One Week Absence

I was back in Edmonton for about a week, and just headed back out to Nordegg on the morning of Thursday June 10th.  I went out by myself, but the girls will be joining me on for the weekend.

While I was back in the city I managed to catch up on a whole bunch of chores.  I started with a day trip out to do a little photography, with my friend Arturo.  After that I dug into a whole bunch of chores.  This included making some prints for the Beehive Artisan Market, paying bills and attending several meetings.  We toured a school that we will potentially enroll Annelise in this fall, and I took my Mom to an appointment.

A lot happened out at Nordegg while I was away.  First of all there was the weather.  We got yet another spring snow storm, this one dumping about 3 inches of wet snow.  That was followed by about 1-1/2 inches of rain, over several days.  This certainly should be good for all the seedlings that we just planted a week ago.  I didn't leave my sump pump turned on this time, because I had issues with it last time.  Our "sump" actually consists of a vertical length of culvert run down to the level of our weeping tile.  The weeping tile can't naturally drain away from the foundation of the cottage because of the slope of the bedrock.  Last time the vibrations of the pump pulled the drain hose down into the sump.  The pump was running and running and just recirculating the same water.  So this time I didn't leave it turned on.  The sump was pretty full, and there was a puddle of water about 1/2 an inch deep in the low spot of our basement, when I arrived. Fortunately it is not a true basement, and we only have a gravel floor, so there was no damage.  I have figured out where the low spot is and make sure to not leave any "stuff" on the floor in this location.

Just as I arrived the septic tank was being delivered and placed in the excavation on our property next door.  I took a bunch of pictures of it for the permit inspector.

My contractor Scott brought in a processor last week.  It is a large machine that cuts logs up to firewood length.  They ran my whole log pile through, plus a bunch neighboring properties as well.  There are some short ends that the machine can't handle, so I still have a little bit to cut with the saw.  Before the rain hit Scott managed to get his crew out to build the forms for the footings.  That is now complete so as soon as things dry off a little, we will be able to get some concrete poured.  Then the real construction will begin...!!!