls, floor, sheathing, rafters and roof sheathing in one day.  Having Troy at 6 ft 4 , John at 6ft 7  sure helps also.

Troy made the drinks tonight.  Now Fred and Kieth make three finger drinks but Troy makes four finger drinks. I like the taste of Rye but not strong. Besides the drinks get to you too fast and hard. Biggest reason I like beer. 12 beer equal two four finger drinks. They invented a jigger for this purpose. LOL  I went to bed around 11 pm . The young guys remained up.

In the morning Fred and I start on the roofing. The guys didn’t get up at until at least 10:30 am. They must be getting older. The 6/12 pitch does make a steep roof to work on. Very hard on the calves and toes.  Troy and I worked up and Fred cut and brought up shingles. Again the extra manpower makes it a ton faster. Finished the roof and installed the windows. Not your typical install as we sheathed which was the finished product sheathing then installed. No place to install a drip cap. So we are relying on silicone under the flange and silicone on the top of the trim board. Will work good. Then install of the door. Fred forgot shims so we only partly installed it. Fred will fix it up.

I then headed home to help Jackie out with Jackson and Augusts stay at our lot.

The next few days were fun, neat, tiring, interesting and enjoyable. First having a three year old isn’t the easiest especially when they are a little smothered.  But August was EXCEPTIONAL. This kid slept in every morning. Only the slightest awaking in the night.  He ate every meal with us. Played with all of the kids in the park. He followed and copied everything Jackson did. He loved the swimming pool.  Both kids were amazing.  I saw a huge growth in August’s personality and independence. A baa baa didn’t show up every time he wanted. The neatest thing was sitting at the store a family walks by and August says ” Hi ” ” This is Jackson and Papa. Gramma in store. Everyday to everyone he met he said ” Hi” Very cute.  He carried his box of Pop’s around filled with Pop’s and Fish and enjoyed them through out the day. Loved cooking his wiener on the campfire.

 

I am positive the boys had a blast. We had a lot of fun with them. They experienced a lot of new and neat adventures. August did everything we asked. His standard “No” rarely came up. He walked around the park, went on the highest slide, had a blast in the pool, played guns, slept well, chased around the playground with the other kids ,played with his toys, played with Jackson who was unbelievable in his help with August.

The boys, Jackie and I all had a wonderful time.

We don’t have the internet at the lot as of yet so I will post as time permits. I plan to try to finish the shed this week if possible except the interior.

Thought of the Day 

We don’t spoil our grand kids. We are just very accommodating.

July 29th – July 30th

Hot one today. On the way out to our lot we encountered a bike race. I bet you there were 300 plus bikers with police and volunteers directing traffic.   Quite a sight to see.

Worked from 10 to 5 pm today with Corey. It just takes time. I would say at least three full days left to get it done. Jackie was joking with me that the shed cost more per square foot than a normal house and she is correct. Stuff is expensive. The siding alone was $1600.00.  Today 3 boards of Smart Trim were $70.  Finished the back wall with trim around the window and completing the gable end. Near completion of the front trim to look like a saloon. Slowly getting there. Hard to work at 32 degrees in the full sun. Lots of water and the odd break. Tomorrow I will finish the front trim and start on the boardwalk and lean to patio.

Started early this am as I needed to go to Rona Strathmore to pick up some boards for the porch. I will say it is not like when it was a Totem store but after a little negotiating and gentle persuasion  I left feeling they did a good job. Even though I had to buy a longer length board than I wanted due to out of stock of 12 footers. Now that I think of it going thru their store they had a lot of out of stocks. This can kill volumes and destroy customer loyalty.

It just takes so long to do everything it is amazing.  There are so many things a single a person can’t do. I was lucky enough Jackie came out after work and we rushed before a storm and got a fair amount done. Built the front porch deck and raised the beams for the porch. At my current rate it will not be done before the weekend  party which is ok but would have been nice. My main issue is most people that don’t have a concept of construction and stages of construction see things that they don’t like yet on completion the issue is completely covered or corrected. This is why home owners should never be allowed a site visit.

32 degrees again today and exhausting in the heat also slows one down. Right after supper a storm cell passed thru with huge winds. Branches were falling everything with one hitting my gazebo but luckily no damage. You wouldn’t want to be walking in a storm though as the size of  the limbs coming down could have killed some one.

Trim work on the back of the western front and birdsmouth cuts on porch rafters are tomorrows list to do. I can’t install the rafters until the siding above is done. I also need a support system for the 2 x 4 rafters coming off the ledger board. I cant find adjustable joist hanger for 2 x 4’s yet. I don’t trust just nails holding a snow load.

Thought of the Day 

All good things come to those that wait. NOT remotely true.

July 31st 

Got up this morning and headed to Home Depot. Picked up the few things I needed and went home to pick up Jackie. On the way home something happened that is rare for me.

I am tired, frustrated, and annoyed about the time the shed is taking.  I have a good three full days of work left or more to finish the exterior. So I said to myself. ” Forget it, I am not getting it done before the party so why worry about it ,so I am going to really enjoy myself today”  I picked up Jackie and we went golfing. A wonderful  temperature and no wind. We golfed at Heatherglen  as it is the best deal for us. Jackie did amazing. Every drive was fantastic and second and third shots very good. She is trying to keep her left arm straight and it is working perfect. Chips and putts caused the score to climb. One main reason to golf today also was  to TRY to correct my slice. Today I sliced on two drives only that would have resulted in a 7 or 8 at Turner Valley but here I can still salvage a decent score. I ended up with a 84 missing a few birdie putts and par putts that would have really helped. I am golfing Turner on Thursday and hope to have no slices.  I need to score well there. I have numerous times previously but not lately. No pain or blood from my finger which was good. Only issue was my knee. All of the kneeling, shingling, trim work on roof , decking etc my bad knee is clicking every time I walk. It to will fix itself.

We had a lot of fun today and it was a nice break.

Tomorrow I will do a few things at the lot and start the clean up for the party so people aren’t in the middle of a construction zone.

I BBQ’d wonderful pork chops and garlic bread and Jackie made a salad. One of my favorite summer time meals.

Thought of the Day

One day of no thinking, no work, no worry is wonderful.