Inside Work

On Sunday November 27th I headed back out to Nordegg.  I left Edmonton just after lunch and arrived at the cottage just as it was getting dark.  It had been really mild the few days prior, with the temperature getting up as high as about +12.  Last week my contractor was able to spread all the fill dirt around the guest cottage, and properly cover the septic tank.  We are pretty close to finished grade now.  Just have to let things settle over the winter, and then top everything with some gravel in the spring.

As I arrived on Sunday evening, the weather was turning and it was beginning to get cold.  The roads were clear all the way out, with just a little packed snow on the road from Saunders Ridge west to Nordegg.

On Monday I went to work in the guest cottage.  Last year I cut up a whole bunch of 1x6 lumber into 1" strips, and then glued them back together to make wider boards.  This method keeps the boards nice and straight, without any warping or bowing, and provides a finished piece to the width I need, and a full 1" thick.  These were to be used for door jambs, and I stored them away until now.

In the afternoon I dug out my table saw and ripped all these boards down to exact final width.  Then I set about cutting them to length and building the jambs.  I got a coat of primer on them before I quit for the day.  That evening my contractor Scott came over for dinner and we visited and listened to music into the wee hours.  Both of us were surprised at how the time got away from us and we finally wrapped things up about 3:00AM.

On Wednesday I woke up about 9:30, just as the sun cleared the peaks to the east.  I was pretty groggy and out of sorts and it took me quite a while to wake up.  The internet had been out the day before and Scott managed to get it going again for me.  But my weather station wasn't working so I had to deal with installing new batteries in that, and restarting the system.  Once that was behind me, and I had a couple of coffees in me, I went over to the guest cottage to go to work.  It was clear and sunny all day, but cold.  The temperature only made it up to about -16 in the afternoon and by evening had dropped down below -20, just like the night before.

I managed to get the two door jambs for the bedrooms painted and installed into the openings.  The third jamb for the bathroom is built, and primed, but I can't install it for a while.  The wall is not fully closed in yet, and I don't want to do that until we hook up water, and I can test all the plumbing connections.  In the evening my next door neighbor Dan and I were invited over to Scott's place for dinner, and we enjoyed a really nice lasagna.  This time we behaved and packed things in early... about 9:00PM.