Do Nothing Camp

This is going to be a busy week for us, we are trying to complete the wiring and request to have a ‘rough in’ electrical inspection on Wednesday and Nathanial, our grandson is with us for the week at Camp Nana & Bumpa’s.

On Sunday, Aug 17th, with Terri & Mark still here, we wire the utility room and added some pot lights in the hallway. Terri & Barb removed the small back window and covered it with some plywood and made it ready for siding. Our other daughters, Corrie and Dawn arrived to celebrate our birthdays. After a tour of the ‘hobby house’, we all settle in for an afternoon of fun, chit chat and laughs, catching up with each other. It was a great afternoon and as always, ends way to soon and everyone has to leave for the long drive home. Dawn has to drive the furthest to Napanee Ont, just shy of 400Kms and having to fight traffic through Toronto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We forgot (read that we thought the furnace guy was doing this but found out it was our responsibility since we opened the electrical permit) to cable the furnace so out on a ‘quick’ shopping trip to get more wire and some other supplies so we could call for the inspection. Once back, we ran the cable for the furnace and started a review of the wiring so we could be confident that we were ready for an inspection. If we make any mistakes, it sets us back a week as the inspector only does this area on Wednesdays, no sooner! Nate is not too interested in our house reno so he comes in from time to time to make sure we’re still here.

Now, the day before our inspection and we ‘discover’ that some additional work needs to be completed as part of the ‘rough in’ wiring. Now we’re less than confident and a little under pressure to complete this extra changes to help us pass. This takes most of the day but we complete it and are now ready for inspection.

It’s Wednesday and we’re waiting for the inspector – we were only given a 4 hour appointment window that he would arrive in so we wait. He’s here and it was a quick walk through the house. He checks our work and I think he is surprised at the quality but does make a few recommendations that we have to address so he can pass us for next steps. To me, the items were pretty minor but still have to complete to meet the code for Ontario. Simple changes like a deeper box for 20 Amp GFCI outlets and moving the furnace switch to the opposite wall as it has to be in front of the furnace. If you were to see the size of our furnace room (2’x4’), this issue was a little nit picky but still had to be changed! As soon as he left, Barb & I smoked into making the changes that the inspector indicated. He said he would come back if he had time before the next scheduled visit to this area so we moved quickly – the sooner we get this done, then we can schedule the foam insulation to be done then onto drywalling!

So, Thursday morning we make the call for another inspection and were told it would be next Wednesday! I left the inspector a message on his voice mail. Crap, another week delay! Today though is an outing day with Nate. A picnic lunch, some geocaching and touring of the locks on the Welland Canal.

Before we start looking for some caches, we stop off at the go-cart track in Niagara. Nate was too young so we shared a cart and had some fun zipping around the track.

 

 

 

We picked 3 caches along the canal. The St Lawerance Seaway manages the canal and there is a walking/biking trail along side and we found parking at Allanburg, beside a lift bridge. So off to find the caches…. Our first one was on a slippery slope down to the canal. You’ll see the picture of the deep and heavy undergrowth so it was kinda hard to find but we got it! Barb stayed safely up on the path to warn us of any ‘muggles’ (a geocache term for non-geocachers). The second cache had a more difficult rating and several log entries of others not finding it and we were no different. We did not find it even after turning several logs and being almost eaten alive!

 

On our way back, I was explaining to Nate how the bridge operated and as if the operator overheard me, it started going up and we all had an up close look of the process. All that for a sail pleasure craft! Onto the next cache before our picnic lunch. Following the geocaching GPS, we drove past it a couple of times before we spied an access for parking. We had to drive into Allanburg, make a couple of turns and voila, a turn around to park in. Out of the truck and off again, but Barb & I could not find it. Nate just followed his GPS unit right to the cache hidden under a tree amongst some rocks – way to go Nate! Now we can eat… After lunch, I saw a sign that pointed us to the ‘Twinned Flight Locks’ – sounded interesting so we headed in that direction. Yes, you guessed it, with 3 sets of eyes, we missed the next sign and were on another adventure. After some turn arounds and guessing, we find ourselves in downtown Thorold and winding our way to Lock 7. There is a ‘bleacher’ stand set up for viewing and lots of people sitting and waiting but no ship in sight. We wander up to the info centre and learn that a ship is scheduled very soon so how can we speed the time up – yes John, we got some ice cream to while the time away. And it worked! We were no sooner done the ice cream and a ship was approaching the upper side of the lock. Once in the lock, it didn’t take a lot of time to lower to the next level. Once the front gates started to open, we drove down to the lower side of Lock 6 to watch the same ship come out. It was too much waiting for Nate and he lost interest but the adults enjoyed the adventure. Once it started to exit, we loaded back up and headed home – a nice day out, kick’n back with our grandson!

Friday was a slow down day, Nate was a little anxious to see his mom & dad. We decided to call our insulation guys to set an appointment for the Thursday after inspection but they are completely booked until Sept 2nd – so we book it. Looking at the calendar, we have a few days at a stand still waiting for inspection and insulation so we change pace and decide to put a skirting around the house to cover up the old foundation walls to clean up the look. We left early to meet up with Corrie & Dean and stopped to do some supply shopping for the skirting.

Saturday, we start the skirting – in places, the foundation is further out than the cedar siding so more MacGyvering is required to get everything somewhat plumb and even. Shim is a very much under appreciated word but very essential when working on an old house! At the end of the day, we had 3/4 of the yard side of the house done. It does make the house look better – another smart idea of Barb’s.

 

 

Well, that is all the excitement we’ve had for this week, we hope all is good where you are and you will come back again….