House update: Monday/Tuesday

Monday was pretty boring:

Hello all,
Not much to report. Had hamburgers for lunch. Dan worked on bathroom drywall. John went to Home Depot and bought lumber, fasteners, drywall and a drywall hammer (a very specialized instrument). He is at home this afternoon looking after Val's accounts.

Cheers, Helen

Tuesday on the other hand:

Today for lunch, Dan and John went to Scratch Danial's [sic]. Sonia and I went to the Arts & Letters Club and heard a lecture on a fictionalized account of Shakespeare's sex life and sources of inspiration. It was very well done.

Dan and John got very dirty putting 'mud' on the back wall of Jen's bathroom, at the request of Brian the Tile. This is so all the walls are flush. Work on greenboard continues. (I apologize if I gave the impression that everything is in place. Nothing is simple.)

Mr. Elksinter, the inspector, may come tomorrow. There are things John wants him to check on. Will need him next week too.

Garry is coming to do pressure tests on the plumbing. For copper, you close taps, and see if the metre has moved the next morning. For plastic, you cap, fill up, and then see if anything leaked out.

Brother Michael was very impressed with the plastic plumbing saga. Said that a bathroom drain in his house went, and it took him four hours to fix it. If you don't do something for a while, the learning curve is long.

Brother Mike also reported that you guys have not had really difficult building problems. One of his clients ordered the foundation of a new house, went on vacation and came back to find the hole had been done but nothing else done. Diggers found a body in the excavation. Turns out it was an old cemetery and she has a certificate that says all the bodies had been transferred. Won't be a problem, but a little odd. (Checked the basement out really thoroughly?)

Cheers, Helen

Do you suppose this means that our really difficult building problems are yet to come? Aside from the building inspector, that is. I talk to him, but I am never quite sure exactly what to say.

Jen and I are both in a trough of pessimism at the moment. Well, she was on Monday and I still am. Hopefully this too shall pass.

House update: Wednesday

Chugging along, by the sounds of it:

Today for lunch we had corned beef sandwiches with cole slaw and pickle garnish.

Dan worked on the first and third floor bathrooms. More drywalling. John worked on vents for third floor dryer and toilet.

John talked to Mr. Elksinter about the pressure tests to get some advice. He is coming next week to inspect.

John and Dan are off to buy carbide bits and plastic piping.

Cheers all, Helen

I myself had pad thai noodles with garlic-ginger chicken and vegetables for lunch. I emailed back to observe that the inspector's name is not, in fact, Elksinter, but something that sounds more like a disease. However, details.

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Rick! I LOVE YOU!

I shared a room with Guy on a stopover at an airbase on the way in and out of the country; having to wake up Guy Lafleur at 4: 30 in the morning so we could go get on a Herc was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Guy…Guy…Guy…wake up! Rapide comme une Bunny!

(no subject)

Genetics is so much more interesting and cool than high school/introductory university biology class makes it seem.