Chim-chimney, Chim-chimney, Chim-chim Cheroooo!!!

Ah-ha....who's that hard-working girl up on the scaffold?? Gosh darn it's me!!! Yes, finally pictures of me hard at work. The reason for so many pics of me this blog is because my camera went ka-phewy. So we have a guest photographer, Nikki. She took some great shots....funnily enough most are of her boyfriend Blake...hmmm, go figure. We had a great few days thanks to all the help from Mick"turty-tree" Dowling, Blake"the snake"Waters, "The Units" and Brad-Leigh"eats worms"Burns.

Hey, here I am again taking down the courses of brick on the second floor addition area. It took a couple of days to remove all the brick and the ensuing mess...one of the many dirty jobs I seem to get. There's alot more brick removal in my future.

Hey look....it's a huge mother f$#%ing gable wall. Mr. Mic arrive just in time to admire it's beauty. He's got great timing...a little late for the erection huh Mic (tee-hee) Enough teasing. See the little gable to the left, he helped with that one. Don't worry, size doesn't matter Mic....they're all important in the greater scheme of things.

A look at the garage entrance and staircase.

This is Nikki's room also known as "the library". The exposed brick and wall to wall(and ceiling)bookshelves will be the features of this room as well as french doors onto the back deck, a private bathroom and walk-in closet and gasoline storage.

Hey, where did I go???? Unfortunately, on to the next messy job but look...all done. Now, Papa Smurf has to fill it back in.

Blake is learning how to frame. First lesson....balancing a piece of 1x2 on your head. " Look ma...no hands!!!!"

One, Two ,Three....heave ho. Notice Ross has the lighter end with

the doorway.

I don't mean to look so happy, but at least I am still on the ladder. Latter in the day, the "evil-doers" will knock me off another ladder on the second floor. I survived the fall with a badly bruised arse and elbow , fortunately no injury to my corny sense of humour....Sorry :).

I have no idea who is being pointed at and what they have done to piss Ross off . If you want to write a caption for me, feel free...I'll post it on the next blog.

I thought Stevie Wonder was black.

This is a great shot of Papa Smurf enjoying his trade.

Blake learning how to lay out a wall...not a platform Nikki

(tee hee).

Now, why would Papa Smurf give

the finger?

Ahhhh...that's why. Brad is demo -ing the

roof over his head.

Blake gets to use the air gun. No trips to the hospital.

Brad has the sheet metal off the left side of the old roof. Underneath are the original cedar shakes. Of course, Blake is in the foreground. Remember who is taking the photos.

Working on the second floor partition walls. I think someone lost a contact.

Place Tab B into Slot A ...What the f#&k???

It's hard to believe ladies but sometimes men do read instructions. Although the temperature is down a few degrees, the humidity is still a killer. Up on the second floor , the sun is unrelenting and it seems every cloud that goes by misses covering the sun to gives us some relief while every cloud passes in front of the sun at the cottage.

Here is our new hydro service....yah!!!! Unfortunately it is not hooked up yet because hydro doesn't trust you will pay their bill ($1700.00) so you have to pay first. We were having our trench dug from the pole to the building...we are moving the service underground and oops....we cut a 50 couple cable. Our operator almost shat his pants thinking it was a fiber optic cable but this was bad enough. Fortunately it was an abandonned line. Nothing like getting your heart racing.

We have the new walls up in the schoolhouse. On the right, we have our kitchen and to the left is Nikki's bathroom and closet. Above will be our loft bedroom.




It's a very unique day when you get to impulse buy four toilets at once. It was a great deal...two for one....$100 /toilet including seat!!!!(dual flush)

Ross is gonna kill me because I said I wouldn't post this pic but I have too. Ross is so small here....I mean....you can't see anything anyway...not that there isn't anything to see but....it shows you the trouble we go through to maintain some form of hygiene. There's nothing like having a lukewarm sponge bath in your backyard to wash off the daily grime. Soooo refreshing.

I didn't want to leave you with the last imagine in your head....so here is the concrete truck pouring the garage and basement floor.

Ross Working Himself To Death

Things are moving along with help from co-workers, friends and family. Thanks to all who have come out in the heat and humidity. It has been some killer heat especially framing out in the afternoon sun. We are now actually constructing, putting up the first floor and garage walls on the addition part of our project. I'm still doing demolition and probably will be for a few more weeks.

This is the new entrance from the new basement into the old one. The walls are two feet wide of boulders and concrete. Thanks to the boys who finished off the job for me.

The first floor on the addition being sheeted. Who is that guy in the girlie pose with his hand on his hip? Oh ya, that's Dan the guy who....never mind.

The first wall is up. Woo-hoo!!!!

Grant, Sam, Dan, Ross and Jason putting up the second wall. It was a good day...notice the beer empties in all the pics. Afterward, it looked like the morning after a keg party

Okay...this is just cute. Fabbie snuggling with Jakie in the trailer.

Chris, Diane and Spencer were back for a couple of days over the Canada Day weekend. We had the crane in to lift the garage beam (25') into place. Five minutes work for $400.00. Ouch....one of those costs that can't be helped.

While the crane was here, we had the bell tower lowered (this happened when I was sent to the bank for cash so I missed the whole thing...sigh...pictures courtesy of Diana). It's amazing it was still up on the building. Only a few nails were holding it in place and most of the structure's wood was rotted. The bell itself is heavy as hell, the dong (ha ha) is still intact and the sound is awesome. A little restoration and a new tower and we will get her back on the roof. It's gonna make a great door bell....and you think I kid.

Field Of Dreams

Long time no see. Well fortunately we sold our house in Ayr. We had a two week closing time reduced to ten days once the conditions were closed. We packed and moved our belongings to a nice couple of storage units in Alliston. Our leather furnishing and electronics are comfy in an air conditioned room (nicer living arrangements then ours). We are living in our lovely tin box with all the comforts of home minus air conditioning, heating , dishwasher, shower, walk in closet etc... We wash in a bucket on the side lawn. ( if you have a black hose in the sun you can even get some nice warm water) We do our laundry at the laundromat. We haven't done that in twenty years...it takes alot more quarters then it did then. As of yesterday, we purchased a new turbo wifi internet thus a new posting on my blog. I now it has been quite some time and a lot has changed at the schoolhouse but you must be patient. I'll try and post everyday or so to catch up with our progress. ( and there has been quite a lot) By the way, the picture above is of our neighbours ...the potatoes...we ate some of the little buggers tonight.....Yummy!!!!!

This is Steven....he is our neighbour and he has done the back filling for us. It may be hard to believe but it took nine loads brought in to do the job.

Here Ross is compacting the fill in the garage looking all buff and manly.

The back of the school house.

A view of the garage.

This is the stone slinger filling the basement and garage with clear stone in preparation for pouring the concrete floors.

This is Ross watching the stone slinger thinking how happy it makes him to know he doesn't have to wheelbarrow and shovel 22 ton of stone. If he was facing the camera, you'd see a grin from ear to ear.