Friends you never knew you had.

Life is full of surprises isn't it and sometimes you discover who your real friends are. This week I discovered just how good a friend Stuart Doyle is, who came all the way down from Northern Alberta to give me a hand. So I start this week's blog by publicly saying a big thank you to Stu, it was fun having you here and you were a great help - not least for the tips on better ways to do things.

Stuart Doyle, dressed for the job. He even had a hard hat that was just as well because of the number of times I nearly dropped things on him. And I don't want any unkind words from his mates about not needing a hard hat. Oh yes, I've seen the comments of Facebook.

My goals this week were to get the wiring for the landing circuit in place and, if possible, to install the last of the railings on the main deck. For the former, we needed to finish laying the floor boards in the landing area and then build the front for the 'walk in' closet to match the one on the other side of the stairwell.

While we were waiting for the floor boards from the Indian Reservation we idled our time away putting up strips for the ceiling drywalling panels. They are not easy to identify here but, one is in the middle between the 2 x 12 with wiring through it and the beam.

Once we got the floor boards laid, it all looked pretty good and we were clear to put in the closet front.

With that in place we were able to get started on the wiring, which we almost completed and I finished off on Friday.

Looking back over the blog posting a couple of weeks ago, I see that I promised some photos of the work in the garage:

Here are the receptacles on the garage beam connected up and working.

The re-arranged spindles, making room on the shelves for more electrical equipment ……

…. and most of the ones you see here are now on the deck.

Before mounting them on the rails I put them all through this turning device to make sure they fitted easily.

Kevin came out on Wednesday and was joined by Keith on Thursday and between them they got all the deck railings in place. Well done to them too. I now want to get the materials for the two small decks for the bedrooms 1 and 2.

So, the deck is transformed and feels much more like a cabin deck than a terrace.

We left space for a set of steps on the SE side ….

…. and the deck doesn't really feel any smaller, which I was concerned it might.

I was hoping that the warm, dry weather forecast for the weekend would allow me to stain the railings but, ….. 

in the event the only opportunity I got was a short period on Saturday afternoon and I only managed to get the posts done. The forecast for Monday however is good so, it is hoped that I will get more done then.