Aug 12-13 - dirt and a shower

Do you think that these two go together ? ... read on.

I got out before 7am moving topsoil (that's the dirt in this blog). I made good progress against my half of the dirt-mound left by Dale Brooks delivering 2 truckloads of topsoil last fall. He dumped said topsoil right on the property line between Davies and us -- the area that Jason and I refer to as the Bud-Kay expressway.

The BKE name, of course, comes from the feud that my Dad and his Mom had over rights to the cove and the beach ... a long story ... but one that broke down the friendship that Mom & Dad had with Jack & Kay. During our construction a "road" was constructed between the two cottages (we're talking about clearing 20-30 feet of land here -- for our trucks to use but ultimately because we both wanted our wells drilled in that area.

Anyway ... Lorraine and I have been working at our respective half of the topsoil mound that is now overgrown with weeds. I'm spreading mine down the hill and around the deck, covering the surface crushed stone left by Dale Brooks as he backfilled the property and trenched for our deck posts. In some areas that crushed stone goes 4-6 feet deep but I'd like to establish grass on the top. I'm not sure that it will take hold with only a couple of inches of topsoil, but it's worth trying. It may need more depth.

For the first part of the job I was using the wheelbarrow to move soil down the hill but later on I was working on the other side of the property where I would have had to push wheelbarrows up the hill, so I used the 4-wheeler and the small trailer. It's a great workhorse for this kind of thing -- Dad always used his 3-wheeler but the 4 wheel version, with 4-wheel drive and reverse is a much better bet. Both machines get good use by the kids as toys.

By noon I had been working more than 5 hours and was pretty well wiped. I was down to about 1/4 of the mound and starting to look for the next place to spread soil. The first raindrops were starting to come down as the northern edge of a major thunderstorm was hitting us so I used that excuse to pack it in and have lunch. A half an hour or so later the rain stopped, it had been a gentle rain, thank goodness, not washing away any of my hard work -- in fact many areas under the trees had not received any raindrops at all.

Lorraine went back to moving soil since I was ahead of her at this point in our race and I started puttering in the basement, moving boxes and stuff from the games room to the common area. I'm getting ready to tile the games room and will do some prep work this week but go no further. I'll stick to my plan of tackling that when I get back from Florida.

Jason came over after I had been at the boxes for a short while asking for a "consult" regarding his shower installation (that's the shower part of this story). We frequently do this together, two heads are better than one when figuring out how to do something new. Well, the consult turned out to be an afternoon's work. I helped him bring down the two remaining pieces of the shower (it comes in three sections), wiggle it into place, cut holes for the plumbing, etc. etc. -- there is no way that he could do this on his own. By 5pm or so he was at the point where he had to do the real plumbing, running pipes etc., before we move the shower into its resting place for the last time. He was originally planning on leaving for Brantford early Monday but will delay until later in the day so that I can help him get this finished.

Sandy, meanwhile, continued to clean house -- literally -- two full days of cleaning and she's pretty well done (and done in !).

After we got cleaned up the four of us got together on our deck, enjoying the quiet and the company over a glass of wine (me, Sandy, Lorraine) and beer (Jason). Around 8:15 they headed home and we went inside to start dinner. An excellent marinated chicken breast accompanied by brown rice (with hot sauce of course) and fresh peas from our garden made a quick meal. Another glass of wine (no Sherry tonight) and the day was done.

The plan for today ... Jason is going to do the behind-the-scenes plumbing while I move some more topsoil. Once he is ready I'll help him with the shower, taking it apart, caulking the seams, reassembling and moving into place. Once he is through with me or sometime mid afternoon, Sandy and I are planning on going to Parry Sound -- do some grocery shopping, pick up the cases of wine awaiting me at the LCBO from the Opimian Society and an evening out for dinner. I'm not sure what Sandy plans to do this morning -- perhaps she'll catch up on the un-read Saturday Toronto Star sitting on the coffee table ...

It's cool this morning -- mid 50's -- a welcome relief but a signal that summer is on its way out. Soon it will be time to move some wood down from the woodpile, fill the woodbox and start the wood stove.

On with the day ...