Two Weeks and Counting

I traveled out to Nordegg on August 18th.  Two weeks later, on August 31st, I'm still here.  And I intend to stay for a few days longer.  I'm already dreading the return to the city.  It was great that Margarit and Helena were able to join me out here for part of the time.  Mostly I just got a lot of work done.

On August 31st I was up early and put in a full work day.  Unlike the day before when I was lazy and just went out with my camera and played golf.  This was to be the makeup day....!

I was up at 7:30AM and had a shower, leisurely breakfast, and coffee before heading to work at around 10:00AM.  Before doing that I spent about half an hour digging around through all my work areas and boxes of supplies, looking for the recessed trap door handle that I bought some time ago.  I eventually found it, in a box of electrical staples, right where it belonged....!

I attached the microwave cabinet and countertop to the wall in the kitchen of the guest cottage.  Then I caulked the joint between the floor tiles and the cabinet kick on all the kitchen cabinets.

After that I cut and installed subfloor in the small section between the entrance door and the wood stove.  The kitchen range had previously been parked here and with it now out of the way, I was able to complete this.  I posted some pictures previously of the kitchen, but never, until now, a close up of the cool retro range that we have.

Once the subfloor was in place I cut two openings, one in the dinette and the other near the wood stove, for fresh air returns to the basement.

I had to dig my tablesaw out of the garage to cut the last of the subfloor material, so while that was out I also cut up some material for the trap door.  The trap door is located in the bathroom and is the only access to the mechanical and storage areas in our crawlspace.  I built the lid for the trap door, and it is quite substantial.  I consists of a piece of 3/4" plywood, reinforced with an underlayer of similar plywood, and with a layer of underlay added on top to bring it to the same level as the floor around it.  I cut in a recess to allow me to install the flush handle that I had just located.  This was rather involved as it involved cutting through the underlay as well as cutting part way into the plywood with my router.

I cut vinyl tiles to size and mounted them to the face of the trap door.  Then I cut aluminum angle trim to finish and protect the edges.  This was all done outside at a comfortable work level on sawhorses.  When I was done I set the trap door into place and all that remains to do is attach the hinges.

It was around 6:00PM when I finally called it a day and packed things up.  As I was sitting in the bay window having a beer, I watched a black bear come wandering out of my backwoods and down the driveway next door.  The previous owner next door, my good friend Dan, was forced to sell his cottage.  The new owners turned it into an AirBnB... much to my dismay.  The renters would have been alarmed at the sight of the bear, but they were out for the day when he wandered by.  I yelled at the bear, and threw a rock in his general direction.  He scrambled up a tree, and as I continued to holler at him he came back down and took off to the east.  I like bears, and think they are cool, but we just don't need them hanging around the cottage areas.  Nothing good comes of that... usually for the bear...!