From further reading after my post, I see introducing oneself is de riguer. I live in Penticton, BC (western Canada), and I’m journeyman carpenter in the trade 10 years. I was a metallurgist in Australia before relocating to Canada in 1992; construction was something to pay the bills until I found a real job! I work for a small design-build outfit, about 20 employees, we do mostly commercial projects up to $5 million. We do our own concrete, site work, surveying, framing, siding, finishing and cabinetry. But not insulation, drywall or roofing (thank god). I like the multi-disicpline work and there is never a dull moment since in any given year I get to exercise almost every aspect of my training. Normally I run jobs, but have no project of my own for a little while and am back on the tools full time for a month or so – what a pleasure to go back to the simpler life with no distractions.

Penticton is one of the nicest places in Canada to work in construction. We are in a semi-desert area with less than 12 inches rain a year, so very rare to work in the rain. Winters are mild but cloudy, most days hover just around freezing. It is unusual for snow to remain on the ground for more than a few days at a time. Summers can be hot, days over 38C (100 F) occasionally, 90s for most of July/August, but humidity way down at 10% or lower. Very long days in summer, over 17 hours of sunlight a day. The city sits at 1100 ft and has two large lakes to the north and south, with mountains up to 7000 ft to the east and west. Excellent boating, fishing, hunting, mountain biking, skiing, hiking etc. The hot dry climate and long sunlight hours make the Okanagan Valley Canada’s best wine growing region, world class wines produced in small quantities. We are actually building a new winery and wine shop right now, one of more than 60 in the region. I think this is the 4th or 5th winery I have worked on, I’m losing count.

Hope to get to know you folks a little more as time goes on.

Wally