In Edmonton...But Soon To Head Back for Home...

We arrived at our son and daughter in law's home, in Edmonton, Alberta, mid-afternoon this past Friday.  With our work and visits completed at and around Jeanette's parents' farm, we were in for more work and visiting at Deni and Courtney's home.

Mowing the lawn at the farm - one last time

Once the lawn was mowed, we packed our trailer and truck.  A few more photos were taken as we walked around the home place.

Pastoral scene.....

I took the photo below of Jeanette near the pond that she and her siblings skated on during the winter months, when growing up there.

Jeanette is out standing (or should that read 'outstanding') in her field.

 Deni and Courtney had invited some Edmonton relatives over for Friday evening dinner.  My motorcycle riding nephew, with his wife, Jamie, and another nephew, Justin, joined in for a lovely evening of fine dining and good banter.

R-L  Jeanette, Jamie, Justin, Deni, Brad (Courtney is barely seen behind Brad)

Our Saturday was booked well in advance to help Deni pour cement in his basement. That  follows some extensive plumbing as he and Courtney gear up for a full blown basement renovation.  Deni took out a building permit and now that the plumbing and electrical has been approved, we could cement the major troughs he created with a jackhammer.

Drains and water lines were moved and sand was tamped down.

Early Saturday morning Deni and I headed off to the rental place for a cement mixer that we moved down into the basement.  With 60 X 55 lb bags of cement mix hauled down, a hose was diverted through a basement window and we began mixing and placing cement.  One of Deni's friends showed up to help out...and that was really appreciated.

To achieve the building code specifications, a sizable amount of concrete had to be jack hammered before the plumber could complete the extensive amount of work required.

Jeff at the ready to work.

Tools were brought out from Deni's garage and I began to build a 12" deep crib to surround the 'back flow preventer' and cleanouts. 

Completed cribbing for install before we mix and pour the cement.

With the cribbing in place, the cement mixing began in earnest.  While Deni and Jeff managed the mixer, I placed and troweled the cement.

Deni was able to mix three X 55 lb bags of cement in each batch.

We made quick work - with no breaks - for several hours.  Our work was going well.  We opted to hold out for a much later lunch to keep the momentum going.

At the very end our pouring and finishing.

With a good job done, we enjoyed a well earned beer with our lunch. It was a beautiful afternoon to sit outdoors.

 

With lunch completed, we moved the wheelbarrow, mixer and tools back outdoors for cleaning.  Once done, the rental cement mixer was returned to the rental facility nearby.

Jeanette drove back to the town of Two Hills early this Sunday morning to collect her mom and drive to an assisted living facility in St. Albert - near Edmonton - to visit with Jeanette's aunt Pansie.  She is 92 years young.  Following their visit, mom and daughter came by Deni and Courtney's home for dinner before driving mom back to her assisted living facility.

Deni and I spent the day together.  We drove around our specific points of interest and followed that with a lovely lunch at a funky but really good restaurant near the University of Alberta.  The restaurant is called the 'Sugar Bowl'.  It was really good! To spend the day with Deni was wonderful. While he and I were enjoying our day together, Courtney was having a good sleep after working a 12 hour night shift in the trauma centre at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

A busy time for us all but it was fun too.....even placing the cement was fun! A short dose of work it was.

Jeanette and I plan to leave early tomorrow morning (Monday) for the 12 hour drive back to our home in south Langley, BC.  We have had an interesting mix of hard work and good fun.....and we feel a good sense of accomplishment.

More on our return trip in a day or two.

Thanks for dropping by.