Day 78 - more rain, parties and shingles

Day 78 we awoke to rain which went all night. Off to the airport with our Quebec girls bright and early

then back to work with me. Sheldon and the plumber put in the garage floor drain

plumber put the washing machine and sink drain in the garage the day before

Sheldon loaded gravel and dumped on apron for garage floor

the deck was shingled during the break in the rain .. note the puddles
then about 4:30 pm we loaded up to head to the city once again to take in the EnCana Country Stampede party. We took along Emily B, the New South Wales girl over for the month to play with polocrosse Calgary and Evan P. The sun even shone for most of it and no rain.. until later in the night :-(

 Sheldon warming up the old pitching arm

Shaina looking pretty and a nap on the knoll for the hard worker!

   
A quick stop at the polox field to say hi to Texas Paul J, drop off the quests and then home for a well deserved rest!

Day 77 - stampede and deck roof

Day 77 found the exchange group off to Calgary Stampede. Of course it rained until we bought rain ponchos :-) but overall a great day was had by the girls watching the rodeo, riding the rides and seeing the cowboy up challenge live.
Back at the ranch..yes it rained there too.. Rob and Sheldon (who took the entire week of vacation to work on the house) got the roof on the covered deck then he headed to the city too for chiropractor and picking up drains and electrical stuff.

 fireplace hearth Rob framed in

We all got back around 9 and had a bon voyage party at Stouts for the Quebec girls.

Day 76 - this and that

Day 76 was a sunny Sunday. Britt, Caitin (our Quebec 4-H exchange girl) and I picked up Sharon, Shelby and Brittany T and went on a farm tour.

Following this the girls all went quadding around the fields and ditches, here is Britt and Shelby heading to pickup the other girls. I tried out the new to us lawn mower mowing the trailer parking area and the weeds in the horse pasture.

While we were gone Sheldon worked on the garage floor drain and helped the neighbors doing skid steer work for them. He moved the trailer and leveled it all up so one night we can actually camp out there. After hearing it was forecast to rain for next four days he returned to the ranch and put poly and boards on the roof and moved all our bales into the storage pen.

Day 75 - are you kidding me?? more labor

Off to Keoma we go to check a local mason's work on a fireplace. It was a little more rustic than we hoped

a quick phone call from the concrete guy changed all plans.. he called to say the basement needed more leveling! WHAT!!!!  Well after 7 hours we lifted all the foam and poly, tamped the gravel with a plate tamper and then re installed the tetris puzzle!! HOLY COW!! another challenge of house building.

 this is a smile at the start of the project

 fairly dusty work, not the best color choice in clothing

 finally by supper time we needed a beverage, talented can even do it one handed.. in the middle :-)

essential tools needed for this project, tape measure, sealing tape, pencil, a rake and some good kitchen knives (see Amanda, Sheldon's ginsu works wonders out here too)
once we finished the baseent we headed out.

While Sheldon worked at leveling the garage and marking floor lines I filled the horse water tubs and harrowed the fields with my trusty helpers.
At 8:30 we met Sharon and retrieved the 4-H Banff over nighters and headed home for a well needed shower and supper.

Day 74 - poly foam day

Day 74 was a lay poly, then layer on 2 inch foam. Shaina, Sheldon and my self worked for nearly 4 hours getting most of the basement done.

 moving styrofoam from garage to house

 NW end before

 getting poly ready

 Shaina vacuuming her room for first time :-)

 the start of cut outs

 Shaina got really good at that, Coco found the styro very comfy

 east side all done but service area

west side at 3:30 pm, heading to town to get Shaina to work at one of her other jobs and have a quick steak.

 then back out to finish the basement

 ginsu...use number 20

 but pulling up there was a wee mishap, Sheldon drove over the framer's ladder

 so he tried to re shape... not!

then it was on to the garage to clean out,remove the buried barrel, level the floor etc. Finally at 10:30 pm we headed home for a much needed hot bat, cold Big Rock lime and some chips and salsa!!

Day 73 - too hot to do much

wow another scorching day in paradise.. Day 73 was a fun golf day for Sheldon at Speargrass course with work, I worked on my kitchen plan, ordered garage doors & openers, walked dogs with Asher & AJ but too warm so did blog updates,

 on the walk Coco gave out and after being drug thru the grass for awhile she was very happy to be stuffed in Asher's stroller, it was like riding in a high end hammock!
the girls managed to fit in a conditioning ride on the ponies. At the ranch, Rob completed the north deck

I ordered up the Hide-a-hose which was recommended by a few friends as must have in a new build.

Day 72 - kitchen, airport and appointments

Day 72 found us putting on many a mile. Both Sheldon and I ran into respective works then Sheldon had two appointments as usual for nerve but around that was getting our Quebec girl her suitcase, drop Kaylin at airport to fly home for final couple weeks, and finally choosing a kitchen company and layout. KraftMaid is the choice in a shaker style maple in praline color. Whew!!

 back at the ranch the east side was shingled

 looks quite lovely

 Rob built my two niches in

 and a quick photo of inside to date

 We hussled back from the city to dig the missing pile for the north deck (note temp was still 29 at 5:30)

 as well as haul out a few bales to put up our turn marker :-) Back in town Britt was giving the return family a house tour. Once Shaina was off work we loaded up to return to Calgary to go see...

WICKED...highly recommend!!