A Haircut and Rain!

 Garry went to church in the village Sunday and got his haircut in the afternoon, along with Max. He forgot his wallet, so Max had to pay for them! He sent me before and after photos.

Here's one last photo of the BC team before they left that Oleg put up on Facebook, hopefully they are recovering from jetlag and their trip now.

When Garry got back to the village on Saturday, he was excited to see puddles. Even though it rained at some point almost every day the team was there, it never rained enough to help the very dry conditions.

How dry? Remember I posted this summer that wells dried up in the village? The winter wheat had been planted but is not coming up consistently, so they are hoping more plants will start to grow and they will be able to plow the corn and sunflower fields, as the ground was too hard to plow.  

Sunday afternoon/evening it was raining and it continued Monday, Garry messaged me they had two inches of rain. He said it was as much rain in the last three days as they have had over the last eighteen months, so it looks like fall plowing can happen. 

So Monday they didn't work on finishing the shed, but Tuesday they started working on making the railing for the front of the building. It was raining again in the afternoon. Garry didn't take photos of either, but here's one of buying diesel for the tractors on Monday, the sky looks gray. They use one of the old vans for this.

Garry's shoulder is feeling better, he tells me. 

A little update, you remember the two vans that had to be fixed because of using bad fuel in them. Max now tests the fuel they buy for purity. The higher the float goes, the better the diesel.

They're off

 

Well, the team is on their way home, Garry dropped them at the border crossing Friday evening (night?) and their ride materialized on the Moldovan side. I'm now dependent on Garry for photos, but Phil posted the sunrise as they landed in Vienna, I heard they had a layover in Toronto. 

Garry stayed overnight in a hotel before returning to the village Saturday. He said his shoulder wasn't bothering him, but he had a stiff neck. He's looking forward to church in the village and a haircut (also in the village). He said that there was a rolling power blackout when he got back, there was one the day before the team left. Russians are hitting the powerplants again with winter approaching, so that's what happens. 

So here's Garry's photos from the village, he's having fun with the kids in the house. Looks like everyone is wearing sweaters. Danil has gotten eyeglasses since spring. 

Watch for haircut photos, but I probably won't be posting as often. 

Thursday

 Thursday the guys finished work by 3 pm, then celebrated with pizza and cakes. They got everything done.  They actually had the steel on the shed Wednesday,  but I just found a photo.

The welding guys will get to work soon on the head rail for the front where the cattle eat.

The summer kitchen at the church is done, there is a fridge and stove to come yet.

They even did some repairs to the house they have been staying in.

The plan for Friday is to get the guys to the border for their Saturday morning flight. After breakfast, a van is supposed to arrive for Garry to drive them. Garry's shoulder is doing better, if you were wondering. Our white van is out of commission, apparently both it and the milk delivery van got diesel fuel with water in and needed extensive engine repairs. The milk van is fixed, but the white van is still being repaired, so they are borrowing one. 

The shed is up!

 My internet here in Manitoba was working so bad last night that I didn't get a blog post up. Yesterday morning I got a message from someone on the work team that Garry was feeling bad and had gone to the hospital with a shoulder problem.

 I called Garry, since I knew they were putting up the trusses with the crane Tuesday, so he really had to be bad to leave the worksite. Turns out not a new injury, he said maybe he slept on his bad shoulder wrong, and it was cold, maybe he didn't have enough clothes on, he thinks its a pinched nerve. The doctor gave him  a prescription for some pain pills, and some other remedies. 

Anyway, he was taking it easy, he said, I talked to him at suppertime Wednesday and he said his shoulder wasn't bad today until about an hour and a half before they finished. Which is good news since he is supposed to drive the team to the border on Friday for their flight home. Then he can rest up and get better. 

 I did download some photos yesterday, and hopefully the internet loads them up for you now. Here's Tuesday, when the crane got the trusses up, and they got most of the strapping boards nailed on. Garry sent some, and some were from Jeremy, who was helping on the shed yesterday.

Today (Wednesday) The steel arrived and they got the roof on!

I'll try to get more photos to load later. Here's Garry and the guys at suppertime today.

A few more of today's action at the shed- I think that's Ben cutting off boards...

The summer kitchen reno looks almost done at the church.

That's today and yesterday, we'll see what they do tomorrow. 

Busy days

 I was watching the Blue Jays and didn't get a post up earlier. Here's some photos from Sunday and Monday. The guys went to church in the village and even sang, with Jack playing guitar.

After lunch they got nine more trusses built at the farm, and on Monday they finished making trusses, built walls and nailed three together to be ready for the crane Tuesday. 

Garry is hoping to get that haircut soon, I think it was scheduled for Tuesday but he may be too busy, we'll see in tomorrow's photos. 

 

As you can see, they are putting in some long days. The guys fly home on Saturday, they hope to get lots done, the steel for the shed roof and walls is supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Phil is keeping them well fed, I hear. 

 Jeremy and his assistant Dima (in the photo) are fixing electrical wiring, This looks like it was inside the church. Thanks to the team for the photos (Jeremy). 

Saturday

 They had a busy day working. Garry said it was a little rainy in the morning when they started. However, after half and hour, the sun came out for the rest of the day.

The shed building team got the forms off yesterday's concrete pour and formed up for the second half of the wall. The cement truck was supposed to come between two and four o'clock, so they worked hard to be ready for the earlier time, and the truck came around four. 

They built seven trusses today, only nineteen more to build. All the wood is cut for them. They plan to put them up on Tuesday with a rented crane. Garry said the wall is done so there's only a curb left to pour for concrete work.

The team got lots done on the church summer kitchen. 

After the long work day, and supper, the team went to Leila's birthday party at our house for more food and cake. Garry said Leila really liked the hat I crocheted her. 

Tomorrow they will attend church in the village, and probably sneak in some work in the afternoon.