Wall bracing and star gazing

There was a fierce northwest wind today. The water in Bradley Cove was choppy with white caps which we had never seen before. A group of kayakers came into the cove with guide Shawn from Coastal Adventures. They seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by the conditions so I shouted to Shawn to bring the party ashore for a mug-up at our place. They agreed, so we had a group of five young adventurers for tea. I drove Shawn back to Coastal Adventures to fetch their kayak trailer.

I measured the difference in height of the top of west wall corner posts using colored water in flexible tubing. They were the same height to within 1 cm. I couldn't believe it so I measured again with a taut string and level. I got the same result. The ends of the west wall are level - amazing for a house as rotten as this one.

West wall supported with exterior posts.

In the afternoon I succeeded in getting the house ready to jack up on the west side by installing exterior headers over the windows. Lag bolts secured the header to the top plate above the windows.
I tried some test jacking after supper. Sharon got a surprise when, after lifting one of the posts one inch, the jacking post popped out and the house shifted down suddenly, "Nothing to worry about, Honey".

Dan ready to jack up the west wall.

Catherine spent a considerable time this afternoon standing at the end of the dock, waving at two curious seals.

After dark we all went out on the deck to look at the stars. The sky was perfectly clear and black as it was a moonless night. The Milky Way was magnificent, strewn across the sky and reflected in the mirror-calm water of the cove. Scorpio was bright on the horizon with Jupiter shining above it. We could see two of Jupiter's moons with the binoculars. Everyone was thrilled to see several shooting stars!

Star gazing at our cottage.