Work Week

The weather forecast suggested that Friday June 10th would be nice.  After that it was forecast to become unsettled.  This certainly proved to be the case.  As it turned out there was a heavy rainfall warning in effect for Nordegg, as well as a large area of southwestern Alberta, starting on the weekend.

There were only a few scattered showers on Saturday and Sunday, but by late afternoon Monday the rain really rolled in.  We got about 6mm of rain on Monday evening, followed by 45mm on Tuesday, and then an additional 17mm on Wednesday.  The warning was for up to six inches [150mm] of rain, and we only actually got two and three quarters [68mm].  I guess we should count our blessings...?  These rainfall amounts were from the weather station in my yard, which may be partially sheltered by trees.  The official total from Environment Canada for Nordegg was a little higher... around 82mm.  By late afternoon Wednesday it seemed to have let up a little and the skies actually started to break.  But there is more rain in the forecast, so it remains to be seen if this is the end.

With the unsettled weather it wasn't really possible to do much outside.  It was really windy, and rained pretty much non-stop from Monday evening to Wednesday afternoon.  I spent the first three days of the week working in the guest cottage.  With the high winds we lost two trees on our property, both on the second lot.  One was a medium size spruce just behind the cottages.  The second was a fairly large poplar, just beyond the new guest cottage.  I think the roots of this one may have been damaged in clearing the property, so it is not a total surprise that the wind took it down.

I managed to get the aspen paneling fully installed on the east wall, with the exception of a small section in the bathroom.  Then I moved on to the west wall.  I got all of the paneling installed here, as well as a little that remained on the south wall.  I couldn't do the very top row as these boards need to ripped down to width on the table saw.  It was just raining too hard to consider taking the table saw out of the garage to cut these.  There is also a small section on the east wall, up in the loft that needs to be completed.  But before I install this I need to drill a hole through and push out a cable for our internet antenna.  Again, it was too wet to do that.  The west wall in the second bedroom is also not done yet.  I need to move the chopsaw out of there in order to complete this.

On Wednesday I moved on to the interior wall at the bathroom.  I put a second coat of paint on the plywood panel behind the wood stove.  This really won't be seen, as I will be installing a stainless steel reflector on standoffs, in front of it.  But just in case you can see behind the reflector a little, I painted the plywood.  I had to cut the handle off my paintbrush in order to reach into the tight quarters behind the stove.  Once that was done I started installing the paneling.  I soon realized that it would be very dark in the bathroom, once the walls get closed in.  So, I finished up the wiring to the circuit in the bathroom.  In fact on Tuesday I had put in the exhaust fan and wired that.  I still have to cut up through the loft floor to push up a vent pipe, and connect that to the exhaust hood that I previously installed.  I put in the breaker and then turned everything on.  Part of the circuit functioned properly, but not all of it.  A quick double check revealed a loose wire and once that was corrected I had lights and power in the bathroom.