One last time

If we had a mantra for October and most of November - it would be the words "this is probably the last time". We were thinking that the fabulous weather couldn't last and that each warm evening would be the last; until next summer at least.  And so we would take the time to sit and enjoy a glass of wine on the porch on "the last beautiful warm evening" or gather our chairs at the end of the day and go sit down by the river to enjoy the sunset "one last time"; each time thinking that this was it. But it worked out that these words were just repeated over and over - we had a fabulous fall! Of course while thinking that things would end, we also held our breath and hoped that the warm sunshine and dry days would continue just a bit longer so that we could finish the main part of the workshop construction - and holding out breath seemed to work just fine.....

We were in "foam" mode again and were adding layers and layers of  foam to the workshop roof. This is one job where we actually looked forward to it being the "last time" (in fact I think we may have been muttering "one last $#*#*%  time"). It is a fairly tedious and tiring job. Along these same lines, we are both hoping that building this roof would be "the last time"! (However, there is the wood shed and then maybe a tractor shelter....). At any rate, we were both grateful for the weather that allowed us to get it all done.

As much as the summer stretched out, there were still signs everywhere that fall had in fact arrived. The leaves were turning colour and some of the trees, somewhat stressed by the dry conditions, began dropping their leaves.

The red squirrels were busy, gathering up food, and lining their nests with things to keep them warm for the winter.  One of them discovered a stash of felt packing material in our outside shed and we watched as it dragged pieces of it through the woods and up a tree. This was no small feat - especially when it got caught in the branches! The rather blurry photo below of the little guy/gal in action was taken through the screen of an upstairs window in the cabin.

Apparently, the felt was not the only nest making material that was used. One day I noticed that one of my inspirational message "flags" was missing from where I had hung a string of four between two trees. It looked almost as if someone had sawed it off with a knife - the remnants of it still hanging on the cord. The missing flag read:  "LOVE An inspired form of giving, love breathes life into the heart and brings grace to the soul". Who would steal my "love" flag?

But then, in another location, I noticed an entire of string of Tibetan prayer flags had also disappeared.  One day they were there:

And the next day - nothing there but the knots that had been tied at both ends of the cord.

Then we noticed that the original set of flags were being moved along the cord that held them in place, and each had a new series of chewed holes in them.  Yes, the (now blissful) red squirrels were the guilty thieves!

One has to wonder "why now?" The flags have been up for years and  none have disappeared but each day the remaining flags are a bit more tattered and one of these days I'm sure that all of these will also be gone. Oh well - it is a festive and inspirational nest that they are building and I hope that they enjoy them as much as I have.

Getting back to the house...Once the foam installation and strapping were finished on the south roof of the workshop, we took a few minutes for a quick "Hurrah"  - and then moved to the north side. Rob was beginning to take stock of how long it was taking, and thinking that despite the current good weather, it was possible that we were going to run out of time this year. It was already October 5th, and he still needed to do the north side foam and strapping, add eave extensions and gable ends, get plywood up on both sides, then the metal roofing, and then the solar panels! Oh, and there were also some changes being made to the indented area at the back, as well as moving the doorway to the longer wall (we don't like to discuss the reason for moving the door - something about the voltage drop and maximum length of battery cables and one connection being on one side of the door and the other connection being on the other side of the door - which means the cable has to go over top of the door - apparently it's one of those planning things. And who would have thought that you need 18 feet of cable for a 3 foot wide door!

But moving on... as you can see from the blue, blue skies, the good weather continued, and thus so did the work!

October 12 and the north side was almost done!

The next area to be done was the "corner overhang" .  Originally Rob had planned on adding this at a later date, but realized that it was easier to do it now and integrate it into the rest of the roof  rather than having a separate lower section of roof.  The roof was framed with a temporary support for now but will have a simple timber structure inserted at a later date.

Despite the long work days, Rob was often still game for a walk together at the end of the day.  One warm evening, a thick fog rolled in and we went for a long walk as the sun slowly went down.  The light was lovely; the warmth in the air quite unbelievable for mid-October.  When we spotted the cows in the fog, I took a few photos and the images looked like paintings - I was more than pleased with the results!

In previous years, we would get more than our share of rainy days and this would enable Rob to stop construction, and allow time to research the next project, pick up building materials, or in some cases get orders placed for items that weren't available locally.  (It would also give him a chance to recuperate a bit from all the physical demands of building!) This fall though, rainy days were few and far between so he would try to work on the job site during the day and do his research and ordering in the evenings.  We were still hopeful that we might get the solar panels on, so there were lots (and lots) of details to work out and parts to order.

Rob moved to working on the east and west sides of the shop, building the rake overhangs (and moving the scaffolding way too many times).

Next we got the plywood up on the south side!

Coincidentally, it was this same time last year when we were finishing the metal roofing on the new house. At that time Rob had said he couldn't have worked any longer because of the cold and the dangerous conditions so we had serious doubts about actually finishing the roof on the workshop, but we were going to try.  We were beginning to get real frost at night, making it impossible to work until the frost melted and the roof was dry and of course the days were getting shorter and shorter, with daylight savings about to kick in as well.

I had finished splitting the firewood by early October (yippee!)

I was now doing my best to get ready for winter - start stacking all that wood (not my favourite job), cleaning up outside and pulling our winter coats and boots out of storage and finding space for them in the cabin.  And then on October 27 the snow arrived.

This wasn't the usual few warning flakes that we would normally get, it was a good solid snowfall, and it lingered for a couple of days.  We were a bit disheartened, but the weather forecast promised more sunny weather, so we hoped the snow would all melt and we could continue working. It was strange to see the trees still bearing their autumn leaves, with snow all around.

By Halloween the snow had melted, and our friend Bob arrived to help with the plywood on the north side.

The roof liner went on, the "warm" temperatures came back, and Rob and Bob got to work on the metal roof.  We had pretty much decided to just get the metal on the south roof and then (if possible) get the solar panels up . The north side would probably have to wait until spring. It was a fine plan that was much easier to say than do!

Some days this job went faster than others but it was a complex procedure.  The flashing had to be cut and fitted together and then each piece of roofing had to be cut and folded and crimped at the end so that it would lock on to the flashing. We also decided to install the brackets for the rails that would hold the solar panels since it was easier to do this as we went along.  I would have to say that things were rather intense at this point.... and for the next couple of weeks!

But they did it.

So, south roof finished - time to start installing the rails. By now the work days were beginning at around 11 a.m. because there was too much ice on the roof before then which made it totally unsafe.  By mid-afternoon though, it would be warm and sunny and the crew would be back to wearing light hoodies or T-shirts!

I was pretty excited when I thought that the first solar panel was up - but it turned out to just be a test run to make sure things were going to work out.  This was our first time doing solar panel installation, so there was a lot to learn, and a lot to think about.

We continued installing the rails, and were all excited to think that we might actually get the solar panels on this year after all!

After checking that each panel was working properly, and documenting the serial numbers and performance data for each one, we began installing them.  This time we didn't stop long to admire the first one - we just kept going!

With not much space between the panel and the roof, it was difficult to reach in and make the connections.

Each panel is held in place with an edge clip that has a built in grounding connection (it is actually difficult to reliably connect a ground wire to aluminium).

Even with knee pads on - this job is hard on the old knees. (did I just say "old knees" - whoops !)

While installing the second column of panels, work ground to a halt.  The wire connections were hanging below the panels and some were touching the roof. Rob had originally thought that they could be lifted a bit more, but as it was there was a danger that over the years the insulation on the wires might get damaged. After an evening researching the problem Rob came up with a plan to attach conduit supports to the rails and then use stainless steel wire wraps to hold the wires.  We had to do a lot of calling and driving around to gather up the supplies from various building companies and electrical supply companies, but we managed to get what we needed and a couple of days later, we were back at it. Everything worked fine.

We really have to thank our friend Bob for all his hard work and perseverance.  I'm sure it took a while for him and Rob to get used to working together, but they did a fine job and we were an excellent team!  When the bit kept falling out of the torque wrench and disappearing off the edge of the roof, Bob suggested putting some roofing sealant in to help hold it better and I suggested some coloured tape to make it easier to find when it did fall off!  It takes a community .... or a couple of extra bright minds...or whatever !

I tried to keep them both fed with hot nutritious soups for lunch, and tea breaks in the afternoon. But when I showed up with hot tea as they were putting in the last column of panels, neither of them was willing to take a break for tea time.  Luckily we have a great tea thermos to keep things hot! And I couldn't blame them for wanting to get it done.

As the light of the day slowly faded, it was finished.  No champagne, just a big sigh of relief, a sip of tea, an enormous thank you to Mother Nature, and we were done.

But a few days later, while working on the North roof,  20+ cm of snow arrived - and so that's probably it for the roof for this year! Not much power generation from those panels either.

Best Summer Ever

Only one thought comes to mind when I look back on June ....and July ...and August and even September - Best Summer Ever! It was the summer of our childhood memories.  Hot, humid, sunny days, and delightful warm nights. Endless days of blue skies.  Early morning promises of fine summer days, and a scent in the evening breeze that told us that more lovely days would follow.  After the past two summers of colder than normal temperatures and so much rain, it was a total surprise, and hugely appreciated.  I know the lack of rain caused worries for many, was stressful on the trees, and caused grief for some of the farmer's crops. But it sure made it easier for us to work on the workshop. There were times of course, when the high heat and humidity probably slowed us down more than it helped us. But on the whole, we can't complain; it really was a long and entirely lovely summer.

As much as we hoped that the workshop construction would go quickly (and it did), there always seemed to be some factor that slowed things down.  Because we are mounting the solar panels on the roof of the shop, the south facing roof is large making for a fairly high building, so Rob once again spent a lot of time moving scaffolding around (and around, and around) the job site. And some jobs simply took longer than anticipated.

Still, things definitely did progress! The framing for the front roof looked great to me.  Unfortunately, the rafters were not aligned properly at the top, so Rob had to rip most of them out and redo them.   It's important to have them in exactly the right spot, as they can't be seen when Rob is trying to drive 13" screws through plywood and foam - we need to know exactly where they are.

The back roof frame went in much more easily.

Having been through this process with the house last year, Rob knew what he was in for, and had worked out ways of moving things by himself.  In this case he used the tractor forks and a form he had built to help move the plywood up to the roof more easily.

I always like the view from inside, before things get closed in.

With the plywood up and taped, Rob was hoping less water would come in to the shop when it (eventually) rained.

We quickly added the roof wrap and thought that things were reasonably waterproof (silly us). The forecast called for rain so Rob decided it was a good time to made a quick trip to head out of town and visit family. Unfortunately, it works out that when there are no walls the house is not really weather proof.  I came home from work after a violent rainstorm to find huge amounts of water inside the building. It had mostly blown in through the sides due to the high winds, but also cascaded in after flowing down the roof wrap, and spewing in through the open framing.  I spent a good hour standing in deep water with running shoes on, trying to sweep and squeegee all the water out towards the door entrances. On the plus side, I then went out and bought myself a magnificent pair of rain boots later that week (I obviously needed some)!

Yup, the scaffolding has moved again.

Last view of the framing before the plywood goes on.

Closing in the sides helped with the rain situation, but caused some new problems because now the inside became rather dark, and made it harder to see when working. It got better when the windows were cut out again,

And I did begin to get a feel of just how nice this workshop is going to be!

It's always good to see the piles of plywood  on the ground go down, and the sides of the building go up.

Our metal roof arrived on time this time. As before, it was delivered by a rather enormous truck that couldn't get to our job site, so Rob opted to have it dropped off near the main road and moved it himself with the tractor. Or tried to. The load was simply too long to fit between two trees on the road so we once again loaded it on the trailer (sort of) and managed to transport it to the job site without any damage. As a bonus, I got to drive the tractor home which almost never happens!

Then it was back to taping seams and continuing with the shop.

As much as we want to just get this built, there are always little details that have to be taken care of first. Rob had to apply the  EIFS (Exterior Insulation and Finish System) or - as I call it - the cement type stuff that goes over the pink foam all around the concrete base, and then he could install all the base flashing.

A layer of house wrap (oops - it's all upside down Rob !) and then we began to put in the windows. Unlike the house windows, these windows arrived on time, as ordered, intact, and with screens and opening handles. That's all I'll say about that.....someday I may be able to write about the windows in the main house. Maybe.

Rob was able to put most of the windows in himself, but he needed help with the larger one. Our good friend Bob once again showed up to help out. Thanks Bob! And then it was time to start putting on the layers of pink foam again.  This is not Rob's favourite job.  The pieces have to be cut and if a saw is used (which is necessary at times) the foam dust is highly irritating and there is no way to avoid it. He's tried wearing dust masks of varying types, but when it is hot and humid out, this stuff just seems to stick to you no matter what.

In an effort to not waste cut-offs from the house (and to not throw cut-offs into landfill) Rob used some leftover pieces on the sides of the workshop.  It saved us from buying more too, but it did take him a longer time to fit them all in, and there were times when he wondered if it was worth it.

As always, we tried to take time throughout the day to enjoy some of that fabulous summer weather.  Jet enjoys a long walk three times a day, each one followed by a hearty game of fetching "wubbas" and spinning around with his jolly ball.  There were a lot of days though when it was far too hot for him play so he had to be content with a slow walk in the woods, and a bit of playtime later in the evening when it cooled down slightly.  It is always a delight to be able to walk in the shade of the forest on a hot day.

I was happy to spend time on my new benches down at the river's edge, where a multitude of frogs hang out. I soon learned that the longer I would sit, the more frogs I would notice, and soon it became a bit of a game to see how many I would spot.

When it got too hot, Rob and I would both head into the river to cool down.  The river was unusually high this year, despite the low amount of rainfall. At one point I thought my benches would float away, but the levels soon dropped again, and they stayed where they were!

We took some time to visit with friends this summer too. When our friend John kindly offered to have some salmon and halibut sent to us following his west coast fishing trip, we took him up on the offer. We had the frozen fish shipped to our friend Elizabeth, who then proceeded to cook us up a fish feast!  A toast to good friends....

As summer began to wane, we always took extra time at the end of a long work day, and headed for the river. Our favourite way to unwind and cool off is to take our deck chairs, and plop them into the river a few feet out from the shoreline.  We sit where the river has a nice ledge, our feet in the cooling water, and enjoy the sound of the river flowing over the rocks.  We watch the fish jump from time to time, and the dragon flies as they scoot just above the water. One day something bumped my leg and it was a beautiful big snapping turtle going by us.   This is the spot in the river where we most love to sit:

Early in September, Rob felt a familiar twinge in his lower back.  He's had problems with it over the years, and it usually doesn't last if he's careful.  You would think it would happen when he's building, climbing, and carrying plywood.

But no - it was when he was smoothing down a little piece of tape.  Luckily after a few days rest, he was able to get back at it. But both of us did lament that he lost almost a week, and it was just the nicest weather....

Mid September, we were still in the river on a warm evening. But eventually, we knew it would end.  The squirrels have been super busy in the cedar trees, dropping the cones until they litter the forest floor, and then collecting them later and storing them.  They know that summer is ending.

On my walk, I heard a noise in one of the hawthorn trees, and spotted a chipmunk busily collecting the haws too.

The woods are slowly taking on that golden glow of early fall.  Sunrise is at 7 a.m., and we no longer wake up early to the sound of the birds calling.  Sunset is at 7 p.m. and some nights I don't get home from work before dark. The geese are flying south, and I think the hummingbirds left this week. They know that winter is coming...

As do we.  We ordered our firewood, and I've been busy splitting it, and am almost finished. We hope this will be enough to keep both the cabin and new house warm this winter.

We ordered a "tandem" of wood as well, to keep us going for another couple of years, but it needs to be chainsawed into lengths before I can split it. Rob and I think we might be able to get to it in late November or early December if the snow holds off.

We now grab sweaters and hoodies when we want to sit for a few minutes and watch the sun go down, at one of our other favourite spots - the point in front of the new house.

We spend the evenings inside now, and while I have been preparing the photos for this blog, Rob has been continuing to research some of the many things we need to think about, and trying to plan and schedule.  He has narrowed down the fastening system for the solar panels, and is trying to finalize how he'll heat the workshop.  The concrete floor in the new house still needs to be acid stained, but we aren't sure we'll have time to do it this year. The wood for the ceilings still needs to be "whitewashed" as well.

There are always the usual "fall" jobs to be done.  I'll pull out my potted herbs and habanero peppers, garden ornaments and chimes, and put away the hummingbird feeder soon. I've washed and sorted my summer clothing, and it's all back in storage, and the fall clothes are here and put away.  Winter coats and mitts will be next, but hopefully we won't need them for a wee while yet! Houseplants are back in the cabin after their summer on the porch. We don't really have room for them, so they are piled on the dining table for now.  More things need to come in next - anything that can't be frozen over the winter needs to be inside.

We still don't know whether we'll manage to get our solar panels on this year. We aren't sure that even the metal roof will get on in time. Rob is trying to get the foam on the roof this week, then he will put on the second layer of plywood, and the wrap that goes on top. He also needs to build and install all the gable ends. After that - well we will see what the weather brings. The work days are now a little shorter.  The mornings take longer to warm up, and the sun sets earlier and earlier.

There is beauty all around us, and rather than lament what didn't get done, we try to enjoy that beauty, and remind ourselves that this is why we came to this pretty little spot, in the forest, by the river. We both look forward to being in the new house, but we know it will be a while yet....