Words of encouragement always welcome

I would like to start off this month's blog with a big thank you to my big brother for taking the time to email us this month, and sending along some much needed words of encouragement. As the weather rapidly deteriorated, and we worried that we had run out of time to get the concrete pads poured, and began to wonder whether we had accomplished much over the year, he sent us the most wonderful email. In it he reminded us of our accomplishments and suggested we take the time to congratulate ourselves for all that we had done in the last several months. It's easy to think that things aren't progressing when you are not quite as far along as you had hoped, but it was a good reminder to us to take a good look back, which we did. I sure love my big brother!!

I keep a short daily journal, and so I turned back the pages to this time last year and read out loud the daily goings on, and of course, he was right. This time last year, we had three weeks to vacate our home of 35 years as we had sold it, and Rob was busy packing up the entire house, driving back and forth, and getting all of our belongings into storage.

In the year since then we finished sealing off the pole barn where Rob would be carving the timbers. We got the last of the gravel down onto the roads into the cabin and the new house site. We spent the winter planning and designing the new house, while keeping the wood stove going and the cabin warm. We did some work on the inside of the cabin, and we both took time to visit our families. We ordered our lumber, had the excitement of seeing our timbers arrive, and got a good number of them carved and ready. We cleared the lot, removed much of the brush from the clearing, and installed the well and septic system. We levelled and filled the building site, prepared the forms for both the house and the workshop, installed the plumbing pipes, filled areas with gravel, put down the mesh and rebar ... well, I will let the photos from the latest endeavours tell some of that story. In between we took a bit of time with old friends, made new friends, tried our hands at snowshoeing, berry and apple picking, and kayaking. I started a new part time job, and a volunteer job.  I've been practising yoga and learning how to make bread. We have indeed managed to do quite a lot!

At the end of last month's blog, Rob had just finished laying down and bracing the forms in preparation for the concrete pour for the house, and installed the plumbing pipes. He then had to do the same for the workshop, (which will hold our solar panels on the roof once it is completed). Once the forms were in place for the house and workshop, and the plumbing pipes all put into place, and inspected, Rob was able to lay down a layer of plastic and installed 3 " pink foam board in the bases. He filled the interiors with gravel, in small incremental layers so that each layer could be compacted properly each time. He left a "moat" all around that will allow for deeper concrete to be filled at all of the edges.

There was a lot of manual work done with adding the gravel, raking it flat, measuring levels, compacting, measuring levels, topping up the gravel.... I was around to help a bit with that part!

 

The house also has 5 holes hollowed out that will hold extra concrete for supports for the timbers.

 

Oops, there are only four here. Rob discovered that his plans actually contained five, but the drawing program only printed off four, so he had to go back and do a fifth one.

After compacting everything down, and measuring the levels again to make sure everything was where it should be, our dear friend Bob came over and helped to move and bend and install the rebar and wire mesh. Some jobs just go WAY better when there are more people. We were very grateful for his help.

We tried different methods of bending the rebar. It worked well enough when we tried to bend it by using the tractor, but in the end we did it by hand using a metal pipe. We measured where the bend needed to be, and then Bob and I stood on the rebar, while Rob slipped the metal pipe over, and torqued it up by hand. No photos of that process as all three of us were involved with the bending !
The tractor was also used to pick up the wire mesh, and store it until we were ready for it.

Not everybody finds a photo of rebar to be that exciting, but I found the whole process to be pretty interesting as we tried to fit it in according to building code, which dictates the spacing, the overlaps, etc.!

 

The large format mesh was not easy to move around. Once it was laid down, each piece had to be attached to the next one by wire, and then plastic "chairs" were inserted below the rebar and mesh to raise them up a little, so that when the concrete is poured, the rebar and mesh is at the correct height.

 

 

Pink foam board had to be installed on the insides of all the edges, and then trimmed to the correct height. Then Rob sprayed foam into a lot of the cracks to make sure everything would be well sealed.

We had another inspection and learned we needed a bit more rebar in the corners, but everything else was just fine. Rob then installed the Pex tubing that will run the hydronic heat, later crimping the edges, and running a pressure test to make sure there were no leaks. Installing the Pex wasn't easy due to the cold weather, and he rigged up a gizmo that would help it to unwind without kinking.

 

There was a lot of time spent looking at drawings, and making changes, and thinking a lot about things like not having the hydronic heat running under the kitchen cupboards, but making sure it was running in the areas where the water pipes come in. Rob thinks a lot about the details in the middle of the night ! And there were lots of details to think about - once that concrete is poured it's pretty hard to make changes.

He called the concrete pouring team to say we were ready - and we learned that everyone here pretty much goes hunting during the first week of deer hunting season, and there would be no work done until they returned. In the end, this proved to be a good thing, as there were lots of adjustments to be made to the site, and it gave Rob a bit more time to do it and to think about everything a bit more. However, the weather was getting colder, and we were beginning to worry about it being too cold.  Rob tried dropping a thermometer probe down some of the pipes to see what the temperature was sitting at, and we bought black plastic to put over the site to try warm things up if needed.

It didn't help when Rob was in the middle of laying the Pex and the first snow arrived either!

The second snowfall wasn't much better.

Not to mention the  heavy wind storms, and two power outages.

 

The heavy winds brought down a number of trees and they needed to be dealt with. They rarely blow down and land in a convenient location - more often than not they hang somewhere up high and provide us with some difficulty in getting them down safely! We've dealt with some of the more urgent ones, the rest will have to wait.

This post seems a bit different from my past ones. I think there is an edge to it, a tinge of worry, or a touch of tiredness. The "concrete slab" building has been a tad stressful, and stretched out perhaps a bit longer than planned. I feel like we have both been living it and breathing it for the past several weeks. However, I still try to take some time out each day for a good long walk, and take my camera.

 

We play with Jet three times a day and take him for good long walks as well. Sometimes, I just sit - either at the building site, or at the edge of the river and enjoy the view.

The concrete pour should happen later this week. (Weather permitting and fingers crossed!) Then I think we will relax a little, and take a good deep breath, and settle in for the winter.  Our firewood is stacked, our winter coats and boots have been pulled from storage and are piled in the cabin. We are both ready for some quiet walks in the woods, and some time to think about the next step of this building adventure.

Saving for a rainy day

 

We went into September thinking summer had passed us by this year, but the last few weeks have sure made up for our lack of summer weather. We have seen deep blue skies, brilliant sunshine and above normal day time temperatures almost every day. Just as we pulled out our fall and winter coats, hats and scarves, and started tucking away our summer clothes, the weather changed. This was good news for Rob, who was able to forge ahead with the concrete pad plans. I had just started a thorough cleanup of the cabin, but soon found myself drawn outdoors, believing every warm sunny day may be the last for a while. I spent some of my time sitting at the river's edge and walking through the woods. Every day I would promise myself that I would save my indoor chores for the next rainy day. We've had a couple of rainy days , but not many, and most of the chores are still waiting to be done. And they can wait, as I know there will be lots of days in the upcoming months when I won't mind being inside the cabin at all!

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....

 

 

Now Thanksgiving has passed, and we know the unusually warm weather is about to disappear. The chipmunks and red squirrels have stripped the oaks of their acorns, and the cedars of most of their seeds. The haws on the hawthorn bushes are suddenly disappearing as well. I have seen some small birds flitting in and out around the berries, and this week a young red squirrel was busy filling his cheeks with some. I have no idea how it avoided the sharp thorns on the Hawthorne branches though. Those thorns are wickedly sharp.

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!

　

　

　

　

　

September arrives with lots of changes

I am always surprised when I finally sit down to update the blog, and I discover from my log of photos, and the entries in my journal, just how much time has passed, and how many things have gone on!

When the building site was first cleared earlier this summer, Rob and I set out and marked out where the house would go, using bright orange marking spray paint, string, and some bits of wood knocked into the ground.

We moved two chairs into the space we had created and spent some time sitting and thinking about the views from the various future rooms, and whether the house should be angled a bit more to the south. It's always fun to stand in a space in a clearing and to try to imagine you are actually in a room! In the above photo you are looking through the kitchen and dining room on the left, living room on the right. It looks much bigger than it actually is.

We continued clearing the downed branches and tree trunks out of the site, moving some of them out and piling them in two locations further away in the woods. They will provide good homes and food for the wildlife I hope. Anything that would be good firewood, or future building material was moved to other areas on the property. We soon learned that heavy rain will wash away your spray paint markers though, and when the site was later levelled and graded, our string and wooden markers went too! Rob tied orange tape around the trees well outside of the perimeter to use as a future sighting reference and that proved to be a better solution.

When the heavy equipment arrived to install the septic system, we opted to put the equipment to good use, and used them to level out the building site. I wasn't sure the big excavator could make it up our narrow road, but it did.  The little dome in the corner of this photo is a bird house, and a reminder of our previous dome home.

Although we thought we had cleared out most of the branches, the excavator operator quickly pulled out lots more that were lying all around and piled them in a giant pile for Rob to haul away. Rob was kept pretty busy for several hours working on that pile!

Slowly the site began to take shape, and they worked hard to get everything level.

 

Any of the really large rocks were saved to put around in a semi circle on the south side of the lot. I think this will be a pretty little place, and it has a nice view of the river too! We've already seen a couple of garter snakes around, and they will love sunning themselves on these rocks.

 

Once the site was level, then they began to bring in the gravel base, and to dig for the septic tank. Luckily Rob continued to take photos when I was away at work during the day, as I missed the septic installation! If I had to make one observation, I would say that we seem to spend a lot of money and time on digging holes, and filling them in again with different stuff. (Dig up the lot, fill it with gravel, dig a big hole, fill it with a septic tank, dig a big hole, fill it with pipe, special rocks and sand, dig a big hole and fill it with more sand......)

But in the end, we were pretty pleased. Within a few days, the site took on some dramatic changes.

 

With the septic system in, and inspected, the site level and at grade, and filled with the necessary gravel, we were ready to think about the next two items we wanted to do before winter - the well drilling, and the concrete pad pouring. We know that we can't possibly get the timberframe up before winter, so at best, we decided that if we could get the site ready, the well and septic in, and the concrete pad poured, then in the spring, we will be able to get going on the actual building of the house as early as possible.

In the meantime, we moved two more chairs up to the river's edge, so we could sit in the early evening above the river, and enjoy the sound of the water, and the sight of the setting sun, and try to imagine what it will be like to be living in this very beautiful place.

Of course anytime work is going on at the building site, it means Rob is not up working on the timbers, and he finds it hard to be pulled away from one task, to do another. But we knew there would be times when there would be several different items requiring his attention at the same time. The other distraction is the weather. It seems we have waited all summer for summer to actually arrive.  Even on the days when they promised sunshine, the clouds would soon roll in, and the rain wasn't far behind.

On the occasional days when the weather seemed really promising, we were tempted to get out and enjoy the weather a bit, so we did take some time one sunny afternoon to go for a drive and look for some possible kayak launching sites. We found a small lake just off of one of the local highways, with a nice sandy launching site, so went back one afternoon and put our kayaks in for the first time! I have no photos of this occasion, as I wasn't going to take my camera anywhere near the water until I had an idea of what this whole kayaking thing was about. It was truly lovely, we both had a great time, and we hope we have a chance to go one more time before it gets too cold.

We also had an opportunity to visit some friends at their cottage one afternoon, and spent a lovely few hours in their cottage, and outside on their dock when the sunshine came out, and things warmed up a bit! It really has been a cool summer though, our thermometer outside registered plus 3 one August morning, and I am sure my little basil plant outside was snapped by the frost long before any frost warnings arrived.

It was also a tad cool when I embarked on my own adventure, a weekend at a yoga and music festival with my friend/boss/yoga instructor Elizabeth and another friend/yoga instructor Stephanie and we opted to camp together for two nights! Fortunately at the last minute, we were gifted a small truck camper for the weekend, so we ended up camping in style (and much more warmth and comfort!) We arrived on the Friday night, and got the camper and awning set up, and installed a dining tent to house our wares from the boutique, and went to sleep that night to the sound of coyotes (maybe wolves) under starry skies. It was one cold night though, and we burrowed into down sleeping bags and comforters, closed all the windows we had opened, and were startled in the middle of the night by the sound of the heat coming on in the camper. I didn't realize there was a heater, but we discovered it was set to come on if the temperature inside dipped below 50 degrees F. It was much colder outside! The Saturday was lovely and sunny, and we were able to listen to fabulous musicians, my two friends taught a wonderful yoga class in the morning, and we took in some other classes, and even watched a hooping demonstration! (As in hula hoops!) We all gathered around at night in front of a large communal bonfire, and went to sleep to the sound of drumming and music. We got up at 4:45 the next morning (yes, it was still dark out, and very cold so I wore my pyjamas under my clothes!) and took in a yoga class together, to the sound of coyotes, and a view of the sunrise. It was a truly wonderful weekend, and I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to go!

Friendship abounds here, and I have also picked blueberries, raspberries, and last weekend wild apples with a group of other friends.  Having been so busy running our business all these past years it is a real pleasure to be able to have the time to go out with friends and try some new experiences. And our freezer is stocked with some tasty fruit that I know we will enjoy in the coming months. The wild apples were pressed into cider, and I have a jug of the most delicious cider in our fridge.

We actually have an apple tree of our own here on the property, and  the cool and rainy weather seems to have been good for it. The apples are pretty tasty although a tad tart, and we have picked a few to eat ourselves. One night we spotted a doe and a fawn underneath it, so I think they too are enjoying the free fruit!

We also have wild plum trees, but I think the birds and the deer benefited from those as well. By the time the plums were sweet, most of them had disappeared.

Our social calendar this month also saw us attending a small intimate concert of one of our favourite performers, Australian guitarist, Jeff Lang and we attended the opening of the local film group series !! We hope we can continue to go the film group nights through the fall and winter, and will keep an eye out for future concerts as well.

As the sun rises a little later these days, and sets much earlier, we are reminded that the season is changing, as much as I would like to believe that summer is still going to arrive. After struggling with a limited amount of dry firewood last winter, we agreed to order our wood in a bit earlier and it arrived last week. In future years we will hopefully just rummage around here for our own wood, but we can't be building a house and gathering firewood at the same time! I unfortunately had to go to work that day, leaving Rob to split and stack it all. I arrived home in time to help with the last cord though, so did do a little bit. We both feel a lot better about the oncoming winter when we see our nice big stack of wood outside of the cabin. Although Rob was tired at the end of that day, Jet was still raring to play.

 

Last week the well drilling rig arrived, and they spent the day drilling our well. They finished up the next day, and later in the week tested it for the flow rate, and it looks like it's a good solid well, with good flow. Now it's capped, and we can leave it for the winter. Another big item off of our to do list.

Rob is now busy these days with working on the plans for the concrete pad. I think he dreams about plumbing, vents, pipes and concrete. There is a lot to think about - the placement of the sinks, bathtubs, washer, toilets, drains, and stacks, and as well the pipes for things like propane and power sources. Everything has to be figured out before the pad is poured. Then he has to lay out the forms, and the hydronic heating system. So there has been little in the way of timber framing the last couple of weeks, and I know he misses it. We have picked a finish for the timbers he has completed, and are still hoping to have time before it gets too cold to sand and finish them as well!

This week we are supposed to have a solar audit. Rob rigged up a cool gizmo (a solar tracking device) that gives us a pretty good idea of how much solar power we should be able to tap into, but before we make that off-grid choice we want to be sure. So someone is coming to look at the site this week and will offer their opinion.  This is Rob's measurement tool - a ladder, a bevel level, a digital protractor, and some other stuff, that gave him a sighting on the tree line in relation to the sun's position throughout the day, that he then mapped to a chart he found on line. If we mount the panels on the roof though, they would be higher than this ladder, but it gave us a rough idea.  (Ha, ha, I knew Rob would love that description - he says it's not a bevel level, it's a part from one of his saws or something....!)

December and January are the problem months, although apparently one of the trees he sighted on was deciduous,  so when the leaves are gone in the winter months we may gain a little more sunshine.

According to my journal, a year ago today we saw our dome house go up for sale. What a lot has happened since then !! As we make the transition from summer to fall, and with the thoughts of winter creeping in, we look forward to some quiet times here in the cabin. We are looking forward too, to the adventures the next year will bring.  If it seems a bit overwhelming at times, I simply go sit by the river, hang out with the frogs, and listen to the sounds of the water tumbling over the rocks for a while. It's a lovely place to sit quietly and observe, and if I'm lucky, the great blue heron, or osprey, or kingfisher might fly by for a visit.