A Week of More Fiddly Bits

I got home late on Friday, eager to see all the progress.

It seems it was a week of things that don't really amount to VP.  Len caulked, painted and touched up paint.  In addition, he took most of Friday to fix the parking brake on the Flying Club airplane and then drove up to Williams Lake to pick me up at the airport.

Len found these planks which he will use on the top of the rails

So today Len continued on the shop clean-up by getting some drywall and putting it up on the back corner walls.  The plan is to get the shelving up against the wall to give him enough room to work on the long rails that will finish off the railing.

Drywall goes up

The back is almost ready for shelving

There is a window behind there somewhere

 I wandered around the area and took some pictures which show that, yes indeed, fall is here.

Trees turning 

 In the meanwhile, the fall light was just gorgeous today, so we took a few photos of the exterior of the house.  Due to the location in the trees, it is hard to get a full shot of the south side, but here are our best tries for today.

From below the garden

From the septic field - garage and deck

The south face

From the driveway

I didn't get this posted last night, so now this is Sunday morning and we are going for a hike in the Walker Valley with some friends from Vernon to enjoy some of the lovely fall weather.  Stay tuned.
Cath

The fiddly bits

Well we're nearing the completion of the outside of the house for this year. I might be able to finish the garage doors from the inside and have them ready for unveiling in the spring but any work on the shop will be next year. So I am finishing all the little leftover bits. Today I did all of the sealing of the hardi board siding and completed any final wiring as well. I changed all of the grey plug covers under the soffits to simple brown plugs and covers. The waterproof ones are not required under soffits.

This plug, for christmas lights will be in the fir covering of the covered deck

Waiting for the final deck ceiling

 My next job was to check all the gutters and downspouts in preparation for winter. This one by the bedroom had to be moved because of the new rail post.

Last job before supper was to strap the deck. One of the findings of my engineers last visit. All done and good to go.

Straps at the dog kennel

More straps, I feel safer already

So tomorrow I will be painting all of the caulking and probably start on the gate for the railing by the kitchen. This will be part of a small landing and stairs off the deck to the garden. 

Len

Sunday Salutations

Well the deck rail is done for now.  The final touches will wait until some of the more pressing outdoor chores are finished.  In celebration, we took a few hours off today and went to a bluegrass jam in Lac La Hache.  Then Len flew the club airplane from 100 Mile House to 108 Mile so that it is convenient for going to Williams Lake in the morning.  I am flying over to Victoria, so Len offered to ferry me up to the airport there.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the completed work.

We will put skirting around the hot tub base - another day

On the deck

Still have a great view

Another beautiful day in paradise.
Cath

So close....

Len has been a picketing fool all week.  "I never thought it would take this long or be so much work", his words, not mine.

Putting in the nails through the top plate

But I must say the result is fabulous.  Today he put up the rails on the east end of the deck where he had a ladder to get to the shop more quickly.  No more short cuts with the rail in place!

The last of the pickets gets fitted

The roundy bit - still has the straps that ensure an exact fit

A finished section of the rail.  Well almost, still needs post caps and a top finishing rail

The trees and bushes have all been planted.  We are still in summer mode around here, with temps getting to 25+ every day.  No complaints here.

Hostas on the north side.  We will put nice gravel all around.

Fern and two bushes.  The middle one will be the biggest, eventually.

Trees planted and the area raked

Still a ton of landscaping to do, but that will wait until next year, unless this "summer" continues into October.

I will try to get some nice finished pictures taken tomorrow when we clean up, put the ladders away, etc.

Cath

Picketing

I am still working on the deck rail structure, preparing to add the pickets.  The rounded portion of the front deck was a challenge with lots of angles and cuts

Starting the roundy bits

The finished product.

I will be getting some long boards from Joe, the guy who ran our large trees through his mill a couple of years ago.  I am going to sand and finish these fir pieces for the top layer of the deck rail. Maybe I'll pick those up later this week. For now we are building the pickets for the rail.

First I have to cut up all of the painted 2x6 leftover from the trim of the house.

We had changed the design a bit on the gable ends so had all of this left over. I cut them into approximately 38 inch sections for the rail, there were 140 of them.  This made it easier to feed through the table saw.

Pickets by the gross

Now they all have to have the bare side painted by a professional.

Lots of pieces, 275 to be exact.

Of course the pickets are separated by these fillers, about 500 of them.

Cathryn has gone to Kamloops for a meeting so I am putting things together and painting and gluing.

The first couple are the learning curve.

Lots done and hopefully finished tomorrow or Friday

We have started a little landscaping since we now have large open areas next to the house. We bought three trees, a Hawthorn, an Ohio Buckeye and a cherry tree. This photo shows the Hawthorn on the right and the Buckeye on the left. I have dug the holes but we need to mix up a dirt concoction for the fill.

2 pots 2 holes

More on this tomorrow.

Len

Gravel, a nice parking area and more rails

Here are the feather boards that Len cleverly has placed to cut out the right amount from the upper and lower rails .

 Here is a view looking West along the rail with the posts and top rail in place.

 Friday was spent getting ready for  Ross and the gravel guys to come on Saturday.  We want the parking area to have better drainage and more gravel for the winter and so next spring we aren't up to our ankles in muck.

The first thing was to move all the house strapping strips which were in a pile next to the house.  

This is where all the wood strips were - now a pile of top soil

We loaded them on to the truck and moved them across the yard

Stacking them on the "hill"

All covered up and ready for the winter

The next thing to move was all the left over stone from the fire place.  

The hand cart helped, but it was still heavy

It's new home on the "hill"

Then bright and early Saturday, Ross came with his bobcat and started leveling and moving dirt.  He carved off a bit of the hill and moved top soil.

Ross moving top soil where the pile of strips used to be

2 loads of gravel/sand were dumped

Lots of gravel to move

Ross got it done in 1.5 hours

Nice and level

Lots of room for parking and turning around

My job was to fill under the front step.  First we took off  2 of the boards and then I shoveled the dirt into the hole.  We Cariboo women are "strong like horse".

Planks removed

There is a drainage pipe from the downspout to our system

Shoveling in the dirt

On Sunday, more railing work was done - almost finished the bottom rails. And I painted all the brown sealant that Len had done earlier.

Screwing in the lower rail

The east rails are complete.  Now pickets!

Brown sealant looks bad

Painted sealant looks better, yes?

A busy weekend with lots of VP!
Cath