Summer ‘20

This past summer I had the opportunity to work for a very good friend of mine, Mason Timmerman. Mason owns the business MRT Construction, who specializes in carpentry; specifically decks, docks, and fences. Being a creative, it was very interesting learning from Mason all summer about his craft. Mason has been doing carpentry since he was 14 years old. In high school he used to live at his cottage and work full time every summer, to come back in September with a wicked tan and countless stories.

Working for MRT this summer, I was able to spend a lot of time in Harcourt Park up North in Kawartha Lakes. After working the first few months of the summer in Brantford, it was very refreshing to be able to work up North early in the summer. Not only is the landscape beautiful, travelling to and from work on a boat or ATV makes the trip to work that much better. Along with the adventurous journeys to and from work, there is something much better about working on the waterfront compared to the city. Here are a couple of my workspaces from this summer:

One of the most exciting jobs this summer was the 1000 square foot waterfront flagstone pad. The bugs were bad and it was hot but we were shaded for most of the days digging and raking. The job started off as a small 500 square foot clearing of overgrown grass and a small beach. Eventually after bringing in the bobcat, the clearing doubled and so did the beach. After a few hours of the bobcat being stuck, we were able to start levelling the mud pit and preparing for 20 tonnes of sand gravel fill. After another day of raking, we were able to start laying stone. By Friday we had finished the flagstone pad, the fire pit, the river rock border and the wood shed.

Most of our days after work consisted of throwing a couple burgers on the barbecue and getting out onto the water. Sometimes we were lucky enough to come home to homemade pizza and huge racks of slow smoked ribs. My one challenge for the summer was to jump the wake on the wakeboard, and successfully attempt bare-footing. Thanks to Coach Mas, I was able to complete both of those on my last stay in August before school. Not only did I learn this summer that Mason is a very talented carpenter, he is absolutely fearless doing any water sport behind a boat. Shoutout to Mason and Zach for a dope summer.