Backfillling

Our awesome neighbor Tom came down on his tractor to take home the trailer he'd been lending us all summer (this photo is for all you tractor lovers out there, you know who you are). The trailer was moved in anticipation of the bobcats arrival to backfill
and an action shot of the trailer in motion

a few before and after shots, this is the pile of earth and rocks that needed moving (and a nice side angle of Marvin the golden Olds)

this is where a good chunk of it went, in the pit where we also put the wall we demo'd

and the earth slowly made it around the house till we were all frost protected for the winter

taking down the wall

After deliberation and consultation with Kurt and Haji, we decided to take down one of the basement walls so we could orient our basement stairs better

we did the job in two scull breaking days, parts of the wall were over 20" thick

we wanted to get this done before the backfilling so we could bury all the rubble

the work was painful but definitely the right decision

wrapping the house

working on the house wrap, making sure there are no gaps

the glow of the inside light, comes from the wrap being on on so tight

cozy as a bug, but there'll be no bugs in this fine rug

summer's gone and fall is here, the wrap's on now because the windows are near

finishing up the house wrap, makes us pretty darn hap.
py

gittin on the roof

In between frosts we managed to get half the roof panels on, working wherever the sun was hitting the roof, this took a little while

the underlayer is very durable (and slip proof) so we had a little bit of leeway waiting for the weather to cooperate

Dad is a champion of assistance as always and baby kaya and feast bearing parents Sanjay and Nicole helped speed things along and keep the belly satisfied

The Super Jones and soon-to-be-Daddy John really blitzed it by helping us lift the last panels into place before the first snow storm of the year hit. thank you thank you

with the roof on and done, we enclosed the gable ends and finished all the soffits and fascia

There is a master of paint mixing at the Shelburne home hardware who helped us get the exact stain colour we were looking for and in between the constant rain, sleet and snow, we got it all done

We got most of the plywood on the roof with Kurt, Nobi and Haji's help, we finished it off shortly after so we were for the most part, waterproof

Kaija was fearless, skilled and a treat to have around, she also has a hook up for some of the best bagels Toronto has to offer

the next step was to get the soffits and fascia stained and ready, this was tricky because it started to really rain, again, and got really really cold, the stains had a really hard time curing

in between rain storms, we managed to get a waterproofing membrane on the whole roof, this was the part when we could finally breath

Kurt taught us a fancy trick for assembling our own scaffolding so this was the next step for getting the roof done

group activities

We've had so many awesome, helpful visitors from near and far and all sorts of good activities have taken place
there have been lots of little visitors...

lots of eating and socializing...

some work, some watch...

some have their hands full...

such good work was done by all

the hot tub is where we relax, especially now since the pond is too cold for swimming