Canada trip

Well the house is 99 percent done so I'll report on my fishing trip to Picton Ontario
Picton is about two and a half hours east of Toronto. We fished in the Bay of Quinte which is part of Lake Ontario. We did not catch huge numbers of fish but the ones we caught were whoppers! All but three fish were larger than eight pounds and the largest was twelve pounds twelve ounces. I left on November 5th and got home Friday at 2:30 PM in time to put my hunting cloths on and went out bow hunting. At 5:00 PM I bagged a nice eight point buck. No pictures of the deer but a few of the fish. It was a trip of a lifetime. The two guys I fished with were great and we had a good time.

Canada trip

Storage shed

Today we got started on the storage shed. We got all of the walls up and covered as well as a good start on the roof. Also Ken finished the trees. Pretty soon we'll be done!

It was nice and sunny today but the wind was really strong this afternoon. One of the rafters blew down and hit Dennis in the head and arm. He says he is alright. In the morning he may not say the same as I think he will be sore.

Trees.

Sunday Ken Wilson started planting trees. He got 18 black Hills Spruce planed and today he came to spade omme of the Red Cedar trees I have in several tree plantings. These trees are seven to ten feet high. There are more planted that the pictures show but the last ones wee moved after dark.

Auction

Saturday was the beginning of a new chapter as I had an auction for all of my plumbing and heating equipment and supplies. As with all auctions some went well and some did not. It turned out ok. Mary came home Wednesday and helped me get ready for the auction, hang curtains, and generally get me organized. We had a great time. Wed pm we went to Estherville to see John Edwards. Saturday after the auction we went for a boat ride and then went to Storm Lake to see Hillary. My choice is Edwards! It was a beautiful day as the pictures of the boat ride show.

well, it's been a long time since the last post. Lots of things have happened. We drilled a new well 421 feet deep and finally have water. A much more expensive adventure than had been anticipated. The outside of the house is finished including the siding, deck on the porch, and a cedar ceiling on the porch. The irrigation system is up and running although there is a little bit of work to do on it. We are going to put up a storage shed (12 by 12) and have the forms done wating for a dry day to pour concrete. Mary came home Wednesday and we have done a lot of things inside. Door bell installed, curtains hung in the bedrooms and kitchen, garage cleaned up getting ready for the auction tomorrow, and all of the locks taken to the locksmith to have keyed alike and reinstalled. Until this afternoon it has rained pretty much continuously since last Saturday. About five inches total. This afternoon was the first time we have seen the sun since last Friday. Fortunately Norvin combined my beans before the rain started. Mary took advantage of the sun and took some pictures of the maple trees by the pond.

update

Today the finished drilling the well and put the well casing in (421feet). Tomorrow they will bail out the casing, put a sand screen down and start pumping the well. Keep your fingers crossed.

Dennis and I finished siding the last cable and move around to the dormer. We got the house wrap on and the soffits and fascia installed. Tomorrow we will finish the dormer and will be done with the versa lift.

Next comes the siding on the porch and to finish the porch ceiling which will be covered with cedar.

update

Well Drilller is back

The well drillers came this afternoon and got started drilling before the rain came and drove them away. When the well is done I am going to have twenty black hills spruce trees planted and a number of my read cedars dug and moved to the yard as well as some shade trees.

The siding is coming as you can see. Hopefully we can get this finished this week.

I am ready for closure on this project. It has been much fun but am ready to move on.

This weekend was spent fishing and fooling around so no work done on the house. Did catch a lot of fish though.

Deck

Today Dennis and I built the deck. All I could think about was the deck I put on the old house which seemed to take all summer and we did this in one day and also put the beam in above the deck. We had everything done and picked up by 4:30. Even got the grill put on and cooked a hamburger for supper.

Tonight we are supposed to get a killing freeze so the pictures of the beans should look dramatically different in a few days.

Tomorrow I think I will install sprinkler heads watch football. Then at 6:00 I am going to meet two old classmates (one who I haven't seen for years) for dinner.

You can see the beans are turning gold. This change has happened the past week. They are ready for frost when the start to turn and we are expecting one tomorrow night.

Dennis finished the siding up to the cable on the back and we had the material delivered for the deck which needs to go one before we side.

I dug four foot deep holes (three) for the posts on the deck last night and filled them with concrete today.

Also I have about started putting in sprinkler heads. Hopefully the well man will come soon.

More siding

Dennis was a little late this morning because he was looking at another job. Since it was raining when he came he put the bi fold door on the pantry before lunch. We went to lunch early and came back to work on the siding. We finished the garage and got the front of the house up to the wide green board on the top. Tomorrow we will go to the back and start with that.

Dennis thought that we should consider three colors and my suggestion was that we look into putting a Burgoyne color on the peak of the cable. We are looking into this.

The gutter man came today and I think that either tomorrow or the next day they will install the gutters. Since I have no trees I will not need Gutter Helmet.

Slso piding

Well today there is something to show on the house exterior. Dennis and I worked all day on what you see (I hope) in the picture. It was hot and windy but it felt good to get started. I cut and and held and Dennis nailed and bossed me around. We have a good time.

Tonight Ken came by to look at planting some trees. He is going to put in 20 black hills spruce mixed with some of my western red cedar. The spruce will be three to four feet high and the cedar will be three to six feet. He will plant a few shade trees.

Now we are having a symphony of thunder. I don't know if it is raining but assume it is.

Another hot day

It was another hot day and I helped a friend put in a cabinet shower (he helped me). Of course he just wanted me to give him some pointers and he would do the work. I think he really meant it. Oh well after starting at 8:30 we finished a few minutes before 5:00. He was very appreciative and that made it a good job.
Yesterday I couldn't upload pictures for some reason so here are the irrigation pictures. The sunset was a few minutes late but you can see it anyway.

Dennis did start the siding today beut didn't get here until after lunch so there was not much to show. Maybe tomorrow.

Another hot day

Hello again

Well it's been along time since the last post on August 15. A lot of water under the bridge since then. Been to Alaska for a week with Mary and had a wonderful time. There has been many things done but not much to take a picture of. Over the weekend I made trenches and put in 1200 feet of irrigation lines. The well driller stopped by today and the well may be finished soon. Monday after we got back from Alaska the Rural Water was finally finished. Dennis has all of the wood trim on the windows and will start of the siding this morning. I have all of the jamb extensions on the the windows in the living room and kitchen painted and trimmed out. The yard is pretty well ready for sod, seed, and trees.

There has been progress and I promise to do better on the blog.

Hello again

water update

Yesterday rural water cme and bored under the blacktop and the road coming back to the house. They really need some leadership. First they couldn't get a screw loose and were going to go back to Storm Lake to get it fixed. I Suggested that they just go up to Ace hardware and get what they needed. That worked. After the boring was done on the two spots they pulled off to go to another job before finishing this one. At least I think the water will be ready when I get back from Alaska.

Michael and Holly

Today I take Michael and Holly to Mpls to fly back to Santa Cruz. We have had a wonderful time the last five days. They hadn't been here for two years so of course they hadn't seen the new house.

After living here for a couple of weeks it looks like I am close to having Rural Water. Hopefully they can complete the piping in a few days. Then the lines need to be flushed and sanitized. It will be nice not to have to pump out of a tank and go back and forth to town to fill the tank.

The equipment used to plow the line in is quite impressive!

Water

The good news is that I have some very impressive w\equipment in my yard that is going to start tomorrow to run the water line under blacktop M56 and 1500 feet from there to the house. It will probably take three days and then a few days of flushing etc to get everything operational.

Had a minor catastrophe in the garage today. I knocked over a night stand that I was going to paint and the quart of paint in the cabinet lost its to and I had a quart of latex paint all over. The drain in the floor proved valuable as I was able to wash it all down the drain.

It was extremely hot and humid and spent the day making a book case for the church in the garage.

Looking forward to Michael and Holly's visit. will pick them up in Mpls Friday.

Friday

Seems like there is an endless bunch of little things to do. Today I hooked up the dishwasher, ice maker on the refrigerator, washer dryer combo, and laundry counter and sink. Tomorrow I think I will tackle the garage after I drive my boat in the Pioneer Days parade.

I think I need to go fishing.

Water and gas

This morning the gas guy from the Coop came to hook up the gas. As it turned out he helped me hook up the gas. (he learned a few things) After the gas I started the pump I had borrowed to pump water out of a tank. Well it ran for about one minute and the motor burned out. At 6 pm I went to Spencer to get a new pump. Of course I had to do all of the plumbing over. About 11:30 everything was working well. The water is coming out of one thousand gallon tank that the well driller left as he felt guilty about not being able to get here for two or three weeks. No word on the rural water but I expect that they will start digging it in soon.

Fireplace

It was oppressively hot and humid today so I decided to stay inside and install the fireplace. The reason was that I needed to run the gas line for the range and needed to do the fireplace at the same time. I thought that I would have time to do the gas line too, but we will have to see as it is 715 now.

Moved

Mary came home Friday to prepare for the movers on Friday. She is a great organizer and does a good job of keeping dad on track.

The moving van came about 8 am Monday morning with three big strapping men which we got to appreciate as the day went on. They worked their tails off on a hot miserable day. It took them until 3:30 to finish the job.

By this evening we had the entire house unpacked and things put away. A job that I could not have accomplished by my self in any length of time. The closet is all hunting and fishing stuff!

It has been very hot here and fortunately I got the geothermal heat pump working in before the move. It is so nice. I have all the comforts of home, DSL internet, cell phone service, phone service, and satellite TV. Everything but running water! The well driller was gone last week and has a well to drill before he comes back. Life is still good.

Ready for carpet

Its 9:45 and I just home. The house is all cleaned up and ready for the carpet to be put in tomorrow. It is good feeling to have everything pretty clean and organized.

Besides cleaning I got the fixtures all put in the bathrooms and the dishwasher installed. Really seems unimportant as I don't have any water yet.

There seems to be an endless list of little things that need to be done. Over whelming at times.

It's going to be a busy week as moving date is a week from today, Thursday I have to meet with Lynne's relative about some plumbing issues, Wednesday I have a stress text, and tomorrow I have breakfast with an old friend.

Life is still so good!

God bless

one picture is of a bonfire of cardboard. The second is a picture of(money down a rat hole). The plastic pipe you see is 280 feet of 5 inch well casing. It goes into a vein of sand which is v0id of water. Thus, all that comes out of it is air. The next step is to drill another well and hopefully get water at four to five hundred feet Now, if you multiply 22 times 280 you will get the cost of he rat hole. Now, I don't know anything about well drilling; but I do know a little about physics. The physics tells me that there is water pushing the air out the well casing . S0, maybe the well casing will fill up with water. In any case we are either going to use the current well or drill another one ]]which will be 4 to 5 hundred feet.

I really need water to move in

Anyway it has been a productive day. I am ready for the carpet layers that will come on Tuesday.

Phil got the garage doors adjusted so they open smoothly. I got the house cleaned up for the carpet layers, and Tom Cooper came out and helped me install the Jenn-Air range and he put the ice maker in the frig.

Things are progressing and life is good.

Independence Day

I'm missing the fireworks to send you all this blog.

Last week was spent in Arkansas trout fishing with my cousing Ray. Hopefully his picture will make it to the blog.

Yesterday the well drillers showed up and the insulators. The attic spaces are all blown with insulation16 inches deep. The well is another matter. The geothermal drillers thought there was a vein of sand starting about 100 feet. Well the water drillers went 280 feet to get into a vein of sand 10 feet thick. So, tomorrow we'll see what is going to happen. Hopefully we can stop there and get a good well.

Dennis has been working all week including today. We have everything reaady for the carpet layers to come on Monday except one bedroom. That should be completed tomorrow.

I worked all day on putting outlets and switches in. Also set the sink cabinet in the utility room and did some wood finishing. It looks like the house will be ready for the movers on the 16th.
Life is good!