A Photo Essay without Words
Kootenays
Delivery and Set-Up of our Modular Home
Amazing Building Mover at Work again in Fauquier, BC
October 17, 2016 was another milestone in the Peter and Gertrud Klopp story. For the day had finally arrived, when the long awaited modular home was delivered. It was a wet and dreary morning. It had rained all night and the ground around the construction site was getting soft and soggy. If you watched last week’s video showing the removal of our mobile home, you probably thought that the work was just about as tough as it could get. When you watch today’s video, you will find that the setting up of our new house was even tougher. Again the people of Hammer Pilot Car Services and R.J. Fisher Transport are to be commended for their outstanding work. In the spirit of teamwork every person was doing their best to make sure that the halves of the house were finally located at the precise spot, where the two pieces were going to be joined. However, the star was without a doubt Brian Coates of SSP Excavating. He came with his backhoe to the rescue, when the truck began slipping on the muddy ramp. With the help of a chain, Brian pulled the section into position. One more time three cheers to a job well done!
Summer 2016 – Part V
The Removal of the Double Wide Mobile Home from our Property
The friendly team of Hammer Pilot Car Services and R.J. Fisher Transport displayed their expertise last month, when they came to jack up the two halves of our trailer, put them on wheels and hauled them away all on the same day. They made the entire operation look like as if it was a piece of cake. Yet, the video shows that only with their experience in moving buildings, hard work and team spirit was it possible to remove the mobile home out of its tight spot. A neighbor’s new building and huge cedar trees less than 3 meters away had to be navigated around. Amanda of the Hammer Pilot Car Services helped keep up the men’s morale by her uplifting humor and by providing hot lunch with fried bratwurst right at the work site. Three cheers and tons of praise on a job well done!
Summer 2016 – Part III
Making Room for the New House
Our Old House before the Demolition
It all started with a threat, a very serious threat indeed. I still remember the day, when our son Michael dropped in for a quick visit and announced with an authoritative voice, “One day, as soon as I am rich enough to do it, I will come with a giant bulldozer, push your old house into the lake, and have a new one built for you.”
The metal roof of the mobile home is already taken down.
Of course, at that time, we took his announcement as one of his typical jokes, which revealed in one way or another his hidden criticism of our dilapidated dwelling.
Levi is taking down the timber piece by piece.
In spite of the modern appearance on the outside, our house had many problems. Too late I had realized that we needed eaves troughs. The water running off the roof penetrated the poorly vented crawling space. The floor joists began to rot. Hard to believe but true, mushrooms grew in great profusion out of the rotting wood and dispersed their harmful spores into our living space. Then roof specialists came into town and offered to the gullible residents of Fauquier Professional services. They replaced our cedar-shingled roof with a convenient metal cover. The only problem was that the ‘specialists’ failed to put tar paper under the tin, the annoying consequence of which was that ice was building up under the cold metal and would melt during the milder days causing water to drip right through the ceiling. To prevent any further damage I placed a fan into the attic and let run all winter to draw out the warm humid air. I could go on and on to describe how the house began to lean, such that following the laws of gravity marbles, even pencils and pens would be rolling off the table, or worse how over the past forty years pests both large and small established permanent residence in and under the house, mice, ants including the much feared carpenter ants, pack rats, raccoons, even skunks, just to name a few of our uninvited visitors.
Now it’s time to dismantle Biene’s beloved sunroom.
Let us return to Michael, who earlier this year turned his ‘threat’ into reality. Of course, he refrained from dumping our home sweet home into the Arrow Lake. Instead, we needed to dismantle the house – actually two homes, the original building and a double wide mobile home attached the former. To dispose of the doublewide in an environmentally friendly way turned out to be easy. I simply sold it on Facebook and had the new owner agree to remove it at his own expense.
The sunroom is no more.
The buyer’s helper did a fantastic job of salvaging the tin, the rafters and practically the entire roof over the mobile home. So I approached and offered him all parts of the old house, windows, kitchen counter, water tank, toilet, and even the ancient purple bathtub in exchange for removing and recycling the entire roof with all its timber and insulation. He even took off the vinyl siding most of it undamaged from the walls and will use the material for the house he is planning to build in the near future.
The metal roof of the old house is gone.
What a way to recycle and to reuse stuff that would have otherwise landed in a landfill!
Only the walls are still standing.
To be continued …
Summer 2016 – Part II
Action-packed Visit by our Son Richard and our Grandchildren Mateo, Azure and Emeline
Klopp Family Chart I – IV & V
Richard and his Children Spending Happy Hours at the Beach
A week after our family reunion on Galiano Island (see previous post) Richard and his children dropped in for a month-long visit. There were many joyful moments, such as horsing around with the grandchildren on our yard and at the beach, picking beans with Azure, appreciating and praising Mateo’s daily progress weeding in the garden, playing board games like Agricola and Settlers of Catan, watching Richard’s creative works of statue building, chatting with our visitors from Montreal, just to name a few of the highlights.
Opa pulling his Granddaughters across our Yard
Richard and Emeline Relaxing in Mateo’s Hammock
One of many of Richard’s Creations at the Beach
All dressed up for the Nakusp Medieval Days
Splashing Contest with Biene at Taite Creek
Azure and Emeline Eating a Snack on our Deck
Mateo teaching his Sister Azure a Board Game
Yet, there were also stressful times caused by the unfortunate timing of the visit that coincided with the impending demolition of our home, which had given us warmth and shelter for the past 40 years. I had to focus on moving furniture into make-shift shelters, and on planning and preparing for the new modular home, which our son Michael had ordered to be built for our golden years.
Biene swimming at an Island Beach
When things were at times too hectic and chaotic with the daily household routines, I often took my wife for a canoe ride so we could relax for a couple of hours at a lonely beach of a small island near the Needles ferry terminal.
Back on Track
To all my friends and followers I am sending out my apologies for resuming later than promised my blogging activities. As I am relaxing in the sunshine of a glorious late summer day at our favourite Taite Creek campground on our beautiful Arrow Lake, I am typing up the major themes of the Klopp Family blog for the coming fall and winter.
Keeping Company with Blue Herons
Before I delve into that I wish to express my sincere regret front having had the time to read and appreciate our posts during the last couple of weeks. The summer months – normally already very busy with travels, visiting family and friends, and activities away from the computer – turned out to be extremely strenuous and stressful this summer, although the events also brought a lot of joy into our hearts. After our family reunion on Galiano Island, our son Richard, our grandson Mateo, and the two granddaughters Azure and Emeline spent their vacation with us in July and August. Unfortunately, this was also the time of preparation for the removal of our old house to be replaced by a new modular home, which our son Michael ordered for us to be built on the site of the demolished house.
Early Morning Magic at Taite Creek Campground – Photo Credit: Gertrud Klopp
So you know now why I am writing this introductory post at the campsite. For my wife and I are practically homeless for the next couple of weeks and have to make do in our small travel trailer.
For the fall and winter season, I will focus on the following themes:
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Story (continued)
Revamping and Improving the Family Trees
Fauquier – Nature’s Beauty in the West Kootenays (continued)
Fauquier – Its History (continued)
Aunt Anna – Baroness of Von Waldenfels
Local Enterprises and Cottage Industries
Contributions by Family Members in German
Family Review of Summer 2016
Without home access to the Internet I will publish at the beginning just one or two posts per week. I am looking forward to read again all your posts and am really excited to find out what is going on in your part of the world.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 