Oct 16 - a new project

Tom brought the 8x8's and 3/4" plywood yesterday. He and I carried the plywood down to the waterfront and one of the 8x8's. Even though this was "only" 14 long it was too heavy for me to carry more of them down. There is one more 14' and two 16' 8x8's up on the driveway at this point. I was worried about my back -- which is actually fine this morning so I could have probably continued but better safe than sorry. I'll move them down with the trailer and play it safe.

I got started on the gazebo, putting the plywood on top of the existing 2x6 decking. When you start laying plywood you find out if the substrate is out-of-square ... and it is. I've chosen to use the front as my starting point and by the time I get to the back with the plywood, I'm out more than 2". Oh well -- I'll keep it square and trim down the face of the sides so that you cannot see that the deck underneath is not square. I don't want to build an out-of-square building -- that would cause other problems as I continued to build.

Sandy is back into walking and has walked the 2 miles from here to 522 Tuesday and Wednesday. Abby goes along for company. Since the hunting season is not open yet she is not wearing her new blaze orange vest that we picked up in the States. We also got a vest for Abby ... I'll post a picture of that when we get it on her.

Oh -- that faint odor from the water ? gone. I decided to chlorinate the well, which amounts to pouring 2 gallons of unadulterated household bleach down the well and letting the water run until you can smell chlorine at the faucets. You then go to each faucet, hot and cold and do the same thing then let the water sit in the pipes for a couple of hours. To avoid putting too much chlorine into the septic tank I then run the water at the sump pump until it is clear and the smell is gone. That took most of the day.

After you chlorinate the well you get brown water. The bleach removes mineral deposits from the rock and actually clogs up my filter before the pressure tank in the basement. I had to backwash it over and over and over as these deposits came through. Then, as the water lost is chlorine smell the brown got clearer and clearer. This morning it's crystal clear and odorless.

Chlorinating the well is something that is done just after it is drilled and after any significant change in plumbing to eliminate any bacteria that might have been introduced into the plumbing. It's certainly an inexpensive solution to my odor issue -- even if I have to do it annually ! We'll see. Now I have to put a lot of "septo bac" down one of the toilets in a couple of days to ensure that there are active bacteria in the septic tank in case the chlorine has "done them in". That is one place that bacteria are good !

When my brother Philip recently chlorinated his well in Thunder Bay he too dislodged mineral deposits only he did not have a pre-filter in his water line and clogged up his water lines and his on demand hot water heater. It took a while for him to sort that out.

Today -- I hope to continue with the gazebo but rain is predicted. I'll work at it if I can.