Too busy to blog - or something

I knew I hadn't added to this blog for a while but I didn't realize how long it has been. Daily discipline never was my strong suit; however I now have some very interesting photos to post.















At long last construction has started on our workshop. It's very exciting to see what was on paper become real bit by bit. As I see it take shape I think it's going to be every bit as wonderful as we hoped it would be.







It took a long time to get a development permit. Before that happened the city posted notices on the tree at the front of the house and on the fence at the back. Then we waited.














In the mean time, Shannon cut down the bushes in the back and took out the back fence.













He won but the bushes put up a good fight.














On April 16 they demolished the deck. A lot has happened in the last 11 days.















In order to do as little damage to the tree as possible, the shop is going to be built on screw piles. The strange creature-looking machine is the thing that digs the holes. The piles, which are in the foreground, go down 6 feet and each one is rated at 10,000 pounds. As one of the guys said, "You could park the Titanic on this floor and not have to worry about it."









For a while it looked like some very large gophers had been at the back yard.















The engineers called for concrete caps on top of the piles before they could construct the beams to support the floor. But then it snowed, AGAIN.

I know, I know, it's Calgary and this is only April.














Luckily the snow didn't last too long and they were at least able to get the siding off.






Then came the delivery of a lot of lumber and sheet goods. At least it looked like a lot to me.














Next the supports (beams? joists?) to hold up the floor which is going to be a box that will eventually have foam sprayed into it once the ducts and electrics are run.



















That means that the guys had to fasten plywood to the bottom of the grid. That's not quite as easy as slapping down a piece of plywood and attaching it with screws. They had to use brackets to connect the ply to the supports.















Today we got walls and a little rearranging of the roof.
They had to chop the eaves off the garage and part of the house. It's a good thing they sheathed the cuts in poly because, you guessed it: it snowed again this afternoon. Not a real dump, but snow nonetheless.





We also have a fence now so that materials won't walk away. I'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow but it certainly is exciting to watch the progress. Perhaps this will get me back to the blog a bit more often.