Yipee!! We are approaching the finish line....

This project could have been so much easier had we started with straight framing and accurate measurements. It takes SOOOO much longer correcting careless and ignorant mistakes...but that is just what Meg and I have been doing for the last six weeks or more.

Meg is amazing. Her experience with renovating a multitude of heritage houses is paying off. She is constantly coming up with ingenious ways to fix the flaws and slowly the final showpiece is emerging from the rubble. Everything seems to take way longer than expected to complete but our perseverance is being rewarded.

Today we cut, fitted, nailed, painted, caulked and re-painted boards and battens. The front section is done. What an improvement to what we started with...

Time for a beverage to celebrate!!

Zen and the art of concrete...

While Meg was away from the reno project, looking for a vehicle to take to Mexico, I got to dabble in concrete. We needed to pour a foundation for a small wall under the house. I hauled six 30 kilogram bags of Quickrete under the deck (a cozy 39 inch high space), dumped them one at a time into a Rubbermaid tub and, with my handy 2-foot collapsible camping shovel, mixed a lovely slurry to scoop into the form. Fortunately it was cool working under the house. It didn't take me long to develop a workable system and in no time was up to my wrists in concrete. It may sound odd but I found the whole experience quite tranquil and not all that tiresome. Lugging the bags of Quikrete under the deck wasn't all that much fun but I blanked out the pain. It's clear that I love working with my hands and get dirty...a healthy coating of sweat adds to the picture.

The finished product is not all that creative but it is functional and will provide a base for the small wall. It was a good project for me...happier than that proverbial 'pig in poop' (0:

I have to say that I seem to be a 'human doing' more than a 'human being'.

A brief getaway...

The news of the extra cost of the roof fix and the consequent grief drove Meg and I into Jann de Vann, our Westfalia, to get away from it all. We packed up and took the ferry over to Vancouver Island.

First we visited with Norinne and Marianne, friends in James Bay. Meg had built a window seat for them a few weeks ago and had some additional tasks to complete. I busied myself with an antenna replacement on Jann de Vann. After consulting Google and other sources for antenna installation advice and equiped with a trusty screwdriver, I removed the front grill and headlight only to find that dashboard removal was also required. I deliberately took my time to make sure that I remembered all the steps I was taking, removing all the switches and connections to get the broken antenna exposed, deep in the far reaches of the now opened maw. One would be amazed at the multitude of colourful wires that run through the dashboard interior of a Westy! A few hours later, after much fiddling and great ingenuity on my part (0:, the antenna was in place, the radio worked, all screws were accounted for and I still had flesh on my hands - part of the procedure required wriggling a hand through the tiny but sharp hole for the dashboard ashtray.

Since the day was still young and brilliantly sunny, my next task was to replace the broken skylight in the roof of J de V. I methodically removed and cleaned all the hardware and had the new skylight in place within the hour. I quite like getting grimey with auto repairs.

The next morning Meg and I headed up Island to Comox to drop in on Verity, the mum of Heath, my best friend through my schooldays in Fort Langley and beyond.

Hector, our new handyman, inspected the roof again and found so many faults with the installation that it has to be replaced rather than fixed. There is a very good chance that water would seep through the current configuration, destroying all the work that Meg and I have completed or, perhaps, the whole structure could implode with a load of snow. Another trip to Curtis Lumber and Home Depot for more building materials and we are on to another phase of the renovation.