The Big Dig: Oh, my front yard!

This morning, just before 8 00 am the Big Dig started. Lots of construction vehicles and men arrived to close off the road and begin excavating. The plan is to replace the collapsed sanitary sewer lines from my home and from my neighbours. Both lines go under our beautiful front yard where our perennials were to be found.



This is the beginning of the excavation. At the far end of the trench are the remains of the storm sewer. The men in the trench are hand digging to find the sanitary sewers. The water line is exposed and the sanitary sewers are beneath that.






The plumbers also arrived but major disagreements arose as to whether or not the trench should be extended to the footings of the house so as to enable pipes to be installed for a sump pump. The engineer's description of what is needed for this does not make sense to the crew here. And to excavate there would mean removing the air conditioner unit for which other crews would be needed. One job leads to another, and another, and another.....

First set of basket-making lessons completed

Patrisha arrived at 8 45 am for the second day of her basket-making lessons. For her sewing basket all that remained to be done was to weave the lid. This was done in less than two hours. Her finished basket and mine are shown here, side by side. Which is the student's work and which is the teacher's?





By noon, Patrisha had woven the base of her market basket as well as the first three rounds of the sides. After a 30 minute lunch break, Patrisha worked hard to complete the market basket. At times I had difficulty in keeping up with her. For example, when we each completed the lashing of the rim she finished at least 10 minutes before I did. The student's work and the teacher's are again showed side by side.

These are Patrisha's baskets. She is a very fast learner and well on her way to becoming an accomplished basket-maker.

Adrian's 40th birthday party

For Adrian's 40th birthday we had a small family party. The cake was made at "The Cake Shop" in a peanut free environment. The cake was also sugar free. For those that wanted it, there was also Chapman's Ice Cream that is also peanut free. Adrian's nephew is allergic to peanuts, though he is slowly growing out of that.

The tape measure was a special feature for his cake. As a person with autism, Adrian has his own fixations. Tape measures are one such fixation. He has ten in his collection and would have many more if we let him.






This is the closest we could get to a smile as we sang "Happy Birthday to you."





Adrain's Mum did the honours in cutting the cake.








As you can see from the stuck out tongue, Adrian really liked his presents: an iPOD Touch, a case for it and a Gift Card to down load from iTunes.

Another busy day

The day started at 8 00 am when the contractor who is to start the excavating on Monday arrived to give us an estimate about the extra costs of excavating on our land to replace the storm sewer. My heart sank when he mentioned that since the storm sewer is located below the sanitary sewers so these would have to be replaced too. His estimate, of just over $3000 including replacing the pipes, was a very pleasant surprise. Later in the day he emailed the contract to us. He estimates the total job will take two days only.

Most of the rest of the morning was spent in readying the Studio for Sunday's teaching class and for Adrian's 40th birthday party on Saturday.

At tea-break time, Anne pointed out an article in the local weekly newspaper that said the Ottawa City Council had approved increasing the plumbing grant to $7500 so that sump pumps could be installed where needed in areas with a high flood risk. We are in such an area. We had received a letter approving the installation of such a pump, but we had balked at it because the expense was not covered. Now we needed to revise our thoughts.

As it happened, the Dennis, the plumber from Plumbing Now was scheduled to come at 1 00 pm to finalise his bill for work done on the back-up valves and to receive payment. I contacted the engineer who had recommended that the sump pump be installed and discussed where it should be located. We already had approval for the cost estimate from Plunbing Now.

When Dennis arrived I was able to discuss the locating of the pump with some understanding. Dennis will contact the excavation company and be here at 8 00 am on Monday morning. In that way the external excavation needed for the sump pump and its ancillary pipes will be done when all the other excavation takes place. Dennis even thinks his crew could finish the installation inside on Tuesday. (Given his timelines in the past, we will be pleasnatly surprised if this happens.)

After Dennis left, Anne said, "You will be very happy about this email." I had an order for four baskets from a past customer of mine in Brooklyn, New York. After lunch I packed these baskets, took them to the mail, and returned to give the customer her 20% discount for sales made during my pre-Christmas sale. (That sale ends on November 30th.) This was a nice way to end the day.

Final preparations for the big dig?

Yesterday, Steve from the City called to say that the big dig to replace and repair the sanitary sewers would start on Monday, November 30th. He also said that the storm sewer on our property needed replacement. Then we received a flyer in our mail box advising us (and our neighbours for blocks) that because of the big dig the local bus service woulfd be re-routed off our street for three days.



Given all this I began what I hope is my final preparations for that dig. I removed the crazy paving pathway, more perennials and most of the bricks that formed a patio area. The bird feeder also had to be relocated. We anticipate that the section to the edge of the raised garden will be excavated.





The crazy paving forms a forlorn looking rubble mass on top of another stretch of crazy paving.







And the bricks form neat piles awaiting replacement, hopefully before the snow flies.

Senior's Moments

Today has been a day of Senior's Moments.

Senior Moment #1: For almost a week now I have been searching the house and phoning local businesses to find the set of keys of mine for the house. Anne found them today, hanging on the hook where we keep the shed keys. Those keys were in a small cupborad where we keep Julian's spare car keys.

Senior's Moment #2: Since Anne was leaving for choir practice at 10 00 this morning we discussed putting the pork roast in the oven early enough that it would be fully cooked by lunchtime. The oven was put on at 9 30, and Anne left. At 11 oo I decided to check how the roast was doing. The oven was empty! I hastely put the roast in. We had left over chile for lunch.

Senior's Moment 3#: As I put on my second indoor running shoe, I noticed that the heel lift to help combat achilles tendonitus was missing. I could not figure where it had got to. Later, I found both heel lifts in my outdoor running shoes.

Other than these moments we had a good day. With Julian's help, I managed to remove the ceiling fan in the living room and replace it with an updated model, all without injuring myself or Julian or electrocuting anyone. And the fan and lights work!

Making a market basket as a model for my students

Since my two basket-making students have about two hours of work left on their sewing baskets, I will spend the rest of their second day teaching each how to make a market basket.

To prepare for this, I practiced by making one myself. First I sanded and waxed the "D" handle shown here. I will prepare the handles for the students too.



Next I cut the weavers and fillers to size, determined the rough and smooth sides, and then marked the middle point of each weaver. Following this, I soaked the weavers and then wove them into the base as shown. For the fillers I chose 1/4" cane, dyed blue.





I then bent each of the weavers against a straight edge before weaving three rows to begin the sides. Three rows of the 1/4" blue were then added followed by three more rows of weaving. At this point I cut off the inside vertical weavers .






After bending the remaining vertical weavers to the inside of the basket and tucking them in, I began to work on the rim. The clothes pins hold a round of flat cane on the inside of the basket, a second round on the outside, and a filler of cord. This rim was lashed into place with the 1/4" flat cane with the help of the "lash buddy." The lash buddy here has red cord at its near end.

The finished basket looks fine!

Plague crosses

This morning we had an email from our neighbour across the street. She was sick with the flu along with her daughter. Would we bring her two eggs since she was unable to go shopping? Of course we agreed to her request.

Before I left, Anne admonished me to take care when I took the eggs so I would not contract the flu. Anne has recovered from the flu and I am unscathed so far. I crossed my fingers as I passed the container with the eggs to my neighbour.

I then thought about the English village I was raised in, Cheddleton, and the plague cross found at its boundary. Village folklaw said this cross was where people left food for plague victims during the years of the Black Death. The cross shown here is one from another English village and commemorates the many victims of the plague in that locality. Our H1N1 precautions of masks, elbow bumping, and isolation at home of those with the symptoms recall to a small degree the efforts in the past to thwart the plague.

Day one of the sewing basket class

Patrisha and Bunty arrived promptly at my home this morning at 9 00 am to begin to learn how to make a sewing basket using English basket-making techniques. Flo Hoppe's book called for "four spokes through four" to begin weaving the base, but I modified this to "five through four." This way the students could learn a wider variety of weaves since there would be thirty-six spokes on the sides. This would enable students to learn weaves that required a number of spokes divisible by two as well as other weaves that required a number divisible by three.
The first photograph shows one base at its finished stage and with the spokes upsett.

In weaving the sides, we learned how to do a four rod coiling weave to set the upsett. We then wove five more rows of three rod waling. This was followed by twining rows using two sets of two weavers. (Patrisha refered to this as "double, double," Canadian-speak for a Tim Horton's regular coffee with two milk and two sugar.) I then attempted to have the students learn how to weave one row of three rod waling followed by a second row of reverse three rod waling to create the arrow pattern shown in natural and wine here. This was the most difficult part of the teaching and learning. The above photograph show the arrow pattern as woven by me.


Both students opted for using Tamarak bark in the "stop-and-go" weaving technique they had learned in weaving flat cane into their trays last week. Not only was this simple to do but it also saved them a lot of time and effort in weaving more rows with round or flat cane. Patrisha's basket is shown here. In later weaving rounds she substituted continuous rows of regular three-rod waling for the arrow weave to make an attractive pattern.





Bunty's basket is shown here. Both Patrisha and Bunty prefered to use the Tamarak bark with the outer bark showing on the outside of the basket. I prefered to show the inner side of that bark on my basket.




By 3 30 pm both students were ready to call it a day. They had accomplished more than I had expected. Bunty's basket is shown here with a finished border. Patrisha took hers home to show it off. When each student returns, they will make a lid for their basket, and learn how to make a small market style basket from flat cane.

Readying my studio for Sunday's basket-making class

On Sunday I will welcome two students to my basketry studio where they will spend the first of two days learning how to make a sewing basket. One student will share the large table with me while the second will sit at the card table.






My storage room has several hanks of rattan cane ready for the students to choose from.








Other selections may be made from the dyed flat cane and other materials in that area.







In my work space I have pre-cut cane ready to begin as well as the tools of the trade. For the basic design of the sewing basket, I copied instructions from Flo Hoppe's "Wicker Basketry" for her Bargello Design basket. This I find makes a good body for a sewing basket. I will use the instructions as a guide only. Each student may use different design elements other than the bargello design. I will demonstrate a number of weaving designs as I teach them. In a lesson I learned from last Sunday's class, the instructions are enclosed in a transparent plastic folder. By the end of the day the instructions will not be a sodden mass of pulp!

Each student has a bucket in which to place cut off pieces of cane, a rock or half house brick to act as a weight when weaving the sides of the basket, a spray bottle to keep the material damp through the day, scissors and cutters, a small tape measure, needle nosed pliers, a towel, pre-cut cane, a bodkin or awl, and a small plastic ruler. On the floor by the tables will be two large totes with water in which to soak the cane.

I am looking forward to this day

Application for a tax rebate

The word on the street is that one can apply for a tax rebate from the City of Ottawa if a part of your house (or all of it, I suppose) is not usable for a minimum of three months. I emailed my councillor, Peggy Feltmate, to ask about the process for applying for such a rebate since our basement was unusable from the time of the flood (July 24th) until renovations were completed (November 13th.) Peggy replied and described the process. She also advised that if the City's records showed that the basement was unfinished, such an application could backfire.

I sent of my letter of application yesterday. Our basement must be classed as finished since when we had a half bathroom there changed to a full bathroom several years ago, we obtained permits from the City.

Peggy suggested I include "details of the reasons and copies of any documents that back up their appeal." As documentation I quoted the url for this blog and asked that the assesors read the following blogs:

July 26th: Basement flooded
July 27th: One day of Tear-out after floods
July 31st: Flood clean-up one week later
August 10th: Flood damage in the basket storage area
November 7th: End is in sight
November 13th: "New" studio

Who knew that my new obsession with blogging could become such a valuable tool in a rebate skirmish?

A very busy morning.

When I checked my emails first thing this morning, I saw I had made a sale and received payment to send one of my baskets to a buyer in Dallas, Texas. It was easy to find that basket since all my baskets are now displayed in my studio in the basement. I checked my mailing supplies and found I needed a size of box (18x12x12") that I did not have for that basket. Off to Staples.

On my return, I boxed the basket, addressed it and went to the Post Office. Back at home, Dennis the plumber dropped by with the promised video of the storm sewer line with its separations. He chatted and suggested he could install a liner in that sewer pipe and that that would eliminate the hassle of digging up the rest of my front garden. He will get back to us with a cost estimate.

Another email exchange resulted in the sale of a vintage Ship in a Bottle to a person in Winchester. We will deliver it to her at the Tim Hortons in Winchester on Saturday, giving Adrian a short trip, something he really enjoys.

Then Andrew from Anderson's, the engineering consultants arrived to do a final check on the back-water flow valves. And we had two phone calls from our insrance broker too. The first was to advise us that since the renovations by Lebrun cost more than $25 000 we needed to have an afidavit notorised and sent back to him. He then phoned back to say that since the renovation exceeded the $25 000 figure, there was a clause in our insurance policy that says the $500 deductable would be waived. A refund for that amount will be sent to us next week!

By this time the morning was almost over. Anne was ready to take our neighbour out for lunch while I was ready to go to meet my golfing buddies for lunch too.

When I returned after lunch, I found that the Lebrun manager of our renovations had visited and received a check from Anne for the work not covered by the insurance (e.g. new counters for the expanded cupboard space in the basement kitchen). The cupboard in the work room is promised for next week once more.

Then Andrea, Adrian's case-mamnager at Tamir called to give us an update on how Adrian is doing at his day program. Things are going well there.

And people wonder what one does all day when one is retired!

Custom orders

In the last few days I received two custom orders. The first was from Anne, my wife, for a tray type of basket that had to be six inches high so the contents could not be seen when sitting. The photo here shows the finished basket. It has the Anne Seal of Approval. (The home pictured in the background was our home in Red Lake.)


The second custom order was mailed to the buyer earlier today.

I received a "convo" (Etsy speak for an email over the Etsy network) asking if the basket shown on my Etsy shop with red beads could be changed to have brown beads. As you can see the answer was yes. I soaked the basket for a few minutes, undid the weaving until I could remove the red beads, replaced them with the brown ones, rewove, and it was done.

Removing perennials and shrubs

Sometime next week, this section of my front garden, a section of the sidewalk and a section to the middle of the road will be excavated in a eight foot wide trench to fix the collapsed sanitary sewer lines. The City of Ottawa has contracted out this job and says it will start next week. A similar excavation was made a few houses away to repair a similarly collapsed sewer line. The proposed contractor says the tree in this photo will have to be removed. He will place it back at the end of the project but will not guarentee its survival.






The pock marked ground shows where I have dug up perennials and shrubs in preparation for the excavation. I have transplanted these to a section of my vegetable garden.






These are the transplanted shrubs and perennials. I will put them back into the refilled section in the spring.






The contractor will replace the top soil in the excavated area at the end of the work period. The sidewalk will be replaced and the road resurfaced. If this job follows a typical schedule, the final resurfacing of the road will be in the spring or summer.

Large serving tray with pink highlights

At yesterday's tray-basket-making class, I demonstrated how to make trays by making the tray shown here. The base of this tray measures 15" by 11". For each class member I provided a choice of bases, some this large and others perhaps 12" by 12".
The tray bases were ready for weaving. Holes were drilled around the circumferences at 1" intervals, the trays were sanded to a fine finish and a coating of food-safe beeswax added.




Each participant was given a bundle of stakes to soak and then push through the up to 50 pre-drilled holes. Each then locked these stakes in position as shown on this photograph. On the top side of the tray the class members were taught how to do twining weave, stop and go weave for the flat cane, and how to put pony beads on for the handle ends. There was a choice of colours for the flat weavers and for the pony beads. For finishing, I showed the students how to make a rolled border

When I remember, I "sign" the bases as JTB and the year.

A successful tray-making class

The first photo shows the collection of trays with basket edging made in today's basketry class. Four trays were made by my students and one by me. The image shows these trays displayed on one of the tables in the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners studio.





This is the finished tray of one of the students, Patricia. Others felt they needed to spend a little more time on the finishing touches. They promised to read the instructions I gave out very closely, and to study the photographs and commentry in my June 9th blog.

For readers interested in making similar trays, visit my Etsy shop and examine the tray kits there. In addition to the materials needed to make such a tray, each kit contains written isntructions as well as a reference to the June 9th eight-step blog that shows how to make such a tray.

For the next two Sundays, I will have one or maybe two students in my home to learn how to make a sewing basket.

My "new" studio

At last I was able to move all my baskets down to my basement studio and set them up there. They were piled up in the upstairs living room pretty well immediately after the July 24th flood. 99% of the renovation work is completed. A cupboard still needs to be installed to box in the water meter and clean outs in my storage room. But that's about it.




As you can see from the photographs, the basement is newly painted in three shades of yellow. It is bright and sparkling. My baskets make a colourful display and I can now find a particular item easily. Any new sales from my Etsy shop will entail a short search rather than a long one.

Visitors to the studio are welcome. I could even teach students in this warm and inviting area.

Remebering 5BX and 10BX

I am trying to get back some fitness and have begun jogging again. On today's 30 minute jog (at a very slow pace) I thought about how I was introduced to jogging. I was a rookie teacher at Rideau District High School, in Elgin, Ontario. There the head of the Physical Education Department, Lyle McLellan, asked all rookie teachers which sports they would coach. The question was not would you coach! The only sport I could possibly coach was cross-country running. After all, in my own high school career at Leek Boys Secondary Grammar School in England, I had placed third in the open mile when only fifteen.

I was then introduced to the 5Bx (and later the 10BX) fitness training plan. This was a fitness training plan involving running devised by the Canadian(?) military, possibly the air force. I discovered I really liked running long distances. I trained with the cross-country teams and loved it. Later, when I taught at Red Lake District High School, my coaching expanded to soccer, rugby and Reach for the Top.

From these early beginnings came what became an obsession with jogging. Adrian, our son with autism, had very little physical activity in his schooling, so the whole family took up jogging. We lived very close to the high school in Red Lake, on land we had purchased from the school board.
The land once was part of the high school's acerage. We took advantage of Adrian's fascination with numbers. He jogged 10 laps around the inside of the high school gymnasium at 6 30 am for the first few days. Then 11 laps, then 12. Then more and more. We all entered "fun runs" in Winnipeg of 1km, 5km and 10km. We could get to Winnipeg in six or so hours for a weekend of shopping and running two or three times a year.

The 5Bx plan started us on this course. In my 30s and 40s I started six marathons and finsihed four. Lyle McLellan has a lot to answer for as that Phys Ed Head!

Where the next excavation will be.

This morning another City worker appeared at the front of the house armed with a digital camera. I asked him who he was and what he was doing. He was Steve, the person at the City who spotted the collapse of the sanitary sewer pipes on the videos taken several weeks back. He was waiting for a contractor to come to show him where to excavate to repair the sanitary sewer. The white pole marks one edge of the proposed excavation and the black pole the other edge. The excavation will go onto what I thought was my land as far as the spade. That is located at the curb stops, where the City turns of the water lines to the houses

As you can see from this photo a goodly section of my front yard will be dug up. The excavation will extend across the sidewalk and to the middle of the road and will be very deep. I will dig up as many perennials and bushes as I can in the eight foot swath and transplant them over winter to a section of my vegetable garden. The tree will be dug out by the contractors and replaced in its position as the work ends. Most plants are dormant at the moment and so most should survive.

The work is expected to begin the week after next. The storm sewer will be replaced too from the curb stop on and any water leakages from the water lines fixed too. Fun times ahead.

Memories of living in the North

We lived in Red Lake in Northwest Ontario from 1972 to 2001.
The photographs here, taken from www.northernfleeceweaver.blogspot.com bring back so many memories. We made many trips to Duluth. It was a stop on our summer camping holidays as well as a weekend destination in the winter for cross-country skiing.




The moose was a common sight, sometimes too common as we drove highway 105 from Vermillion Bay to or from Red Lake.
And Northern Fleeceweaver's country near International Falls was a regular destination when I coached soccer. The high school soccer teams played in Fort Frances almost every year. Teams would stay across the river in International Falls where the girls' team members would insist on a trip to the Payless Shoe Store to stock up on shoes.

It never rains but it pours!

It has been a frustrating morning to say the least.

When we got up we saw that there was a bobcat style of back hoe parked at the bottom of our driveway. "Is that for the excavation for the sanitary sewer break or is it for the installation of the back-flow valve on the storm sewer line?" we wondered. The answers soon came as Fred the plumber arrived. It was for the excavation for the storm sewer. But where is that located was Fred's question. On Monday a City crew had marked the location of the sanitary sewer lines, but not the location of the storm sewer.


We waited until another plumber arrived with a video camera to put down the storm sewer line, and thus locate it.

Then the back hoe operator arrived, and eventually work on excavating the storm sewer line began.







What we were not prepared for was the discovery that the storm swer line was broken in several places in the first 50' of its path beneath my front garden. After the 50' mark, the camera became submersed in water.


My neighbour, Richard, and I viewed the video that shows the breaks. Much of the front garden will have to be excavated. And this is not covered by insurance. It is specifically excluded.

What is next?