Week 4: Onward (and upward) July 25, 2019

The work has been constant; hot, heavy work as the crew has hauled, and dumped, and spread, and tamped DIRT. Rocks, pebble, soil, you name it. At the end, we estimate over 75 tandem loads of fill will be under High Water Cottage. Our house now sits on its own little hill!

Rob Dean has been busy crafting the landscape with his excavator while the ground crew has been hard at work below. All of the soil had to be packed down and the three sump pits placed back in at the front corners and the centre of the cellar (now a five-foot crawlspace).However, thanks to the fill, the ground is now considerably higher than it was pre-2018 and packed so tightly that we may not get the ground water that we traditionally got (the extent of which depended on that particular year’s water level).

The footing course is done and the forms have been built for the foundation to be poured in the next few days, along with the 28 or so Big Foot supports that will anchor the new deck and verandah. Earlier this week, the crew noticed the steel support beams holding up the house were starting to bow under the weight and so it was JoAt to the rescue with extra jack posts! All is now well-supported and it’s time once again to move ahead. Once poured, the foundation will set until Heneault Gosselin arrive the week after NB Day to lower the cottage onto its new base 😃.

After all of this, the berm and armour stone wall will be constructed and the deck begun.

And then… the landscaping. I’ll admit that, although it will be beautiful, the sheer amount of work to be completed is daunting. As you wander around the property, you can’t help but realize the massive amount of resources, both human and material, it takes to put everything together. But every day we see change – an exciting new landscape is being born! And so, the plants wait patiently in their pots and the wildlife visit, as curious as all of the other onlookers.

As time and the precious good weather marches on, the work continues. It’s the second year of disruption after back-to-back floods and there is still much to be done. But I remind myself, despite the disarray, to relax and to look forward, not back. After all, it’s still summer out there.☀️