Incroyable!!

Snow, snow, snow... That's all I have for you since last Sunday, and cold! Three major snowfalls in a week. We hear stuff like "This is unusual" or We've never seen this" or "We haven't seen this in 40 years" or "It usually doesn't stay this long" - Riiigggggghhtt.

Construction has mostly been replaced by shoveling snow. It takes half the day to remove it to be able to do anything. Wednesday's storm left both cars stuck in snow at the lot. We had to call Francine to come rescue us and drive us home. Thank you Francine!! The next day Gerry tried to get a taxi to go to Robin's to get his other tires... No taxis were out! So Gerry and Claude hitchhiked and walked. Took them a few hours but they changed the tires and bought some chains.

They managed to get two walls up on Friday before Claude left for the Holidays. Saturday was break day and today more shoveling... They're calling for more snow all week - this isn't fun anymore!

Snowed in...

What's up with that?! It snowed as much as if we were in Ottawa and now it's -12, get me out of here.!I'm stuck with summer tires and there's black ice everywhere...

The front entrance and garage were finally filled (with sand and maybe a bit of snow now...) on Thursday. A bit more back filling. Friday it poured rain so Dave the backhoe guy didn't come. Not much has happened since then - weekend rest.
Went to Nanaimo to do some shopping, then ribs for supper and James Bond!

Claude is back. Beautiful sunshine but I'll take rain instead of that awful winter weather...

Sand, sand so much sand...

All the basement walls are up and so is the floor!

We needed to fill the garage with sand to we have somewhere put the material for the first floor, so we've been shoveling and tampering sand for the last two days... A workout I don't really want, but it's better than shoveling snow! Many, many truck loads of sand later, the front entrance and garage are almost full and all the drainage pipes are in place.

The labs have been spending all their days with us, actually lying down right beside me while I try to shovel and they follow me everywhere! I guess they like the dog treats I got for them...

Tomorrow, we continue the back filing...

Claude is going home for the weekend so maybe we'll get a day off, to go see a movie or to get a massage??

Moving to bunny land...

Last Sunday we moved to a condo at the marina. So Friday and Saturday I packed and cleaned and then unpacked...I hope next time I do this it will be for the last time (well, for a while anyway!) The new place is much closer and bigger (2 bedrooms - more room for the helpers!). Also, it's full of rabbits all over the place, very weird, must take some pictures...

I have an oven now, very exciting... try living without an oven for a month! I made muffins and lasagna and quesadillas!

Claude arrived on Tuesday night! You will see in the pictures that things are moving along. The windows and doors are ordered, they should be in on the 16th. Installed? well that's another story...

Recap...

Ok, I have to start doing this more often because I'm starting to forget what's been happening...

The floor was supposed to be poured last Friday but it rained too much so it was put off until Saturday... Saturday came and since the guy hadn't called we figured he would be there in the morning... Turns out it doesn't work that way, he decided he wasn't coming! We fired him and found another guy but he could only come on Monday. So the floor was only poured on Monday. The weekend was spent adding stone and leveling the floor (so in a way it was good that we didn't get to pour on Saturday because we weren't ready anyway!)

The rest of the week was spent tarring the sides and leveling the top of the foundation and putting drainage pipes and stones around the house. Pretty boring stuff but necessary...

Yesterday, I got my BC license plates... $1325, a bit more than Quebec! Apparently BC stands for Bring Cash... Oh yeah, before I could get the plates, I had to pay $90 plus tax for an inspection, that I failed, so repairs cost about $150...

Today, we put Tattoo on a bus to Ottawa... He had to go back for an appointment but he might be back in about two weeks. After we said goodbye, we went shopping all day in Nanaimo and Duncan. Shopping for an air exchanger and toilets and sinks and other things not too exciting. We went to a pub for supper!! We saw some rabbits on the side of the highway (little rabbits like in a pet shop, weird!)

Claude will be arriving on Monday to help for a few weeks.

Where did the time go??

Right after I took the picture of those swans on Saturday, there must have been a hundred of them that swam by - it sounded like a jazz band!

Thursday already! I haven't had a chance to update because I was put to work Sunday and Monday. The forms weren't ready (and still, we were fixing them when the pouring started on Monday) and it was major stress time. I think Gerry likes that because there was no reason why we couldn't have told the concrete guy to come Tuesday instead. Anyway, we worked like crazy people to try to get it done. Francine helped all afternoon Sunday - Thank you Francine!! By Monday at noon the forms were almost ready. The truck arrived at 1PM ready to go. The concrete guys had to help us finish the forms and then they helped finish the top of the concrete, you know when you have to make it all smooth and pretty. After they left, we continued with the smoothing, then, we had to put the anchor bolts in. By then it was dark and with only three lights, it was difficult to see what we were doing. I had enough and left at 8PM (I went to make supper! and I'm a girl so it's ok). The guys had to stay until it was finished cause you can't leave concrete until the next day! Apparently Tattoo had enough after a while too (they had been there since 6AM) and he went to sit in the van to wait for Gerry hahaha Cute. They got back at 11PM that night.

Tuesday was clean-up day. Removing the reinforcements around the forms and putting crush stone in the basement - getting ready to put the plumbing in the floor.

Wednesday - the plumbing went in. The forms started coming out. We want to try to pour the basement floor on Friday - Depends on the weather - everyone we called is saying that...

Today, all the forms should be out and I have been recruited again to take nails out of the 2x4s that were used for the scaffolding, yahoo - here I go...

The weekend is here again...

We finaly got electricity!

This week was spent getting the forms delivered - they only arrived on Wednesday...

Once they arrived the difficult task of putting them up began. I didn't realize how much is involved - everything has to be leveled then measured then chalk lines have to be made on the forms to show the height of the concrete etc etc.

Some of the forms are 10 feet high so scaffolding had to be build, that took up some very valuable time also.

Friday, all the outside forms were finally in place. I was recruited to help pull some lines so I worked at the site all day. Today the inside ones should be well on their way to being done. I might have to help again, to put some kind of metal bars in between the forms, for extra support or something like that. I hope it doesn't rain!!!

The backhoe guy came to try to take the septic tank out to move it and lower it so we don't have to buy a special pump, since we have a bathroom in the basement. Well he gave up and left. Monday he will try something else. It seems the tank is very heavy and it's not as easy as it looks to move something like that...

The concrete is being poured first thing Monday morning.

Two swans just swam by as I'm writing this. The only other wildlife I saw this week were some ducks surfing on the beach and I felt like joining them - if only I had a wetsuit!

Slowdown...

Saturday - Shopping day

After Friday night's wet concrete party, I think Gerry needed a break... Well, ok, he had a sprained ankle so it was good to rest. He spent the morning getting organized for the next phase of construction - deciding whether to pay someone to put the forms in or renting them and doing the job himself with Tattoo. He decided to get someone to do it since he got a good price from one guy, so we thought...
We brought Tattoo, who worked very hard all weekend, his lunch and then we went to Nanaimo (wow something different for me!!) and looked at tools (boring). We bought a printer, to be able to print the quotes we get. We get home and the Business Depot boy "forgot" to tell us the USB cable is not included with the printer - installation another day.

Sunday - Beach combing

Gerry got up this morning and saw two bald eagles playing on the beach!

Another day of planning and material list writing... I went food shopping and then I went for a walk on the beach! Found some pretty nice seashells.
Tattoo came home early and we all went to dinner at Robin and Damaris'. Thanks you guys for a fun evening and yummy supper. It was a nice break!

Monday - The baby is a bit cranky...

This morning we had a different visitor at the beach - we didn't really figure out what it was. Sometimes it looked like a bunch of sea lions but then it looked like a whale. See for yourselves in the pictures...

Gerry found out that the forms guy is increasing his price AND he's making Gerry do some of the work! Calls to others weren't any more successful. He's getting cranky so I can wait to get out of here. Luckily for me, I had to go meet the movers bringing our load of stuff that didn't fit in the trailer. They got lost on the way to Robin and Damaris' and blew some kind of hose on the truck so they were about an hour late. Another hour unloading and then I'm off to bring Tattoo his lunch. He seems bored and disappointed when I tell him that Gerry's not going to work today. He has to go to Comox - he might have found a forms guy that makes sense. Hope he's in a better mood when he comes home...

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and it seems everything is closed here so we might not get much done... except maybe more sightseeing!

How do they do it?!

To quote Tattoo - "Merveilleux!" - that's all I can say to those guys who worked in the pouring rain all day again today. We have footings!!

Soaking wet and full of concrete they still managed a smile... It was really cool to see the concrete truck pump the cement into those cute little boxes in the ground. I even stayed a while to watch!

Today I got my interim BC driver's license and a library card (ok not as amazing as working in the rain but I needed the card to get the BC building code remember?) Anyway, the BC building code is only available for reference at the library so I guess after all that we'll still end up spending $200 to buy it. Oh and we still don't have electricity on the lot - clerical error it seems... the electrician didn't put the right address, so another 4-5 business days to wait.

I stuck a cat picture in there because I miss my little furry friends and I hope they're getting enough snuggles...

Sunday to Thursday... a lot has happened!

Sunday, we took the ferry from Vancouver to our new home. I took an earlier ferry than the boys and drove to the beachfront apartment we are renting. I hadn't been able to reach the owners and, of course, nobody was home when I got there... So I found a pay phone (no cell phone yet...) and called Gerry's friends, Robin and Damaris, to ask if I could leave their number with our landlords for whenever they got my message and to see if they had heard from Gerry yet - no of course they hadn't. So I was homeless and all alone on my deserted island...
Damaris invited me for tea and when I got there, Gerry and Tattoo (aka Michel) had just arrived and our landlords were on the phone to say they were home!! We emptied the trailer and headed to our new home to unpack and get ready for the big day - Day one of construction...


That night Gerry was like a kid on Christmas Eve - didn't sleep all night and was up at 5AM, ready to go!!
I stayed in bed and let them go...
My morning, as all my mornings so far, consisted of cleaning the supper dishes and making lunch so I can transport it to two very hungry workers. I've never seen anyone eat so much. So far I've spent around $250 on food and we haven't been here a week yet!
Before heading to the lot, I had to find us some cellphones so we could actually start calling people to come build our house. Telus was useless and Rogers didn't have the phones I wanted in stock (welcome to Parksville - sort of like trying to find something in Wakefield...). Off to Nanaimo for what will be a daily drive it seems, if I want to find anything. Found the phones - Virgin, but they needed to be activated. Now I can do that with a payphone but it says on the package that if I activate on the Internet I get $20 credit for each phone - Bonus! Now I need the Internet...
I knew from the night before that the Internet wasn't working at the apartment so now I have to find somewhere, in Parksville, that has Internet - The Library! I get to the Library and pay (because I can get a library card because I have nothing that says I'm a BC resident) and get to the computer only to learn that I can't activate the damn phone unless it's charged. I give up!
I finally get to the lot, two hungry freaks waiting for me (ok, it was 3PM but what can I say, I was busy getting nowhere)
When I got to the lot I was very surprised to see he excavator guy hard at work.

Tuesday and part of Wednesday was excavation and Wednesday afternoon they started getting the forms ready.

Thursday, we woke up (well they woke up) to pouring rain and almost hurricane winds (ok I'm exagerating a bit). The boys left dressed in their rain gear. I get a call around 8AM - some of the rain gear apparently isn't. So I'm off to Nanaimo again (oh I forgot to mention Tuesday and Wednesday's Nanaimo trips to - Tuesday, I already forget what I went there for, but Wednesday I was on a trek to find the very expensive BC building code. I gave up on that because I only found the one in hardcover and that was even more expensive).
Before Nanaimo, I bring the lunch - they look so pitiful working in the pouring rain it makes me want to go back to bed...
So I get the rain gear (again I should have given up - I got the wrong boots and I don't know about the coats yet, we'll see what they say), a heater and some rubber boots for me and back to the lot. Even with all that rain they still managed to get almost all the forms for the footings done. I'm very amazed by the hard work that's going on. At least some of us are being productive... Ok I'm off to make supper, they'll be home soon.