Aug 3 -12 So far behind on the blog!

Here we go again, we are so far behind but trust me when I say we haven't been lazy. It's the big push to get the garage done before we go to Victoria for Shannon's wedding. We just need to be able to lock it up. Let's go back 3 weeks in time.....
Aug 3 
We feel Smoky is transitioned into his new home now He comes downstairs and sits outside but keeps the door handy for now. He'll be good. Best place for him for sure. So we left Lorin's about 10:30 and stopped in Spruce Grove for supplies at Superstore and Home Depot. Food and building supplies, that's how we roll right now. Rolled into PGR about 2:30 and unloaded everything and got organized. I worked on garage stuff and Leslie did all the laundry. We get help tomorrow so we are going to wait and get at the garage again tomorrow.
Aug 4
I made some calls earlier this week and actually found a pro roofer that was willing to work on the long weekend and he is coming tomorrow to do the shingles and roof vent. Awesome. I hate shingles. So today we have to finish the few pieces on the roof and install the window. Also we have to get the roof edge installed so that when "Jeff" gets here tomorrow he can get right at the tar paper and shingles. Of course with Ryan & Ashtyn here to help us things moved along quickly and we had time to go check out the Seba Beach Regatta parade!

Our fave pub here in Seba

It's an RV blog right??

Shriner carts are a parade staple

We're having fun! Holding Margaret a little weird

Loved this truck! Sounded great too

After the parade we all sat down for a great spaghetti dinner that Les had made. Great day and we are ready for the roofer!

Aug 5

I drove out to the highway to meet Jeff, our roofer, and show him the way to our site. He got here at 7:30 to get set up and started shooting nails at 8:07 am. We warned our neighbours that we would be making noise early on the long weekend Sunday morning. There is lots of building going on here so nobody cared.

Not his best side but he rocks! 

I'm sure the shingles would have taken Ryan and I a couple days and it's 30C in the afternoon so it would have been awful. Jeff was done and cleaned up every scrap of garbage and was ready to be paid by noon!! Four hours for 15 bundles and a ridge vent!! Come on! That's money well spent. Leslie and I started installing the man door but had to take a run to the lumber yard for some ridge shingles. Jeff was almost done when we got back. I carried the ridge shingles to the bottom of the ladder and he ran back up and finished the ridge vent. He works weekends for cash so if anyone needs a roofer I have his number. We were super happy with his work. After he left Leslie and I got the door installed. Took longer than I thought because "somebody" made the opening too tall The framer is not as good as the roofer.

We have a door and a window!

Aug 6

We have to make the east wall of the garage 45 minute fire rated with non vented soffits because we are 42" from our property line. If we had gone 48" we would be okay but we're already fairly close to the trailer on the other side. Pie shaped lot so you do what you can right? In order to make code we have to install 5/8" Type X drywall on the outside of the wall sheathing. Let me tell you those sheets of 5/8" are heavy. I set up a 2x4 along the bottom of the wall and we were able to stand the sheets on it prior to screwing them on. The carrying from the shed to the wall was harder than actually placing them but of course we got er' done.

Drywall on, now Tyvek and siding.

It was a really smoky day from the BC fires. Leslie has mild asthma and really has trouble breathing in this stuff She had a N95 mask on for part of the day but it's so hot her glasses would fog from sweat and breathing in the mask. Enough for today. Our neighbours, Lynn and Andre, are here from St Albert for one night so let's have a couple drinks with them. They're great neighbours and they are getting a shed and a larger storage unit built on their property next week so they are doing some prep work.

Hey buddy, happy hour?

Gotta have a Margaret picture

August 7

Another super smoky day and I have an appointment to drop off the truck for warranty repair on the rear diff. Finally get rid of the clunk noise in the back. Leslie picked me up in Stony Plain at 8am and we went for breakfast at Uptown Grill on main street. Then it was groceries, fuel and a trip to Evansburg to return some stuff from the garage. It was afternoon before we got home so we just finished the Tyvek over the drywall and stopped. Smoke makes your throat sore, gee thanks BC ! (Joking of course, it's a terrible fire year) 

Aug 8

Great, another smoke and heat warning again today. 32C forecast for the afternoon. We're working on soffits today and got a great tip from another neighbour, Bert. He noticed I was cutting soffit with my grinder and a zip disk, so he came over and suggested turning my skill saw blade around backwards. What a difference that makes! I had heard of doing the same thing but figured the grinder worked pretty good. You need hearing and eye protection but nice smooth cuts and goes quicker. Thanks Bert.

Soffit and fascia on this side done, in the shade

In the afternoon I got a call from Stony Plain Chrysler that my truck is ready to go. Perfect we want a break from this anyway. We drove to Stony and had a couple other stops. Leslie found a hair salon and booked an appointment so she looks good for the wedding on the 25th and we had a stop at the pharmacy.

Aug 9

Finished up the soffit and installed fascia tin. So smoky and hot that we don't want to be outside. Enough of this already. Can somebody change the wind direction? We jumped in the truck and drove to a little place called Tomahawk just south of Seba. They have propane and cold beer so we enjoyed the a/c and a nice drive to get both of those items. Leslie got a soft ice cream which even though I am lactose intolerant I stole a bit of it. 

Aug 10

We had just two more fascia pieces left to do on the back of the garage so we got right at it and finished that easily enough. We had marked the chalk line for the siding starter strip and decided to take a short break. After a little pause I told Les I wanted to install the new mudflap that I was given at Chrysler. Luckily they had a single one exactly like the one on my truck that had torn off. It was just sitting under their stairs with dust on it so they gave it to me! Bonus day. So all the other bolts/screws lined up except one that needed a hole drilled and a new bolt installed. Yeah you know where this is going. I actually came back to the garage and grabbed a 1x4 block and said to Leslie "I'll put this behind the mudflap so I don't drill my hand".  Somehow I managed to drill through the flap and the block fast enough to put a real nice cut in the top of my thumb!! Caution next pic is kinda gross....

See where the drill bit hit ?

Well that sucker bled quite a bit and looked worse than it really was. It seemed deep so we went to the hospital in Stony to see if it needed a stitch. After a short 2.5 hour wait in ER (gggrrrr) the doctor had a look and said no to stitches but yes to a tetanus shot because I have no idea when the last one was. Now we have hurry to Leslie's hair appointment downtown and she is in her work clothes and had no real chance to get cleaned up and we're starving. Quick stop at McDonalds and pin it downtown. Only a couple minutes late but all good. So with a small bandage on my thumb I head home to get the siding corner posts on. Of course it wasn't long and Leslie texted that she was done. Not a productive day! Back to Stony Plain I go but it was worth it, Leslie looks great! 

Nice huh ?

When we got back it was too late to start anything else so we made supper and relaxed. Tomorrow is another day. The smoke is bad again.

The tee box is 500 yards away, can't see it :(

Aug 11

So with a great hair day for Les and a good bandage on my thumb we got back at the siding. I got the last corner post done while Leslie put up siding on the wall. 

First one is the tough one

Going good

The garage door is delayed at the factory. Busy season for garage doors obviously. It's supposed to start raining tonight so we are hanging a tarp over the opening, I bought a brown one just like the door will be.

Almost looks like a garage door

It's getting late in the day and we want to take a load of stuff to the dump so it's time to shut down for today. As Leslie was putting some stuff in the firepit she noticed some movement in the trees behind our lot. She caught my attention quietly and we both walked to the back fence and stood within 10 feet of a deer happily eating grass and leaves behind our lot. She didn't even care we were there and we could talk normally. It was pretty cool.

Not too concerned about us

We were right about the rain. It started after we got back from the dump. Good night for supper and a movie, ahhh.

Aug 12

The rain is coming down hard, it's officially a day off. Yay! We had a great slow morning and made arrangements to meet our buddy Barry in Spruce Grove for lunch. We left early so we could stop at Rona and pick up some lights and look around. It was a great lunch and it's been a while since we've seen Barry. After lunch we stopped at Home Depot to just have a look and ended up buying some electrical stuff. Hate those stores lol.  Back at home we decided to try an Instant Pot curry recipe. It was okay and we have leftovers that's for sure! Looking for better weather tomorrow so back at the build. Stay tuned, almost done !

July 30 -August 2, 2018 Smoky finds kitty paradise.

July 30
Today we're doing something that hasn't happened in a while.... we're splitting up for 3 days. Three whole days! Yikes. We've been together daily since March and now it seems weird to think we won't be together for a few days. Leslie has an appointment with an ear, nose, throat specialist to see if we can't get her some better sinus relief and clear what seems to be plugging of her ears. It's been ongoing for a while and is not going away. Fingers crossed they find something. The specialist is in Lloydminster, AB (4 hours away) and then Les will go to Bonnyville (another hour and a half drive) over night and check the house, cut the grass with the small mower, pick up the mail and get an oil change on the Mustang. We have great news for Smoky! Leslie's sister, Lorin, has agreed to add Smoky to her family which is the best news you could get for any cat. Lorin loves cats and has had up to 6 at a time but she is down to only one now, her boy Gizmo. Sadly she recently said good bye to her cat Max, who was 19 years old (we think). We are so happy she will open her heart and her home to our boy.

Last night in Bville at the acreage

Trust me when I say this is heaven for Smoky! He usually hangs out in the garage and only visits inside for short spells. He eats bagged Whiskas cat food and occasionally gets some meat or treats. Other than that he finds his own treats outside (if you know what I mean). He's an acreage cat so he kills mice and birds and beats up on frogs that cross the lawn. That was his life. Times change. He's older now and enjoys pillows and soft blankets. At Lorin's house there are heated pillows on the chairs, he gets pate` and crunchy food and he will get real professional haircuts and massages. Man he's gonna love it! First Les has to drive him there. He HATES being in a vehicle. Even with the highly recommended Zen Licks kitty dope he howled and meowed for the entire 3 hour trip. It was a very long 3 hours.

Meanwhile back at PGR I continued the garage build alone. The last thing we did was get all the trusses up so I am determined to get the roof sheathing up. I chose 1/2 inch OSB for a little extra strength but with that strength come some extra weight. Wasn't counting on being alone for the roof. Oh well, need to think of some better ways to get it up there. On the west side I can use the truck and back in beside the garage so that gives me a platform and a great height advantage. Got the first row on in no time and feeling pretty good about this. Hmm the east side is real close to our neighbour so the truck is out. I strapped a ladder to a tree and propped it up to the roof. One sheet at a time I shoved and pushed and shook those sheets of OSB up there. Phew! First row both sides done then back to the easier side. Well long story shorter but I got them all up there; two rows on both sides and I am beat! I'm sore and tired and definitely want a cold beer. Margaret wants to go for a walk! She's been sitting in the truck most of the day bored. Leslie had been so nice and made a monster salad before she left so all I have to do is barbecue some chicken and bang I have supper. She prepped lunch stuff too. Thanks buddy! Long day but we're good.

Singing "all by myself...." 2 rows done

July 31

 Leslie drove Smoky to Edmonton as I mentioned before. It was a terrible trip, he hates vehicles so much. She got to Lorin's about 1 pm and Lorin is off work this week so she was there to greet them. They let Smoky out of his kennel and he basically went upstairs under the bed and stayed there. Oh he did manage to hiss and meow at Gizmo on their first meeting. Not great so far but he was stressed from the trip. Leslie is staying at Lorin's for a couple days to help with the transition. We all think it's necessary and a great idea so Smoky can get used to his new place with his "mom" there. It's a tough deal really. We've had him for 11 years and hate leaving him but it can't get any better than Lorin's house, really.

I continued to sheet the roof but now I have to cut the top row to fit. Cut, push, nail, rinse and repeat until it's done. We're using a ridge vent on the garage which I have never done before. You need to leave a gap along most of the peak for the vent so I had to remember to leave off 3/4" on the top. Once that was done I quit. I had a small slip yesterday where I was leaning over a truss to pound a nail and my tool belt was caught between my ribs and the truss. As I was hammering the belt slipped out and I slipped down only a couple inches but landed right on my small side ribs at the bottom of the rib cage. Didn't hurt much yesterday but today it's way worse. "Only hurts when I breathe" comes to mind, well not that bad of course but certain movements definitely reminded me it hurt. The roof is covered so I am stopping for now and tomorrow I'll go to Lorin's and hang out for a day, see my ol' buddy Smoker :)

August 1

   Hi! It's Leslie writing now :) Since Dave was coming in to stay the night we decided to invite the kids over for supper too. Lorin and I spent the day weeding her beautiful back yard and gardens, doing a big Costco run and a few other errands.

By 6 pm Dave and all the kids had arrived.

Lorin and Sam

Ryan and Ashtyn

After a short visit we fired up the BBQ and enjoyed a nice supper. Sam was supposed to be going home early as she had to be up at 2:30 am to go to the airport for a flight to Chicago but we were having a great time so they all stayed a bit late for a "school" night. Sorry Sam!  Shortly after all the kids left we brought Smoky down to check out the yard.

Mmmmm... catnip! 

Thursday Dave had to drop his truck back at Stony Plain Chrysler for diagnosis of a rear differential issue he had been having so I met him there and we ran some errands and did a bit of shopping while Lorin stayed home to catch up on some emails from work etc. Smoky is still spending most of his time under the bed and Dave's rib is still bugging him so we decided to spend one more night. In the afternoon Dave did a few handyman type projects for Lorin and her and I took care of supper plans. After a great steak and Caesar Salad we settled in to watch a movie. It was a fairly early night. By the next day Smoky seemed far more comfortable although the traffic noise still sketches him out. Gizmo still has his nose out of joint a bit but is coming around slowly.

Smoky relaxing in the sun

Gizmo wondering why Smoky is still here!?!

What magic is this? Catnip, growing live in my new back yard. Happy cat!

Time for us to get back to PGR and the garage build. Thank you, my sister, for all you do for me and especially for welcoming Smoky into your heart and home. There isn't a better place for him anywhere. Love you!

July 21- 29, 2018 A Little Fun Then Back to Work

July 21
Today is our day, Happy Anniversary to us! Twelve great years and hopefully many more to follow. We're actually taking a day or two off to have some fun. We've been pretty busy so we deserve a nice break. After our usual morning we packed an overnight bag and jumped in the car to drive to Ryan & Ashtyn's place for a birthday/anniversary party. We're looking forward to meeting more of Ashtyn's family. We got just outside Edmonton and the black clouds greeted us. Another brief Alberta downpour to drive through. Great. 

Hmm looks like rain...

Luckily the storm was moving northeast and we were headed southeast so we kind of skirted around it, not too bad at all. We arrived at Ryan's and everyone was gathered around the kitchen island due to the storm going through. That made it much easier for introductions as we were all in the one room. It quickly got nice enough to go out in the back yard again. So nice with the fence up and Ryan & Ashtyn have have planted more grass at the edges of the yard and cleaned up all the build stuff. Great space for us all to relax and enjoy.

L to R: Jane, Rusty & Chris (others are hard to see)

Chris, Tiffany, Sam (peace) Ashtyn (crouching?) 

We all enjoyed a nice afternoon and then we dug into a birthday favourite; hot dogs and hamburgers on the barbecue with salads and all the fixin's. Then of course we had cake !! Two different kinds of cake and cupcakes.... perfect! 

Tiffany, Sam, Chris, Russ, Ashtyn, Joana 

Birthday girl with champagne and sparklers

We stayed up fairly late and had a great time. Leslie and Jane (Ashtyn's mom) joined the gang outside for a quick game of flip-cup. Just a short game to try it wink, wink :) .  That's how it starts.

No emoji smily faces

July 22

We got up a little later than usual today... not unexpected. Jane and Russ also stayed over last night so we all met up in the kitchen for coffee. Ryan and Ashtyn made us all a fantastic big breakfast! Just what the body needs after a night of fun, right? Absolutely. By about noon we said good bye with hugs and handshakes until next time.

The rest of our day was pretty boring really. We stopped in Stony Plain for groceries and back to PGR for some house cleaning and relax time.

July 23 

The big day is here!! The official start to the often mentioned garage build! The truck is scheduled to arrive this morning. I have been emailing Dwayne at Woodland Lumber. He's been great to work with by the way, and it's all coming together today. Yes, I'm excited.

Piggyback forklift, thank you

Right where I want it

Tuck the siding and tin under the rig for a while until we need them

My build partner already working

The rain stopped after a little while so we had a chance to get things organized. We stacked all the lumber in piles according to size and close to the order we need them. Of course the plywood for the roof is on top of the wall sheathing so we get to do some lifting and sorting It's a good warmup for things to come. I set out the sill plates for the two long walls and marked where the wall studs will go. Leslie laid out the boards and that's where we stopped for today. We'll get a fresh start tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be warm and dry for 5 days, perfect.

Even Margaret is tired, only day 1

July 24

After a hearty breakfast we went out and got going. Paul and Di lent us their air compressor and nailer and we're about to put that bad boy to work. I double checked my marks and with Les holding boards together we nailed walls together.

Paul did the same pose last year on our shed

2 walls almost complete, 8 foot studs leaves a gap in the middle

It took us longer than expected to get the first 2 done. I am trying for perfectly square and properly done so moving slow and thinking about each step. The weather is getting crazy warm too, 27C/80F today and going over 30C/86F for the rest of the week. Gets really damp at night and we have had a couple of showers overnight so we have to cover everything at night. We're feeling pretty good about the day so we stopped and made a good supper. BBQ steak with salad and we're going to try the wine that Ailsa bought Leslie for her birthday. Great day!

Great wine, thanks Ailsa!!

July 25

Ran into a minor snag this morning. Part of my building permit from Parkland County states I have to have a fire retardant material on the wall close to our neighbour, June. We set the building 42 inches from the property line, if we had gone to 48 inches we wouldn't have needed as much burn protection. The lumber yard sent us fire retardant OSB plywood but unfortunately we need 5/8 inch type X drywall on the outside of the wall. I expected this but thought the OSB would work. Nope, it won't. So we load the 7 sheets of OSB and off to Woodland for 7 sheets of type X drywall. Holy geezus is that heavy! We picked up some other items as well and stopped for lunch at Subway on the way back. Won't get much done today. When we got back we built the easy end wall, no windows or anything, easy. We also cut the 3 inch strips to fill in all the gaps on the walls. Cover everything up again, especially the drywall on the truck and call it a day.

July 26

We need groceries and some other stuff done in Spruce Grove today so Leslie is going to do those chores and I am staying to frame the wall with the garage door in it. Yay a big beam to lift! 

The beam is ready and just nailing the wall together

Les got back just after noon with a bag of A&W burgers! OMG, I am hungry and so glad she's back. We took a quick lunch break and resumed framing the front wall. We decided to put on house wrap while the walls were laying down, easier to roll out.

Like wrapping really big Christmas presents !

So all 4 walls are built and we need to wait for Ryan & Ashtyn to supply some much needed muscle. They're coming tomorrow after work and staying over to help us out and we really appreciate their help.

July 27

We get to take our time this morning and take care of other stuff, bills and appointments etc. The muscle can't get here until after 6 pm so we can do little stuff but then just wait. Of course my patience got the best of me and we took a shot at it. Les and I lifted the far end wall up and propped it out of the way off the back of the pad. Ahhh that feels better, we did something and a wall is standing.

That's one!

Around 6'ish Ryan & Ashtyn got here and we got straight to work. We started on the long solid wall on the east side. It was actually easier than we all thought? Next we did the other long wall and then the standing one that Les and I had done earlier. I had thought we might only get 2 walls up tonight but it's going good so we're going for it.

3 up by 8:10 pm

All 4 walls up and nailed together! 8:50 pm. Awesome!

I am super happy! We got them all standing and nailed together in one shot. Time for a well deserved supper and a beverage. We were in bed shortly after dinner. Long day but feeling great.

July 28

After a good breakfast we got back on the build. The kids (not really but ya know what I mean) need to leave around 2 pm. They have other plans for this evening they need to get ready for. They're going to come back tomorrow and help some more. Thanks guys. We got the sheathing on the gable ends and installed the one end. We braced it up and decided to call it a day early. The kids left for Edmonton and Leslie and I went for a late lunch at RV Pub & Grill here in Seba Beach. It's a great place and has great food. When we got back we took Margaret on a walk. She has been sitting either in the trailer or the truck watching us work a lot!

July 29

Les and I started putting trusses on the walls and before long our team was back from Edmonton. We split up the tasks and the girls moved trusses while Ryan & I stand up the trusses.

So strong, my girl

The day went great and we got all the trusses up and the front gable on and braced. We were all hot and tired. It's been pretty hot out all week. After we got the trusses up Ryan & Ashtyn had to leave right away. They needed to do some shopping for food for the week and Ashtyn's mom was going to be at their place for the night.

Another super exciting thing we were doing all day was monitoring the progress of our buddy Ailsa in the Whistler Ironman. Barry has a lingering flu bug bothering him so he had to pull out of the race himself. Best support captain ever! Ailsa is trying for a fast time so she can qualify for Kona Ironman in October. It's one of the hottest weekends on record for Vancouver and the lower mainland. Not great for racing but I will let the next picture speak for itself.

1st place finish! Way to go Ailsa !!

What a fantastic effort on a smokin' hot day, she's a champ! It was a close finish and we were messaging Barry and watching the tracker to see how she did. Great stuff! It was really exciting.

I'm super happy with our progress so far. I have a rough schedule in my head of what needs to be done and by when. I'm going to look for a roofer to put on the shingles. I hate doing shingles and a pro will be done in half the time. We have my niece's wedding on the 25th of August in Victoria and we are taking a full week to enjoy that. Then as soon as we get back from Victoria we have to get the rig ready to move to Ross Lake for the September long weekend with family and friends from Bonnyville. I have to get back to running too so I can finish the half marathon in Golden, September 23rd. Stay busy when you retire is what we heard, I think we're doing a good job!