Friday, August 11th 2006
At a snail's pace!
This week, things are a lot slower. We're making the window frames so we have to be careful not to make any mistakes; we check everything 45 times before moving on. First we measured the front face and divided it into dimensions close to the ones we used on the bottom windows so it will look nice. Then we had to mark the places where the vertical struts go and put them in place in order to mark the position of the horizontal pieces. We adjusted it all so the holes are really square and we nailed it all in place... it took a week to get a result we're quite proud of. The 7 thermal insulation glass panes measuring 35"X65" were ordered yesterday and the worst deviation we have on one of the diagonals is only 1/8 of an inch!!! We now have to attach to those struts, the 1"X4" on which the glass will rest and prepare the ones that will complete the installation on the outside.
I also have to tell you about last Saturday, a very busy day. Upon waking up, we found Tara, our dog, with her ears and tail low, walking real slow as if in pain. I put her in the car and took her to my brother who's a vet. He found that she was apathetic and that a more complete diagnosis was needed. I found a clinic in Joliette where they could see her right away and she was operated on early in the afternoon. Luckily, it wasn't a gastric torsion which is often fatal, but we don't know what caused her discomfort. While she was under, we opted to have her sterilized since we were going to have it done this fall anyway. She's back at home with a long "zipper" on her tummy. We have medecine to give her several times a day and she love's it because it means a bite of cretons each time. We have to keep her quiet and resting for 10 days and that won't be easy since she's already anxious to chase the squirrels around.
While I was worried sick, sitting in the waiting room at the clinic, Alex and his friends were busy with Alain. When I got home, the wall and the roof structure for the shelter next to the container were up. Straw had been shredded for the next mud party and rocks had been gathered to start working on the walls. A full day's work that left a wide smile on everyone's face.
Monday, we're expecting Annie who's returning from a 2 month stay in Honduras for "Mer et Monde". She'll spend a week with us to ease the reentry into consumer society...