work.work.work

Beautiful work day. No rain..calm winds and lots of sun. We also got another grocery shipment. Faxed an order to Safeway at 2:15 and were drinking chocolate milk by 6pm. Not bad. 8 boxes of the fresh food..should be good for a few more weeks. The cabin is coming along nicely. Got over half of the loft floor in. Still need to plane and haul the last 12 boards over. Spent the whole morning splitting shakes. All I needed was 6 more backpack's full and I figured I would have enough. But they took all morning. I wandered way down the beach in search of the right log. But every one was either rotten or two many knots. It took a frustratingly long time. But I now have enough to finish the roof. Tomorrow (if the weather is good) I plan to finish the roof. I first need to install some silicone on the chimney flashing and then..the final shakes. I will be working my way up the roof so I need to bring everything on the roof first...because there will be no coming down till I am done. Jana is gonna come and be on standby..in case I drop anything. She can throw it back up.....

the windows have arrived

This morning all our kids were pretty hungover. A rough day partying at the beach. But it was worth it. They had big long naps and lots of food. By dinner time everyone was back in fine shape. No rest for dad though. Back too work. Today is the day. The day the windows get moved. I am so glad to have them on land..the land directly in front of the cabin. They have been moved so many times in the past few months. It is nice to have them in there final spot. Once again the hospitality of Oona River shone through. Lutz volunteered to help bring the gear around. Not sure if he knew what he was getting himself into. When I loaded them into the skiff it wasn't too bad. The skiff was high and dry. Too unload them was different. The boat was floating and bobbing around. Yes I got wet boots again. Really need to get a pair of gumboots. Lifting the heavy windows and patio door out was a bit of a stretch. I tried hard to make it look easy..but it wasn't. Lutz was a workhorse. He wanted to pack everything right to the cabin. I was beat though. I told him...just get it on shore and I can tarp it. And you can go. I will worry about moving them all the way into the cabin later. Liam came down to help also..by his own words he is a "big working boy". By the end of the day 3/4 of the load was in the cabin. The rest was under tarp. Now two more days to finish the roof. Then I can start framing and putting the windows in.....

more pictures

The blog will only let me post five per post...so here's more from our trip to Freemans Pass with the Vanderheides

Maya's Birthday

So how do you celebrate your 8th birthday in Oona River.

First: Your mom stays up till midnight making magical matching pillowcase dresses for you and your sister.

Second: Your dad takes the whole day off work

Third: You get to invite every kid in town and there parents on a 2.5hr boat ride (one way)

Fourth: Now you hike for over an hour through massive cedar forests and along untouched BC coastline

Fifth: Your Dad somehow gets a fire going on one of BC best beaches.

Sixth: Your mom has designed a treasure hunt for you and friends amongst the driftwood.

Seventh: Now the tricky part..decorating and lighting the candles on your chocolate cherry birthday cake in the wind and sand.

Eighth: Now high on sugar and excitement you run around for hours exploring and playing.

Ninth: As the sun sets you and all your friends fall asleep on the 2.5hr boat ride home.

Tenth: When you finally get home at 10:30 (in the dark) you dad carries you up the dock to your car and home too bed.

We as Liam and Sydney parents were invited along for the party. It was great..awesome..amazing and a lots of fun. It was very special. At one point we were surrounded by a pod of killer whales. I enjoyed it so much I forgot to take any pictures. But they came very close. I was nervous standing on the outside deck of the boat. Pretty cool. We also saw two other whales...numerous dolphins..Seal lions barking..and a sea otter. We had our picture take by a low flying government spy plane (don't ask). We found a glass ball and all kinds of souvenirs with lots of Asian writing on them. The kids were amazing..3 out of four were bleeding..but hardly any tears and no whining at all. Jana's prayers for no rain were definitely answered. Despite leaving in the wind and rain. We never had a drop the rest of the day..and the wind died right down. The sun came out and girls were running around in bare feet. Special thanks to Ben and Shannon for including us in the special day.

chimney

Today's mission: finish the chimney. I needed two more floorboards. First go plane them. They have been drying nicely and are a lot easier to clean-up. The only hard part is packing those $%%@$# 20 footers down the boardwalk. I got them up. To install the chimney mount I need a circle hole cut in the ceiling 14 inches wide. No jig saw here..so that means I have to drill a thousand holes and chisel and smash it out. But it turned out good. Always gotta doing things the hard way though. It felt good to put the chimney cap on though. I do need some high-heat silicone to seal it..oops forgot that..maybe I can borrow some locally.

By the time the chimney was done it was time to try and move the skiff with the windows. Finally the tide is high enough. The weather isn't dead calm...so I am not quite ready to move it all the way. But I wanna put it in a better spot...more protected and accessible. I need to tow it with another skiff. So I brought one over. But the water wasn't quite high enough. Great I can go have lunch. So I left it tied up on a nice big log...no problem..(yah right) As I was putting my boots on to go back out. Someone came running in..."hey that skiff is gonna sink out there". I ran out to see. On this big log there was a knot. The knot grabbed the side of the boat. It was kinda of a freak accident. The knot only stuck out about 4 inches..but somehow it managed to hold on. It was tipping the boat completely over. As I ran up...the prop was completely out of the water. The water was just starting to come in over the side. "You might want gumboots" the spectator yelled. No time for that. I scrambled on a log out to the boat. As it was filling up I tried to pry it out from under the log. It wasn't working. So I jumped in the boat..now it was really filling up. Once the boat started to sink..it got low enough to pop out. Thank You. Now I was standing in a boat knee deep in water....everything floating around me. Luckily there was a bucket. Took me 20 minutes to get bailed out. Sure glad Ben's new motor didn't go under. I spent the rest of the day..in wet boots. I am just sad I never got a picture. I did get a picture of them unloading a logging truck. It takes a little while to unload a logging truck with a chain and a crane. But it works.

the crib

Well are second sunday. Was a windy..blustery day. I was thinking of fishing a little this morning. Think again. It has been very windy all day. Slamming the doors to the gym non-stop. No rain though..but no sun either. The herring skiff loaded with all my windows has been taking a beating. Today was the first time the tide has been high enough to float it. But the wind has been tossing it about..and ripping the tarp off. I will be very glad when it is unloaded at the cabin. Hopefully this week sometime. This morning started with a peaceful sunday drive. We explored inland to check out all the new logging activity. I was surprised to find snow covered peaks on the interior of the island. It is bigger than I imagined.Lots of territory. I sure wouldn't want to haul logs in the winter on their roads though. After long morning naps..it was time for crib moving. We walked over to the cabin and brought a crib that shannon had given us. It is very nice. Way better than the one we have at home. We set it up in the loft of Mom and Dad's cabin. Now Sydney or Paige or Jesse or Jake have a safe place to scream it out at nap time. Hope everyone else enjoyed a day of worship and fellowship back home. God Bless!

Stay tuned for week three!!

mill day

Well...the mill got going to today (thanks Ben and Jeremy) The guys (mostly Jeremy) turned one big soaking wet spruce log into 28 beautiful 2x6 20 footers. That will be my floor/ceiling in the cabin. I stacked them and will be waiting for them to dry in the next few days. I want to plane one side of them. With my little makita hand planer. I packed three of them in this morning. Incase anyone is wondering. One 20foot wet 2x6 is heavy..now try walking on a slippery rotting boardwalk...or through the bush. After three trips........I think I will be boating the rest around. Jana has been helping Shannon the last few afternoons..painting the cabinets for there new kitchen. Shannon begged me too take a picture..because she was so excited to make the "blog".

We had a very delicious meal tonight (salmon,prawns and rice with homemade bread) better than the KD dad made last night. The mom's have decided no more KD..apparently every kid in town was trouble going to bed ..after that gourmet meal.

grocery order

Well we have been here for over two weeks now. Which is about the time most people start running out of fresh food. We have run out of all fresh veggies. It has been a few days since we had any apples or oranges. I have forgotten what cheese taste like. Our milk is a combo of frozen and milk powder. (not so good) Anyways Ben and Shannon also are in need of some fresh stuff. Now I will tell you how groceries arrive. First you start phoning everyone you think might be coming. Shannon managed to get a hold of somebody who was coming. But she only had a few minutes before he left. Her sister in Prince Rupert ran to the store and grabbed 8 4l of milk and bags of fruit and veggies...dozens of eggs and lotsa cheese. The connection was an employee of a large barge company. He was catching a ride on a passing log barge. So Ben had to wait by the docks..and race out in windy weather to meet the barge. The Oona River Harbour is not set-up for a tugboat to dock. So tonight as I sit in my chair I can see Ben headed out. He was going to take his small speedboat. But I can see he has taken his larger 35 foot boat. Obviously it is too rough. Now he has to go get his buddy in the rough weather..plus pass over all our groceries. Not exactly as easy as running to Safeway. But we get to have apples tomorrow. Liam is excited.

ridge cap

Putting on the ridge cap..means the roof is almost finished. wahoo!! I got as much on as I can for now. Next step is to put in the loft floor. So I can secure the chimney better. Than I can finish the roof. But I got the lion's share of it done..which is nice. At least I can take a break from shake splitting for few days. Now to figure out the floor. The floor joist that me and Eric made last year with the chainsaw mill..are a bit of a ?. They are good...they just need to be shimed and leveled a but more before I screw down the flooring. And the flooring still needs to be milled. (Ben if you are reading this I am coming over).

more shakes...

More work today...trying to get the roof done. Lots of shakes..lots of trips back and forth on the beach with backpack full. Hope to put on some ridge cap on tomorrow. Jana brought over lunch. To try out our new kids picnic table. mmm homemade pumpkin cookies.

the shake

An early morning just perfect too move stuff around. I snuck out of the house at 6:15. It was nice and calm out and I was patiently waiting for the tide to come in another foot. but it didn't. I guess when I loaded the skiff it must have been a very high tide. Because it barely even reached the boat today. The next higher tide will be on the weekend so I guess I am gonna have to wait. Oh well..there is lots of shakes to split. I spent the morning combing the beach for perfect logs. It is alot easier to pack good shakes..than trying to make shakes with shitty logs. If the shake has any twist it is a pain when putting them on the roof. When you find a good log it is so rewarding..doesn't take long to make a whole bunch of high quality stuff. But a crappy log...one with lots of knots and twist isn't worth even trying. No matter how close it is too the job site. I couldn't find any logs as good as the ones Josh and I had last fall. I spent all morning and made three piles of shake. They are currently stacked on the beach..in the morning I am gonna take a boat and go collect them all. This afternoon I worked inside Ben boat shed. Using his table saw and chop saw. I built a stool..a kids picnic table..and a set of steep stairs. The picnic table is so Liam has some where to play..while I am working. The ladder is for dad's cabin. Now it should be alot easier to get into the loft. It is a royal pain trying to get Sydney up there for her naps. Now it should be alot better.

Jana made bread and checked the mail..yahoo are first letter. We had fresh cinnamon buns(thank you lily) on Shannon's front lawn while the sun shone. The gurls were busy gardening (planting flowers in an assortment of pots)........

Liams' Day

Despite the rain Liam was eager to go this morning. He threw on his green dinosaur coat and dragged his mommy and sister outside. He was tired of the house and wanted to spend the day at the cabin. Even though his mother got lost on the walk over, dad heard the yells and was able to guide them safely in. After a snack of homemade granola he was ready to hit the beach.The tide was low and perfect time for finding pinching crabs and eels. yes eels..little 6 inch squirmy things. He sure was glad his dad had lit the fire in Opa's cabin because they were cold and wet by lunch time. Liam has been learning so much watching his father that he decided to build his own cabin. Some how the finished result looked a little more like something his uncle's would build. Anyways he decided to leave a message for his friend Ava. Now she can find him in his cabin. Deciding it was time to go home. He gathered up Mom and Sydney, who were practicing walking and went to find Dad. Dad was on the roof trying too install the new chimney. He seemed a little annoyed. Apparently the building supply store sold him the wrong flashing. But he is optimistic that he can make it work. Once the gang was together Liam led them home to a delicious dinner of curry chicken and rice. mmmmmm...now off to bed asleep by 7. Resting up for another adventure tomorrow.