Monday, October 25, 2010

The Foundations of a house are important...and now the house has them!

The slide show was sadly edited out of existence by Brian, and then I have been lax in replacing it...but finally, TA-DAAAA...the story of the foundation work on the house so far.  Our brilliant contractor is Paul Uhlman, and he has done a stellar job in co-ordinating all the different aspects of this job.  From the  removal of the chimneys, the lifting of the house, the digging out of the cellar, to the concrete form creation and pouring, it has been a job of interest to family and neighbours alike. 

The house was a place of great fun over the years since Dad bought it in 1965.  I adored visiting the country, and remember snuggling up in my sleeping bag beside the crackling fire in the living room one cold Easter holiday night.  Another well remembered episode was when Mum was nursing an ill brother Stewart in the city, and Dad and I were in charge of the Thanksgiving turkey.  I remember Gramp peering into the oven, where the huge bird resided and after puffing thoughfully on his pipe, declared that we'd "trussed it all wrong, but she smelt ok".  Since it fed 24 or more people, it had to be a big fowl.  Fantastic pies, rolls, and veg. were all brought by other family members, it was a real team effort and resulted in a wonderful meal. 

Friday, October 08, 2010

the Valley House BEFORE the start of building work....

Built in 1760, the House needs complete foundation renewal.


October 2009 - The Valley House fronting the North Mountain













Here are two shots of the house taken last Fall (or Autumn, for British friends and relatives) 2009.  You can see the North Mountain and the lovely autumnal leaf colours.  In the top photo, a sliver of the Annapolis River is visible.

In July 2010, we were advised that the rock-walled cellar would need to be expanded to the perimeters of the house, and six foot frost walls put in place to prevent the house from falling apart! 

Although many assume Nova Scotia is way up north, it  actually shares the same latitude of southern France. 

Unfortunately, the early French explorers based their travel supplies and settlement plans on the assumption that Nova Scotia would share the weather of southern France.  The Labrador Current off the east coast (as opposed to the Gulf Stream that controls western Europe's weather) gives N.S. (Nova Scotia) a spring bursting with life, lovely summer of heat and sun, crisp fall and cold, snowy winter.  The cold, snowy winter resulted in a lot of deaths by scurvy. 

Well, I'll end my first post on that cheery note!  I will be thinking wistfully of family and friends enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner on October 11 (Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, Americans celebrate in November).