just catching up. . . .

It has been a few days since we had our visitor and we had no building happening either as we were waiting for the truss to arrive which it did on Thursday.  On Friday at 6:45 am our carpenters were back again to first take apart what they had done earlier in the week and then build it back up again with the new truss this time.  It did not take them long to install the truss and continue on from there.  The came back again on Saturday to get the roof ready so we can have the steel put on.  This won't happen until Saturday this week as the steel roof is not being delivered until Friday.  Today, Monday, was another rest day and the carpenters will be back again tomorrow to finish the 2 inside walls, install the windows and door and wrap the house.  But here are some of the pictures, out of the 100 plus we took, from Friday and Saturday.

Here we are lifting up one of the trusses.  There were 3 of them and they had to be made into one.  Which of course was done after they lifted them up to the second floor.

Have to measure this to make sure it will fit.

Let's measure again!

Hold it up now!  Nail it into place!

I am sure you have to go to acrobat school first before you can become a framer.

Taking a break and enjoying the view.

Like I said you have to be an acrobat!

Hope the roof will hold them!!!

More acrobatic manoeuvring.

Get that nail in there!

Like I said - acrobats!

Again we have to take a measurement just to make sure.

Watch out below!!!

Here Joel is cutting of the pieces which are hanging over the edge.

Almost done for the day.

Done for the day and all cleaned up.  

They did a great job cleaning up the area.  But the roof sure looks complicated to me.

On Saturday, around lunch time, Erik and the kids came for the weekend.  After lunch they had a look at how real carpenters worked.  Then they went for a walk and when they came back the kids decided it was time to play a game.  Monopoly was the game of choice.  Samantha won this game.

Hope no one is cheating!

On Sunday we slept in till 9 am and after breakfast it was again time to play another game of monopoly.  We played until it was lunch time and this time Erik won the game.

After lunch it was time to play outside and do some hammering as well.

This is serious business nailing all these nails in the same hole.

Alex decided it was more fun to build a ramp for his playmobile motorcycle.

The weather has been co-operating with the building process and we sure hope it will do so for a few more days.  At least until the roof is on.  

I will be back tomorrow with pictures of the installation of the windows I hope.  

While we are waiting for the builders .....

to come back we had another visitor.  We are waiting for some wood to arrive so the builders can finish the roof so we have had a quiet couple of days.  But . . . . we did have some excitement during the night.  A couple of days ago Leo and I went for a walk and came across some animal droppings which we both felt were bear droppings but here!!!!

Well guess what!  This morning at 4 am I heard a loud noise outside and as I am curious to see which animal is now eating from our bird feeders I had to have a look.  I quickly went downstairs to get my camera and from our new bedroom window (installed yesterday) we were able to take these pictures.

Yes he is pretty big.  The noise I heard was him taking off the top of our bird feeder storage bin.  In it I keep several pails of bird food.

Here he decided to take out one of the pails.  Just easier to eat when standing on all four legs instead of just two.  As you can see he had already taken off the lid of the garbage can as well but I had just emptied it yesterday so no special treats for him there.

Another shot where he is eating from the pail.  This is right below our bedroom window.  

We will have to report him to Fish & Wildlife today just to make sure he is no danger to himself or our residents here.  I also know that I won't be going for any night walks soon.

We started off with no power

Another day were things did not start out well.  As of 5:28 am we had no power and the guys usually come around 7 to work.  Luckily they had a small generator with them so they could at least do some of the work but if the power stayed off for a long time they would have to go and get a bigger one.  At 8:49 am the power came back on and we were saved.  I guess a tree had fallen on a power line not too far away from here.
I am not taking as many pictures right now as the guys are working with very large boards and I don't want to be in their way or cause an accident.  So I go up early in the morning and again once they are done.  So here are the pictures from today.

The next step for the carpenters is to remove some of our old roof so they can build the wall which will connect our old house to the new house at the roof line.  Here is Joel trying to remove just enough from the top so he can take out the first sheet of metal as that is all they need at the moment.

Here you can see the wood frame from the new to the old building.

Same goes for the other side. A little bit harder to see here as this is the window site and lots of open space.

Here you see the same part covered up with plywood only looking from the inside.  The wall of the second floor will rest on the edge you see even with the bottom of the roof.  The space that is being created behind this wall we hope to use as storage area, like an attic.

Again the other side all covered up.

A look at the roof line and wall for the bedrooms.

This is the centre of the roof and the highest point so all main rafters come together here.

This is taking from the east wall of the bedrooms.

And when I am up in the new building Klaas, the cat, comes with me.  He jumps in through the first story window but when I go down the ladder he comes down after me.  Just had to take a picture of him.

Again some pictures of our window replacements.  This is the 3rd window Jason is replacing.  You can see one of the new windows below.  This window was pretty high up so he set up the scaffolding so it would be easier to work for him.

Jason having to saw out the window.  

Here we have to measure the hole to make sure the window will fit.    This is the window in my hobby room. 

This is it for the photos for today.  Our contractor thinks they will be done the framing by Tuesday.  They will then put on the roof and we can then use the area and get it ready for winter. 

See you tomorrow!

Back to building and taking pictures again

Today it was back to normal again.  After a restless night but getting some short sleeps we were woken up by the hammering and sawing of the carpenters.  They were here their normal time and hard at work again.  It was a hard day for them as they had to lift the second and third wall of the second story.  After that they started on the rafters which was heavy work as well because the planks were pretty heave to lift.  They also had to get them up to the second story so that took some effort as well. But they got quite a bit done and now we have a bit of an idea to what our second story will look like.

Yesterday we left off with this wall (the one with the 2 windows) being on the floor.  Today they lifted the wall into place and attached it.

This is what it looks like from the inside.

Here we are lifting the 3rd wall (east wall).  Poor Joel having to hold up the wall and do the splits at the same time.

All done just hammer the wall down to the floor and the front wall.

A look up from our deck.  Some of the rafters are in place already.

This is the wall separating the bedrooms from the sitting room.  I am standing in one of the bedrooms.

These are the rafters which had to be carried up to the second story.

Just doing some measuring while standing on the old roof.

Here is one of these rafters which made it up to the second floor and is now being placed.

And here our injured man.  He managed to climb up the ladder up to the second floor to take some video.  And as you can see he manages going down the ladder pretty well.

Earlier this year, before we decided to add on to our cabin, we wanted to replace some of our windows in the old house.  Our contractor told us he could do this for us so he started yesterday with replacing the 4 windows we wanted replaced.  This is my kitchen window and the second window he is replacing.

It is quite a job as the old windows were not easy to get out but I can tell you the end result is worth it. 

Yes when you have no hands left to hold things your mouth will have do.

And amid all the mess and construction going on a cat can always find a spot in the sun to sleep. 

Smile!!!

Another day of building done.  We are getting closer and closer to the end.

Not so good a day

Today was not such a good day for us and there are just a few photos to show because of it.  It started early this morning when Leo went to check on how much rain had fallen on our new house and also to see if the 'skirting' he had put up to keep our old roof from getting wet was holding up.  As he was moving along the roof he forgot we had the opening for the stairs which will connect the old house to the new house.  But the stairs are not there yet and right now it is just a big hole, 8 feet deep.  Well Leo fell down this hole and landed on his shoulder.  He does not remember climbing out of the basement and down the ladder, coming inside the house.  The next thing he remembers is taking off his shoes and he looked as white as a ghost.  He really worried me as he did not remember what happened.  He went into shock so we decided to take him to the Red Deer hospital to have him checked out.  Luckily he did not break any bones but does have damage to his shoulder muscles and tendons.  He was/is in a lot of pain and his arm is now in a sling.  The worst part is it is his right arm.  We left around 10 am and were back around 5 pm.  We spent about 4 to 5 hours in the hospital.  Went for a DQ ice cream after and when we got home Leo went to bed and took some pictures of our second story.  The carpenters came around noon and there were only 2 of them today and the left around 6 again.  The managed to set up 1 wall and build another one.

This is view from the front of the house.

Here I am at ground level with my camera looking out towards the picture window.  Now the window won't be this big but this is the opening for the window.

Here you can get a better idea what the window will look like.  Just like the one on the first floor.

This is the second wall the build but it is too heavy to lift with just 2 guys so they will give it a try tomorrow when they have a full crew again.

This is it for today.  Not a lot of pictures but a few to keep you up to date.