Saturday 26 April 2014

Anticipation...

Well...here we are in the last week of April and the anticipation of starting construction again at Turtle Falls is growing, by leaps and bounds, with each passing day. It was a long, cold, and very snowy winter and it seems like eons ago that we made the decision to halt construction until spring. There are still a few delays we must wait out before construction can begin again. Nothing says it better than a picture...or several.

You might think the most obvious of the delays would be the high water. All roads leading to Turtle Falls are under water.
This guy stopped and asked us if it was safe to go through. I said 'yes,
as long as you go slow'. From the size of the spray,
 you can tell he was not interested in the advisement of caution.
                                                                                         Photo credit ~ Holly Wykes
The other watery road leading to Turtle Falls.

The load restrictions are the main reason for not starting right away. These restrictions are usually lifted by around the 1st of May. And with the amount of concrete we need for the slab and foundation it seems prudent to wait until fully loaded cement trucks are once again allowed to traverse the waterways...I mean...roadways.

Half loads in effect.

There is one delay that we have thwarted though. Our passive house windows and doors are in our possession! Well...they're in the possession of the window dealer at the moment. They have graciously agreed to store our order in their warehouse until they are needed on site. This is all very good news as I remember the 3-month delay we had to endure for doors for the last building project we did.

We are seriously impressed with the people from which we purchased our Gaulhofer windows and doors. The product is not only amazing but Herrmann's Timber-Frame Homes, from Curran Ontario, makes the whole scary process of ordering windows from a foreign country akin to ordering your daily double-double from Timmy's. Easy peasy! They will also be installing the product when we have progressed to that point. {sigh of relief!}  One less thing contractor Mark has to worry about.

Windows arrive safely from Austria during one of the coldest weeks in January.
                                                                                        Photo credit ~ Adrian Herrmann
Passive house certified Gaulhofer entry doors and windows for Casa Tortuga.
                                                                                                           Photo credit ~ Adrian Herrmann
The whole package, including patio doors, patiently awaiting its
 journey to Turtle Falls.
                                                                                                          Photo credit ~ Adrian Herrmann

These next photos have nothing to do with any construction delays. Just interesting...how high the water is in the lake at the moment.

Doing our best American Gothic pose while the last ice floe goes by.
The amount of flotsam, jetsam and zebra mussels on top of the deck tell us
the deck was 'under' water for some time.
                                                                                                               Photo credit ~ Holly Wykes
The debris removal crew is hard at work.
The conservation authority made us build this deck above the high water line.
That high water line used to be about 4 feet (1.22m) lower than it is here. 
This picture is from last fall. Note the water level. If we had attached the
floating dock with the water as high as it is in the previous photo,
 we would have to walk 'up' the ramp to get to the boat.

We had every intention to get the dock in place during the Easter weekend but there was no way the boat was going in the lake as the ice was still pretty solid at either of the boat ramps we can use. So much for an early dock season! We'll try again next weekend. That will be the same weekend we attempt to de-mouse poor Priscilla...ugh! What is it with the love affair mice have with RV's?

That's all I've got for now.
More later,
Mimi