More Upward Progress, and a Tarp Adventure

Dad said to me a few days ago, "If you had told me that we'd get this house entirely framed, sheathed, and shingled before there was even a drop of rain, I would've said you were a dreamer."

Well...dreams do come true! Dad and our friend Paul have been working tirelessly the last couple weeks, and to show for it, we have a pretty complete shell (the exterior is framed, the interior still needs, well, walls) that is covered in brand-name building wrapping material, and has a roof on it - fully shingled! It has been quite a sight to see for me, and anyone who happens to be passing by our property and stops and stares for a little while! We've toyed with the idea of putting up a large sign with plans, etc. Perhaps Mr. Harper will also lend us an "Economic Action Plan" sign that they give out so freely?

But I digress...all of this did happen before any rain fell at all, which is incredible. However, anyone living in Winnipeg knows that yesterday, the rain did begin to fall. Pretty hard. This caused another fun episode in our Shack-lives, and guess what? The 1500 square foot tarp has returned (click here and find the segment on June 15/09 to recount the tarp's first appearance)! This time, we had to put a lot more effort into spreading out the tarp, because Dad wanted to do it vertically, to cover up the east wall of the house-shell so that there would be no water damage to some kind of special drywall he was legally required to put on there. So there we were, in the rain, for about an hour and a half, up and down ladders, sticking our heads/arms out of windows trying to get a better angle on things, lifting this massive beast of a tarp up with a 16-foot long 2 x 4, etc. By the end of this debacle, we had one tarp covering the entire east wall of our new house. I was again reminded of just how giant a tarp that is, it looks even bigger vertically. We were also thoroughly soaked, muddy, and cold to the point where even an excessively hot shower barely felt warm. But it was another experience unique to this Shack lifestyle. At one point, I suggested that we should have taken that tarp and draped it over the entire Shack, much like a shroud. I have no idea what sort of benefit that would provide, but it would certainly be amusing.

A House Going Up...Completely Undetected!

Hey, remember me? I'm that guy who writes about the Shack. Have I written anything since going to Europe? No! This is because I'm in a musical that has eaten my life and have rarely been around. However, I have the day off today, so I thought I'd give a quick update.

As the title suggests, a house has indeed been going up around here! "Completely undetected" refers to a couple different things - one being the fact that I haven't been documenting it terribly well, the other being the fact that *ahem* we totally have our final building permits already! Anyway, Dad and friends have been working hard with this great weather we've been having the past while, and a lot has gotten done. I remember one morning in particular, waking up and going downstairs for breakfast, finding Dad talking to a window and door guy in the dining room, and looking outside to see several old guys with trucks and equipment milling about, and of course, our friend Paul working away. It's good that this kind of thing feels normal to me... I've been raised well.

Last night I set foot in my new house for the first time... well, the shell of my new house. It's quite an enjoyable experience. You can see the shape of the first floor now, and the second floor is currently much like a very nice deck. My room has a great view - too bad there'll be walls soon. Speaking of my room, Dad has been asking me lately how comfortable I am with climbing through a 14-inch hole in order to access my bedroom for a couple months. My reaction? "Sounds like fun!" I may also be blessed with access to an exterior ladder from time to time. This is all due to the fact that there will be no permanent staircase between the first two levels of phase one, seeing as the first level will eventually become a rental suite.

That's the last few weeks in the Shack, in a nutshell. Here's a couple illustrations in case you are wondering what things are looking like, but don't have time to walk by our property and stop and stare like many people do:

Dad wondering what to do with a wall that's on the ground.

How the situation currently looks from the front.