After several days of moving rocks, cutting and staining cedar timbers and deck boards, attaching same, and running low-voltage wiring, the front steps are finally finished, well in time for the upcoming visit of Mizuho’s mother.  This photo shows how the deck boards are placed over pressure-treated 2×6 boards that are themselves placed over a bed of sand and gravel.

The stairs are made of two 6″x8″ timbers, which were also used as the first step of each of the two decks.

My mother gave us this gazebo as a house-warming present when she visited a few weeks ago.  We and Hime are really enjoying it here in the sunny Okanagan and will continue doing so for some time.  While I hope to start on the posts and beams for the porch roof next week, it will be a while before there is a roof.

Went for a two-day bike ride down through Washington State to Winthrop, a town that has embraced its western character. The main street is replete with facades that look like the ‘ol west of 150 years ago. Some really nice twisty roads as well.  700kms and lots of smiles.  Cheap local beer, friendly folks, nice vistas (mountains, trees, sagebrush and near desert), and plentiful servings of food.

A bit of East/West at the front of the house.  This area will become a japonesque jardin but the Chairs will likely move soon to a view point on the property.

After about 15 months, finally got this done. Coop and I placed the post and beam and it went very well. Much better than the 2×10 that held up the roof for so long (see last post).  Post is cedar, beam is spruce.  Will use similar material for the side porch roof in August.  Getting ready for Mom’s visit (arriving tomorrow).  After the lights are installed and the bench and stairs built, the entrance shall finally be finished.

We have been in the house for one year, and a few weeks.  We really like living here, and enjoy the progressive nature of the completion process.  It is a series of (hopefully not never-ending) delights to complete something, and then enjoy using it.  Have been focusing on the outside as the weather is great and we are trying to make the house look more like someone lives here than just a construction site.  This is a view of the front of the house, a view we have been “enjoying” for almost a year.  We have been busy moving dirt and rock, planting plants, forming for concrete (with the guidance and assistance of Coop), and building some temporary stairs (my mother is coming for a visit next week).  It all looks much better after a month of work.

Pouring the two slabs, about 550sq ft in total.  We did a 4″ slab with thickened edges, with grey and green colour added as a powder, and then stamped with a slate-like finish.  It was washed the next day and sealed a few days later (we also decided to seal the rock cocktail table, good choice).

And this is the finished product, being inspected by Hime. Next step is to erect the posts, beams and roof. Hopefully in August.

These are the temporary stairs I built in anticipation of my mothers’ visit. Also intended to be used to confirm/revise the stair design – the stairs will be 6×8 cedar timbers, with the upper deck parts made of cedar decking. The stairs will be encased on either side with large rocks, only some of which have yet moved into place. After the timber and decking is obtained, planed and stained, we will remove these temporary stairs and use them elsewhere on the property.

A view of the “infinity lawn”.  Still growing well after 3 weeks, although forecast for next week is 30+ every day.  Will be watering less often to encourage the roots to go deeper.

Bought some recycled asphalt from the city for $120 for 10 tonnes, plus trucking. Got 4 loads and spread it over the driveway with the Bobcat.  Mizuho raked out the hills and valleys and now we have a much smoother and much less dusty driveway. We will try it for a season and if it works well, we will get more next spring and roll it to compact it.

Pat and Coop have moved to the Valley! They are staying with us until they take possession of their townhouse. Here we are moving the rock from behind the garage to where it needs to be adjoining the future patio.  Could not lift it with the Bobcat so needed to roll it and push it into place.  Worked well.

This is the forming and rebar for the side porch patio. The front porch patio is also formed and filled (just waiting for some electrical work).  Much of this patio will be covered but about 1/3 will be open to the sky.  We are planning for a dark grey tinted slab with a stone-like stamp.  Will be nice to have some finished level outdoor space.  We are currently painting the beams and staining the posts for the porch, but it will be a while before the roof is on.

With the arrival of summer, and longer days (sunrise before 5, sunset after 9), thoughts are turning to holidays and leisure.  Here is Coop and I on the ferry to the West Kootanays.  We rode about 300k from Kelowna to New Denver to meet up with the Mild Hogs from Regina and 3 days of riding (mostly good weather, a bit of rain coming home).

This is where we stayed – the hive in New Denver. The whole area is filled with aging hippies and has a great vibe. And some spectacular roads for biking and some truly great scenery.  Our hive was in the back right.

These are 4 of the mild hogs. Bikes included 3 650s, a couple of 1,300s and one Gold Wing with 1.800ccs.  Had a great ride through Kaslo and down to Balfour, took the hotspring baths in Ainsworth, and then explored the mostly abandoned silver mining town of Sandon which has a large hydro generating facility dating back 120 years. Fascinating.

New Workbench!  The fellow who sold me the table saw and dust collector gave me two pieces of maple and purpleheart laminated slabs, about 3″ thick, 13″ wide, and 6′ long.  Together with Cam when he was here, we planed them, joined the two pieces together, and then sanded it smooth.  This now has 3 coats of oil on it and looks very nice.  I would guess that it weighs about 300 pounds (130kgs).

Warm weather has advanced the fruit season by a few weeks. We picked these yesterday at the neighbor’s orchard just down the street.  Really delicious.  We are planning to pick some more this week and (mostly Mizuho) is planning to freeze, can or make them into pies.

After building a stone retaining wall and stairs, and backfilling an area of about 25′ by 30′ with about 30 cubic meters of rock and dirt, it was time to get ready for the lawn.  I had enquired about having someone plan and install a system, but in the end decided to plan and install it ourselves, and we were able to do it after returning from our holiday in about 3 days for about 20% of the cost .  We have two zones for the grass and a future zone for the lower area, all run off a timer and manifold with valves. So far, it works perfectly.  We trenched down about 10″ (25cms) and made about 75 pipe connections.  As the plan evolved over time, there were several trips to Home Depot for additional or different pipe and fittings.  There are three sprinklers on each side of the lawn, eight in total.  The 3rd photo shows how we connected the sprinklers to the main 3/4″ pipe.  Mizuho did a great job with the hoe, both digging out the trench and filling it back in.

Once the irrigation was in place, we ordered 750sq ft of sod from a nearby sod farm and picked half up on Thursday and the other half on Friday.  Mizuho and I moved it from the truck to the ATV and over to the back yard and then set it in place.  Worked like a charm.  And at 35 cents a square foot, way better than growing a lawn from seed.

The Green Carpet – which was completed just a few hours before Pat and Pat arrived.  We are thrilled they are moving to Kelowna so we wanted to lay out the red (or green) carpet for them.  This is likely the best the lawn will ever look.

Sprinkler system in action.  We  got it all done just in time – forecast for the next five days is sunny and hot with highs from 32 to 36.

Mizuho and I had a brief 12 day holiday in Madrid and Paris to celebrate my Kanreki birthday and Cam (friend, cabinetmaker and former neighbor in Ottawa) offered to come out to take care of Hime and do some work around the house.  Third visit this year by Cam and Hime was thrilled (and a bit spoiled).  Most of the following photos capture the great work he did while we were eating, drinking and walking around two great cities. This was his birthday present to me – a crosscut sawblade with the appropriate number of teeth.

Before we left, we assembled the guest bedroom door that we had cut and mortised and tenoned last year and Cam installed it and the handle.  We now need to give it a few coats of oil on the rails and stiles, and install the door stop and trim around the door jamb.

This is one of two sliding pocket doors made of fir that I bought and Cam installed.  I decided to buy the five interior doors for the downstairs as the list of things to do remains very long.  They await Mizuho’s sanding and oiling, and installation of trim, but we are very pleased with the fir doors.

Cam also installed 11 drawers I had made previously for the kitchen and guest bathroom.  Still need to make the fronts and install the handles but that won’t be for another few months at best.  The drawers in the kitchen were quickly filled.

Cam and I also installed the drawer fronts and handles for a bank of drawers in the master bath.  These drawers were trickier than regular drawers because they are inset into the frame.

Cam installed the cork-backed flooring in the basement – living/kitchen/bedroom and we bought a new queen size bed for visitors.  Mizuho bought the rug that is beside the bed in Tunisia more than 30 years ago.  Cam also built a bathroom vanity cabinet and we have just ordered a quartz top for it.  Next step is to get the top/sink installed, the fixtures and a mirror, and then get/paint/install the baseboards.  Cam also tiled the backsplash in the kitchen and the funky tiles Mizuho chose for the downstairs shower.

This is one of the cedar beams I got last year from Oyama Sawmill, about 8″ x 8″ x 10′ that will be used for the two porches.  A few weeks ago, I planed all the cedar posts and the spruce beams.  They cleaned up nicely.  I will now need to stain the cedar and paint the beams before installing them.

We are now working on the irrigation for the front lawn and hope to have some sod soon. Next is finishing off a bunch of largely completed projects before turning to the two porches. Some motorbiking may get in the way.

The morning after we finished the rough grading of the back yard, we found this contented deer enjoying the newly leveled surface just outside the dining room window.

These are Saskatoon bushes in bloom – there are hundreds of berry bushes on the property.  There were no berries last year due to the lack of rain so we are hoping for more rain and berries this year.

We went to a CD-issuing party of the Trips, a local band that plays bluegrass, a week after we saw ZZ Top. Both were smaller venues and most enjoyable.  Jan someone from Saskatoon opened for the Trips and played, inter alia, a cover from two of my favorite musicians – Ry Cooder and J.J. Cale.  At both concerts, you could by a glass of beer or wine and take it to your seat – something we had not experienced in Ottawa, Seoul, Paris or Riyadh.  Who knew Kelowna was such a paragon of the liberal laid-back life.

Mizuho did a great job splitting this wood – she is getting to be a real pro at it.  This will be used in the downstairs wood stove as there is another even larger pile for the shop stove.  We will use the bark for mulch.

We finally decided on some details of the landscaping for the back yard.  The white pipe will carry the rainwater from the downspout, the conduit will be used to run low voltage wire out to the yard for lights, and both will be covered with rounded river rock to give the look of a dry river bed and to mark the change from lawn to natural ground cover.  Hope to order and place 10 tons of topsoil next week.

Several projects are underway.  Am sanding and staining the parts that will make up the fir door for the guest bedroom, and applying polyurethane to kitchen and bathroom drawers, which are sitting on the cedar posts and spruce beams that will be planed and sanded and finished and eventually erected. 

Decided to finally take some time and build a workbench.  It is made of maple veneered 3/4″ plywood with maple edging and will have a 3″ thick laminated maple top.  It should provide a really sturdy and much needed working surface and storage to help get me organized.  There will eventually be drawers in the middle two bays, and doors on the outside two.

Big news is Lee Valley just opened a store in Kelowna two days ago!  Really great to have them in town and to not have to go to Vancouver or order on line.  MEC opens this week. 

Good thing we are making some progress as the house-building front will slow down this summer.  I bought this Black Beauty this week and there is much to explore in the valley and beyond 🙂  First bike I have bought since 1994 (just before we went back to Japan) and 6th overall.  Was great to be back on board as I had not ridden since Paris days, about 7 years ago.

Joined the Kelowna Newcomers Club and one of the first events was a tour of a local family-owner sawmill, Gorman Brothers.  They make 1″ by ?? for siding, trim and the Chinese market. A fascinating tour.  This machine takes the logs from storage and places them in a machine that cuts them to length, debarks them, and then slices them into boards.  A person makes the decisions but computers suggest the best use of a log.  Almost all the equipment in the mill was made in Salmon Arms, about 2 hours north of here.

A band saw blade is in the background.

This machine cuts the squared log into planks. All the wood is used. They first cut large planks, then thinner boards, then shorter thinner boards, and they sell the bark for mulch and the shavings and sawdust for pulp production.

About 50 trucks a day get loaded with wood – they run two shifts 5 days a week. Was good to see what they do with all the trees around here.

This is the result of about 100 bucket loads of rock and fill and dirt.  About another 15 to go.  Am using the rocky topsoil that I have screened for the topmost layer, and then will finish with some imported screened topsoil.  This will eventually give us a nice level area, likely a small lawn, that will morph into the natural topography.

This is the soil I am using.  It is on the far side of the shop and was mounded up when the site was prepped.  There is way more than you can see in this photo.  I plan, in the future, to use the excavated area for another garage or equipment shed.  But there is a lot of dirt and rock to move first.  We have more than we need or can use.  Better than the other way round.  Bobcat working well, but had two flats in the last few weeks.

This is the view from the lower side of the rock wall where I have just (almost) finished the stairs, the wall and backfilling the leveling the lower area.  It will make two nice areas and a much easier transition between the two levels, as well as a few raised flower beds so the deer don’t have to bend their necks too far down.

The stairs were fun to make – sort of a design-as-you-build project – but rather time consuming.  They are constructed of 4x4s with 3/8″ 6″ lags and are filled with rock, crushed rock, sand and pebbles.  The trick was to build up the lower large supporting rocks while at the same time building the stairs and the upper rock wall.  Some of the wood extends into the hill and has rock sitting on it.  Next step is to finish the final backfilling and top dressing of the upper and lower areas.

Finally got around to cutting down three small trees to open up a view from the driveway to a rock face.  Will likely have to trim a few bushes as well.  I am rather fond of rock (good thing).

This wood is from some fallen or dead trees, ready to be split by the mighty Mizuho and used next winter in the basement.

Finally found a use for some Japanese screens (shiorido I think) that we have had for 20 years. Mizuho put on some wood preservative and some stain. They were not as opaque as I had expected, but will do the job of screening the propane tanks.

When we built the house, we had to cut down 2 trees, which were piled to the south of the shop.  Last year, B in Law Steve and sister Susan cut a path through the trees and brush for the Bobcat.  Over the winter and the past few weeks, we burned the small stuff, cut up the larger trunks and branches, and moved the stumps over to the fence line where they will reside for awhile.  First photo is from last fall, 2nd is a reverse view from today.  We now need to split and stack the firewood, and use up more of the crushed rock so we can finish the clean up, start a garden, and build an equipment shed.

This tree is what one sees from the dining room. We have lived with it for 9 months but decided it needed to go.

Cam gave me a hand to fell it. We put the branches in a pile and the deer have been happily munching on them ever since.

And this is the view without the tree. The two brown trees in the distance will be the next to go.

These are the stairs that will connect the upper and lower areas.  I started on them this week because I need to get them built and to finish the rock retaining wall so that I can finish the backfilling and then dress with topsoil. Once this is done, my Bobcat road can be remade into the front and side porches.  I also extended the flat lower area by about 1/3 and am leveling it.

And this is where we were one year ago on St Pat’s Day