Building Blog & Updates

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July 7, 2008 Hello everyone! A lot of time has passed since I last wrote a blog entry and I apologize for keeping you in the dark. Truth be told I was having trouble admitting to myself that we were going to have to delay our opening and I needed to be 100% sure there was no way we could do it before I let you all know. So as it stands now, we are opening softly in mid July (look for a 'now open' sign) and our summer camps will start running August 4th. I want things as close to perfection as I can get before I start working with groups keeping safety my highest priority. It's coming I promise! Now onto the more exciting news! I received news that Taxi will be joining our team around July 13th so look for our most mature member next weekend. Dewy is coming as soon as we arrange the pick-up from Souris he'll be gracing the paddock. Things that were wrapped up over the past month include the steel siding (thanks Eugene and John from CHI Construction! They worked in foul weather and started by 6:30 every morning - I couldn't have asked for better.), the interior of the Cover-ALL was finished by Gary MacAllum and crew (they are busily constructing gates for the end of the building as I write this), Matheson Construction delivered my wonderful arena footing, A & J insulation got the job done in less than a day, the Tackstore in Charlottetown delivered my beautiful saddles and all of my amazing tack (which I can attest to because I have ridden in it and it is amazing!), my phone is online as is permanent power and we have been dry-walled! Things that will be happening in the coming week (I won't make anyone wait longer, I promise!) are: interior painting, septic system and finishing grade, seam filling completed, painting started, plumbing completed, electric finished, tack room decorated and set up, ceiling of third floor finished (thanks to Kenny Macdonald who I'm lucky to have participating in any respect on this project) and heavens knows what I have forgotten. Much of the work left to be completed is interior - this means in order to see the progress you'll have to stop in and see us! Please feel welcome especially on the weekends when we are around for most of the day plugging along. I can't wait - we are so close! Ellen
June 7, 2008 Two months ago I was complaining about the snow slowing down our progress and today our progress considering our challenging weather is phenomenal! I started off the week figuring that we would be plugging along preparing for the equine arrival - I was not anticipating the whirlwind of events that unfolded... It was on Monday the staging came down and CHI Construction started to use the Sky-Jack to make really good headway on the steel siding, while Carl and the McKinnon Construction crew finished framing in the curved roof and created the tiered effect for both sides. New to the site were Gary MacCallum and his crew who were building the walls for the Cover-ALL with our beautiful 2 x 6 tongue and groove from AWL. They worked with Dale from Island Coastal who was fixing and grading around the arena making sure we were level (not to mention fixing up the ground where a few people had gotten stuck over the past two months...). The sun appeared and everyone was happily working along. The Department of Forestry as a part of the reforestation program, came out and planted some saplings on approximately 2.5 acres which we will watch grow for the duration of our time at this wonderful location. Last week when the Cover-ALL guys left due to the wind we figured we would be lucky if we had the guys back by Friday June 6th so we proceeded to get things in order with the pasture for when the horses arrived. Then, 7:30 a.m. Wednesday I got the call - the guys from Cover-ALL had finished another job early and were going to be onsite within the hour! Now Wednesday was horse arrival day so the fencing crew were back to finish up and energize the fence, the walls were still being worked out in the arena the regular guys were all there and now the Cover-ALL people too! When it rains it most definitely pours! Oh, did I mention it had rained all of Tuesday night and was actively drizzling most of Wednesday? Just a little added muddy interest to the days events... Now the Cover-ALL tarp has to be pulled\towed into position because of its size and weight by any vehicles that are around and all of the man power you can muster. Due to the location of the newly finished fence this meant that we were pulling\towing the tarp from inside the pasture which because the walls in the Cover-ALL weren't finished was where the horses were going to be released when they arrived. So, upon their arrival all of the vehicles had to be out of the pasture - which put a time element on an already interesting task, considering the mud element... I was asked to track down some hay to spread on the mud to minimize the dirtying of the tarp and hopped next door to the MacPhail farm to meet my neighbours. I was fortunate to meet Wayne and Kenny MacPhail who sold me some beautiful eating hay for my new family members as well as some older stuff for the Cover-ALL. I feel extremely lucky in my neighbours and the welcome I have received since this process began. Thanks guys! Hooked to the tarp were the Jeep, the Sky-Jack, a mini excavator and all the guys working on building the wall and that came to install. They had the process down flat and it went up beautifully, as I'm writing this my big marshmallow is up and wonderful - I can't wait for you all to see it. Now although I'm sure the conditions were not ideal for anybody working on the Cover-ALL, the walls or the fence - everyone brought their A-Game and they\we were all out of the field when Kimball came trucking in with Rowdy, Blue, Peaches and Tommy Girl who quickly became accustomed to their new surroundings. They are my little superstars as they settled down and in to their paddock better than I could have hoped. By day 2 they were napping and rolling contentedly and I'm sure are anxiously awaiting July 1st so they can meet you all. Thursday and Friday saw McKinnon Construction finish the framing, the remainder of the windows go in, the electric get wired, the steel steadily climb and my beautiful tack arrive. It's amazing for me to look back at those first pictures of a snow covered field and see what has become today. We're getting there! Talk again next week, all the best, Ellen
June 1, 2008 Gone with the wind... After spending so much time worried about the rain I had completely forgotten that any other kind of weather could be an irritant - like gale force winds. Monday morning was quite the adventure! Three separate crews began or continued work on HJC putting in a huge effort to get things done on time and budget. Arriving from Moncton and setting straight to work the Cover-ALL team put a great hit on to get things rolling building the trusses and getting things ready for the crane first thing Tuesday morning. The guys from CHI Construction were onsite with the steel siding finishing the large eastern wall and really bringing things together. Carl McKinnon and his team from McKinnon construction were onsite (as usual!) ready to get those pesky trusses up on the roof and all of them were battling the wind. Three stories up there is no protection from the wind and between the tarp for the Cover-ALL, the sheets of metal and the plywood - we had three different varieties of sail. Erring on the side of caution the crews put safety first and deemed it necessary to wait until the wind died down in order to make our big moves. I can't say enough about the people we have working onsite in spite of the weather to get things done - if it weren't for them and their dedication this project wouldn't be in half the position it is today. Wednesday brought me to fence day and Temple Stewart came through with a crew of 5 from T & G to get the job done. There is a little bit of fencing left to complete but I have no doubts that it will be done beautifully for when the horses move in on Wednesday. That's right! Wednesday afternoon June 4th look for some of my equine crew onsite adjusting to their new surroundings. Rowdy Ranch will be delivering my equine family and I will officially be living onsite with them from here on out. Although my house\office is still under construction living arrangements in the form of a trailer have been made so I can keep watch over my herd. I hope none of you will hesitate to stop in and meet us. We are hoping that the Cover-ALL crew will be able to make it back and finish up the tarp on a calm day this week and that the walls (built by Gary MacCallum and Matt Burke) will be ready on Wednesday for the horses. Keep driving by and feel free to stop in, there will be more changes in the next week. Ellen
May 24, 2008 The week the rain came... Oh yes it rained. Then, it rained again. And again. Saturday last after writing the blog entry I went to town and ran some errands just about the time the first bout of rain hit. True to Murphy's law, as the rain increased in intensity my Jeep's wipers decided to fail. I pulled into the nearest parking lot got out to try and will them to work when the driver's side wiper came off in my hand... Thus the saga of the rain began with the wettest\busiest week of spring and me driving around PEI with no wipers. Lesson learned: as soon as you get them fixed the rain will stop (mine were fixed late Friday afternoon). Monday morning although Victoria Day and (ha-ha) raining we struck off to dig post holes for the Cover-ALL in the mud. Lessons learned: 1. post hole digging is much more fun in the sun in Australia then it is on PEI in the rainy days of spring; 2. It CAN be done in the rain so don't let anyone tell you it can't; 3. Post hole diggers are hard to push out of the mud...don't hesitate - call the tow truck. 4. Make sure your oilskin is waxed before the rain comes - otherwise they leak. Tuesday and Wednesday were (you guessed it) rainy or wet or muddy or all three and we think this is why the man hired to set the posts for the Cover-ALL backed out last minute to do another job. Unfortunately due to our time line this put us in a bit of a scramble to find someone who could deal with the 32 300 lb posts and set them concrete before Monday when the Cover-ALL people arrive. Lessons learned: 1. After a rainy spring everyone from farmers to framers are behind and trying to catch up; 2. If you want\need things done badly enough there is always a way to get them done, so don't give up! Eagle Construction and Property Management came to our rescue and will have the posts set and ready for the Cover-ALL crew first thing Monday morning. Wonderful and professional I feel very lucky to have found them and that they were willing to get the job done. Thursday something strange occurred... A bright yellow ball appeared in the sky and temperatures rose above freezing... Taking advantage, our framers from MacKinnon Construction ploughed ahead and tried to make up for lost time. They managed to get the third floor walls up with the help of the crane and the faux wall virtually completed. Our sky-rise continues to grow! I think everybody was hoping the sun would last, unfortunately by 6:00 in the evening the rain was back, with a vengeance. Lesson learned: take advantage of the opportunities that come your way and enjoy them they (like the sun) may not last. Friday was hectic getting the concrete poured for the posts and setting them properly in line, while picking up steel for the roof trusses (how do you make a curved roof?). It rained intermittently (basically anytime I got in the Jeep to drive somewhere) but not enough to stop progress. There is a fair bit of work to do in order to catch up for time lost due to weather but the rain has stopped (wipers were fixed!) so there are no complaints. Monday will see the start of a flurry of activity as different crews will be arriving to get this show on the road! Cover-ALL begins installation, roof of my building will be framed in and lifted on by a crane, fence is installed, septic system is installed, steel siding goes on, windows go in and I've probably forgotten about a million other things! Thank-you to everyone who has shown up ready to work in spite of the bad weather and to all of you who continue to offer your support. Things although chaotic will really start to come together this week and I hope you'll feel welcome to stop in and see the progress first hand. New pictures to follow next week for those of you off Island that continue to tune in. Ellen
May 17, 2008 Construction Progress From no stories to two stories in a week! My nemesis the weather man got off my bad books this week- it still doesn't feel like May flowers but hopefully we're on our way. The Cover-ALL arrived on Tuesday along with Dave Cail to help unload - it's in a holding pattern until we get our posts installed - construction is scheduled for May 26th - it will be very hard to miss (look for the big marshmallow) so stay tuned! All week our framers have been working hard to keep us on schedule. Unfortunately that meant working off of a generator for the majority of the week due to high volume at Maritime Electric. Temporary power is on so hopefully things will go even faster this week. Third floor framing has yet to start but I trust these guys to get the job done. Tuesday also gave me a few minutes to sneak out to Clinton and visit the Rowdy Ranch. The newest HJC employees were looking quite well and managed to pose handsomely for some pictures. The odd duck was Blue who got rather camera shy but at least you'll be able to see my handsome new partners. Big thanks go to Kimball and Julie Johnston (and family!) for their support in this project - the horses HJC has purchased are high quality, well rounded, sane, trained and safe - I couldn't have imagined better. The coming weeks are all about scheduling and timing. The remaining posts for the Cover-ALL will be set and the framing completed. More pictures to follow on the 24th. Temple Stewart will be onsite May 28th to fence the property so our four footed friends have a safe place to roam. We have purposely planned the fence to allow access to snowmobilers in the winter as well as the odd farm vehicle or person out for a walk in the summer. The new phone books are out! Find HJC listed under 'Riding Centres'. I look forward to hearing from all of you, please don't hesitate to stop by the site and chat - if you see a black jeep I'm there! Until next week, Ellen
May 10, 2008 Construction Progress A lot has happened since April 20th! We have had a lot of progress and a few setbacks, but are continuing to move right along to get our wonderful four footed employees (Dewy, Rowdy, Tommy Girl, Peaches, Blue and the infamous Taxi) into their new home by the first week of June. Snow once again dampened my mood in late April when our first load of lumber had to be towed onsite by a bulldozer - people kept telling me late snow was poor mans fertilizer but that did nothing to improve my attitude toward Mother Nature or the bearers of bad news - Weather Announcers. Our cement still managed to be poured on time and was some of the best rain\snow\wet cured on the Island, I had a foundation! As you can imagine wet spring weather led to a session of ditch digging followed by a full Saturday of playing in the mud and pumping out the excess water. The new rubber boots were well broken in by the end of that day. With some instruction I was lowered into the foundation to do the insulation while the men installed the first two Cover-ALL posts. The posts are 12 feet long and weigh 200lbs so needless to say I was quite happy to stay in my muddy hole and work with Styrofoam. To get back on track with the site work after all that rain, we called in some big guns and had more equipment then operators to work them by Monday morning May 5th. We started with back filling and digging out shale for the interior of the foundation. Rough grading and leveling of the Cover-ALL pad so the 'post-man' can erect the remaining 32 posts this coming week. Our culvert and new driveway were rolled and tamped to provide support to the bigger rigs yet to come and a level area for the staging to be erected was worked out. Maritime Electric has installed new posts and will be back soon (or so I am assured) to fix up the temporary power and start the new line work. Concrete floor was poured yesterday and is also in the midst of wet curing while the weather people continue to conspire against me� Offsite news consisted of a radio interview with Angela Walker on CBC - and the new Yellow Pages ad - hitting all PEI house holds mid June - coming on-line so keep googling HJC to see what new events we're up to. Read more about it here: www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2008/04/25/equine-therapy.html Stay tuned next week for pictures of framing the building!
April 20, 2008 Ground Breaking News! Mother Nature came through and we are underway!! The frost is out of the ground and the weather is warming up which means the ground is drying up. Perfect for building! On Thursday morning our excavator got down to work stripping topsoil and preparing for our new driveway. A very good day! I spent as much time as possible taking pictures of my dirt - and walking the site. By Friday we had found enough shale on site to build up our road and a dump truck arrived to do the heavy lifting. Saturday morning we met with our framer (Carl) and our project manager (Peter) and we set the grades for the Coverall and my new house. They believe if the site work is done they should be able to start the footings ASAP which means pouring concrete. I was told once things started to happen they would move right along and man do they ever! I'll be taking pictures regularly so stay tuned for all the updates - you can watch as HJC takes form. So far we are right on schedule and our opening date of July 1st is on target. Thank you all again for your wonderful support and check back soon!

April 1, 2008 April fools! More snow :( So I woke up this morning to the meanest possible April Fools Day joke... 5 cms of fresh snow. Plows were on the roads. Kids were wearing snow suits. Ellen was cranky. Read more...
March 7, 2008 My land... Still remarkably snow covered - this is the future site of HJC. My dear friends (one in particular) think I'll be out with a portable hair dryer trying to get the frost out of the ground. Tempting... Read more...