Markland Estates

While visiting Boris in Nova Scotia, we happened upon what seems to be a failed development on a peninsula near Cape Forchu Lightstation. There were roads, building lots had been cleared, and power lines had been extended--but no houses! There even a grandiose entrance celebrating the developer. . . .
The trees were in deplorable condition, as they tend to be along the coast.

Back Outside

It was good to spend time topside once again, after a couple of weekends in the cellar. It will never be a pleasant setting, but at least there are some corners of it that are bearable now. Here's our little flower, Ollie, under the rose bush, with Frey charging up from behind, jealous because I'm not taking HIS picture.

The sky was especially busy today. Great dark patches of cloud would rush across, and then a few minutes of sun would follow--then more clouds. The Crick has dried up completely, in spite of the copious rain!

Finishing Up

I insulated the pipes and secured the wires. Surprise! Even the slab for the pump and tank started drying up. Astonishing what a little pipe insulation will do. The back shower receives its hot water MUCH more quickly now! I've already had occasion to test the utility of the the screw couplings for the 3/4 inch lines--wonderful! You can be sweat soldering in a few seconds.

And that's done--a chore that has been on my mind for years. Oddly, shaped pieces of insulation for the fittings (T-joints and right angles) are hard to come by, especially in the 3/4 inch size. I used my old stash and quickly exhausted the local supply. I thought these would be more common--will I have to order the rest from Amazon??

Canada Day

Canada Day was gray, rainy, and full of recriminations and accusations from our PM and his friends at the CBC--so I spent it in the cellar wiring in the new water heater. The new Square D safety switch looks pretty swish next to the old cutoff for the pump--which might be another pre-1965 product from Electrical Manufacturing Company of Montmagny, Quebec. Perhaps it's time to change it out.

The new water heater looks promising--it's very big. Note the armoured cable (10/2) running to the safety switch. Not quite as nasty to work with as I recalled. All that remains is the plumbing (in this case, "all" is quite a bit!).

Slow Growth

It is the end of June and the new growth is a little disappointing. It's visible, of course, but for this time of year there should be much more. The trees along the path's edge have a laughable increase.

 Fir is usually quite explosive in June.

They haven't lacked moisture this season, so I think the main factor has been insolation. Dark days, dark days and cold....

Tidying Up

Here is the area cleaned up a bit--ready for the new water heater. The knee wall and footing neatly conceal the undermined foundation, though you can plainly see the state of it by looking a little to the right of the pour.

From the Ground Up

You can see that originally, the bottom few courses of stone were backfilled and buried. They used splatching compound on the exposed stone.

When the joists and northeast sill rotted, they probably dug it some two feet deeper. Unfortunately, this destabilized the stone wall. Rocks have been dropping out of the lower courses for years.




You can see the gaps where incoming  water has carried away the small debris between the stones. With the backfill gone, there was nothing to retain it. Having excavated the fill in this section between the centre footing and the wall buttress, I poured a small slab (6" thick, web of 0.5" rebar) and then set up a form to pour a knee wall.

I ran braces to the nearest mainbeam post and to a joist (to prevent the form from bulging, which it did anyway). It was an awful pour. I had to use a bucket for the top half of the form, lifting and dumping 15 loads of concrete at about 65 pounds each. I constantly whacked my head on that drain pipe.

The knee wall came out reasonably well, all things considered. There's a vicious slash from a screw that I could not back out of the form, but otherwise, it's not bad.








I left lots of rebar jutting out for the next section. The slab was considerably disfigured with spill from the pour, but it was fairly easy to scrape it off with the pickaxe. The new water heater will be placed on the slab, just to the right of the pump and tank. It's a level, dry, and solid platform--unlike the hunk of shale on which the present heater stands.