Our building grows!

At noon today Peter and I went over to see the building. The fellows weren't there so we had a chance to poke around inside the building and take some pictures. Now that most of the main floor walls are sheathed, I can get a better feel for the size of the building. Peter took a picture standing at the south wall and I stood at the north wall. It sure looks a long way from one end to the other!

The fellows also have the steel posts in place to hold up the beams that are ready to be installed. Each day there is something new to check out! We might see a bit of a slow down for a few days while waiting for the floor and roof trusses to arrive.

In this picture of the exterior you can see a row of small openings near the top which the brackets will be lined up with and a "tail" on the top of the brackets inserted into. Wow! That is a long way up!



It's so much fun watching the building grow!

We have More Walls!

Peter and Eric looking around




Becky and Keira checking things out

We now have more walls! The pictures only show the east and west walls, even though the north and south are already built as well. Those last two went up this week - I just haven't taken the camera along to get pictures of them! I'll hopefully get some tonight!

Peter and I are trying to adjust to yet another change in our household. This past weekend we helped our youngest son move to Calgary. He will be studying at the SAIT campus by the airport (Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Technologist) and staying with family, Rob and Suzanne. They live close by in Harvest Hills, so Kev is so excited to be able to sit at breakfast and watch the planes take off! Rob and Suzanne and their little girls, Samantha and Maja, were at the building dedication way way back in June! I've put in a few pics of "the big move" as well.



Will it all fit in?

Again, will it all fit?

Both times it did! We are now officially "empty nesters". No one told us it would feel quite like this!

WE HAVE WALLS!

They may not be very long but they are tall! We have the walls standing for the short bays on the station!

We took my mother there last night (when things were quiet) to show her the start of the walls going up! I didn't realize just how tall the main floor walls were going to be. And windows! The window openings are huge! No wonder the invoice will be what it's going to be! Now I am understanding more the immense size of everything. Imagine what it will be like when the roof goes on!

This afternoon we went over with Kev and paced out on the main floor what will be happening in our offices upstairs. Just too cool! It's almost unreal! I have to pinch myself and say "Thank You Lord!".

If you asked me if things were progressing as we hoped - I would have to say for myself, personally - I wasn't sure what to hope for. Every day it is so amazing to watch the building take shape and see how Peter keeps things moving forward with incredible patience for everyone he needs to deal with. This is one part of his past career in construction that I didn't get to see in action. Even that is "just too cool!"

There's the picture of me standing in the doorway to the foyer leading up the stairs to our offices. Thumbs up for "Just too cool!"

Father Lacombe and the CPR

There are many books written about the history of the Canadian Pacific. A number of those are in Peter's own personal library. In numerous of these sources of information we have found a reoccuring story which we find interesting.

As you know, our not so sleepy little town was named after Father Albert Lacombe, missionary to the Cree Indian in the western plains. Even though Father Lacombe did not actually spend much time here, he was well known by any travelling from Calgary to Edmonton. Originally our town had a number of names. Names like Barnetts's Landing (after the founding family), Siding 12, and another possibility was Almonte - after the original home to the majority of the new residents at the time. The name Lacombe though was chosen by the CPR in honor of the "black robed" missionary.



Father Lacombe

Father Lacombe was instrumental in keeping peace between the Cree and the Canadian Pacific as the railway pushed it's way across the continent. One day Father Lacombe found himself in the presence of a group of men "who were binding Canada together with rails of steel". At the luncheon were men such as Donald Smith, William Van Horne, R. B. Angus, Count Hermann von Hohenlohe ("after whose estates in Germany the nearby station of Gleichen had recently been named") and the president of the CPR, George Stephen. They were gathered together in the president's car on the first train to arrive in Calgary, so there was lots of celebration and toasts to the occasion. Some sources say the president, somewhat weary of his occupation and the serious discussions around the table (or possibly from the excessive celebrating), resigned as president and bestowed upon Father Lacombe the position of president of what was then the largest corporation in Canada. Father Lacombe, being the good natured man he was, accepted the position and in returned nominated Mr. Stephen to the rectorship of St. Mary's parish in Calgary. Amid much laughter at the voting and acceptance of these new positions, Mr Stephen's only comment was "Poor souls of Calgary, I pity you!". Within the hour, the men resumed their former positions. None of this would be known today if someone within the confines of that railway car wouldn't have shared this with someone else to have it recorded someday in history books now available to us for our pleasure to read.



George Stephen


Many years ago, while camping in Jasper, we saw a restored train waiting in the townsite at the station with names on the passenger cars. Names of former presidents. Some we didn't recognize at the time, except one for sure was familiar. One car had the honor of being called "Lacombe". So along with names like Stephen, Van Horne and others that eventually did become president of the CPR, was one who was president for only one hour. Our little town shares it's name on a posh and luxurious tourist passenger car, only because a CPR president gave his position over to a travelling missionary who was well loved and respected by all.

(Some sources for this posting include "Father Lacombe, the Black-Robe Voyageur" by Katherine Hughes and "Lacombe, the First Century" published by the Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce, 1982.)

The Lumber Man Comes!

We have more than concrete now! Yesterday, while we were on our way to Jasper, Co-op was dropping off the first of the lumber etc. needed for the framer to start tomorrow. Leon (our framer) is meeting Peter tomorrow morning at 7:00 am at the job site office - Tim Horton's!

Why were we going to Jasper in the middle of all that is going on here you ask? Our in-between son Brent and his wife Kirstin did a four day hike! They started north of the Columbia Icefields and hiked over a number of passes and through some beautiful valleys (we got a sneek peek at some of the pics they took!) ending at Maligne Lake. They needed to get back to their truck at the Sunwapta Warden station, so earlier this summer we agreed to be their transportation back! Only after Pizza supper in Jasper though. "Jasper Pizza Place" - the best pizza in town! We can hardly wait to see all the pictures they got - without sharing a tiny camera viewer! I'm sure they will share all about it on their own BLOG site.

Our Parking Lot

By the end of today we should have a much better parking lot than the one we have been enduring for the last number of months. Two evenings ago Peter and I went over to the lot to mark out where the pavement will be and where we will eventually have "green space". Right now that "eventually" feels a long ways off! I'm just happy to not be slopping around in the slippery, wet black stuff!

While we were measuring and pounding in stakes and preparing to run surveyor's tape to mark off the property, friends stopped by for a quick peek at how things were going. We ended up spending time at the local coffee shop having a wonderful chat instead. We still got the lot marked out though, because John and Brenda Hand stayed and helped us finish up our evening's work before the sun set any further behind clouds that once again threatened to make construction a challenge. Also, I now have a name for the eastern hill that I will hopefully see from my new office window. Hand Hill. John's family has farmed that hill - so now I can give a name to that beautiful view beyond town that will greet me in the mornings!

We now have power all the way to the building. Lorne Green came by and finished running telephone and electrical lines to the mechanical room.



Today DB Bobcat was back filling in what was dug out yesterday. In the picture you see Danny (Danny Beach) on the phone while a skidsteer is spreading some pit run over what is called "filter fabric". There is a quite a bit of black dirt on the property - so rather than dig and dig and possibly dig down deeper, a heavy black fabric is put down and then pit run spread over top and compacted to prepare part of the base for our pavement. In some spots the clay wasn't too far down - but that wasn't guaranteed everywhere on the lot! Peter assured me this is not an unusual practice! Makes me wonder what the former grain elevators were built on!

The Pile Goes Down!

Remember the huge pile (6400 lineal feet to be exact) of tongue and groove that I told you about a few posts ago? Now that pile needed moving once more - this time with it stained the same color as our windows.

Monday - when most of Lacombe was out beaching, or camping, or enjoying the sunshine which finally came back - five people were out getting that lumber stained. And they did it!!

What a team we made. We had two sets of sawhorses, four rollers and five workers. Peter, Kev and I worked with two high school football buddies of Kev's - Matt Archibald and Tyrone Mamchur - to accomplish what we weren't sure could get done in one day! Like I said - incredible teamwork. Do you think these young men have learned what it means to be on a team - maybe somewhere in their travels in life as part of the Lacombe Rams? I think so!

Peter and Matt worked at one set of sawhorses and Tyrone and I worked at the other. Kev was our "board guy" making sure we were supplied with boards from the pile, neatly swept of any dirt or dust and facing the correct way. We all worked hard, and it was a warm day!

In the first picture you can see Peter and Matt working away as one part of the team staining boards. In the second picture you see Tyrone (minus me seeing as I am the one taking the picture) at the second set of sawhorses with Kev in the background preparing boards for us.

We are very pleased with these young men and how they can keep on working in the hot sun on a very dry and packed gravel surface with no shade for our "ice-cap" breaks!

Dirt, Dirt, Everywhere!

This past Friday, Thomson Excavating came and dug the trenches for our water and sewer line within our property. Somehow the dirt pulled out of the trench didn't all fit back in! I think some of it's because they brought in some pit run to cover over the pipes. So I guess that explains some of the HUGE piles left behind Friday night. Saturday morning was bright and sunny so we were able to get some better pictures of the NEW arrangement of dirt! And this coming week, hopefully, there should be one more arranging of the soil - in preparation for a parking lot. As it is right now, we can't even drive onto the lot. The town has strategically placed some barricades to prevent that. Mind you, if you tried driving in at the ususal spot you would either climb a dirt pile as high as the shed or you would end up in a trench that is still about 2 -3 feet deep. I think we will find a new way in for now!

In the first picture from rainy Friday afternoon you can see way down to the other end of the trench the tiny little men (no they are not height challenged) putting pipes under the foundation wall. The second picture show the next day, sunny Saturday morning, and the piles left over!





There is no doubt about it now - everyone can see things are happening at 4892 - 46 Street!

Blessed Be The Name

This morning I woke up with one line from a song going over and over in my head. It wasn't even a song I heard yesterday listening to music in the office! That means I know Who put it in my head for the day!

"Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise!"

Yesterday, again, we saw God's perfect timing at work even though we found ourselves moving towards frustration over getting the logistics to work. We can't get the trenching done on our property until Friday. And Thursday we were supposed to start getting the parking lot cleaned up. The parking lot needs the lousy "dirt" (that turns to a slimmy slippery mess in the rain) pulled out and some pit run put in to start the process toward pavement. But we didn't want the parking lot done until the trenching was done. Friday was "late" for trenching. The only thing to do was postpone the parking lot 'til next week. But next week the framer's to come and we need the parking lot cleaned up before lumber's delivered for the framer to start. Peter called the framer and he will postpone 1 week - and will stay with the job til it is done. The "dirt guys" will come next week instead. And as a bonus, we have more time to get the decking - remember the LARGE pile of decking - stained and out of the building area before the framing starts. As we were fussing over the mixed up timing - God was busy putting the timing in order. "Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise!"

Bolts, nuts and washers. How much can they cost, really! When the bolts are 1 inch in diameter and 12 inches long they can be expensive. We need them to secure the brackets to the wall framing. Peter got a price from one dealer in Red Deer that was unbelievably high. We even checked with a farm implement dealer in town - thinking they might be more reasonable. In the meantime we received a faxed price back from another fastener place in Red Deer. Almost half the cost! "Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise!"

Peter got a call back from a fellow we have pricing out our roofing. We have a huge steep roof that we are expecting be expensive, maybe even more so with the construction market as it is today. But we do need shingles - so you pay the price. In talking with this fellow Peter found out this fellow's commitment to remaining fair, no matter what happens around him with fellow roofers. Many are taking advantage of the economy and pushing their prices up needlessly high. What a refreshing thought in today's world! "Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise!"

When you see these things happening over and over, there is only one thing to say "Every blessing You pour out, I'll turn back to praise!"

Good Neighbors!

I'm not sure we were voted most popular on the block today! The town came in this morning and closed off part of the road that runs in front of our new building. The town workers needed to dig up the road and bring in the water and sewer services to our property. There was still some access to Tim Horton's (you would be amazed how important that is in this town!) and our "neighbors to be" across the road and to the north of us could still get into their properties. There just wasn't any through access, nor a place for the big trucks to park on the road while their drivers run into Timmie's. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later - and we are excited it is the sooner and not the later! This afternoon we checked on the progress and Peter got a picture of "the hole". He figured it is about 12 - 14 feet down at the deepest point. They were carefully working their way around the gas line while we were there. I'm glad they were taking their time! There is validity to "city workers" working slow sometimes!





That HUGE pile of tongue and groove decking that arrived last week - you know the one that will be our soffit - needed to be moved this past Saturday. We've received about 3 inches of rain in the last number of days. Somehow that rain migrated to the nice dry spot we had picked out for this lumber. At least when the three piles were dropped off - it was a nice dry spot. With the rearranging of the lay of the land with the backfilling, we had created for us new puddle configurations. One of those puddles found it's way under the wood. Saturday morning bright and early Peter and I went over to the lot and started moving the 2 x 6 's into the building area that stayed quite dry in our recent downpours. When all was said and done, Peter confessed to me I had helped him move 6400 lineal feet of 2 x 6 's! Since then we've had three different people tell us they saw us out there working getting piggy messy in our rubberboots. I don't recall anyone honking and cheering us on with a "way to go" or "keep going, you're almost done!". Somehow I think they took a glance at the size of the pile and quietly drove on by! That's OK . At least they are watching the progress of the building. Peter and I managed. We are in this together, through thick and thin, rain or shine, right down to the last board that needs moving to higher ground!