In the Pink
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| Glenna skippers the 22 ft. sailboat in Nova Scotia |
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| Chris at Kidston Island Light, Baddeck, Nova Scotia |
Chris and I took a week off from the construction site and traveled to Cape Breton Nova Scotia for some family business and a vacation. We left the video camera with Paul so we wouldn’t miss a thing. When we returned to the Cape we were surprised to see that the house had morphed from green to pink. Quattro had been cutting and nailing rigid pink insulation on top of the green zip system. Robbie was close behind with the wooden shingles and his staple gun. By Friday the west end of the house and the front two gables were done. We love it.
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| Pink rigid foam insulation + white cedar shingles |
We are also trying to stay ahead of Robbie. He tells us that he is the fastest shingler on the Cape and we have no reason to doubt him. He has a natural talent for sorting through a handful of wood shakes and discarding the ones that will curl, bleed or crack. He snaps a red chalk line, hammers in a 1 x 2, lines up each shingle and peppers them with his staple gun.
We have been puttying, caulking, priming and painting the trim just steps ahead of him. I have been leaning out windows, climbing up ladders and even sliding along staging with brush in hand and putty knife in back pocket. It is hard to balance on the top of a ladder, sun searing the back of your neck as you try to draw a straight white bead of paint against a jet black window frame. But I have been wielding a sash brush for years so I do some deep breathing and drag the ladder on to the next spot.
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| Robbie and Chris on staging |
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| Glenna caulks the trim |
On Friday we started to take the warnings of a possible hurricane seriously. At the end of the day Robbie lashed his ladders to the staging and carried shingles into the house. Paul, Chris and I picked up all of the stray lumber and placed it behind the dumpster. Other ladders were stashed away and tools were safely stored in the garage. The windows were locked and a piece of wood was jammed against the sliding glass door. Our son Mark, visiting from L.A. dragged the 4 kayaks under the porch. Finally plywood was nailed in front of the door openings.
On Saturday we threw 2 tarps over the dumpster and secured it with anything we could find, caution tape, bungie cords, garden twine and laundry line. We don’t want that GPS, as the Lacey boys fondly called it, generic pink shit, flying around the neighborhood. It would be a dead giveaway where that stuff came from.
We have plenty of candles and flashlights in case we loose power. Chris got gas and oil for the chain saw in case we have to remove downed trees. I made a trip to the grocery store so we don’t run out of food. And Oh our electrician told us that things will stay frozen without power for 48 hours so we stocked up on Four Seas Ice Cream, cranberry sherbet, blueberry yogurt and butter crunch.
We have no idea where the ospreys will weather the storm.
