Be careful what you wish for

It has been an eventful fortnight. It didn't start well. Fatigue and carelessness were the route causes of a couple of painful mistakes. On Monday of the first week I was drilling countersink holes for the new entrance steps when the spade drill bit I was using hit a nail and piece broke off the drill and imbedded its in my right eye ball. It stuck in the sclera (white bit) about a sixteenth of an inch away from the iris. I  didn't realise what had happened at first. I didn't rub it thankfully but, blinked the eyelid instead and the shard scratched the inside of the eyelid. To cut a long story short I managed to get it out and went into Wardner Village to see a friend who confirmed that there wasn't anything else still in there.  It was painful for a couple of days but, the eyes heal very quickly and a visit to the doctor/hospital wasn't necessary. I'll spare you the photograph - it isn't petty.

Mid week I also stupidly allowed myself to become dehydrated and woke up in the early hours of Wednesday morning with crippling cramp in my thighs - loins to be more exact. That kept me awake for about two hours and an experience I never want to repeat. If you have ever had cramp in the thighs you will sympathise with me I'm sure.

On the bright side, I have made some good progress on the cabin:

Remember this, the unfinished gable end and dormers - not the lattice work. Well ……..

…… it now looks like this. You can still see the climbing rope I used to suspend myself, to put up the cladding and then stain it.

I also put the cladding on all the dormer sides, except for the shed dormer on the back of the North Wing that will have to wait until the North Wing deck is in place. Speaking of which, I am going down to MacDonald's mill in the morning to collect the lumber for the framing and so it shouldn't be too long before that deck is in place. It is going to be a challenge because of the height and size of the deck. I am hoping to have some help from Kevin and maybe one or two others to put in up but, first I must build the 'A' frames and the decking supports as per the two smaller balconies.

Before putting the cladding on the dormers, I first had to put up the water proof backing paper and …..

…..  to make it easier I cut and stained the cladding before installing it.

The North Wing dormers were the last to be done.

John Facey and High 'R' Expectations returned and worked hard to get all the insulation done.

The most difficult and tedious task was to cover, literally, everything in plastic sheeting to protect it from the foam spray.

There were two and sometimes three men working and it still took six days to get the job done.

I must congratulate John and his team on a job very well done. I have developed a set of seven key performance indicators on which to assess contractors and High 'R' Expectations scored very highly in all - Integrity, competence, capability, communication, reliability, outcome and respect. I won't bore you with the definitions of each, I am sure you get the drift.

The scene of the eye incident last week. The old temporary steps have now gone. The railings will have to wait, I have more pressing things to be getting on with.

There has been an abundance of wildlife around recently. There are about sixty mule deer on the Development at the moment along with a few elk and turkeys not to mention the geese and now the humming birds have returned, so I must get some food for my feeder.  

When the insulators finished I spent a couple of days getting the cabin sealed up and can now confidently say that there are very few places where the air can get in or out. So, as expected, I wanted to test the thermal properties of the cabin and winter duly obliged with two days of snow and sleet, which was just enough to put the wood burning stoves to test. Within an hour of lighting the stoves I was down to a T shirt and although I let the fires go out when I left in the evening, the cabin was still warm in the morning, with the logs radiating heat back into the cabin. I was mightily impressed. However, the return of winter meant I got cold and wet putting up the cladding on the last dormers. So I guess you should be careful what you wish for. 

On a more somber note, I haven't had a day off for over six weeks now and more generally I have been working hard pretty solidly with little pause for over 18 months. I have developed a couple of chronic repetitive stress injuries not to mention my old legacy injuries. The most acute and evident is carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists but, a tightness in the chest, shoulders and upper arms is perhaps a little more serious. Both are keeping me awake at night and I often have to resort to medicines to relieve the pain and inflamation. I may therefore be forced to take a break in work on the cabin. I don't plan on doing this just yet. I think I have enough strength left in me to complete the outside of the cabin but, when that is done I may take some down time, in which case I may suspend the blog. I will keep you all informed and try to limit the break to the minimum required to recharge my batteries.

The crowning finale to this last fortnight however, was the inspection of the insulation and the framing (long awaited) by the local planning office inspector who came over on Thursday and gave the thumbs up for both. The former was expected almost as a formality because of the quality of the work and the latter was a relief in that I had been waiting for over three months for all the ducks to get in a row. So, a significant milestone has been reached and I am now cleared to get the plumbing and drywalling done. The former I will try to get on with once the outside of the house is finished and the drywalling will have to wait. Needless to say I had a little celebration on Thursday night down at the local pub, where I sat with a silly grin all over my face while I ate my meal. Simple pleasures indeed.