Closer all the time!

It's not like I/we've been neglecting our blog! We've just been extremely busy - that's all! Sounds simple enough, but life doesn't feel too simple right now. We are down to the wire here and the finishing is mostly up to us. Peter hired a local fellow (Jason) to hang some of the doors and install casing. This is saving Peter a major amount of time and headache. Just the painting/staining/varnishing is keeeping us hopping! Last week I spent three days at the building working on the window finishing in our south tenant's suite. Hey - the lease is signed - Ray's Prins' office. The north suite - actually that lease is signed too - Canadian Rock Signs/Eugen's Granite Works is being finished off by the tenants, other than the windows. No one touchs the windows but us! Those are all going to be finished uniformly throughout the building - therefore we are doing it! So with those three days at the building and then evenings working on other things with Peter, I really had no time for blogging. Yesterday afternoon we relaxed! Stretched out on the sectional - put in a movie - and went to sleep!

Tonight after supper we spent a brief amount of time at the station before heading back here to the office to work some more. Peter's reviewing drawings with Brent and I'm supposedly blueprinting. My kids keep asking for a new blog so I will make a quick one!

Rock Signs/Eugen's are moving in sometime early next week. Ray Prins will move in on February 15 and we will move in sometime this year! Once everything is settled for the signed tenants downstairs we will continue on our suite. So - the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter, but still not bright enough to say "hey let's get packing!"

Today we had some suite numbers installed on the doors!

February 5 the flooring goes in for Ray's office and the hallway and bathrooms in the common area. So that is our deadline to get the "messy" stuff over with.

Tomorrow Peter is meeting with a potential tenant for the last 1200 sf that's available.

The light grows!



Improvised Covering for last second touch up!



Getting Suite Numbers Installed!



Jason working in Ray's Suite.

This Past Weekend!

A couple of weekends ago, we had extra help in the building. This past weekend we had more again! It's wonderful when friends and family pull along side to get this project "ready for occupancy"! On Friday the 12th my brother and his wife - Ron and Bev - came up for the extended weekend to paint and stain and clean and whatever needed doing, including visits at Tim's during coffee breaks! Friday we cleaned up the building (again) and prepared the fir shaker doors for staining. Bev and I carried on with painting the suite entrance doors and priming the door frames while the guys finished putting the last of the trim on the two metal mechanical room doors. Then on Saturday friends Tony and Deb Woods came by and primed and painted the first coat of color on the dividing wall in the south suite. We are so thankful for their help AND encouragement! Peter and Ron prepared a "drying rack" for all the fir casings, baseboard etc that arrived the day before. Then they went at it staining and staining and staining while Bev and I put more color on the doors and frames. And yes! Bev and I finished up the last of the dijon color in our stairwell - or was that Monday? The weekend is a bit of a blur - I just know we got lots done! Thanks Ron and Bev and Tony and Debbie!

Trim is well on it's way to having stain on it - our first coat of color in our suite and stairwell is done - the south suite is fully "colored" - the suite entrance doors all have their first coat of color and the frames for these entranceways are also showing off their first coat of color - the shaker fir doors for the main floor are all stained (thanks Ron for crawling behind them)! Ah! Things are looking good!

Before we get too excited though - we have to keep in mind there are lots more steps to complete before occupancy for our tenants. The north suite is basically taking care of their own tenant improvements - once their painting is done we will go in and add the window trims (and clean the windows!).

Last night Peter built the frame to insert into the southern suite's window between offices. Looks good! Almost ready to paint! And yes - the walls downstairs in the south suite and common area as well as our suite have the "chicken pox". Or rather specks that look like a kid with chicken pox! Peter went around last night filling holes and gouges left behind by workers. Touch up on those "spots" and the walls will be ready for their final coat of color!

We also have power meters! Ya yippee! This past week our electrician went in and activated the lights (we have lights!) and a couple of plugs. He also finished wiring up the furnaces. NO MORE EXTENSION CORDS FROM THE ELECTRICAL ROOM! Feels like Christmas all over again! Funny how these little things bring such excitement. Lorne must be beginning to think I am looney! When you've worked around extension cords running every which way - it is so nice to pack them up!

Here's some pictures from the weekend.



Tony and Debbie painting walls!



Bev painting our stairwell!



Ron prepping doors for stain!



Still more to go!

Thanks so much to all who have come and helped us these last number of weekends - our kids, family and friends! It means a lot and God is using you to encourage us with this year long (by the time all is actually finished) project!

More of Everything Everywhere!

The wall Peter and Kev framed over the holidays.



Ta da! It's drywalled!

This past weekend, once again we had lots happening in the building. It's exciting getting to these finishing stages - even though that means more time commitment again on our part. That's OK - it's getting done. And that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel (no, it is not a train!) is getting brighter each day!

On the weekend Kev and Brent were home this time to help out. Kirstin was in B.C. with her mom visiting her grandmother - so Brent convinced Kev to come to Lacombe and the two of them hung out and helped out at the same time. It was fun for them to work on some stuff together! While they worked on preparing main floor entrance suite doors for painting, Peter worked upstairs adding some color to the now fully primed walls. I put the last coat of varnish on the north suite windows. Now the tenants there will take some time to put in some walls to create offices. Not much is left on that side to complete (on our part that is). All we have left is casing on the windows and clean them (along with the main door) and install a door and doorframe on the bathroom. We need to make sure a toilet is installed by the plumber, the electrician finishes up the plugs and switches and thermostat, the hvac fellow finishes the cold air return so the drywall company can install the ceiling tile. Not a very long list!

The remainder of the building is a bit more work yet! Since the weather is supposed to turn miserably cold later this week, we are making the push to get the furnace work finished. That's a matter of the sheet metal work done and then the plumber putting in the gas lines permanently. I don't mind working with extension cords until the power is hooked up - but I would rather the gas lines were permanent pipes and not temporary flexible hoses. We've been blessed (and it really is a blessing!) with some incredibly warm winter weather so we have managed with the situation so far. We will need our own furnace upstairs real soon though! We've been counting on the heat that naturally rises up - but with heat being directed into the two leased spaces now - we need our own furnace running.

Enjoy these fun pics from the weekend!



Discussing door trim (or when it should be coffee time!)



Installing door trim (while waiting for coffee time!)



Painting on color (wishing for coffee time!)



Varnishing windows (what! it's coffee time?)

We also had signage made for outside the building! How cool is that! One for the center of the building (with the street address) and two for the sides (with the word "Lacombe" just like stations used to do!). Rather than put them on chains to swing in the wind and squeak after a while - Peter is installing them on aluminum angle iron. The one put up on Sat. has to come down and the aluminum painted dark green. That's OK - we have an official address sign now!

P.S. We have phones!

P.S. I forgot to tell you - we have phones! Well not completely! But the phone lines are now run into the building and we have another panel box in the electrical room for the phones! We are still waiting for the registration of the meters to be completed (by Epcor) so they can be installed (by Fortis) so we can have phone lines hooked up into each suite (by Bonanza Electric) along with the plugs and switches and lights.

They brought out a hydro-vac truck to bring the phone lines onto the property. That was just before Christmas!

A Whole New Year!

Here we are - 2007! On January 2, 2006 we had no guarantee that we would be building the station. We were working on the steps to prepare for such an undertaking - but we had no idea at that point we would be where we are one year later! God leaves those things for Himself to know!

Over the "holidays" we did bits more of this and that in the building. A good general tidying up in the building happened one day with the strength of Brent and Kev moving around left over lumber and removing the remaining concrete sills no longer needed. Yes, our sills are all on! This was only possible because the weather co-operated. One day Peter and Kev framed the walls for our southernmost tenant. While they did that I went around preparing windows for staining. Holes needed filling, drywall mud needed removing and windows generally cleaned up for the next step.

Over the New Year's weekend (Saturday and Monday) Eric and Becky came visiting with the express purpose of helping us in the building. While the guys worked upstairs priming all the walls in our suite, Becky and I stained and put the first coat of varnish on the windows in our northernmost tenant's suite. That's eight "man" days in two! We made a nice dent into the finishing process of the building. Prep work always seems to take so long! Wiping down walls, cleaning up the floor, taping off the beams to protect them from paint, blocking windows with extruded foam to keep the cool air out while windows were removed for staining/varnishing.

All the help we get is muchly appreciated - believe me! Working with two is more fun - counting the trains going by - imagining where they are going - pretending they are really circus trains. Yes, us girls were getting pretty tired downstairs by the time the imaginary circus train flew by!
We know there is a long way to go yet - especially with our area upstairs with lots of fir trim woodwork - but we know we will move our office THIS YEAR!



Maybe the ceiling will paint itself if we put the paint up there!



What do you mean there's no paint fumes up here!



Lots of painting around the beams!



Improvised scaffolding! It's a long way up!



Varnishing windows waiting for the trains to go by!