Men in Shack

With Raya living in residence at CMU and Mom being off in Saskatchewan this weekend for work, the Shack was left at the mercy of myself and Dad. It is still standing, so I think that's a step in the right direction.

One adventure worth noting in the last few days was the procuring of the new door for the shop. Dad received a call that sounded rather cryptic. A male voice on the other end of the line said, "It's in the shed". Of course, we knew what this meant. The door in question was purchased from a company that doesn't have its main base in Winnipeg, but does own property around Fermor Avenue and Lagimodière Boulevard where customers from the city can pick up their orders. The order was placed, and they left the garage door in a shed on that property, just like they said they would. We drove up in the Casketmobile, and fortunately the door was there in an unlocked, seemingly unsupervised shed.

In other news, the stucco for now remains on the porch, seeing as I have not had a lot of free time with which to begin hacking away at it. But know this... soon it will be no more!

Upcoming Exciting Adventures

Last night as we ate supper outside in our front yard (which was actually quite lovely), Dad introduced what will likely be my newest project starting this week. We are beginning the process of destroying the ill-fated porch that is attached to the Shack. My job for now is to remove the stucco from the outside. Step one will likely be to clear the area at the front of the porch. This will involve relocating a few rocks. The previous owners apparently really liked rocks, because they're all over the yard. Another thing to do will be to obliterate a large shrubbery that's currently in the way of some of the main target (the stucco). Inspecting the stucco last night, I have already spotted a few weak points, and will likely attack strategically... by hacking at it with a crowbar a lot. This should be fun!

I have also come to realize (again) that a great benefit of living in a temporary house is I can cause damage to my walls for fun. Earlier today I made a splendid pattern of dents on a corner piece of wall where the chimney is with the side of a hammer.

TheShacki Freedom Update

Our enemies (the mice) seem to have retreated beyond the boundaries of the kitchen for now, as we have not seen many signs of them these last few days. All's been quiet on the front these last few days. Dad claimed he was going to finish the shop today... perhaps he meant the interior, because as far as I know we haven't even ordered siding yet. I have not ventured out to check his progress because I haven't been feeling very well today, and fear that I will be enlisted into service despite my condition.

The Weekend Escape

After the first week of school, Dad and I decided that instead of simply spending the weekend at the Shack we would indeed honour our tradition of going camping. And what an adventure it was! We took the casket-van out to Whiteshell Provincial Park, and did many things including a full day of canoing on Caddy Lake and South Cross Lake (there were tunnels joining the lakes under the railroad lines - cool stuff!). I also worked on my fire building skills (which I have also been doing around the Shack a bit). Upon our return to the Shack, we were *ahem* delighted to learn that there has been evidence of rodent-like creatures invading our shack! We do not want to overreact, of course, but George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been consulted, and they've approved the launch of Operation TheShacki Freedom. These mice could be threatening our way of life, after all. Plus we want their oil, if they've got any... but I have said too much.

Sidenote: we were also graced by Raya's presence for a little while. Good stuff.

One down!

It's been a few days since my last update. We'll start on Friday night, when I was nailing styrofoam onto the studs in the shop to the tune of "Super Hits of the 70s: Have a Nice Day". Everybody was kung-fu fighting...

The most major change in Shack life recently has definitely been the loss of a family member. Not in the death sense, but in the "moved out" sense. That's right, Raya has sallied forth from the Shack to the wonderful world of the Canadian Mennonite University residence. Do we miss her? Absolutely, but the TV room is a lot cleaner now that she's not sleeping in there.

Otherwise, life just rolls on. School starts for me tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to have a routine whilst living this Shacktacular lifestyle. I haven't played a game of fussball with Dad in quite awhile. I wonder why.

The Quest for Drywall

As I was relaxing in the Shack today, and icing my heels due to my Severs disease, Dad suddenly requested that I accompany him on a run to Home Depot/Rona to get some drywall. Reluctantly, I went along. The trip turned out rather eventful, including some free popcorn at Rona for some reason. Loading the drywall into the van/onto the trailer was fun (but only half as much fun as unloading it!), but the real action came on the drive home when the trunk kept flying open (because we couldn't close it all the way) so Dad would have to pull over and I'd go close the door as best I could.

Dad said this could be paid time for me. I asked for five bucks per sheet of drywall. No dice!

I'm Covered in Tiny Fragments of Fiberglass!

Today's work was, well, an experience. We've begun the tedious process of insulating the shop. What I was doing mostly involved cutting pieces of insulation, opening new packages of insulation (which is actually rather fun, you slit the package with a knife and it expands very rapidly!) and handing pieces of insulation to Dad. I bemoaned the fact that I had not brushed my teeth or put some minty gum in my mouth before donning a dust mask, because it got to smell pretty bad in there. However, it was necessary to wear so that I would not be inhaling tiny fragments of fiberglass (which also ended up all over my clothes, hence the title). I now have fairly decent red marks on the bridge of my nose. However, my respiratory system remains intact, and that's what really matters after all.

Otherwise, the Shack is what it is. Some of our 8th-inch hardboard walls are beginning to come apart around the edges, but we're hoping they won't have to last too too long. The walls in my room get more decorated every day, which is actually quite fun.