Willie's visit

I didn't write much at the time about Willie's visit earlier this month. I had been having trouble with water leaks around a few of my windows. The most worrying one was along the tall window on the deck. It appeared a lot of water made it into the house along that window.

Willie came out to see us with some rubber sealant and a few other tools. We pulled the boards off and re-sealed as best we could. He found a couple of problems, some of which we fixed. But we'll have to do a bit more next year.

The trim boards outside were flush against the deck, and were wicking water up from the deck into the window joint. Willie had a special little saw and we trimmed a centimeter off the bottom of the boards to provide an air gap.

We also found the trim boards had become warped and shrunk a great deal. Since they hadn't been painted until this year, they dried out quite a bit. Willie pointed out they were originally 95mm wide, but were now shrunk to under 90. The boards are also "cupped" along their width, too, with only the center of the board really flush along the house. The edges curl out and away from the house and window. Not good for water sealing!

Willie recommended we get new trim boards for next year and do a few things differently. First, we score the back of the board with a few shallow cuts along its length. This allows us to slightly bend the board so it lays fully flat along the house.

Second is to work harder to smooth the exterior of the house right along the window joint, so the board has a better chance of laying flat. Since the house is made up of strips of glue-laminated wood, there is variability along the exterior; some strips stick out more or less than their neighbors. A bit of sanding or planing would make the surface far more even.

Lastly, of course, is to paint the boards right away so they are better protected from shrinking and warping over time. So we will do that next year for sure.

Eddie and Sooz on Taco Night

It was great to catch up with Willie. He is a good guy and has become a friend over the years. We talked about his son Eddie, whom I've mentioned before on this blog. Eddie has become established in goal for the Vancouver Canucks. To be a professional NHL player is quite the achievement, and it's easy to see why Willie is so proud of his son.

Sooz and I had the pleasure of dinner with Eddie when he was on a recent road trip. We had a bunch of Tex-Mex tacos, and enjoyed catching up and swapping stories about his dad. Besides the great achievement of playing in the NHL, he's a charming and special young man, and we're glad to count him as a friend.

We have been watching the Canucks results closely. It's much more interesting to follow the team when you know the goalie!

Hockey Night in Texas

We went to the hockey game last night and had a great time. I had seats down by the visitor's goal in the hopes of seeing Eddie play. He didn't start, but came in early in the 3rd period after the Canucks were down 4-1. He played well, making a few good saves. I took these two pictures from our seats.

Eddie is clearly becoming a big part of the team. This article from Vancouver sums him up pretty well.

We weren't able to meet up, but we did exchange texts and we'll try again when the Canucks return in March. Wille was watching on TV, and we were messaging each other furiously during the match. Hockey was my sport growing up in Minnesota. It was nice to be close to the ice again!

"Goalies are weird"

The Vancouver Canucks (of the NHL) have a number of videos on their YouTube channel. This one's entitled "Goalies Are Weird", about the backup goaltender Eddie Läck.

Around the 3:40 mark of the video, Eddie talks about his father back in Sweden. Sharp-eyed readers might recognize Eddie's dad as none other than our own Wille, who led the team who assembled our house.

As you can imagine, Wille is quite proud of his boy, who has gone on to become a professional goaltender in the USA. I have been following his progress over the years, and I'm a tiny bit proud myself!

The Canucks are coming into town in a few weeks, and I bought tickets down by the visitor's goal. I hope he gets to play that day; we'd love to see him in action! Wille is going to see if we could somehow meet Eddie before/after the game.

For those interested, Eddie's performances are on his NHL webpage.

UPDATE December 10: Eddie started and had his first shutout last night!

Chicago Wolves Hockey

I have mentioned in the past that Wille's son, Eddie Lack, is a goaltender in the hockey minor leagues here in North America. You may recall that Wille hails from Leksand, the hockey-mad region in northern Sweden.

Eddie is now with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL. I've been following his exploits closely.

Recently, Eddie was featured in the Wolves' online magazine, and it's fun to read about him. Wille told me he was planning to come to Chicago this winter, and we'd love to join him in my hometown to watch some hockey.

Oh noooooo....

Today's our last day here. Damn. And of course it's clear and beautiful yet again.

To catch up the past couple of days: On Wednesday afternoon, Patrick (Annica's son) took Grant out for an inner-tube ride on his boat and he ended up towing Grant over to Marg & Janne's dock, where we met him with dry clothes. We had a great meal there on a beautiful evening.

Yesterday started out cloudy and a teeny bit cold. Grant went straight to Dave's to complete his painting work and Sooz and I joined Marg on the dock to see her off back to Stockholm.

It cleared up later in the day and Sooz and I puttered around, we discussed extending the deck in front of the house. It's a bit too narrow after we set our dining table and we seem to be edging around a lot. Even an extra 60 or 70 cm would make a difference. I emailed Stefan at X-House and he replied with a couple of photos of another X-House that had a wide stepped deck down to the ground:

We'd like to do something like this but we have more constraints. We like the way the house sets on the rock below, and my favorite part is the cantilevered corner of the deck. I fear filling that space with steps might mess up the house's setting. And we have our favourite pine tree close by, so extending the deck too much would put us right into its branches. On the other hand, having a bigger deck would make moving around much easier and probably safer, too.

Janne came by for dinner and we talked about things we could do; Stefan also gave me some detailed information, so today I'm going to do some measuring and thinking.

Stefan also sent me a link to photos of their new model X-House going up near Arlanda, and I have to say it looks very cool.

Lastly, I talked to Wille to say hi. He's busy as usual up in Leksand, and he is planning to go north "into the mountains" to put up another X-House in September. He'll have to work fast so he doesn't freeze! And in other good news, his son, Eddie, has a contract with the Vancouver Canucks. He leaves this weekend to start with their developmental team, the Manitoba Moose. I'll have to get myself a moose T-Shirt to wear out on the island!

The Blackhawks win!

The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night, beating the Flyers in Philadelphia in overtime.

There's just one longer sports drought that needs to be finished now, but it's a big one.

Lord Stanley's Cup

I had posted previously about the World Cup (which begins in only 5 days) but there's a far older trophy being competed for just now. The Stanley Cup is awarded to the champions of professional hockey in North America, as it has been since 1893.

The finals are going on this week, and my Chicago Blackhawks are in it for the first time in a long while. Chicago sports teams are typically poorly managed. For a huge, sports-mad city, the success of its teams has been pretty meagre.

The Blackhawks have been no exception to this rule. They last won the Stanley Cup in 1961. When I was a boy, they had some of the most exciting players in the game: Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito. But in typical fashion, the team squandered the talents of those players, and even worse, their legacy over the years. I was really pleased by a New York Times article on how the club has reconnected with its stars. I hope the Hawks win the Cup this year; I'm watching the games on ESPN at ungodly hours in London. But even if they don't do it this year, I'm happy to see they've recaptured their history.

The Olympic Ice Hockey final

We're all watching it here, 8PM London time. I've been texting Wille through the game and we're both thrilled the USA just tied it up with 20 seconds left.

UPDATE: Damn. Crosby scored the winner for Canada in OT.

The World Junior Hockey Championships

The first post of 2010 is about hockey, with the world junior championships being held in Vancouver.

Last night, the USA beat Sweden in an upset, and will now face the Canadians in the final tomorrow night.

It's safe to say that Wille and I have been exchanging a few text messages this week...!

UPDATE: The USA won the gold medal, beating Canada in a 6-5 overtime thriller. Sweden also won the bronze, crushing the Swiss 11-4.

Wille has an update

He said the new doors have been delivered, so we're ready to bring them when we're there in 10 days. Wille is also arranging a taxi boat for all of us and our stuff from Stavsnäs on the morning of the 14th.

In more disappointing news, Leksand lost last night to AIK Stockholm. This ends their playoff push, which is a shame considering they won their division. Hopefully Wille will be past his sorrows by the time we see him.

An interesting post-script is that I've somehow attracted some hockey trash talk on the blog...!

The weather forecast

I checked the Sandhamn webcam and saw a lot of snow on the island yesterday. A quick look at the weather forecast showed temperatures below zero all week. Janne did say it was cold when I talked to him last!

He advised me back last year not to expect good weather at Easter. I had hoped to put Järnvitrol on the house then, but I may well be doing it in May.

Lastly, Leksand won their first playoff game last night. They are sitting 1-4 and they need a strong turnaround to get back into contention and to keep Wille happy...

Morning Sports Update

1. Corrected: Leksand has begun its 10-game playoff to get promoted to the top league in Sweden. However, they have lost their first three games, and sit at the bottom right now. The series ends on April 9, so I'm hoping they'll recover and we'll see Wille in a good mood on the 14th!
2. In related news, my beloved Manchester City beat its third Danish opponent (fourth, if you count the Faroe Islands) last night to progress in the UEFA Cup. They scraped through in typically insane fashion.

Just talked to Wille

...he's up in Leksand and they just had another 70cm of snow over the weekend. Funny because there's still very little of it in Stockholm. Hockey-wise, Leksand is doing well; they've won their division and are now in the playoffs to get promoted to the top level. Six teams all play each other and the top two go up.

He didn't go to the melodifestival last week, although his son Eddie did!

House-wise, he is going to go north to a friend's to get all the wood for the garderobes; he told me it'd be cheaper and a better match to the wood of the house as it's all northern pine. He'll do some of the cutting at his home and bring it all down mostly made, so we can just adjust on site. He is firm on being down to us on April 13th so that's great news.

A few social items

First, Margaret and janne are back in Stockholm after their lovely month in the USA. I talked to Janne and hearing his voice really cheers me up. And Marg is already back to sending us helpful emails. We will see them for sure when we're there next week, although Janne won't be on Aspö that night, so we'll have to inaugurate the new kitchen on our own!

Second, Rutger called Tommy the bathroom guy on my behalf today because a one-minute call from him in Swedish was a lot more effective than a 15 minute call from me. We're still planning for him to come out on Monday the 9th but will confirm on the weekend.

Lastly is hockey news; Leksand are doing very well as shown in the table, and well on track to be promoted back into the top division next season. But Djurgården are struggling; 10th out of 12 teams, and they will need to climb the table at least one more place to avoid relegation. Mikael is still with the first team but isn't playing much right now.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention the UK entry into the Eurovision song contest. I was happy with Jade, the winner, but unfortunately, Andrew Lloyd-Webber's ballad didn't do much for me.

Another side of Mikael

Speaking of penalty minutes, Wille told me there was a You Tube of Mikael in a fight on December 28 with Lee Goren, a hulking Canadian ex-NHL tough guy. Sure enough, I found it, and now you too can see Mikael landing (and receiving) a few blows.

He was much more peaceful when he was working with us!

A Familiar Face!

Does the man in the middle look familiar? It's our own Mikael Ahlèn, fresh after scoring for Djurgården in their 3-2 victory on December 7.

Here's a translation from the paper: "Mikael Ahlén plays normally in the junior team, but was called up to the A-team before the match against Färjestad. What energy he brought to the formation and a success it was: one assist and the winning goal."

He's played 16 games now for the senior team, and has clocked up 29 penalty minutes.

Update from Wille

He called me from the boat back from Aspö and said that he was all done, at last. There are only two small things to followup on:

• The door frame on the little house is 120mm wide but the house walls are only 78mm thick so the frame is too wide
• He can't figure out how to do the bunk beds from the wood that is supplied

He's going to talk to Stefan tomorrow about those items. Otherwise, the roofs are done, the deck is turned over and stained (he says it looks great), and the electrical wires are pulled through.

The plan is for Göran to come and do electrical work late next week, and then Wille will return with his floor-finishing colleague to treat the interior floors in early October. If all goes according to plan, we'll be set for our kitchen install on October 21 (after we all see Mikael play for Djurgården against Linköpings HC on October 18, of course.)

I asked Willie if he was sick of our little island, and he said the opposite, that he'd miss it. He's become friendly with Tony and Janne and all the boat captains. I can see that; he should be a politician!

Talked to Wille

He's been back at home, dealing with a water problem at his own house. But all is fixed now, and he's on his way down to Aspö later this week to finish off the roofs on both houses.

His colleague will be able to do the sanding, lut, and oil on our floors. The plan is for Göran to do the electricity in late September, the floor to be done in early October, and for us to do the kitchen in late October.

Also Janne told me the grey water system has arrived, and Olle will bring it to our house. That should get installed within the month, too.

Wille also told me that Mikael has been signed to Djurgården's first team, which is great news. We hope to see a match when we're there in October.

Weekend update

Wille called, he said he's spent the weekend working on his own house and watching hockey. Mikael (I'd been spelling his name the English way but I will correct now) scored and had an assist for his team, Djurgården, over the weekend. Here is the link announcing his return to the team. (If you're interested, he has a Facebook page, and last year's Medicine Hat page is still up.)

Back to the building- Wille is heading back on Monday to finish up and raise the small house. He is leaving behind a sample piece of flooring treated with white oil and wax for Sooz to approve. If she's happy with it, we'll contract Wille's colleague to do the floors.