Building unload.

House is looking like a home

Thor and I have been working hard to finish up the mobile in preparation for Amy's first trip up next weekend and moving in of all our stuff. We finished up the skirting and work on the underside after raising the house up with scew jacks to get a better slope for the septic system. We also built steps and decks on both sides of the house which Scruffy really appreciated because he can now follow us in and out without a boost.

The metal building got delivered this week and we spent several hours unloading the 18,000 lbs of steel by hand. This was the single hardest day of labour any of us has ever had. I can't imagine it'll be much easier putting them together but at least we'll be able to use the tractor for lifting up the arches.

The contractors finally managed to all come out for septic, concrete and electrical planning. We have power hooked up to the house now and the septic will start to go in on Monday when the footings get excavated for the building. Once the foundations are complete Thor and I will be erecting the building. The design of the building is such that we can build one arch at a time then lift it up and fasten it in place.

-Alan

Finished the wall... Scruffy adds to his tally

I worked hard over the weekend to finish up the rock feature wall on the mobile. It is not perfect but looks great and will be a nice feature next to the outdoor seating on the deck. We have finished most of the drywall repair and patching inside and it is ready to prime and paint in most areas. I stained the kitchen cabinets and they have a nice rich colour and sheen. We have the bathtub/shower ready to receive it's new surround which will really transform the bathroom.

The cement contractor has arranged to have the septic designer and contractor onsite tomorrow to start drawing up the designs and I met with our electrical contractor at the end of last week. We hope to have the septic and electrical all hooked up and completed by early next week. This means we can move onto the property!!

The metal building is getting delivered tomorrow morning. We have about 18,000lbs of steel to unload so it'll be a long hard day. We ordered a 40' x 66' metal building from Future Steel Buildings. Apart from the usual boiler room sales tactics they were pretty easy to deal with. It is important to watch for addons like the 'base plate fasteners' that they tack on after the initial sale at a horrendous price. You do need these and if you grind them hard you should be able to knock 50% off the cost of them. These buildings are supposedly straight forward to put up but I'll comment on that later. We will be spraying the inside with a hard shell foam insulation to achieve the climate we need inside.

Scruffy took out what appeared to be a family of pocket gophers through the fence. I foolishly thought he was just sniffing at something so I took a couple of pictures. I saw the body count when it was already too late.

-Alan

A few more pictures

Including one of Scruffy back to his sunny day routine of lying around and excessive rolling in the dirt... by special request of a special little girl

Fixin' up the trailer

With the exception of a day on the weekend to unwind and catch up on laundry, we have been working hard fixing up the trailer. Once we got into it we discovered lots of evidence that it had been setup for a grow op underneath and torn apart, probably by the drug sqaud, at some point. After removing all the extra ducting and electrical/alarm equipment we went about taking stock of things that needed fixing or replacing.

We have patched all the plumbing, blanked off and insulated all the forced air ducts and converted to radiant electric heat. We also replaced the roof vents and turbines, and put on a new fascia board, soffits and drip edge gutter system. There are a few patches of shingle that will be filled in tomorrow. There were lots of wonky areas where a carport or garage had been cut off so the roof edges and soffits are not perfectly straight but will function fine.

On one side of the trailer there is a 6x8 foot section of siding missing so we picked up faux stone pieces and will be building them up on the wall to create an accent piece and fill in the gap.

We have the septic designer, electrician and cement contractor all coming on Thursday to put together the plans and sequence. Thor and I had some fun with the tractor digging a 3 foot deep trench and not so much fun digging a second 3 foot deep hole by hand for the septic designer to view the soil. Once they are all on the same page we will start going in leaps and bounds with the winery building... which arrives in pieces on Monday. Anyone who feels like a vacation is welcome to come up for Monday!! We'll be unloading 18,000lbs of steel from a truck.

We are getting final quotes from the local suppliers for our winery equipment and have also been investigating suppliers in the US and Europe because of the Canadian dollar's strength.


-Alan

Trailor arrives!

Our single wide trailor finally arrived today. It was amazing watching the delivery guys shimmy it back and forth and 180degrees in a space that was mere inches longer than the trailor. We had bought this sight unseen and it turned out more or less what I was expecting. We have a bit of work to do to get it up to snuff but inside is in good condition with a decent layout.

The view out the front door is straight into the vineyard and accross the valley. In the summertime we will be surrounded by lush vines and almost invisible to the neighbours.

We are still sorting out the septic design for the house and winery building but have a few site visits lined up for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day for us sourcing all the materials for fixing up the mobile and building a patio area in the wind shelter of the pumphouse. We will also be getting started on construction of the front wall for the winery building with 14' doors, a man door and a window. The rest of the building is likely arriving early next week.

Alan

More cold Monday

Cold windy Monday... Cold

The temperature was way down today and there was a fierce wind blowing down the valley. We were bundled up for the first half of the day until the sun made an appearance.

March 6th shirtless in the Vineyard

It was incredible being out in the sun in early March and this warm. I was actually too hot to wear a shirt. It is still getting cold as soon as the sun goes down though so hopefully won't cause any issues with early budbreak on the vines.

Land Cleared for the Single Wide and First day on the TRACTOR

Over the weekend I was busy clearing an area of the Muscat plot in preparation for delivery of the single wide we have purchased. The mobile will give us a place to live while we get our feet on the ground and figure out what we want to do for a permanent home. I had to disconnect the wires and pull them back to the next post first. Pulling each wire running the entire length of the property tight before anchoring it place was exhausting, painful and time consuming to do by myself. Once the wires were all moved I dug up and pulled the old vines from the patch.

After measuring multiple times it became apparent that we would not be able to fit the mobile past the pumphouse. This time I had help but we had to temporarily pull back and tie off the wires from a panel of Gewurztraminer vines so we can drive the trailor through. With luck there will not be too much damage to the vines as this is a section that we are not replanting.

We have several septic system companies quoting on doing the design, excavation and system setup for us. We have to get a registered professional to do the design in order to get a proper permit for the mobile. One of the contractors has an in house engineer so we can do more of the work ourselves by using them.

The single wide was supposed to arrive today but for a laundry list of reasons provided by the seller/delivery guy, it is due to arrive tomorrow.

I am really enjoying the quiet and country life here. The area we are in is very equestrian and proper country when compared to many of the vineyard areas. The other day while driving to the property I saw a neighbours dog running along the side of the road with a full deer leg in his mouth... I also met one of our neighbours on the weekend. He and his family have been there for a while and gave me a good idea of the community. They used to have a dog kennel on the property amongst other things. He is a really nice guy and offered any help or advice we need along the way. He also likes what we are doing on the property and they are looking forward to having people living next door. He also offered that if down the road we would like to move over the fence and have us plant a couple of acres for him and run the vineyard.

We fired up the tractor and had a great time driving it around for the first time today. Despite being an old girl she fired right up and everything works great. I felt like a proper farmer driving up the rows and we got some great pictures while having fun with it.

-Alan

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the first few days.