Sunday, March 21, 2010

Me, mud, work and weather.

A self inflicted picture of myself. I'm not sure how to pose for a picture, especially when I'm the one snapping the shot. The squirrel in the tree and my dog was wondering what's goin on. Now everyone else is probably thinkin the same.
It snows, then warms up, then snows, then warms up, then........It's quite a mess around here at times lately.

Inside of the water cistern. 8 foot diameter and about 11.5 feet long. 3500 gallons of water storage. Well it will be a little less once the concrete is poured in the bottom. There is a little water seeping in as things melt around here. I'm sure that will stop eventually in time once everything is saturated and settled. I won't be pouring concrete in here untill a little later in the summer to give things a chance to thaw and settle.

The cistern has been backfilled for awhile now, I just did'tn get around to posting pics until now.

I decided to go with the blueskin water proofing membrane around my basement. I put on a piece of it one day just to get a feel of it. I'm waiting for a nice day to get it all done. I have just about had enough slopping around in the mud trying to get things done on this thing. I'm seriously thinking about just concentrating on the pay job for a bit and let things dry up a bit around here. The peterbilt is due for an inspection at the end of April and if I don't work on that now, I will find myself doing it later on when the weather is nice for building. Also one of the trailers that I am pulling is in real need of some TLC. So, I might as well get all caught up with that stuff working in a shop and getting paid for it, rather than slopping around in the mud. March has been kinda busy for me at work. It is usually our busiest month of the year. All the oil companies are in a big panick to get some last minute things done before spring break. Pretty soon, alot of the bush roads will be closed to heavy traffic. As it is now, we can only go on them at night, when the temperatures are cooler and the mud is frozen. This time of year, I find it really hard to work on my own project even if I am not working all the time. Go out one night and it kinda screws your whole schedule up for a day or two.
Just when I thought things might be starting to dry up we get some more snow to melt. This one was taken this morning. Today I am being a bit of a house plant(shack plant I guess). Sometimes I enjoy doing nothing but hanging out in the old shack and playing around on the computer, like today. The dog likes it too, but the squirrel misses us. Although it is snowing and clouded over, when I check out the power generating situation, I find that I am bringing in a little more power than what I am using right now. Somewhere around Feb 14 2010 is the last time I have used my generator to run my shack. Most of my power used to run power tools etc has also come from my solar setup, but I have used the generator a few times for misc things such as plugging the backhoe in on a cold morning and running power tools at times, on a cloudy day etc. Life is pretty darned good. I'm thinking about doing a little house cleaning today possibly. lol. We'll see.
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I almost forgot to mention that I updated my blogger profile a few days ago. It used to say what I wanted to be doing and how I wanted to be living, but I guess I am now doing all that.





16 comments:

  1. Good to see you Hermit...and its nice putting a face to a name:). I cant believe yall are still having all that snow over there. Maybe it is a good idea to just concentrate on the pay job fer now so that you can really enjoy yer play time later fer building and all. Im glad to see you progress a lil at a time though. Take care. ~jen

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  2. Great pictures Mark! I like your mud boots too :) Looks like they probably come in real handy!
    You sure are making a lot of progress. The view from your house is going to be amazing! :)

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  3. Whew!! Still says you're single in the update. Remember I still have that sister in Alberta! LOL

    Lovin' the mud shots...still up to our knees in snow at our cabin.

    Have a good one, Mark!

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  4. Every once in a while durng the middle of a hot summer I start wondering why I moved from the beautiful scenery and summer temperatures up north, then I see a picture of the mud and say "OH NOW I REMEMBER", still wish that I could spend the summer up there though.

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  5. I clicked on your picture!! don't see why you haven't put one up before now. lol!
    I feel for you in all that mud; I've had my share here at home and at work. It sux. Fortunately, we have mostly gravel and concrete at work.
    I have never seen that blueskin waterproofing before; looks interesting.

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  6. Thanks Jen, good to see you too. It snowed pretty much steady for the last two days now, so there is quite abit more snow now. Crazy country up here.

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  7. Thanks Jeanie. My insulated rubber boots do come in pretty handy around here alot of the time. I don't think I could live without them. It is nice to get the big old things off too though. My house does have a pretty good view actually. From the main floor, I can see quite alot around me.

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  8. LOL Cath. I thought I'd better leave that first phrase in. You know, just so no one is wondering. I remember about your sister in Alberta, do tell me more. All of a sudden, I'm just about up to my knees in snow again too Cath, it snowed pretty steady here for the last couple days. Just when one starts to enjoy playing in the mud.

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  9. Hey Bob. Yes sir it does get pretty muddy around here at times. It makes for some real good quadding. Usually my place here has never been muddy, until I started digging everything up. I think it will eventually be good though when it's all done, I hope.

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  10. Thanks Annie, that was a nice thing to say. But then you had a bit on an lol at the end of that, so now you got me wondering. lol.
    The mud does make me kinda miserable at times. I've tried working in it, and I don't really seem to get all that much done in it anyway, but it's gone temporarily for now. I'm sure it will come back to haunt me real soon. That blueskin is a self adhesive type thing. It comes in a roll 3 feet wide and 75 feet long, if I remember correctly. I'm going to put primer on first, just because of the wood basement.

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  11. Great pictures Mark. Snow & mud...What a combination. Progress looks good.

    See Ya.

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  12. Thanks Tony. No more mud here though, it's about a foot of fresh snow again.

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  13. You seem to have made some real progress, in spite of Winter.

    Our snow is all gone. We had a Winter drought with not much snow and it is continuing with little or no rain for quite a while. I can hear the farmers starting to complain if we do not get some rain soon. It is strange to read that Washington, DC had more snow than we did? I hope they send it back to us next year. I am sure they have had enough snow for a while.

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  14. Oh, I didn't mean anything offhand by that sweetie! Just teasing you a little for being shy about taking your own pic. ;) You should take more but I know what you mean about it being awkward to take your own.

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  15. Hey Pebbles. Ya it has been pretty weird for weather in the south this winter. Mine started out real cold here in Alberta for about a week, but once it got through that it has actually been a pretty nice winter this year. We did get a bunch more snow lately, but I have a feeling it is going to dissapear rather quickly.

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  16. LOL Annie. I did'nt mean anything by that either. lol. No worries.

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