Red Oak Strip Flooring

When we had our house custom built in 1987, we put old fashioned one and three quarter inch wide unfinished red oak strip flooring in our dining room.  At that time, most people were was using vinyls, carpet, cermanic, porcelain and Parkay flooring.  The living room had light brown jute back carpet with thick cushy underlay.

In 2005, we agreed it was time to replace our living room carpet.   So Doug promptly painted all the ceilings and the living room walls because he did not want to paint over new carpet.   Doug prefers carpet because it is quiet, warm and soft.  I wanted the same oak flooring carried through from our dining room into the living room and down the basement stairs.  We were at a stalemate, so nothing was done!

In the past two years most of our neighbours and friends have been replacing carpet flooring with either laminate or pre-finished hardwood flooring.  Two weeks ago we reached a compromise: oak in the living room and carpet flooring in the bedrooms and the den.  In March 2011, our dining room floor was refinished.  The photo below shows where the new floor joins the old floor.  The air nailer  is sitting on the dinning room floor, the new floor is in front of the basement stairs. 

Yesterday the final coat of Varathane was applied to our brand new living room floor!

I think it is absolutely beautiful.  This floor was installed by JRL Flooring in Brandon phone number 204-761-7036.  Thanks tons to Ryan and crew.  Next project the basement stairs.   ~dancing around the room with glee~

State of Emergency Declared in Brandon on May 8

I haven't been to the flood areas at all. Instead I follow it daily on Ebrandon, MTS tv, WCG webcam and Brandon Sun online. I have a front row seat from the comforts of my south west home to the most horrific flood in Brandon's history. The photos and videos are both alarming and scary.

My heart goes out to the folks who were evacuated yesterday as well as all the people fighting the flood by working on the dikes, filling sandbags, policing the streets and directing traffic. I needed to help.
I called the Salvation Army 727-4334 after work yesterday. They are delivering food to the flood workers and accepting all donations of food including soup, sandwiches, drinks, muffins, fruit and donuts. They are located at the corner of 1st and Princess Avenue. My neighbour and I made up three dozen buns some were ham with cheese with lettuce and others were egg salad. I dropped off the bunwiches with two big bags of cookies, two dozen canned drinks and half a dozen juice boxes. The folks at the Salvation Army were very grateful. When I got back I phoned the City of Brandon 729-2186 to volunteer at the evacuee registration centre.

The City of Brandon posted 34 photos on facebook of the water, dikes and workers.  Officials are calling it a one in 300 year flood.  On May 8th, Prime Minister Harper deployed 450 Canadian Forces Soldiers to help Southern Manitoba fight the flood.  So far  in Brandon 1,174 people have been evacuated from 467 homes on the south side of the Assiniboine River.

Most of these photos were taken by the ebrandon guy Adam and posted on ebrandon.ca for anyone to use and share as Adam hopes to deter people from going to the Assiniboine valley to take photos for themselves.

This is First Street North on Saturday May 7,  there is a lot of water seepage and workers were running 11 pumps around the clock to keep the roadway open.  

 

On Sunday night the pavement broke up.  First Street remains closed while construction crews repair the missing road. There is a huge pile of rock dumped across the south bound lane.

 

The U-shape of the super sand bag dike is actually the intersection of Grand Valley Road and 18th Street North.  Grand Valley Road is underwater from 18th Street North all the way west to the Trans Canada Highway approximately 12 kilometres.  Super sandbags are about the size of kitchen stove and filled with a front end loader. This dike is being raised to be three super sandbags high and then an aqua dam is going to be placed on top.

This is the Highway 110 (east bypass) for dangerous goods.  This highway is now closed between the bridge and Victoria Avenue.  Flood workers have installed aqua dams on both sides of the highway to allow a single lane for trucks to continue transporting goods to the city.

An aqua dam is a long tube filled with water to hold the flood waters back.

An aerial view of Grand Valley Road looking west.  The row of evergreen trees is the entrance way to the Brandon Research Station.

 

Grand Valley Road looking east.  The only thing that is keeping the water away from the Corral shopping centre and the residential homes behind the mall is the super sandbag dike at 18th North and Grand Valley Road.

This is the entrance way to Turtle Crossing Campground where my daughter and her finacée have scheduled their wedding ceremony on July 2, 2011.

 Turtle Crossing again on May 10, 2011.

This is the roof of the gazebo at Eleanor Kidd Gardens in Brandon.

The roof of the skating shack at the oval about two blocks south of the Thompson Bridge on 18th Street North in Brandon.

The white roof in the middle of the water is located in the soccer fields located east off First street north.  The river is expected to crest between May 10 and 12.  Let's hope the river crests soon and the dikes hold!

Winter again

South western Manitoba which includes Brandon has been hit by yet another snow storm!  It started raining Friday night then became freezing rain and ice crystals Saturday morning.  It has been snowing and blowing since early Saturday afternoon.  The Trans Canada Highway is closed from Brandon to the Saskatchewan border.

 

 

The Assiniboine river is now expected to crest in Brandon on May 12th. There is a great deal of concern that the dikes on 18th and 1st Street are not strong enough to hold the river back that long.  There is water seepage happening at both of these dikes now and city workers are pumping the water back into the river around the clock.  

Since it is still snowing... May 1, 2011 is looking like a great day to sew something!