Launching the ship

We've all heard the story of the fellow who built a giant ship in his workshop and then discovered there was no way to get it out of the door without some serious demolition. Today was the day we would see if the Hazelnut Inn ship would actually fit out the door of our shop. We had of course carefully measured the door and the ship hull as we built it. The unique challenge was that our shop has a round door. It's widest point is at about five feet off the floor. To squeeze the ship hull through we would have to lift it to that height - no mean feat for something this large and bulky! 

The solution was to borrow our neighbour's forklift for the task. Our good friends at Extreme Boat Sports were gracious and lent their forklift for the task. I drove it into the shop to pick up one end of the ship. Matt picked up the other end with our forklift. Peter and Janessa watched each side as we slowly eased it out of the door. There was a half inch of clearance on each side - just as we planned! :)

Weeds be gone!

With the fence removed between our property and the Hazelnut Inn next door and summertime right around the corner it was the perfect time to put in our permanent lawn in our front yard. I had been mowing weeds for years pending the laying of the railway track around our yard. That track was laid last fall. We tilled the soil, raked and levelled the yard and then laid in the turf this afternoon. It now looks a whole lot better than those mowed weeds!

...GO!

I heard the excavator start up as I tied my shoes this morning. Peter was already onsite giving last minute instructions to the contractor. We double checked a bunch of measurements and plans, then the work began for real. Our crew scrambled to move some existing fences and managed to keep ahead of the machines. It wasn't long before the skilled operator on the giant excavator had moved a whole lot of soil. We'll stockpile it at the back portion of the property until we need it to backfill. The geotechnical engineer was onsite before noon and after some testing gave everything his thumbs up. Then we started seeing the truck and trailers hauling the engineered fill onto the site as the crew began filling in the giant hole to make a perfect base for the footings. By quitting time the excavation and fill was almost half way done on the inn portion of the site. Tomorrow bright and early they will begin once more.