It is Friday October 23, 2009 and Dad has previously determined that if you wear a hard-hat, you can just walk into the construction site for his condominium (the floor plan is called “The Melford” which sounds a lot like Melfort, Saskatchewan, where Dad was born). He has invited me along for a site visit.

Here is the living room, looking back from the window. The main entrance is at the left. As you see, it isn't quite finished yet (move-in date is scheduled for February 10, 2010, which is 110 days away).

Here is a view of the living room from the entrance. The pipes for the kitchen sink are on the left, and the sliding door to the patio is at the right. The radiators that will go below the windows are in large box in front.

We've asked for some small changes (extra Ethernet drop, 4-way light switch for the patio light), and their system is to note these in this envelope taped to the window.

We're in the den, looking south, through the guest bedroom (and its ensuite washroom). There will be a wall along the line at the right side of the photograph up to the window.

Now we're in master bedroom ensuite washroom, looking through the walk-in closet and master bedroom. There will be a wall from the corner of the front window back to where I'm standing, so I[m slightly in the neighbour's unit now.

Here we're still in the master bedroom, this time looking back at the ensuite washroom. The copper water pipes all have white insulation, either to keep them from “ sweating” (due to condensation) or to keep them quiet.

This is the view out the master bedroom window. This will be a walk-out patio, with pavers at the level of the black tar, and landscaping on the far side of the stone wall.

This is the door from the master bedroom to the patio. Through the window is Rean Park.

Here's a view (looking south) from the living room.

The west side of the building looks over what will be a courtyard, with dirt up to the level of the yellow plastic. Mira's Uncle Ben Etkin's balcony is at the far side of the top floor of the building in the distance.

Slightly out of chronological order, but Dad later visited again, and a foreman asked who he was and what he was doing there. As a result, they sent this letter.

On the way home, there was something I've been wanting to photograph for years, and because of the condominium site visit, I had my camera with me. No, it isn't just this directional drilling machine – which is indeed somewhat rare (I already cover these at my City Infrastructure web site).

Check this out, it's the pulling head. They've just finished pulling a 12" new watermain back through the hole they've previously bored, and have used a chain-saw to cut the pipe from the pulling head. It was a real score to get a picture of this.