Koehn family journey

Sunday, October 10, 2004

encampment


encampment
Originally uploaded by chriskoehn.
The Airstream, the lumber shed, the new house, and the "kitchen building", at the Dancey's, near Aylmer Ontario.

valley


valley
Originally uploaded by chriskoehn.
Hardy, Wil and Chris successfully install the 2 piece valley rafter. jacks and a pseudo-hip yet to come...

atop CN tower


atop CN tower
Originally uploaded by chriskoehn.
Ansel and Rainer standing on a glass floor, about 1,000' above Toronto.

dancey's


dancey's
Originally uploaded by chriskoehn.
The new home for Wil and Chris Dancey, near Aylmer, Ontario.

October 10, 2004: at the Dancey's

The Dancey’s, Aylmer, Ontario (10/10/04)

The past two weeks have been intense. I work 10-12 hours a day on Wil and Chris Dancey’s house, then often another 2-3 hours after dinner training on Dietrich’s design software. We’ve been working on getting a portion of the roof closed in before winter comes to southern Ontario.

I’ve been working on an interesting and challenging valley system. The valley is created the intersection of a straight ridge that comes off the garage, and the octagon that form the majority of the living space. The valley is two pieces; the first extends from the eve half way. It terminates over a short post, changes direction and changes pitch; a second piece continues up to the ridge. Wil produces the drawings (just in time) using Dietrich’s. I cut the pieces in the shop, then install them, along with Hardy, Wil’s helper. Lately we’ve been cutting and scribing jack rafters in to the valley. These, along with the common rafters, are pine logs with a flat surface sawn on the top. Wil is using logs that have either come from the property or nearby woodlots. Some of the remaining rafters are still standing in the woods along-side the site.

Wil has a sawmill set up in his shop. It runs on an old diesel engine from a Volkswagen. The mill can accommodate long logs, but not large in diameter. These we load on a wagon or the side loading forklift and take down the road to the Amish sawyer. This week a dozen or so oak logs made this journey. They will soon return as boards and dimension lumber for the roof infill system.

We’ve managed to escape the job site on Sundays. There are some beautiful destinations within a couple of hour’s drive. Last week we went to the Lake Huron shore, to the Pinery Provincial Park. The park encompasses about 15 miles of shoreline, with bike and hiking paths through the beautiful and delicate dunes ecosystem. The week before we toured some of the area surrounding Aylmer and down to the lake Erie shore. The climate here is quite mild due to surrounding great lakes. Consequently there are wineries and lots of fruit orchards. We’ve also been enjoying a plethora of pumpkins and squash. Farmers here not producing retail-able crops, or tobacco, seem to be sucked in to the “bigger is better” routine. There are occasional smells we know and loathe. Apparently the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the border.

We have five more days here in Ontario. Then it’s back to Wisconsin for a quick week to re-stock the Airstream for the long haul. I’ve also scheduled a visit with Jim our electrician. We are having a circuit breaker problem that’s over my head. This will be the first time anyone besides Ruth or I have worked on the trailer since we’ve owned it. I bet it won’t be the last…