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.

Glorious June

June was a glorious month. I don't know what it is about the human brain that makes it possible to forget about the long, cold, snowy winter, and move into thinking that life is a lovely endless summer, but it does. When I walk along the hot, dusty road, with sweet white clover growing higher than me at the side of the road, and the myriad of wildflowers and plants that provide such vibrant colours and textures, it is as if winter never existed on this land.

There is a smell in the air that only ever exists here. It is the smell I remember when we would drive up to the cabin late on a Friday night, winding our windows down and breathing deeply, relieved to have arrived safely, and anxious to unwind and relax on our usually brief "weekends" here. It's the smell of the river, and the earth in the forests, the sweetness of the wildflowers, the waft of pine and cedar, all in some crazy combination that I love.

These days, there is a bit of a different odor in the area where Rob works.  There is the smell of pine as he sands the timbers, and the stains that he is applying to each one.  But there is also the lingering smell of a skunk, sadly decomposing, as Rob found it dead on the road, and for reasons only known to him, thought he should dispose of the body close to where he is working, with plans to bury it properly when he has a chance to get the backhoe onto the tractor.  "Your friend isn't smelling so good" is about all I can say to him about that.....

Sanding and staining timbers is pretty much what June has been about, at least anytime the weather was decent. When there were heavy rainstorms, Rob would stay indoors, trying to work out things like screws, house wrap, sill sealer tape, scaffolding, safety harnesses, and all of the rest of the details that will soon be upon us. Every time the weather cleared (and we certainly had a lot of beautiful days) he would be outside finishing off the last of the timbers, and then sanding them all, vacuuming them, and staining them.

This process will continue into July.  We did have to order a few extra timbers, as we didn't get everything we needed in our first order last year. And there may have been one or two errors as he went along!

If you can't read it upside down it says - A well crafted very expensive piece of firewood. Check your measurements.

Now the biggest problem is where to put a timber while it's drying. Each one gets a preliminary coating, then at least one topcoat. Each coat has to dry for 24 hours. That's after Rob sands each one, all four sides, with four different levels of grit of sandpaper for each side. He's working up some pretty good muscles as he flips each timber over, and over, and over.....

I could see that a gigantic empty barn would be useful at this point.  Rob works outside under a tarp cover that helps to give him a bit of shade, and also protects the timbers somewhat. But he has to move out the ones he's worked on, to make room for the next ones. Although we can stack them up on the concrete pad we have, that's a lot of moving around, and every time he moves them with the tractor, there is a chance of dropping them, ramming them into something, or even catching them on the plants at the side of the road which gives them a greenish hue.  At the first chance of rain too, we rush around trying to get gigantic tarps up over them, and weighted down (gently) with bits of wood.  I get pretty excited when I realize that everywhere I look there are stacks of timbers - all nicely carved - and now a lot of them are also sanded and stained. They look beautiful.

I think Rob was a bit sad when he finished carving the last one though. He's certainly enjoyed most of that process, and it really is a lovely place to hang out. Most days he is visited by chipmunks and red squirrels, hummingbirds, sapsuckers, chickadees, phoebes, robins, ravens, crows and turkey vultures, just to name a few!

(Of course he will be back to carving timbers when he builds his workshop)

While Rob has been busy with the timber frame, I found myself filling my days with helping to move the funky good karma store I work at part time, to it's new location on the main street. It's in a beautiful new location, and Elizabeth unknowingly chose all my favourite colours - lime green, turquoise, gold and terracotta to paint the walls and fixtures. We moved everything over in a couple of days, and set everything up in 2 1/2 days, throwing open the doors on the 3rd day even though we still had lots to unpack, and we were rewarded with lots of appreciative comments from our lovely customers. It's a beautiful space, and I am so pleased to be there!

I have managed most weeks to take a few hours to continue my gardening education at my friend Sally's. Together we have planted scallions, 3 types of onions, sweet peas, peas, two types of bush beans, cilantro, various lettuces, more than 20 tomato plants, 1 sad habanero plant (something is nibbling on it) a few different radish varieties,  and I can't remember what else!  I've learned about mulching and watering and tilling.  I learned how to make manure tea out of goat manure.  I've learned how to plant a tomato plant sideways when it's spindly (and how easily it will snap in two if you don't do it right! Oops.)  As the season progresses I will learn much more. There is now dill and arugula springing up everywhere on their own, and there are numerous fruit trees and bushes that will bear fruit. I will also learn more about the garden 'pests' that will move into the garden and how to deal with them.  Mostly though I am getting a good feel for what I would like to plant in our own garden in the future, and how to go about it.  After each session we sit and chat and Sally always offers delightful teas and goodies, and I would have to say again - I am so pleased to be there!

As July 5 approaches, we have been reminiscing about our arrival here, two years ago on that date.  We didn't realize at the time just how tired we were. We had just closed the business, sold off all remaining fixtures, and dealt with 20 years of business "stuff" in the warehouse next to the store. We'd been going through 35 years worth of stuff in the dome, Rob had attended two timber frame courses in both Canada and the USA, and we were dealing with a newly diagnosed diabetic cat with a broken leg, and our elderly cat had been diagnosed with possible cancer.  (Both are still happily with us!)  We packed up a few belongings, 4 cats, and one dog, (it took two trips!) and ran away to this lovely little place on the river, and all we knew was that this was what we wanted to do.  What an amazing two years it has been.

There are days when we feel a little tired or overwhelmed. There are nights when both of us fall asleep even before our heads touch our pillows.  There are times when I secretly wonder whether Rob is really working on various timbers, or in reality those are the same two timbers up on those blocks every time I go up there and he's not really building a house.  (Just kidding Rob!)

But every day we share a new story. It may be the sight of the dragonflies emerging from their nymph state, it might be a new insect or wildflower at the side of the road, a magnificent cloud, a bird song, or the early morning mist on the river.  It might be a mortise or tenon that worked out perfectly (or not!), a particularly beautiful piece of timber, or the views on a drive on a back country road.

In some ways I'm anxious for the new house to be built, and for us to be moved in.  In other ways I'm happy to just be here for now, enjoying the building process and the varying routines of our days.  We are both excited, as the timbers near completion, for the next part of this adventure.