MMMMexico....

Yup, no doubt about it, heading to the west coast of Mexico during the longest winter in my memory was definitely a good move. We rented a little casa on the beach, and instead of a long hot shower after my morning run, I was able to just take a quick dip in the ocean. The view from our place was really nice, and great for relaxing.

Lara enjoyed her tea every morning....

And I enjoyed my Corona every afternoon.....

We had a poolside table every night just outside our place. It made for a great spot to eat after BBQing some chicken or fish.

Does This Look Like a Cabin to You?

So back from Mexico and back to the cabin..... The view is really nice in the mountains this time of year. I'm totally impressed with the snow peaks. And....I'm happy to say that John has been doing a spectacular job at putting all this together. Hard to be disappointed in the speed of progress, given the quality of the work. It's difficult for photos to really do justice as to how cool this looks as it is being assembled. Every chain saw cut looks like the kind of clean cut a knife would make through butter. They area all perfectly smooth with no hint of chain burn or even if it was a chain went through it at all. The interior beams will be all cross locked logs. As a result of this, there are 4 logs here with 7 notches that all have to fit tight. Pretty impressive when you think about it. This photo shows a view into the main floor bedroom. So it looks like a 9' ceiling to the bottom of the logs, then then true ceiling goes on top of these, which should yield almost 11' to the "real" ceiling in the kitchen. I think this should work out pretty cool and make the place look a whole lot bigger than it really is. This is basically the view from the living room into the kitchen, and back door entrance.

And check out the bottom of the post...screw jack. Keeping true to the fact that the second floor will have to be "let down" as the logs all squat and settle out.

Four more rounds to go, then we go straight to the main ridge beam and purleens. I'm told all the hard work is done...I think this was mostly associated with the forementioned logs with 7 notches that all have to fit perfect. Keeping in mind that these are not milled logs....just as imperfect as nature made them.

I think we'll ship windows to site next month.....stay tuned.

If you come up to visit just turn on the corner of Moberly Branch Road the the Trans Canada Hwy. Not sure why I like this. I just thought there was something understated about the sign that made it very rural BC.

Cold Here Lately...

Safe to say that Calgary is in the grips of a pretty bad winter, although I've really only lived here 6 years, it's probably the worst I've seen.

On the bright side, this makes for great ski conditions in the mountains, and when our fridge broke down last night I was able to just toss the frozen goods into a laundry basket and put it out on the deck. We were running around -30 last night and I think we will hit a high of -25 today.

On the other hand, I'm generally pretty cold by the time I pull into the pool at 5:30am and try to lock up the bike with a frozen lock. For anyone from the east coast who may read this...yes it is a dry cold but trust me I've been in both, after you pass -20 it really doesn't matter.

Here is a picture of those doors to the gym. And yes, this is from the inside..

Stay warm.

Peter

A Watched Pot......

I've long since abandoned any timeline on getting this project completed. Actually, I don't like to admit that I'd succumbed to the pace of rural BC but things just don't move there at the pace I'm used to. My co-worker tells me that at least I'm building in a place that holds the values I'm looking for in a recreation property. The pragmatist in me says just get it done....

Anyway...since last trip. One more round on and the deck overhangs tied in. Not sure when I'll get out this way again. Not much to chase down and I'm just putting my life in my hands with every rushed daily return trip.

On the bright side, Mexico in 4 weeks is looking pretty good right now. So I can't be overly disappointed.

I've learned that things don't happen really quickly in Golden. I found this out last fall. What has been a bit of a shock to me is just how slow things get over the Christmas season. I think there was a total of 3 logs added since my previous visit 4 weeks ago. To be honest, I don't really mind, I would rather have it done right than done quickly. My trip out there on Monday was enlightening to say the least. The remoteness of the area really struck home. With a foot of snow down all sound is absorbed. It was total sensory deprevation. It took me more than a few minutes to get used to the total silence.




It is an attractive area though. For the astute reader you may notice that there are now wires from that pole in the very upper left corner of this picture. Yes we have power now....no house but power. Usually it works the other way.

More goats....hmm? I'm not sure the mountain goat population in the area. I would make the case that they are not an endangered animal. This herd was on side of the highway on my way out of town. It seems there is always a few there, but this is the first time I saw this many gathered together. I think they were eating spilled road salt. What's really surprising is that I have yet to see a dead one on the road.

Winter Mountain Lifestyle

So, to digress from the cabin focus for a little while.

In other news....I'm thinking about doing a bit of skate ski racing this year. I think I've actually only done one ski race in my life. It nearly killed me....and I was a younger man in better shape then. Altough the long locks may have slowed me down.

I have to be careful not to get caught up in the glamour of it all though. I mean triathlon is bad enough. The world of XC ski racing can get way out of hand, as revealed in the attched documentary.

See ya on the trails.

Progress Continues

I guess I can't really complain about the pace of work at the cabin lately. If I was nearly as persistant at this blog I would have a novel by now.

The place is coming along, just a bit slower than I anticipated. Of course the winter weather has had a big impact. I wrote earlier about peeling logs and how tough a job that would be. Now freeze the log solid in -30 degrees for a week or so and go at it. There's still about 15 logs to peel and it's a tough go.

Otherwise, progress has been steady, however my expectations of skiing at Kicking Horse this February are out the window, but if it's a late spring I may be in luck.

BC Hydro was supposed to be by this week to hook up power. That should help, as some days it's so cold they can't get the crane going. An outlet to plug into would really help the deisel. That's another issue with working in the cold.

Of course, once you get the crane going you're trying to hook into frozen logs. They use these hooks that dig into the logs to pick them up. The hooks basically dig in under the weight of the wood. Of course when the log is frozen they don't dig in so well.

So now I have a pretty good hole in the floor as they dropped a log. Luckily it was not a full round or it would have gone to the basement. I think it was just an 8 ft lenght. It just made a 6"x6" dent though the floor. It can be fixed fairly easily, but I shutter to think just how much damage it would cause if it landed on someone's foot.