A break in winter, but not a winter break

I think I may have to start writing a daily journal again in order to keep track of what we've done each day. I gave up on keeping a journal a couple of years ago when I realized that I had a collection of old ones piling up on my shelf and not being used.  When I'm writing a blog post, I can usually just look back at my photos for the last month or so, and can easily write my update based on the sequence of photos. This time though, my photos are of little help to me. I work part time in a retail store and the Christmas season was busy, so I didn't have time to take as many photos as I usually do. In December, almost every photo I did manage to take, seemed to feature snow. And ice. And then more snow!

Snow, piling up on everything around the building site before we even had a chance to put things away.

Snow, lovely and white against a blue, blue sky on our walks.

Snow, sliding down the roof of the cabin ever so slowly, then freezing in place to completely block the window like a magical snow curtain.

 I opened the window, reached out with my hand to touch it - and poof - it all slid away.

Snow, deep in the woods, thick as can be on the evergreens, and on my sweet bench.

Snow, sliding down the valley of the new house and landing between the two buildings with a massive thump. (We'll have to figure out a way to deal with this - for now I just run between the buildings if there happens to be snow on the roof that looks like it wants to cascade down!)

 Snow leading down to the river, and the ice slowly building at the edges.

Snow, piled onto the truck  so that we always know how much  actually fell during the latest storm.

And for a break in the snow, beautiful hoar frost in the trees all along the river banks.

And solar panels, with and without snow.  Since these panels will be the source of our power in the future, I think this is going to become an important daily observation. When there is snow on the panels, it means there is no power coming to the batteries!

Here in the cabin, it only took a few snowfalls before we remembered that every winter we end up with ever increasing piles of wet mitts, gloves, hats and clothing, and no easy way to dry them. I came home from work one day to find Rob had taken care of the problem, with hooks and long screws. (Who knew those screws would be put to a good use other than for attaching foam?)

Not only does this arrangement work to dry things quickly, we can now find matching mitts when we need them!  We'll have to figure out a way of doing something similar in the new house.

What I don't have photos of,  is all the other things we did these last several weeks. The discussions, decision making, web site research, emails to various companies, trips to electrical contractors, building supply stores, and plumbing stores. The driving back and forth with wiring, propane tanks, and conduit. Picking up locally  milled wood, and unloading it all into the workshop, carrying it through the snow and ice. Taking back the propane tanks after discovering they were already two years into their limited 10 year "service life" (and trying not to be upset with the poor customer service on that purchase!) The many deliveries  of propane heaters, hoses, connectors, hot water tanks, and some odd shaped tools (all with many thanks to sweet Elizabeth for allowing us to use her store as an easy drop off point). We try to buy locally as much as possible, but there are a lot of items that we simply cannot find here.

There are no photos of the day Rob's hard drive ceased to function (which is a blessing); the files lost, two years of photos gone.  (Note to readers: it is not wise to leave a comment with the question "Did you have a backup?". Just sayin' ) Thankfully most of his drawing files, and building documentation were kept on another PC. so all was not lost (and there actually was a backup, but it was quite an old one) !

All this to say, that this will likely be a rather short posting, based mostly on our memory.

First though;  a quick update on the red squirrels and the flags.  My "courage" flag remains, albeit hanging by a thread.

Another string of flags are now being pilfered at another location.

It makes us smile when we see them, and that's not a bad thing...

Work on the inside of the workshop has continued when possible.  We got two exterior doors installed after swapping one of them with an older one from the new house. Unfortunately, we discovered that one of the other doors that we wanted to use for the new house opens the wrong way. Oops...

Rob worked on installing the wood flooring for the second floor of the workshop which will likely be used mostly for lumber storage.  We bought the flooring from a local mill, and it was really good quality, unlike the first load that was used in the house which we were not all that happy with (it came from a different mill of course, and there's nothing we can do about that now).

Our batteries for the solar panels arrived in early January. We had a bit of a mild spell and were hoping to get them installed before we found ourselves in another cold snap but there was still a lot of work to be done on the inside of the workshop where the batteries will reside.  Also, the workshop had no heat which is not ideal for batteries (or for the work crew, i.e. Rob). After tossing back and forth between a small wood stove, hydronic heat  (using the pex tubing installed in the slab) or going for a small propane heater; we opted for the propane heater.   It will heat the small room that houses the batteries, inverter etc., but we are hoping that the heat from the small room will also keep the main room of the workshop warm enough that Rob can work in it.  We may have to install a vent between the two rooms if this idea doesn't quite work out!  As with a lot of the decisions we've made, only time will tell whether things will actually work exactly as planned.

When our colder weather did arrive, I could hear Rob muttering "heat and light, heat and light" rather a lot. It was pretty cold to be working outside, getting the propane tanks (temporarily) set up, propane lines run, and a hole cut into the outside wall for the heater vent to fit into. I know he can't wait to have a working workshop, one that is warm, and with power and working lights.

Suddenly the weather changed again, and we had more than two weeks when both the highs and lows hovered around zero degrees C !  We've had "January thaws" before, but nothing like this.  We tried to use our time wisely, knowing that the milder temperatures couldn't possibly last.  Of course that same milder weather also brought snow, freezing rain and ice pellets on occasion, and our snow blower (which we bought used a few years ago) suddenly packed it in.  We searched around for another used one, but were advised that it might not be the best idea to go that route, and then with the help of our friend Sam back in Navan, we found a new one at a pretty decent price. Unfortunately, after spending the time to drive out and pick it up and bring it home, we discovered it simply could not move the amount of snow that our old one did, we doubted it would be adequate for our long, (long, long!) laneway.  A call to Sam, and our supplier and we took another trip to return the new blower and pick up a slightly different make and model - we were pleased to find that this one does a great job.  Sadly, our original one is of little use to anyone, as it seems it cannot be repaired.

Despite losing a couple of days to the snow blower problem, work progressed on the back room, and suddenly the heater was installed and working, and it seemed like things were finally moving forward again!  It took a few days for the workshop (and the rather cold concrete slab floor) to warm up, and the humidity in the room was amazing.  It felt like walking into a spa!  But after a dew days things started to dry out, the temperature slowly came up, and we could get to working on the the next part.

With the heater installed and running, Rob started putting up more drywall.  And then the boxes of parts slowly went out of the cabin and over to the workshop; the inverter, two charge controllers, the combiner, battery cables and various other pieces of the system. The boxes that have been piled in this little cabin, taking up most of the small dining area were gone !! Mind you, they've been replaced with 12 giant batteries and other boxes of stuff, but that's there "just for the time being" (at least - that's what Rob told me!).  Slowly all the parts for the system started to be assembled.

Unfortunately, with the high humidity my camera kept fogging up, so my photos are a little blurry!

Rob had been working on the design of the box that will hold the batteries for quite some time.  It's important to make it easy for us to access each battery as they will require regular checks and maintenance but batteries must also be contained and the hydrogen gas that is generated during charging must be safely vented.  As well, the connections all have to meet code and be safe for us to work near them  (i.e. no chance of shorting the terminals - which can be quite spectacular).  Because the batteries use acid, the enclosure floor needs to be an acid proof  and so it was lined with EPDM rubber (basically, a pond liner).

Meanwhile, the rest of the battery box is being assembled in the workshop (which is actually beginning to look like a workshop).

We are getting closer to the day that the off-grid system will be providing our power and I think that this will be pretty exciting for us, but it will be a bit of a learning curve.. We currently have a couple of lights in the workshop and in the house entrance area that are powered by a single solar panel that we set up a couple of years ago.  The weather was gloomy and grey for a long stretch of days and that panel wasn't able to charge enough and so for a few days we had no lights at all.  It's a good reminder that there will be days when the solar panels on the roof also won't be able to supply us with what we need and we will have to use a generator for charging.

Both of us are looking forward to getting back to work on the new house rather than the workshop and a bit of power will make the work easier for sure.

In other news...

Jet had a sore leg this month, so no play time for him as he is on "bed rest" orders.  Hopefully this will help him recover.  He sure looks sad when he isn't allowed to chase his "wubbas" or play with his Jolly Ball though! A normal dog might be able to play gently, but for him it's all or nothing.

GB and Sita will turn 16 this year.  Hard to believe!  GB seemed unwell early in the month so went for a quick check up at the vet, where he displayed his good manners, and allowed them to take some blood tests.  He seems to be o.k. so we will keep an eye on him, and weigh him a bit more often as he lost a bit of weight in the last few months.  I think it may just be that I used to give him extra food when I was enticing sweet Leon to eat!  With Leon gone, GB no longer gets all those extra goodies.

Christmas seems like a very long time ago, but we did of course, take time out for Christmas and New Years celebrations.  It's lovely to be in the cabin during the holiday season, but we are both hoping to be in the new house this time next year.  We miss some of our Christmas traditions, and funny little decorations:

My computer screen background of a former Christmas Tree ornament was lovely; not quite the same as the real thing - but it worked!

On these cold and snowy evenings, when we are sitting in the cabin by a warm wood stove, neither Rob nor I really mind very much that we aren't yet in the new house.  I know we each have our moments, where the cabin seems a little cramped, or the possibility of being in the new house seems too far away,  when we worry about each other, or feel it hasn't been the most productive of days.  Those are often the times when something delightful happens: the appearance of an eagle against a blue sky, an otter playing at the river edge,  a raven talking high above as it barrel rolls in the air.  Sometimes we just need a calming walk in the woods, or a few moments listening to the song of the river.

My mantra for 2017 is Peace, Love, and Joy . With recent world events I have since added "and gentle compassion". Some days it's hard to hang on to it. It's always easier here, on a forest path, with the river nearby, and the cheerful sounds of chickadees and nuthatches on the branches above.

Weather, weather, framing, weather....

With the timbers all in place, Rob's next job was to make sure everything was fixed in securely, and prepare to do the framing. He took a little bit of time first though, to clean up the site, and then stepped back to admire his work. I don't think he could really believe that he'd actually pulled this one off...! But also, it would be the last time we would see the frame like this, as it was about to get covered in.

He didn't stop for long, as both of us were keenly aware that the seasons were changing, and colder weather was due to arrive. The push was on to try to close the house in.

Rob was eager to begin the framing around the timbers, but as always, there were still lots of details that had to be taken care of first.  There were some adjustments that had to be made, and then he set to driving in pegs, and tightening up the frame.

As always this year (and last year too!) the weather is a troubling factor. According to CBC, 5 of the last 6 months have been wetter than normal, and every month since November 2013 has been below average in temperature except for May and June. The good news is that September was "normal" for average rainfall and temperatures. Still, we had our share of rainy days in September, but at the end of the month some sweet warm weather arrived! It didn't last long, but we enjoyed it while it was here.

Rob began by framing in some of of the lower levels and windows. There is just something magical about staring out of a window frame, and imagining yourself doing it in the future when there is a window there - and like little kids we would run around saying "now I'm looking out the kitchen window, now the bedroom window...."

I don't know which windows I get the most excited about, but the dining room window here really is going to be lovely. (It will be in 3 sections of fixed glass). No matter the season, the view will be pretty...Of course I will love all the windows!

Our friend Bob came out on several occasions to help with the framing, especially the areas that were higher up. Rob spends a lot of time moving scaffolding, and climbing up and down it to retrieve tools, lumber, etc., so it was great to have a second pair of hands. (And legs!) Thank you so much, Bob!  He will be back to help when the plywood sheets go up over the frame.

I now work at least four days a week, and by the time I get home it is usually dusk, so I miss out on a lot of photo opportunities. On my days off, I try to stop by the work site more often with snacks and drinks for Rob, and camera in hand to take a few photos. So while Rob sometimes feels that he has made little if any progress, by the time I see the house it seems to me like it's gone through a lot of changes! Entire walls go up in just a few hours! (Well, on a good day) What could be nicer on a sunny day than some fresh homemade banana bread, and a good cup of Salt Spring Island Coffee, served in my most beautiful mug - a gift from my super sis...featuring one of her gorgeous paintings. Well of course it would be better if she and my brother were there to enjoy it with us...

As always, I love looking at the beauty of the surrounding area, and the more I am away from here, the longer I linger outside on my days off. I think I will never tire of the river, the fields, the forest, the views, the sounds, the scents, the wildlife.

I must say though, that I drive to work along stunning country roads, with amazing vistas of rolling hills, trees in full fall colours, old log barns, pretty sheep, cows and horses, and most days a glimpse of some of the local wildlife - deer, wild turkeys, hawks, ravens, crows, turkey vultures - and one day - an absolutely stunning view of a bald eagle.

The house site has it's own share of visitors. This week Rob saw 5 Sandhill cranes fly over, hovering right above him on the air currents, with their haunting echoing call. The wildflowers between the house and the river are now feeding flocks of chickadees and migrating juncos.  Further up along the road I discovered a small number of white crowned sparrows passing through.

We are both eager to sit in this lovely new house and gaze out the windows (not yet installed of course!) to see what other visitors pass by here.

Like the osprey... who hangs out in the trees along the river, and then dives down into the water in hope of snagging a fish.

Not unexpectedly, frost arrived in September and again in October. Rob has to wait on frosty mornings for the frost to melt, it is amazingly slippery on all the wood surfaces, and not safe to be clambering around the structure on those mornings.

Although most of the plants have faded with the frost, the hardy Black Eyed Susans continue to bloom in some areas!

We also have a "sweet spot" in front of the house that for some reason has Evening Primrose and Mullein blooming profusely even now.  We'll make note of that as a possible site for some herbs in the years to come!


And we have a new small clearing after one of the remaining dead spruce tree snapped in a recent wind storm. Funny, we thought something looked different, but it took a good look around before we realized it was a freshly damaged tree.

Slowly, despite the rain, the frost, the fog - and yes - the flurries - the frame is going in.  It is now almost ready for Rob to attach the plywood sheets. We were hoping for some clear dry weather during this time, but the earlier forecast for a week of glorious weather has changed to frequent rain showers. We shall just have to wait to see what happens.

Rob has moved into warmer clothing and continues to work as much as possible. 

It's hard to imagine that just a couple of weeks ago he was wearing shorts! (And not happy about the amount of rain water of course!)

When a warm front blew in again last week we were optimistic, but the colours in the trees inform us that it is fall after all, and we will just have to hope we can get this house closed in before the snow flies.