Visualizing Skull Rock

The climbing wall for the project in Trinidad will be done by a team that specializes in this kind of work. It's technical and best left to experts. But it also needs to look cool and fit in with the pirate theme we envision. That means I get to design it. 

I had done some concept drawings but drawings don't always convey the final ideas well. We decided a scale model would be a better bet and ensure the vision was passed on perfectly. With our shifting gears from the Cultus Lake project it was finally time to do up the model.

The study model we built today stands about two feet tall. Now imagine the real thing standing over sixty feet high! On each side of the rock there will be two short climbing lanes (for the younger guests) and two tall climbing lanes for the more adventurous. There will also be a 50 foot tall jump (with a controlled descent) from the skull's mouth. Lush jungle greenery will spout from three large planters on the top.

I can hardly wait to see the real thing take shape! Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

New ride

One of the most fun aspects of my job is all the different tools (TOYS) I get to use on a regular basis.

It's great fun and often a little scary to fire up a new (to me) machine and then figure out just how it works. We are in the middle of installing a new rototiller on the back of my faithful little tractor. My good neighbor Gord is doing the final hookups and adjustments. While he has my tractor he lent me his mini bobcat to dig the sidewalk excavation. The machine has a little platform on the back for me to stand on and while the machine bucks and jumps (with me balancing on the back) I do my best to make it do the things I want. It took some getting used to for the wheelbase is super short and it turned on a dime. The controls were touchy too. I started slow but before long I managed to figure out what the machine could do. It is powerful for its size, much more powerful than my little tractor. It was all too easy to dig the machine into a hole if I wasn't careful.

The more machines I try my hand at the more I respect those who make it look so easy. I know smooth and precise can only come with many hours of practice.

-grampa dan

Workin' on the railroad

With the Cultus Lake project now done it is time to turn our attention back to finishing the house and yard. We have a little work on the back of the house and in concert with that we will do the fencing, lawns and landscaping. I've been reshaping the grounds and laying gravel on the driveway to finalize the grades in preparation for paving. Part of that job is more railway track for the Persnickety and Doodle Railroad.

It's my view that every grampa should have an electric train (to share with their grand kids of course) My train happens to be large enough to ride in. The project that has been in progress for almost ten years but stalled since the house was started two years ago. We had to wait until the house was built and the final grades around it were determined as the tracks will circle the entire property perimeter.

Three hundred feet of track had been laid back when we built the shop. This stretch goes through the train house on the side of the shop and then alongside the driveway up to where the old house used to be. The current stage will see 300 more feet of track laid down, taking the pike up the driveway, around the front and down the east side of the house to the back fence gate. The balance of the track will have to wait until next year.

First the soil is removed and a layer of gravel is tamped into place. The track sections are twenty feet long. These are bolted to each other, laid on the ties and then carefully leveled. Concrete will be poured around the rails to form a sidewalk.

As each section of track is finished it is tested with the train of course.

We can hardly wait until we can ride the train twice as far as before.

-grampa dan