Back to timber framing

We waited all during the first half of May for the weather to warm up enough to allow us to begin working outside on the workshop timbers. Waking up to snow in the second week of May cooled our enthusiasm somewhat! Despite the cold temperatures, there were signs everywhere that spring was arriving and I began to notice on my walks that the nearby pastures were slowly greening up.

Blossoms began to appear:

And the snowshoe hares continued to change from their winter white coats, to their springtime brown:

As always, there were plenty of things to do while waiting for improvements in the weather. There were chisels to sharpen, tools to assemble, and lots of logistics to figure out.  We took some time to start thinking about what kind of tiles to install around the shower, and bought a couple of samples to try out. We also gathered up some new paint chips as there has been a change in plans for some of the colours.  I think we've switched from a pale yellow to a nice warm neutral off white (with the absolute faintest hint of peach) for the living room, dining room, kitchen and hallways, and maybe a similar but warmer tone for our bedroom, and a cooler toned grey blue for our bathroom. I guess we'll see when we eventually start painting. Which will be a while yet.... I keep flipping from wanting a cool and calming Zen kind of bathroom look to a wild looking brightly coloured one.  This week the Zen look is winning. As we already picked up a small bunch of tiles for our bathroom at a clear out center a few years ago that would go well with a Zen look - it's probably a good thing to keep going in that direction.

Rob stacked all of the pine that will be used for the ceilings in the new house so that it could adjust to the house humidity level and sometime next month I hope to start applying the "whitewash" to them.  Since there are a lot of boards to do we built some drying racks to stack them as they dry.

And there are quite a few stacks to be done!

We picked out, and bought our stove for the kitchen.  Now, I love to cook, but buying appliances is not a huge thrill for me - and the funky retro looking stoves and the beautiful Aga's were all out of the question. In the end there was really only one choice for off grid use.  The stove needed to using a minimal amount of power (yes, I learned that even gas stoves use power) and this is the only model we could find that did not have an electricity driven glow bar and the usual array of clocks and other powered options. The glow bar is used in almost all gas stoves to run the oven and it uses a significant amount of power during the whole time that the oven is in operation.  The stove that we chose does not require any power (just some "D" cell batteries for the spark ignition system). It's a rather plain stainless steel and black, but it looks to be good and solid, and gets pretty good reviews. It will also fit in nicely with the range hood that we bought during the winter. (We were both pretty happy to find the exact energy efficient hood that we wanted one day, tucked away in a clearance pile at more than 50% off!)

Mid May the weather turned, and after a quick trip to visit family, Rob returned and began setting up his space for working on the workshop timbers.  As I mentioned in previous posts, this particular area of the property has a special place in our hearts. It is where we camped when we were building the log cabin, and the scent in the air always brings back memories of those times. There is almost always a light breeze to keep the bugs away, and the sound of the wind in the leaves is quite lovely. But we are already feeling a hint of nostalgia because we realize that this is the final frame to be built here (well, at least the final frame for this particular project, Rob is already talking about building an octagonal gazebo frame!)

Rob seems much more relaxed about this part of the construction. Having done the first frame, he now understands the whole process; what is important, and what isn't. Unlike the first one, he now works on several timbers at a time as well.  If the weather continues to cooperate, he hopes to have it completed by the end of June and on the whole, the weather has been good. We were even hit by a blast of hot air at the end of May, with humidex readings of 38 and 39 degrees C!  The extreme heat slowed us down somewhat, but it soon cooled off again and dipped back below normal. For the most part it was dry at least, so Rob just kept working.

Testing the fit:

Testing the fit:

And for all you fashionistas out there, here is the perfect way to keep wood chips out of your shoes (note: this has since been improved upon by using form fitted plastic bags!):

Walking back to the cabin after watching Rob timber frame, I discovered that one of the local beavers has been rather busy as well. Both of them seem to produce a lot of saw dust and wood chips!

The May long weekend brought the annual "boat" float down the river.  The river was still pretty high and fast, and further downstream we could hear the whoops and calls as they navigated over the rapids.  It was fun to watch them go by, and to observe the various methods of putting together something that floats. The one with the umbrella in the photo below was a tad unstable, and I'm not how it fared when they went over the rocks!

Two weeks later, the river level began to drop and this kind of event would not be possible.

Although I enjoy all the seasons here, summer is one of my favourites. When the warmer weather arrives we enjoy our coffee out on the porch of the cabin, listening to the bird song, and the goings on in the river.

One morning we caught a glimpse of a Great Blue Heron as it walked slowly along the river edge, and could hear the sound of the mergansers down on the rock.  When I went down with my camera, I was disappointed to find them long gone.  Luckily I looked up, and found a doe on the other side of the river, quietly watching me.  She was a good reminder to me to remember to look up and look around!

In the evenings we sometimes head over to the new house, sit in the "living room" and sip a cool beer. It's a perfect way to relax after a long day, and we can enjoy watching the river from a different angle, as the sun goes down.

With about two weeks of timber framing left to go, I have a feeling the work days are about to get even longer.  I now know the whole process that is about to begin again - moving the timbers down, getting them up on the pad and installed, getting the crane in to get the roof up, framing, plywood, foam, roofing, windows....and eventually  - the solar panels. (And they will be a first time event!) Lots to do - but like the ducks in the photo below, we know it's important to take some time to relax too, and down by the river is the perfect place for some down time. (Whoops - no pun intended!)

Pink foam

I'm sure that May arrived with more sunshine and warm temperatures than we ever saw in all of 2014.  The heat came on suddenly, making us look desperately around the cabin for lighter clothing; shorts, t-shirts and even baseball caps to help protect us from the unexpected heat and UV rays! The anticipated bug season began, but the black flies were few, the mosquitoes are just starting to bite now, and the deer flies came early. Usually we see a good long season of each one, followed by the next. This year they all seemed to arrive, albeit in smaller numbers, at the same time.

We had humidex levels in the mid 30's followed by cold fronts that brought a sudden and severe overnight frost.  I first noticed an odd look to the sumac trees, and after checking with a nature group that I follow online, heard that many other varieties of trees in the area were affected by that same frost. Rob later noticed that our oaks were also hit.  We aren't sure yet what this means for the trees - it's highly unusual for such a late, hard frost.

May brought the return to Canada of our "old" friend Joe, and we were extremely happy to see him on the two occasions that he kindly took the time to drive up here to visit with us. I hadn't seen him in 25 years, and Rob hadn't seen him for a good number of years either.  Within minutes of his arrival though, it was as though he had never left.  I was amazed to find that even hearing his voice in our new house seemed totally familiar. We sure have missed him, and it was lovely to reminisce a little, and catch up on some of the details of our lives.

We also were lucky to have a chance to see our friend Mose, who we hadn't seen in about 7 years!  When he called to say he was about a two hour drive away, we dropped our plans for building that day and made a quick trip down to see him.  It was a short visit - as we have to try to organize ourselves around cat and dog feeding times, meds for feline diabetes etc. but still - it was a chance for a quick chat and we were glad to be able to do it.

May is also the month that I get to accompany my very sweet and generous friend Elizabeth on her yoga retreat in the beautiful Northumberland countryside.  It was a wonderful weekend of terrific vegetarian food, great yoga, kirtan and a "therapeutic art experience", all in the company of 20+ amazing women.   A big "thank you" to Elizabeth for the awesome weekend!

(And kudos to Rob as well - as he had to look after our 4 cats (with various diet and medication requirements) all weekend while I was gone, while still working on building the new house, and doing the volunteer work he does each April/May for the amazing group of people that work so hard to put on the spectacular fundraiser "Sounds and Tastes" for ACCESO International!)

The May Long weekend fell a touch early this year, and we both thought it would cause problems for the unsanctioned annual "float down the river event".  Usually the river would be high, fast and extremely cold. This year the river was slow, low and warm!  The floats cruised slowly in the current, and often would hang on the rocks below. Some of the occupants would casually hop off into the river and push the float along a ways. The lovely weather brought out a lot more entrants, and it was fun to watch them go by during the day.

While we were both busy with visiting old friends, weekend escapes, and river gazing, we were also admiring the annual return of the migrating birds. This year, for the first time, a male Baltimore oriole showed up, singing away, and I was fretting that there was no female in the area. Sure enough though one showed up, and they have stuck around, so hopefully this will become an annual occurrence. As well, another one of our favourites - the red wing black birds, have set up on our side of the river!  This is the first time we have seen them here, although in the past we could hear them on the other side.  We hope this will be a regular occurrence as well.

Every day we noticed more of the spring flowers in the forest, and loved inhaling the rich scent of the woods and river on our daily walks. Somewhere in there - there was also some progress on the new house!

Sometimes Rob laments that he is not making progress, especially after a day of planning, or redoing drawings and calculations. But I am always amazed as I look back at the photos for the previous month at just how much work has been done.

Putting the foam up on the outside of the house has been a bit of a learning curve, and as always, Rob was keen to work out some interesting ways to approach the project.

Cutting foam can be a messy job and a tricky one. Rob rigged up some cool looking hot wire gizmos that easily cut the sheets at different angles, with little mess.

Just to show how it works, he cut some fancy shapes too!

He is putting up two layers of  foam on the outside walls, and three layers on the roof. Wood strapping, and house wrap follow, then a layer of plywood.  The metal roof will be added as soon as he is finished (after we finally decide on the type of metal roofing, and get it ordered!) The wood siding will be added much later. (Hopefully some time next year)   

The foam board is quite pink when it goes on. I could get used to a pink house!  The pink fades pretty quickly though.  Rob was pleased with the way the corners worked out. (If he wasn't so busy building  - he would fill this blog in with a lot more details - like how he has to stagger the layers so the seams don't line up)

The foam cutting hot wire gizmos worked beautifully.

The windows were covered over briefly.  We sure missed the view of the river when we were sitting inside having our afternoon tea break!

(And yes - one year later we still don't have all of the windows we ordered. Sigh.)

Rob cut away the extra wrap, tucked extra foam in around the windows and tucked the wrap in around them. 

Then the eaves went in as he started his way up the first roof.

Rob was really dreading the roof work. It's a lot of ladder work, and pretty hard on knees, calves, and hip joints! It also means moving the scaffolding around. A lot. Taking it down, moving it, and putting it back up isn't the most fun part of the job.

 Luckily the foam isn't too heavy to carry around.

It's hard to believe, but when it rains, water still works it's way through some areas and drips inside. Not a lot, but some.  We will be so glad when the final roof is on!

Rob has a safety harness that he uses of course.  However, the weight of the straps, the tool belt, and the various tools, while working in full sunlight on the roof can be a bit much. The glare off the foam is pretty strong so he has to wear sunglasses too. He says the worst part though, is when he sprays foam into the cracks, then moves along. The harness rope drags through the spray foam and gets really sticky, and he then gets it all over himself as well. Nice.

And so, June arrived, and with it came early sunrises and late sunsets. Rob manages to put in a pretty long day of work at the new house. Even on rainy days, he can continue to work on projects inside the house. For the most part, he tries to take advantage of any decent weather and work as long and hard as he can outside.

We do try to take time together to sit out in the morning for a few minutes in the screened in porch of the cabin, and enjoy watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder, and the sounds of all the nesting birds in the area. One morning I saw what I thought was a shaggy dog, trotting down the path between the cabin and the river.  Rob says that I could only stutter  - "Rob, Rob, Rob.... Bear!"  A few seconds later Jet got a whiff of it and started barking. My first bear sighting!  It was a smallish one, so presumably young.  We called the neighbours to let them know it was heading their way, just in case their grandkids were outside.  They said in all their years here, they've never seen a bear.

For those of you who know how much Rob and I used to love our daily walks in a stunning wetland area where we used to live, and our devastation when that area was destroyed, along with the wildlife that lived there - you will understand how very pleased we are to have a gorgeous area here, that is home to beavers, and muskrat and turtles and other wildlife.  When a snapping turtle showed up in the garden and tried to lay her eggs, we were in awe.

We think the area is too rocky though, as she moved out of the garden, and stood staring up at our doorway for quite a while and then left.  Later in the week she tried out several spots near the new house. We don't think she was successful there either. Still, it was lovely to see her.

And just as lovely to stand in a rather spectacular spot, just steps away from the new house. It's filled with channels that the beavers and muskrat and turtles use, and we hope that we spend many, many more years here, in this lovely space, as we learn a little bit more about the wonderful creatures that live here.

Did I mention Bugs?

Well, if April showers bring May flowers, we have to admit we were pretty nervous when April brought us more snow than rain.  The unusually cold days and cold nights had Rob sighing loudly as he looked at his schedule and watched the days slip by, with little opportunity to get outside to work on building the new house.  His original schedule was made with the assumption that he would be able to work outside for part of March and most of April!  Neither of us were thrilled when we woke up to this one morning...

But finally, the April showers did arrive, washing away some of the snow, and the temperatures rose very slightly. Rob, still dressed in warm winter gear, was able to move the timbers out from the tarps and away from the pole barn.

The logistics of moving the finished timbers to a good location, and then moving in the ones that need to be worked on, while still keeping all of them dry and clean, has proven to be a challenge. We need to sand and stain the finished ones, and then stack them carefully somewhere too, but the cold weather delayed the staining process, so we will probably start that process in June.

The ice on the river finally disappeared, and we had the treat of watching some of the ice floes float by one evening.  It felt like we were watching some kind of "Farewell to Winter" parade.

By May 9th, Spring truly arrived with warm temperatures, and Spring's forest flowers began popping up. Purple violets, white trilliums, and purple and white hepatica were the first of the flowers to show, and then that beautiful shade of bright green began to appear as the leaves came out in the trees all around us.

Usually by this date we would have seen plenty of days with temperatures in the mid teens or low twenties, but not this year.  Just as we slowly peeled off our winter layers, the black flies arrived, and they were voracious!
Rob took this photo one evening when the western sun highlighted some of the bugs in the air. All those little bright spots? Black flies....coming right at him.

We purchased mosquito nets last year; they pull over our heads to keep our faces clear of the black flies and mosquitoes.  They work well if we are out with Jet for a walk, but Rob cannot wear them if he is working, as he needs to be able to see clearly, and the nets don't allow that.  He managed to rig one up over his baseball cap so it covered his ears at least.  After waiting through the long, long winter for warmer temperatures, it always seems a shame to have to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and shoes and socks, but there's no way around it. Mosquitoes and black flies are very good at finding any bit of exposed flesh!  In the last two days we noticed the arrival of the dragon flies, and they usually help to bring down the insect population, and we are hoping the black flies numbers will begin to decline.

The concrete pads for the house and workshop seem to have fared pretty well through the winter.

We pulled off the plastic and layers of straw, and gave the concrete a chance to dry out a bit.  We need to remove the form braces from the sides, and attach all the pink foam securely to the concrete, now that Rob has found some good fasteners to do it.

There's a nice breeze off the river, so we can occasionally sit out on the pad, relatively bug free, and get excited thinking about someday actually being in a finished house!  We will have views from the living room of the river, the sunsets, and the yet-to-be-named area that we sometimes refer to as 'the bayou'.
When the river is at it's height in the spring, this area floods in, and the beaver gets pretty excited about the possibility of a new lodge location, and gets busy taking down our poplar trees.

We know how important beavers are to the environment (they are considered keystone species!) so we are happy to share space with them, even when they drop a tree on our power lines, leaving us in the dark for one day.... As well, they seem to leave a few trees hung up, or precariously gnawed through from time to time, so Rob has to go in and pull them down.

The 'bayou' is a fascinating area to us, and we walk into the woods and over to this area from different directions trying to get a feel for what lives there.

I have been tempted to toss in a plastic blow-up alligator, just for fun, but decided against it!

The downed trees in this area are covered with thick moss, and often we discover that there is water right beneath our feet, with only a light cover of branches or old logs keeping us dry. We've seen various ducks swimming around, can hear all sorts of frogs and peepers, and sometimes the Blue Heron sits motionless on one of the logs.  One day we followed the biggest snapping turtle I've ever seen into this area, but we haven't seen it since. There are lots of little painted turtles there though, and this makes us very happy! We love to go down and watch them, but they are rather shy, and at the first sound of our footsteps, we hear a plop, plop sound as they drop off the logs and disappear into the water.

This area dries up a lot in the summer, so the beavers usually leave then for wetter areas, but sometimes they will continue to work on building some channels. They try damming up the river to redirect the water, but every year the river moves their dam out of the way.

While Rob works extra long hours trying to catch up on his schedule of timber framing, I continue to work part time, go to yoga classes, and early in May, attended a fabulous yoga retreat in an off grid house at Harmony Dawn near Peterborough.  Elizabeth had asked me to lead a workshop one afternoon on Fabric Art, so I brought a selection of paints, and stamps, and inks and markers and various fun stuff, and the group set to creating some amazing work!

Elizabeth worked hard to provide us with a diverse schedule of yoga and meditation sessions, kirtan, lectures and even a yoga themed movie night, and I was surrounded all weekend by wonderful men and women, most of whom I had already met through yoga and work. The food was fabulous and the whole experience was delightful.  It was interesting to see how an off grid house operated with 23 guests too!

I have also been given the opportunity to help out a (new) friend, who is waiting for a hip replacement and was looking for someone who would be interested in helping her to keep her garden growing this season. My gardening guru - Sally - gives me gardening lessons, cuttings, plants, seeds,  (and last week mmmmmm fresh rhubarb). In return I try to help to dig up the earth, and plant some of her garden, while peppering her with questions and observations.  It's a lovely drive to her place, and I have the choice of taking a route that brings me past the lovely Lake Clear, or through winding country roads with views that take my breath away.

Sally is also an avid cook, so I am treated to delicious teas and sweets after my not-so-hard labour....
I would love to have a vegetable garden here, so I am hoping to learn as much as possible from her, and then we can maybe get our own garden going in the years to come. For now, we have a few pots of herbs around the cabin, and Sally is encouraging me to plant some veggies in her garden so that we may have some fresh produce to enjoy this summer.

Of course, I don't want everyone to think that I am off having all sorts of fun all the time while Rob is working away on timbers.  I am here from time to time, and try to look after the day to day stuff like cooking and cleaning and groceries and laundry, and when I can, I take up a nice lunch to Rob, or some tea and fresh banana bread so he can have a bit of a break!  I am sure that the time will come when there will be plenty of house building stuff that I will have to do, but the timber framing part isn't one of them. Which is probably a good thing, as even with the help of some tools, Rob still has a hard time moving the timbers around, and I know I can't move them at all!

Unfortunately, when we moved some of the timbers out from under the tarps, Rob discovered that they were too wet, and had developed a light mould on the outside. He has restacked them all to allow more air around them and as soon as one had dried a bit, tested to make sure that he could sand it down, and the timber would be none the worse for it. It appears that they will be o.k.

We cleaned off the concrete pad that is near the pole barn, so that we could stack some of the timbers there too. And yes - I swept it all nice and clean - so I finally did some work!

Now the May long weekend has passed, along with the annual (unsanctioned) "River Run".  On the Sunday afternoon, groups of people float by us on the river, over the small rapids further downstream (with much screaming and the scraping sounds of the floats - we can't actually see this part as it is around a bend, but we know that they don't always stay afloat! ) and on to a small beach area further along for a BBQ and party. The river is pretty fast, high and cold this time of year, so it's not something that we are likely to try. Still, it's fun to watch.

And with the May long weekend, we launch officially into summer, even if the solstice doesn't arrive until June. Rob is up early and works outside at every opportunity, and he usually doesn't come home until sometime after 8 p.m.  He is trying hard to get the new house up before winter, so that he can do the inside work during the winter months.  On rainy days, if he really can't work outside, he will use the time to order building supplies, and research the next stage of building. These days he spends a lot of time talking about fasteners - for fastening the foam to the concrete, and the timbers to the concrete, and for the roof and insulation system.  Apparently we need a lot of different kinds of fasteners.  I could probably do a whole blog just on those!

While Rob knows every piece of each timber he carves and can envision which room they will be in, and which side faces which area or room, I cannot, so I am anxious  to see how these timbers will all go together.  He marks them all with codes that he understands, ready for when they all get put together.

I like to make up my own meanings for them. The one on the right is ABN which I am pretty sure means Administer Beer Now.   It's a warm sunny evening, and I just happen to have a nice cold lager in the fridge waiting for when he gets home.   Jet is anxiously nudging my arm with his own code too. DNHSYHTTMOFP.  That's German Shepherd for Dad's Not Here So You Have To Take Me Out For Playtime. Smart boy.