up up and away...(photo heavy)

On Tuesday the trusses were delivered. Some of the builders spent part of the day putting them together, while the other builders worked on putting up the blocks for the boys' rooms on the second story.


On Wednesday the crane arrived with a shipment of drywall and plywood (etc.), and before he left, he lifted up the scissor trusses and set them on the walls...I held my breath the whole time.


It amazes me that we human-types have built machines that are capable of lifting such incredibly heavy, awkward things with such precision. It's hard not to marvel at the skill of the machine builders, and of the machine operators. Some of these guys make it look really, really easy.
And there it is, the full bundle of scissor trusses on the roof... can you believe it? The subfloor is on the second level, and during the day yesterday the plumber came and did all the rough in so that we can go about getting the floor poured really soon on the main. The septic fellas came Wed. and Thurs. and got the whole septic system put in...

Here's what it looked like this morning when I left. You can now see where the octagon windows will be on the second story, and the way the roof line changes from the front living area to the back where the boys' rooms are on the second story. Oh, and yeah, we've been sick this week so we haven't finished wrapping the garage. (That would be the royal 'we'...I've been sicker than a dog. Slept through most of this progress, except when I lifted my head to take pictures or talk to the builders about one thing or another).

Now to get caught up on school work!

:)
Lisa

more progress and some climbing monkeys...

The floor joists are going in...and the house is going up.

Here are the 3 main lights of my life up on the wall, in a spot they'll not get to ever be again. The big opening on the left will be the french doors to our deck, and where they are is where the roof will go up and also down over the deck.

The view from up here is wonderful. Here we are in our loft. :)
Things are coming, step by step. I'm so grateful that we get to witness all the progress of this, our new home.

Happy trails,
Lisa

Another quick post between classes

What can this man be doing?

Has he gone mad with tractor power?

No...

just that it's time for the Great Outhouse Migration of 2008!


We've moved camp down close to the garage, and will need to have the spiffy biffy closer to our new digs. DH spent the day on Saturday digging a new trench and moving this honey over.


In all honesty, this was a pretty tense process. That little building is HEAVY.


The photos of this are a little bit patchy, but here's the basic progress...



Somehow, through DH's muscle and my - ahem - direction, we managed to tip it off of it's base. Note the stool holding the house up as we tried to position the forks of the tractor to facilitate tipping the outhouse on to them. The boys were rather worried that the stool would fall in!



Just for the record - I've read about outhouse tipping as a prank, in novels, etc., from older times. Having now been part of a very deliberate outhouse tipping, all I can say is that it would take a very determined tipper and a very, very unfortunate tippee. I can't imagine doing this as a prank. The person inside the outhouse would most certainly hear the person on the outside grunting and groaning. Hmmm....I guess those sounds could be mistaken for a bear, in the right circumstances...

I didn't draw a full breath while this thing was on the forks. Every bump and rock was a major obstacle, and DH pulled in all his cosmic driving favours in order to get this driven the 70 or so feet to it's new resting place. My.


Our oldest filmed the journey, something that will certainly go into the family archive.


The in-between phase, of which we have no pictures, is of us moving the foundation (made of 4 X 4's and huge lag bolts) to the new area. This part ended up being accomplished by tipping the foundation so that one end rested on the truck bed...and I carried the other end while DH drove the truck (again slowly and carefully) to the new spot. We got it unloaded and placed there (reasonably levelled), then unloaded the outhouse and wiggled it onto it's new resting place.


Voila! Here it is, in the woods at the back of the land, closer to our new camp.



DH said that the slight bit that it's off - level is going to bother him, but honestly, after moving that thing, the last thing I'm worried about is it tipping over in the wind!


Yesterday was spent trenching the newly levelled driveway in order to run the electrical, the cable and the internet connection all through underground from the pole to the house, then to the garage.


The electrician is there again today working with DH to get the wiring into the garage.

The house is completed to the top of the 1st story, minus the concrete pour (which should happen on Wednesday).

Here's how it all looks right now, as of last evening, before we went to the pool for a swim, soak and shower. That can and should become a welcome little weekly ritual! Currently DH is still showering in Nelson at the aquatic centre, and I'm showering at the gym at the college. Yeah. Hot water. Indoors. Yeah.

It sure doesn't take much to make us happy these days...

And if your partner ever asks you if you think you should buy a tractor, just say 'heck yeah'. Ours has been a tremendously good investment so far.

:)

Lisa

A quick check in...

I'm at Selkirk College! Doing a quick post before my laptop battery runs out...

This was the state of the house this morning when I left, they're almost up to the floor for the second story, hooray!

I'm in the large foyer of the school - affectionately called 'the pit', where there is free wifi. I wish you could hear, but someone just sat down at the piano and started playing the most beautiful, chopin-like piece. College is grand.

The boys are adjusting to their new school with such an amazing resilience and joy. We're very happy for them, as they make new friends.
Here they are, on their first day....

Can you sense Oldest's, "aw, Mom, aren't I a little too old for this posing thing?"

:)

Cheers to you, wherever you are.

Lisa