Pensioners Used as Cheap Source of Labour in Comox

While I was driving past a building site in Comox the other day, I happened to see this old man sitting on a pile of lumber at the site. He was looking to his left at a huge pile of concrete which was from the driveway to the house, and had been broken up to allow entry to the site. When I talked to him, from my car, he told me he was a retired teacher who was doing odd jobs to supplement his pension income. He had asked the owner of the home, who was also the general contractor, for a job, and had been given the job of breaking up the concrete driveway. I felt sorry for him as he sat on the wood-pile looking wistfully at the rock-pile he now had to move. I think it's such a shame when poor fellows such as this old man have to go out and earn a second living because they can only afford a sack of rice per week on which to live.

Construction at Andi and Tim's home

Just a few short weeks ago Tim and Andi began construction of the addition to their home on Salish St.
Under the watchful guidance and through the skill of Andi's Uncle Dick, the addition started when Tim and his friend Wayne excavated the hole in the ground to accommodate the footings for the new construction. Tim, Dick Ben and I all worked together to build the footings and the concrete walls.
Tim and Wayne had also taken up part of the concrete driveway with the small bulldozer they rented. Tim did a masterful job of breaking up the huge slabs with a sledgehammer. We were also fortunate that a friend, Ken Cochrane wanted the exposed aggregate pieces for his garden. They enabled him to build exposed aggregate planters for his property, so one man's junk became another's treasure as he, Tim and I hauled the materials away in Ken's truck and trailer.
The picures above show (top left)the end of the house with the tar paper exposed and the new concrete footings poured. In the middle picture you can see the first floor walls (forming the new garage)taken from the rear of the building. Bottom left are the same walls taken from the front. As I write this on July 21, the stringers for the garage roof have been added, along with the plywood on top which forms the floor of the two new bedrooms above.
Dick has done a masterful job of doing most of the building while Tim, and I, along with Ben, when he was able, have tried to be as helpful as we could in assisting Dick whenever he needed help.
It's exciting watching the whole thing rise from the ground. It's also proving to be a very enjoyable experience working alongside Tim and Dick as bit, by bit, the home is extended.
I give thanks to the Lord for the fact we are able to do this.

From Bambrick Place to the little house on the prairie

This past week we really had a great occasion to celebrate, for Ben and Josée's home on Bambrick Place sold to some people from Victoria.
In the picture to the left, you see the front driveway.
Ben and Josée did all their own advertising on an internet site called By The Owner and it proved invaluable. At first, there seemed to be little or no action from the site, then suddenly things took off and many people called about the house and a number of couples came to look. One interesting feature among many on the site was it's ability to record how many people had looked at the home on-line, and whether or not they were return lookers.
Ben and Josée were delighted to finally get their sale done as they can now concentrate more of their energy into gutting and renovating their next home which is a small rancher home on almost seven acres, located near the airport in Comox. In the picture to the left and below, you can see the house in the background and Josée busily involved in fencing an area to the rear of the house. Fencing this area took priority over anything else for a while, for they needed to create a "pen" to contain Tegan the Mastiff Tank, otherwise she would have disappeared and gone to play with the horses on the one side, or the geese on the other.
Ben and Josée are now almost through the wrecking stage and beginning to look ahead with excitement to the renovations. They have much courage and we wish them well.