Patience is a Virtue

..... so I'm told and they have been tested during the last 7 days. Last week was busy backfilling the foundations and landscaping the terrain around the cabin.  It took longer than expected but I am pleased with the finished product. It would be remiss of me not to mention Mark, who did all the work single handedly. He worked tirelessly and set himself the highest standards to ensure a good job. Well done and thank you Mark.

A Bob Cat was brought in to do the work and we started with the garage ......

... building a ramp to get over the wall in order to fill and impact the inside ready for the concrete flooring.

With such a small piece of equipment, the process took three and bit days but the end product was well crafted and impacted.  It is just a shame that small parts of it will have to be dug up for the septic tank and piping system and the electrical and water pipes.

What it now looks like from the lake side,

the back of the garage,

the front of the garage and the house looking across what will eventually be the extension to the driveway .........

.... and the garage itself, cleaned up ready for final preparations for the concrete floor (steel bars etc). 

I also decided to put a cover over the stair well in a vain attempt to stop the rain from getting into the basement.  On Friday night there was a huge downpour and a little got in through the cracks between the floor boards but this will evaporate away quite quickly.  I am not too concerned but I would prefer snow now as this can be swept off the floor before it soaks into the boards.

The utility trailer which is serving as tool store and ......

......  garage for the quad ..... 

..... which I have been using for cleaning up the yard.

On the personal front I have closed the trailer (caravan) down for the winter and moved into a cabin provided gratis but my builder about 20 minutes away from the Ranch.  Thank you Owen, a very generous and kind gesture for which I am very grateful.  At least I will be able to have a warm shower at the end the day. In preparation for all the hard work that lies ahead next week I went for a soak in the hot springs at Fairmont and came back much refreshed.

By the time most of you read this posting I am 90% certain that we will have started to stack the logs.  Last Saturday we went down to Eureka in Montana to pick up the last bits and pieces we need to start; the bulk caulking gun (applicator) and the final installment of 2,250 12" special steel screws for locking the logs together along their length.

Next week is going to be busy and exciting and I'll take loads of photos to show you the process and progress as it develops and will post again next weekend.

A Long Week's Waiting

The main event since the last posting, I am sorry to say, has been the weather. Autumn has arrived and along with it some rain, which has been more reminiscent of April showers than anything else. I was fearing that the basement would be flooded but no sooner had the rain stopped than the water on the concrete evaporated away, quite astonishing. Actually, the rain has been good for the concrete and has served to harden it and I am happy to report that to date no cracks have appeared in it. It hasn't seemed to harm the logs either but I did stretch a tarp over some of them in a vain hope of keeping at least some of them dry. Ominously, however, when the clouds finally cleared they revealed the tops of the mountains across the lake with a dusting of snow on them.

Snow capped Rocky Mountains across the lake and river - best viewed by enlarging the photo (click on it)

Nor is it to say that no work has been done and it would be wrong to blame the weather for all the delays. The main problem has been waiting for materials, which has been very frustrating for me and my builders.  Last Friday (14th), the material for the flooring finally arrived and so on Monday we were clear to start work again in earnest and to take advantage of another good weather window that has been forecast.

Anywhere wood comes into contact with concrete there has to be a waterproof layer and in the case of the basement wall this comes in the form of a polystyrene gasket. This goes between the concrete centre of the wall and the mud sill plate which is a layer of 2" x 9" pressure treated wood.  This is bolted to the wall to provide a solid anchor for everything above it. 

While the A Team was anchoring the mud sill layer, the B Team was busy releasing the plugs that had been placed at the top of the basement wall to provide ledges for the beams to sit on.

When finished they looked like this.

The sills had to be drilled through with the final product .....

....looking like this.

Next up was to put the 8" x 8" posts in place to support the main level floor and the structure of the house above that. Steel pegs were driven into drilled holes to anchor the posts and again, wherever wood comes into contact with concrete, there has to be a waterproof layer, in this case prescribed plastic sheeting.

There are three posts altogether over which are placed.......

........12" x 8" beams, the longest of which are over 20' long and took seven of us to man handle into the basement and raise into place.

Note the temporary framework to keep the posts virtical while the rest of the structure is put in place.

The 21' bay/prow beam in place - again note the plastic barrier between wood and concrete.  This will be trimmed later.

The 12" x 6" perimeter rim joists were the next step and these were secured to the mud sill layer with nails.  The logs will sit on top of these and they also provide the lateral anchor for the I joists that support the sub flooring.

Half the rim joists in place along with the first I joist.

Half the I joists in place.

By close of play Thursday we had run out of floor boards and so were a couple short of a full floor.  The final pieces probably won't arrive until Monday and the first logs will go down on Tuesday - hopefully. However, we are still waiting for the caulking material for the logs so there might yet be a further delay.

The nights are starting to get colder and twice I have woken up to no water because the overland pipeline to the trailer was frozen. I don't know for how long I shall have running water but hopefully it will be for another two or possibly three weeks but soon I shall have to clear the tanks out to prevent the pipes in the trailer from bursting and use bottled water only. At least I can keep myself warm at night with the help of some artic clothing and a hot water bottle, which is almost as good a women and doesn't complain if you put your cold feet on it. Hey ho!

My winter preparations have included the acquisition of a quad bike complete with 4 spare wheels (two with snow chains on), a trailer for hauling logs etc around the yard and (most important of all) a snow plough blade.  The latter will be very important when the snow comes for keeping the driveway open, not just for me but for contractors as well.  I have already put it to good use hauling logs around the yard but, it is in for a service at the moment so photos of it will have to wait until the next posting.

I have also invested in an enclosed utility trailer, which I ventured into the USA to buy, an adventure in itself as it turned out, but that little story can also wait. The trailer will be very useful for hauling building materials once I start work on the inside of the cabin.  I will also need it for moving all my belongings from my lockup in Cranbrook to the cabin - as soon as the cabin is secure that is. Subsequently, I intend to convert it for keeping all my sporting, climbing and windsurfing kit in for when I eventually get around to enjoying what there is on offer here. In the mean time it is home for the quad bike and all its accessories.

Sunday October 9 was Canadian Thanks Giving - not to be confused with the festival of the same name south of the border, which is in November. The Canadian event is more like a glorified harvest festival but shares the same menu. I spent it doing yard work and built a bonfire to burn some of the ground rubbish I have cleared. The fire didn't die down until after 11 o'clock in the evening and because a grissly bear has been seen in the area, I sat out with my shotgun on my knees loaded with hollow point slugs, with one eye watching over the fire until it was safe to leave it and the other, under the light of a full moon, watching out for cougars and bears. My travails during the day had not gone unnoticed and two of my neighbours brought me plates of their Thanks Giving meal, one of which I ate watching the fire and the other I put in the fridge for the following day. The gestures were given and received in the true spirit of Thanks Giving, as I doubt that I would have had a proper meal that evening when I returned to the trailer close to midnight. How lucky am I. In idle moments I have also been practicing my reloading drills in the dark.

The following Tuesday (11th) I went into town to pickup my chain saw, which needed a new chain and oil pump.  This was hardly surprising after what I had been asking of it.  About 10 kms down the road, at the junction of Highway 3 and the Ha Ha Greek Road, there was a man on the side of the road with 'CRANBROOK' written on a scruffy piece of soggy cardboard.  I'd seen him there before a couple of weeks earlier but that time I had seen him late and the weight of traffic behind me had prevented me from stopping to offer him a lift into town.  On Tuesday, I was looking out for him and saw him early and as there was little traffic I was able to pull over to pick him up and give him a lift.  On the way John told me part of his story. He was homeless, jobless and living in a small, three man, hiking tent over which he had stretched a tarp.  He hadn't eaten for three days and was going into town to fill his four plastic coke bottles with water and to look for casual work.  He had been living in the same place for over three months and is planning on spending the winter there.  He goes into town every day for the same reason, sometimes he gets some work, but mostly not.

I dropped John off in town and as he didn't have any money, nor I might add did he ask for any, (or anything for that matter) I gave him what I had - which wasn't much.  As he took it I noticed his hand trembling and in a broken voice he uttered 'God bless you' and went on his way.  I said nothing and offered only a forced forlorn smile in reply.  I had been rather surprised by John.  I had not expected a homeless person to be where I had picked him up - in the middle of nowhere - and I was a little taken aback by our contrasting circumstances. I was deep in thought therefore as I went on my way to collect my chain saw.

With the saw safely stowed away I went into a super-market and bought some rye bread, beans and tins of tuna and tied them up in a plastic bag.  On my way home I pulled into Ha Ha Creek Road and turned off down the old railway line to where John said his camp was.  I found it without difficulty.  It was only about 20 metres from the Highway and it was very neat, tidy and clean.

John's very smart, but rather pathetic home.

I tried to imagine what the nights must be like there and how John was going to cope over the winter.  I left the food outside his tent and thought of the two Thanks Giving meals I had over the weekend while John had nothing.  John will never read this blog but, if there is a god, I trust he will bestow his blessings on John.

PS,  I have since been back to see John and check that he is OK.  I have found him some work with my builder and expect him to start when we start stacking the logs, which I shall show on my next blog in a few days. Promise.

I am a lumberjack and I'm OK......

The last few days have been very slow.  Having cleared up after the last pouring we are now awaiting the go ahead from the Planners before we can do much more. But, 288 out of an eventual 324 logs have arrived from Burns Lake in Central BC which, I know certain readers will be interested to hear, has beside it a village called Tintagel.  So maybe I should call the cabin 'Arthur's Seat' or 'Tristan' (and Isolde). But I digress. On average the logs are 16 ft long and therefore there will be about 5,184 linear feet of logs for building.  That is a few more than we are going to need but there will be some rejects and even taking this into account there will still be a healthy reserve for contingencies.  So we are getting close to the interesting bit of the project but it will probably be 10 days to 2 weeks before we get started with the logs.

The logs took two days to get here and came on a large low loader protected by tarps.  The truck was driven by Gary .....

........ who helped with the unloading.

We started with a baby Cat, which I used to move the last tree stumps from around the yard before the logs arrived.

We had unloaded only two pallets before this happened and ...

..... we had to order a replacement.  We asked for a larger vehicle suspecting that the flat tyre was probably caused by a bit too much weight for the baby Cat.  The new one arrived in less than two hours but when it was put to work it handled the loads very easily and quickly and overall we probably only lost an hour.

We stacked the logs close to the trailer (caravan) to give us room for other stores and equipment closer to the driveway.

I thought some may be interested in seeing the logs close up in order to get an idea of their profile.  Note the D shape.  The rounded side will be on the outside and the flat side on the inside of the cabin.  The logs are 8" tall and wide and the contact surface between the logs is 7".  To achieve the same contact surface with a round log using the Swedish Cope profile you would need a diameter of approx 16", which is a much more expensive log.  I will wait until we start to build before I try describing how they are locked together and sealed between logs.

This gives you some idea of how they will look on the outside.  I am planning on staining them but have not yet decided what colour.  The short list is - clear, yellow or a mild cedar red (actually the latter has a touch of orange in it and looks much nicer than it probably sounds).  All should go well with the hunter green metal roofing.  I will wait until most of the build has been completed before addressing what colour to  use. 

In the meantime I have been busy preparing for the cold weather. I have fetched some autumn clothing from my lockup but haven't really needed it yet. I have also brought in some extra bedding because the temperature has been dropping at night and I think tonight I might even cook myself my first hot meal. I have also taken the precaution of putting some survival equipment, clothing and rations in the car to cater for getting caught out somewhere.

I have kept myself busy with converting the log pile into fire wood by cutting it into 16" lengths for the wood burning stove. With chainsaw and axe in hand, not to mention the local wildlife and neighbours, I have felt like a lumberjack and can't get that stupid Monty Python song out of my head. And, if it isn't that it is 'Tie me Kangaroo down sport'. Thanks Matt!

Essentially, turning this ....

.... into this.

I have also been looking at a quad bike with a snow plough blade on the front, which I am going to need to maintain access to the property during the winter. I am going in to see it again on Monday.  It might be a little early to be thinking of these things but I don't want to leave it to the last minute and then have few options open to me.

Socially, it has been all go and I have been invited out to dinner (yes dinner) three times in the last week. I don't know whether people are just feeling sorry for me but I have been overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of everyone here.  I have new neighbours on my left, the house has been standing empty for sale since I arrived, and they are a really pleasant couple about my age from Calgary. The only problem with all this is that it is going to be some time before I will be in a position to repay the hospitality - I think I had better take a cookery course in the meantime.

Before I sign off, I have found a better way to show people exactly where I am using Google Maps - just follow this link: Chris Walch's Cabin (by clicking on it) and it should take you directly to it.

Will write again soon.