Splake

Have you ever eaten splake? It looks like a trout,the meat looks like salmon and it tastes like Arctic Char, very delicious. Yesterday Paul came over with a splake he caught and showed Mary how to clean it.

Paul made the whole process look very easy. Mary wanted to learn how to do it since she plans on doing a lot of fishing once we are up here permanently.

Even Jeff had to come over to admire the fish,.......................  not really, he came over to get me to move some plywood.

Doesn't that look delicious and it tasted just as good as it looks. Thanks Paul.

Forecast calls for 6 days of rain so I may have only soggy weather reports for the next few days. Thanks for stopping by; soon we will be heading south to avoid the cold weather. Seems like the weather is having a major impact our lives and decisions for the next little while.

Studio Tour

Studio Tours are very popular up here in the fall. With the leaves changing colour and the temperature hovering around 26*C it was the perfect day to explore and visit some of the many studios in the area. There is a tremendous amount of artistic talent here and you will not be disappointed with a visit. We stopped at the "Homestead Pottery" run by Lisa Barry a daughter of our friends Pat and Jeff in Haliburton. Lisa is a very busy woman. Not only does she create beautiful pottry but she teaches at the Haliburton School of the Arts, is on the local municipal council, is a wife, mother and daughter; as I said a very busy woman.

The "Homestead Pottery" Studio with the outdoor kiln in the foreground.

Lisa explains to a group of children how the kiln works to fire the clay.

Two of the beautiful mugs we got from Lisa.

Mary is looking forward to seeing this platter on her kitchen counter.

These are just a few of the delicious vegetables we picked up at the Maynooth market this morning. It is the  last market until next spring. We will miss our organic veggies and the ambiance of the outdoor market. 

Just a few shots of the fall colours from Algonquin Park, past their prime, but still worth the drive.

We have seen so many varieties of mushrooms growing in the forest up here, just not sure which ones are edible.

You can almost hear the wind in the leaves and waves on the shore. It was a perfect day to be outside.

Thanks for stopping by.

On Deck

Otis Redding had a popular song back in 68, "Sitting on the Dock by the Bay" Well we're not sitting on the dock but we are sitting on the deck..................... and here is what we see.

Very peaceful and quiet here as we admire the progress on our building. The rocks in the foreground were dug as we excavated for the frost wall. We will use them next summer to landscape the hill.

Looking west into our living-room with Mary's quilting room at the far end

The place is starting to get closed in and by next week the roof should be complete.

Even the chickens like to come up and inspect the progress.

Happy Thanksgiving Hope to see you up here next summer.

Safety on Site

Now that the crew is up on the roof, safety is a much bigger concern. Fortunately they have the equipment and wear it as they install the plywood.

Look at those fall colours, what a beautiful place to live and work. Dave is building a "ladder" that will extend the roof over the west wall.

Kent buckles up before working on the roof.

TJ, Kent and Jeff work together to put down plywood. I used the bobcat to lift it up to roof level.

Back on the ground, Dave is making progress.

Looking north across our deck.

TJ, and Jeff give us the "thumbs up."

Drop by anytime and enjoy your weekend.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Plywood

The crew started covering the trusses with plywood today. It sure feels great to see the progress each day brings. I think with the excellent weather in the forecast we should have no trouble getting the place closed in by the end of October.

We used the bobcat to lift the sheets of plywood up to the roof.

Here Jeff gives me some instructions so I don't get too close and damage all their hard work.

Yes, the chickens are still here, not sure for how much longer. We can't take them south of the border so ........................  any suggestions?

Hopefully in another week the roof will be done and then we can install the windows.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend and know we are thinking of you. Looking forward to seeing you the end of October.

Roof Trusses

As scheduled the truck carrying our roof trusses lumbered onto our property at 9:30 this morning

First the crew moved equipment and prepared the site for unloading the trusses.

The truck had no difficulty getting in or out of of here. The whole job seemed to go very quickly and smoothly.

Each bundle of trusses was labelled so Jeff could tell the operator where to place them on the walls.

Our happy crew ready to start unloading the truck.

Looking north as the boom lifted each bundle of trusses.

Custom made and delivered right from the factory to our site, how convenient is that?

The gable truss is put in place first, check for level, then braced so it wouldn't move.

By three o'clock many of the trusses were in place.

On the south wall we have a five foot overhang so the windows will be shaded in the summer.

Here the guys work on the "hanger" truss. This is 3 trusses nailed together. The crew will then hang the trusses over our great room from these "hanger" trusses.

Tomorrow we start the plywood sheathing. See you later.

Construction October 4th

We had a busy weekend in Toronto visiting family and friends but now we are back in Bancroft and our construction continues. Tomorrow the roof trusses arrive so today the crew worked on the top sill plate and started the deck off the east wall.

Here TJ and Jeff check for level on the sill plate.

The bracing has been removed and the house is looking much cleaner.

Dave works on the far wall making sure everything is level and true.

Our deck starts to take shape.

The blue strip in the bottom right of the picture is snow and ice shield covering each beam. Now that's attention to detail, so typical of the workmanship here.

Kent lays down another strip of ice shield.

Looking across the south wall; can't wait until we are actually inside.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the roof trusses being delivered.