PICTURES GALORE

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is true, get ready for a very large novel. I promised pictures of our recent work and there was so much, I couldn't leave anything out.

Here is part of the load of lumber we had delivered on Wednesday. Too bad I didn't get a picture of everything. It was quite overwhelming. We also had a large stack of 2X6 lumber.

We recruited the kids and their friends to help with the work. Here is Hannah swinging a mean hammer. Her and her best friend, Jedine, worked on the bases for the foundation. Naomi and her friend, Victoria, also worked on these. Josh helped to cut the wood.

Jedine and Hannah model a completed base. Note the fashion model stance! LOL.

Brian also chipped in to help in the construction.

A stack of bases and boards ready to be nailed together.

Once the bases were completed, it was time to work on the beams. Josh helped to carry the wood outside so we could cut it and divide it into appropriate piles.

Brian stands at the end on one of the 44 foot beams we constructed. This picture was taken before we straightened the boards out and joined them together. The process involved a lot of work - drilling and labelling each board, so that we could take them apart to transfer them to the property. Take note of the weather in this picture. We worked until about 9:30 pm because of the weather. We had to work between bouts of rain and, believe it or not, snow! It was absolutely miserable weather. Also, with Brian just getting over pneumonia, we didn't want to let him get too wet and cold, but he still had to do some work.

After the beams were constructed, we tackled the cribs. For these, we had to cut 6X6 beams into 3 foot lengths. Each beam took 4 cuts. It was a lot of work, as you may imagine. Naomi, as well as Hannah & Josh, were very handy with the saw.

Construction of the cribs has begun. Note the finished products piled 2 high behind Brian.
Again, it is a team effort. Hannah is drilling the holes for the spikes to go in. Each of the 25 cribs needs 8 - 10" spikes.

Josh and Brian work on pounding in one of the many spikes.

Even Naomi took a turn at pounding in spikes. I guess she isn't all city girl!

All in all it has been a great learning experience. Tiring, but fun. It's neat to see the kids getting in on the work. And we are almost done. Only 5 more cribs to make, and 2 - 12 foot beams. Will the fun ever end???

SORE MUSCLES AND VIRTUAL EXHAUSTION

I honestly don't think my body was made for hard, physical labour. Our load of lumber arrived on Wednesday right after school. We managed to get it unloaded and stacked in the shed - all 7010 lbs of it. Since then we have been busy measuring, sawing and nailing. One of my best friends, Wanda, was here for a few days. Little did she know she would be helping us build the foundation blocks for the house. She didn't mind and all and was a great help. We had a really nice visit. It was so nice to see her. And, this was just an added bonus, she did the dishes and cleaned my kitchen while I was at work. Anyways, hopefully I will have pictures this weekend.

ANOTHER GREAT DAY FOR ME - NOT SO GREAT FOR BRIAN

Well, I woke up this morning and the sun was shining. It was absolutely gorgeous out. So, I took my toast and coffee onto the front porch and had a lovely breakfast. Oscar came to and managed a few crumbs. We just basked in the sun for about an hour. By that time the kids were up, so I left them to their own devices and continued basking in the sunshine. Brian, didn't wake up to such a lovely morning. He is still coughing and has absolutely no energy. Most of you know that he usually goes for walks that last 2-3 hours, now he can't even walk to the school (a 2 minute walk). I am getting a little worried. Looks like he'll be off another week. That means that I will probably be teaching his class for another week. YAY!!! (note the sarcasm) One thing that I have found during the last 2 weeks is that God did not give me chronically ill kids for a reason - I can't handle it. It is time to be better. No one should be sick so long. However, enough ranting for now - on to something else. We got possession of our house this week. So, I grabbed Josh and a couple crowbars this morning and we headed to the house. We donned dust masks and gloves and went to work. We removed the broken windows, there were 3, and pulled out all the carpets in the bedrooms and living room. We were sweating profusely, but it felt good to get in there and actually do some work. As always when you begin a home renovation job you realize there is more to do than you thought. We have to replace some of the base flooring in the living room and one bedroom. I guess when the windows were broken some water got in and was left to just soak into the carpet and flooring. Also, we met with the building inspector and the foundation that the house is currently on, and which we were going to use, is not right. So, we ordered all the wood we need to build the proper foundation. $5000 later I am starting to feel a little stressed. I guess it will all come together and everything will be o.k. Just a moment of buyer's remorse. They say most people have it. I guess that means I am normal. Who would have thought!

ADDICTED TO THE EAGLE CAM

Barb, you mentioned the Eagle cam in a recent post, and of course, being the curious person that I am I checked it out. Needless to say it doesn't take long to become addicted. Yesterday morning I turned it on and one of the babies was moving around the nest checking things out. Last night we got a nice view of the mother's rear end. But this morning was the best - the mother was feeding her babies. So much movement took a lot of buffering, but it was very cool. I know I will be thinking about it at work today - wondering what they are doing now. Maybe I will pull it up on the classroom computer and let the kids watch. On second thought - No, too much distraction. I will have to content myself with checking it out at lunch. I had heard about it before but hadn't bothered to check it out. So, I will have to blame this addiction on Barb.

NEWS, NEWS AND MORE NEWS

Lots of happenings in the life of Brian and Ann today. Brian went to the doctor today and it was determined that he has some kind of chest infection - either bronchitis or pneumonia. Whatever the diagnosis may be, he is on antibiotics. He isn't doing too well today, but hopefully will be on the upswing soon. Meanwhile, I am still teaching his class - giving tests and making up assignments on the spot. It is quite interesting. The class is complaining that I am making them work too hard. Oh well, better that than giving them too much free time. They can't wait for Brian to return. After work today we met with the building inspector. It turns out his wife starting teaching in Watson Lake the same time Brian starting teaching here. He remembered me from the orientation meetings. It is always a good thing to get along well with the building inspector. Anyways, when we arrived at the property it was to find that work is once again being done. The gravel bed is almost complete for our foundation. They need to finish packing it down, etc, but it won't be too long before we can move the house on. Septic will have to wait until we have both pieces of property amalgamated. It can go in after the house is on anyways - as long as it is ready by summer's end we are o.k. The other happening was a trip to the restaurant. I finally got the burger I've been craving since Mother's Day. It was worth the wait. No pre-made burgers in Ross River - homemade burgers and fries only! That's about all for now. Hope you had an interesting day too.

STILL WAITING FOR A RECOVERY

So, here it is Monday again. Brian actually attempted to go to work today. Thomas, the principal, took one look at him and sent him to the nurse's station on his way home. That was at 8:50 this morning - before school even started. The nurse did a complete check-up, including xrays. Nothing showed up, of course - just a virus. So they gave him a ventolin inhaler and sent him on his way with instructions to take a couple more days off work. Needless to say, that means that I have to sub his class. They have been pretty good for me so I can't complain. Also, only a couple weeks of school left. Hopefully everyone will be better soon.

A VERY SPECIAL DEDICATION

This post is dedicated to my Mom and Dad. They are two very special people who mean the world to me. They are the best parents a person could ask for. I remember going to visit them at work when they both worked at the hospital. I would go to my Mom's office and she would let me sit at a desk and would give me stickers, and paper. Then I would go to Dad's workshop and he always had colouring stuff there for us. Then Dad would take us to the kitchen and we would go into the big walk-in fridge and get grape juice. It was one of my favourite memories. Every Christmas I am reminded of their Christmas rituals - they would stay up until the middle of the night getting presents ready; we couldn't wake them up before 8:00 and then they had to have toast and coffee. Then we could open a present or two and it was off to church. It was an agonizingly slow process for a kid, but we made it through. My Dad has super hero xray vision. When I was about 9 I broke my skiis, so I hid them behind a pile of wood. The first thing he said when he walked in the door after work was "So, Ann, you broke your skiis." I was very worried I would be in trouble, but I wasn't. Mom's super hero power was her hearing. Even though she is deaf, she would always hear us at night when we were babies. Dad would sleep on, blissfully unaware and Mom would get up with us. They must have been very rich when we were kids, because Mom seemed to have many of the other neighbourhood moms in her employ. That must be how she always knew when we went swimming in May, or that I rode my bike on the highway with Tony, or that we were riding our skateboards down the hill by the store (the hill leading right onto the highway). I got special things that my siblings didn't because I was the youngest. Mom and Dad would drag me along with them to school board meetings in Vancouver. Mom and I would shop and sight-see while Dad sat in meetings all day. Even when I was in Bible College Mom insisted that I take two weeks off work and come on a holiday with them. She always swears up and down that I didn't want to leave home, but it was actually that she wanted me to stay around. (Actually it was probably both.) Those apron strings have just been stretched a lot longer in the last few years, but they are still there. I wish I had a picture to publish on here, but I don't - sorry. I could go on and on, but suffice to say: I love you both immensely. You are the greatest parents I could ever have had.

GOOD NEWS!

Josh made it to school this afternoon. He was starting to go stir-crazy in the house. So, I finally relented and let him go. He is so happy to be out with his friends again that he only came home for a few minutes after school.
On the other hand, Brian is still sick. The ironic thing about this is that I was the one saying just take the whole week off, you need to get better, now guess who's teaching his class for the next 2 days? You got it. Me!!! Let me tell you, he owes me big time after this. I am not sure on payment terms for this - but I am thinking a nice supper out when we come down south would be great! or maybe he could cook supper for an extra couple nights next week.

SICKNESS REIGNS IN THE HOUSE

O.K. this has truly been a week of sickness. Brian came home from work last Friday and has been sick ever since. He is taking this whole week off work - just lazing around the house! Actually he is getting very bored. But to make things even worse, Josh is still sick. He has been sick for well over a week now. His temperature keeps rising and falling. Tonight, though, I am getting quite worried because his temp. is hovering at about 101 and I can't get it to go down. I have given him Advil, sponged him down, and Brian gave him a cool bath, but all to no avail. Yesterday I took him to the health centre and the nurse had a really good look at him. She even gave him a ventilen (?) treatment to help him. She told me to call tomorrow to let her know how he is. Here's hoping that all will be well soon.

HOCKEY

Well, we are into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I was sorely disappointed that Calgary did not advance. I was totally pulling for them. So, being the loyal fan that I am, I am now cheering for Edmonton and Ottawa. The craziest thing about these playoffs is that I am the one waiting each night to watch the game. Brian just isn't all that interested. To those of you that knew me growing up, you may recall that everyone in my house hated hockey. We used to get so mad when all you could get on tv for weeks on end was hockey, hockey, hockey. Now, here I am right into it. I watch more tv during this time of year than the rest of the year combined. So, go any Canadian team, go!

QUILTS

Nothing much has been happening, so I thought I would share some of my quilt creations with you. It turns out that quilting is one of my favourite things to do. I haven't attempted a large full size quilt yet, just wall quilts and lap quilts. Here are a few that I made this winter.

I am currently working on a house warming quilt. A couple we work with just bought a house here. I am making it in browns and yellows - not my favourite colours, but it will work in their house.

WE'RE BREAKING UP!!!

The river, that is. The river should be totally broken up within the next couple of weeks. Then they can start putting the ferry in. This is a sure sign of spring. (Don't you just love all the pictures of snow and ice I can still come up with?)

GETTING THINGS DONE

Well, as these pictures show, things are getting done on the property. They have dug out about 3 feet and will be putting 4 feet of gravel on soon. And we now only have about 2/3 of "the pit" left. Everyday after school we walk by to see if anything else has been done. One of these days we are going to be very surprised.

LAST OF THE SNOW

Here is the last of the snow in our yard. It is actually the last of a snow fort the kids made. Thank goodness winter is over at last!

FROST, FROST AND MORE FROST!!!

Well, things are coming along quite nicely on our property. We are currently just waiting for the gravel pile to defrost so we can get the foundation for the house done. We are finished burning brush for the time being, at least until the guy we bought our extra property from moves his stuff.

Oh, and for those of you who are counting down with me - 5 1/2 weeks left! (or 3 1/2 if you count the special way)

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

We were pleasantly surprised when we visited our property on Sunday. We had spent the whole weekend in Whitehorse and returned around lunch on Sunday. Then we decided to go to the property and burn some brush. We were very surprised when we arrived and found out that Clifford had been to the property and started leveling a spot for the house. He took about a foot off and then the ground was still frozen so he had to stop. He was so excited that he had surprised us. He showed up at the property just behind us and was beaming. So, things are finally starting to happen. (I had pictures to post, however, I lost them off the school computer and haven't had time to take more.) Then yesterday we actually met the man who is going to move our house for us. Up to this point I have only talked to him on the phone. Hopefully he will be able to move the house around the beginning of June.