I love sitting by the river. I have learned that if I sit quietly and patiently, I will soon notice lots more going on than I first thought. Staring into the river I will begin to notice the movement of insects, the way the sunlight bounces off the water, and see the number of shells gathering around the edges of the rocks.
Eventually, I will become more aware of the many sounds of the river. It changes every day. Depending on the level of the water, I may hear it tumbling over the rocks, or trickling over them. I may hear the roar of the river upstream, or sometimes it seems louder downstream. Mostly though I scan the river banks for signs of deer, heron, beaver, mink or otter. Look up at the sky and look for the ravens and turkey vultures. Sit quietly looking around until I realize that the rock next to me actually has a frog sitting on the edge, or maybe a dragon fly.
Or even one day realizing that a tiny Northern water snake was sitting with it's nose out of the water just inches away.
Sometimes the leaves fall out of the trees, land in the river and float by.
Once a white feather appeared and lingered in an eddy before floating off. It's an incredibly peaceful and lovely place to sit and observe.
Taking some time each day to sit at the river's edge has been even more important the last few weeks as there has been a lot going on at the building site. It's good to take some time to sit and breathe! If we want to get the concrete pad in this fall, it must be poured before November 1st or we will have to pay extra for concrete after that date. (When it gets too cold they have to put in additives to help with the curing process, which costs more) Rob has a lot to do before the concrete can be poured. We have been struggling to get everything we need, and delivered here in time. A recent trip to Ottawa to pick up some of the harder to get items seemed like a good idea, until I found out that road construction almost doubled my travel time, and we just discovered we were given the wrong items! We will have to sort that all out this week, but I am hoping it doesn't mean another road trip.
Once Rob got all of the area nice and level, he mapped out the outline with string. And we measured. And measured. And measured some more. We measured the diagonals. Then the sides. Then the diagonals. The next day we did it all again.
Rob then built the forms for the concrete, installed them, and we measured again. I've been really excited about the house ever since the forms went in. Suddenly I could really see the house taking shape, and everything changed.
The forms have to be really strong so that when the concrete is poured, your concrete doesn't suddenly flow out and end up somewhere else on the property. That would also be very expensive as you would have to somehow remove the concrete and start again. The problem with bracing the forms is that we are on rock, so there isn't much to hammer the braces into. Rob did it once with some wood that we had. But it just didn't seem strong enough so he pulled out the stakes he had used and replaced them all with 2x2 stakes. Whew, that was hard work. Good thing he wears good knee pads. And now the forms seem to be a lot more solid.
He also installed some of the pipes that will run under the concrete and drain into the septic tank. The pipes are joined with cement and primer. I came home from "work" one day to find that Rob had not progressed much as he couldn't get the can of primer open! (I still find it hard to call it "work" as I enjoy it so much !) As I take the truck when I am "working", he had no way to get back to the store where he had purchased it. He took it back to the store the next morning and they had to break the can open. They gave it back to him tucked into a box, but it tipped over and emptied out into the truck on the way home. Luckily I was on my way for my weekly drive to the garbage and recycle depot, and I was able to pick up another can, swing back to drop off the primer, and still make my way to work on time. And Rob was able to get the job done, and ready for the next inspection.
Last year we visited two homes that were part of the Ontario Natural Homes tour. Both were solar powered off-grid homes. This year we decided to take the tour again, as we had a few more questions, and thought it would be a good idea to see the houses again. There was another house listed on the tour so we visited it this year as well. It was a very lovely small straw bale home, also off grid. I love the rounded corners and deep window wells on the straw bale homes and the plastered walls reminded me of the beautiful adobe houses in New Mexico. Now that we are serious about being off grid though, I tried to spend most of the tour taking a good look at how the owners cope with the changes in sunlight hours, and thought carefully about the need for generators and propane powered kitchen stoves, and monitors that tell you how much power you have left in the batteries. Still, it was nice to look at the straw bale design. I would love a small straw bale studio or building.....
The house tour also gave us a chance to take an afternoon off together. Although it was a rainy and misty day, the drive around the area was beautiful. We found ourselves on narrow twisty dirt roads, surrounded by stunningly beautiful fall colours. We even had time to take in a studio tour of one of our favourite local potters on the way home, and swung past one of the lovely lakes to admire the view.
Now Rob has mapped out a timetable, and it's pretty tight. There will be no afternoons off together again for the next few weeks. He still has to finish preparing the house site; laying down the layers of 3 inch foam board, topping it with gravel, installing the hydronic system, and wire mesh and spacers before the concrete is poured. He also had to finalize the plans for the workshop and the areas that will house the wood boiler and solar batteries, and get the site ready for the concrete pour there as well. He is putting the forms in place for those this week. We also have to consider where the pipes go for propane for the kitchen stove, and a trench had to be dug for all the water pipes between the house, the well, and the workshop. The workshop will also have a hydronic heating system, so it needs to be installed too. However, in one of his usual middle-of-the-night eureka-moments, he decided to slightly downsize the size of the workshop, and change the solar panel roof design for it. As he said, all the planning in the world doesn't do it - it's once you are on site that you really understand what you've designed, and may see the need for some changes. And he has certainly been spending lots of time there lately! I think we are both happier that the new plan is for a smaller building. We can now build it back a bit further, and change the angle to take advantage of the sun's rays a touch more. I guess we'll see how it goes. We spend a lot of time stepping back from the site and taking a good long look....
I know that Rob is only too aware of the fast approaching colder weather. But when I watch all the squirrel and chipmunk activity, and hear the sound of the geese flying south above us every day, it is my reminder that it's time to think about the arrival of real fall weather. It's almost time to prepare for the winter ahead as well. Those chores I saved for the rainy days will soon be getting done!
