beachcombers

Well we fought and pryed and struggled to get a big chunk of yellow cedar off the beach. But by high tide me and Liam were proudly towing our trophy around. Just another day at "ons tweede huis."

June 28th

Our weekend was spent working/helping the Vanderheides move into there new house. Lots of fun hanging out with the whole community. Potlucks dinners after a hard days work. Saturday was a all about moving heavy objects..washer,dryer, three freezers, four beds, bunk beds, TV's, fuel barrels, tables, chairs, piano, book shelves, whole extra set of kitchen cupboards, spare sink, you name it we moved it. Lots of guys..makes the work easy. In the process of moving I managed to steal a few items when Ben wasn't looking…mostly a set of oars for our skiff (because I broke one)…some solar panels (that came off a sailboat that sunk…any guesses if they will work after being submerged..nobody has tested them yet)… and a dry box for our old pickup.

Sunday we had to start sheeting some interior walls and hooking up all the appliances. Must have been about 10 people scurrying about their house hard at work. A modern day barn raising.

Monday morning I snuck back to the house for a couple more hours. Just wanted to finish sheeting the kids bedrooms..by 11 we ran out of material. So they are gonna have to live with 80% sheeted walls. They hope to be sleeping there tomorrow.

After lunch it was back too our cabin. I brought over a boat load of lumber. We are hopping to hook the kitchen sink to the septic tank this week. But rather than bury the sewage line (too much work) I am building boardwalk over top of it. Should be just dandy. We also had some kayak visitors who braved the west coast weather too check out our building progress.

One story of note (sorry no pictures) which we will refer to as the "crane incident". Also happened over the weekend. Along our trail to town there seems to be a spot frequented by sandhill cranes. Actually quite big birds when viewed from six feet away. Jana was walking alone with the kids when the incident happened. The crane ran towards her with wings extended in an obvious aggressive intent. Jana ran back down the trail. The crane gave up chasing her. But when she tried to return it came back at her. Not to be deterred (jana really wanted to go to town) she grabbed a big stick and advanced. The crane tried to intimidate but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She yelled..screamed and swung her stick valiantly. Apparently the crane feeling he had met his match allowed her to pass. So anyone visiting beware.

burn it all

Today was the day to burn our brush pile. Jana has been asking for weeks to burn it up. But there hasn't been any rain in a long time. It rained a bit last night and was nice and calm today..no wind. A perfect day to burn. (Jana mentioned something about a burn ban she heard on the radio) In my defence I never heard anything at all. Anyways it burned up great. Now Jana can kick her garden plans in full gear. We also were getting tired of eating on the floor. So we finally built a kitchen table. So nice to have a proper meal for once.

pink

Yup that's the new colour of our cabin..pink. I was hoping for at least blue or maybe even yellow. But we are going to have to settle for pink. We have been busy tacking sheets of styrofoam all over our cabin. Jana is on a mission to plug every little drafty mouse hole she can find. We also got some benches made. Is very nice to finally have somewhere to sit comfortably. Now to build the kitchen table. Better start looking for some funky driftwood. Power has been out for a few days here in Oona River. Doesn't effect us too much. But I have been hoping to borrow a table saw....they don't work to good without power. Still hasn't rained more than a few drops in the past week. Normally I wouldn't complain..but I really want to test my new gutter system. I did do a little work to the gravity feed water system Opa Seinen setup. I managed to get some water flowing..but hardly any pressure..as soon as you lift the line 2 feet up it dies. Guess we need more water line higher up the creek.

Summer Solstice Party

What a better way to spend the longest day of the year. Than a bonfire on the beach. With fresh crab and disgusting strawberry cheesecake. We had lots of fun dancing around the fire and encourging our inner child. Lots of laughing and playing on the driftwood. Sad too think the days get shorter now.

father's day

as I sit here in my new father's day hoodie. I am thinking what a great day it was. It all started at 6:15am. That's when I snuck out of the cabin. Went to the beach and sat reading my book for 20 minutes while watching the sun rise and burn off the fog. The Vanderheide family roared around the corner in there speedboat..already for some halibut fishing. Off too the "deep freeze"..local fishing spot. As we pulled in behind Jermeys boat..he held up his first 25 pound halibut. Thats when the fun started. Within an hour we had caught 7 nice plumb juicy halbut. Double headers..broke some gear off on big ones...a few pulled in with handline. A very fun and exciting 60 minutes..then home for breakfast. We also checked the crab traps....39 crabs..another record. Apparently the bait (frozen salmon carcass left from Josh Wimbush's fish) did the trick. We could barely lift the traps. We now have enough food to stay another month. It all happened so fast. By 9am we were all back home..wondering what to do with the rest of the day. That didn't last long..Ben and Shannon have to be moved out in a couple weeks. So off we went to help them. Jana looked after all the kids and made us dinner. The rest of us planed/sanded/cut/lifted/hauled/dropped/carried 6x4 spruce T&G beams. These were set up in there living room as the loft floor/ceiling. They look great. They definetly add a lot to there house. They now have a spectacular living room. The vaulted ceiling looks great. You can sit at their dinner table and look up through the sky lights at the stars. I look forward to a few meals there. For now we had to settle for plates full of fresh halibut cheeks..mmmmmm. Does a fathers' day get any better.

septic day

Spent the morning building a water collection system...now we are ready for rain. Hope this bright hot sunny weather goes away soon. So we can test the new system. Liam and Sydney spent most of the day naked..swimming in the new pool and ocean. Liam came to test out the new septic tank and drain field. Now we just have too hook up the sink and see if it works. Went fishing after dinner. Rowed out in the skiff. Caught 11 perch and one little cod. Lots of fish..almost every cast. Everyone is going halibut fishing early tomorrow morning. Jermey caught 3 halibut yesterday..and threw more back so we are all pumped to try first thing. They are gonna pick me up on my beach at 6:30. Wish us luck.