Oil & Money

It's all about oil and money. The Alberta tar sands expansion is destroying a Boreal forest the size of Vancouver Island. Wildlife is displaced with no place to go, or just simply killed like the ducks that try to land in the tailings ponds. Canada's biggest polluter is a legacy for it's richest Province. Soon Albertans will no longer have to pay health insurance premiums, courtesy of the tar sands. I guess that's a fair trade.
Have you noticed that our government isn't doing anything about gas prices? You can argue that they don't have anything to do with the increase in price, but then again they collect gas tax based on a percentage of the price.... the higher the price, the more tax you pay.
PetroCanada just announced their first quarter profits are up 82%.... something just over a billion dollars. Hmmmm.


Straw Bale House Update: The garage foundation has been poured and the forms were stripped today. The base for the masonry heater has been poured. The venting system turned out great. Fresh air will be drawn in from outside directly into the firebox. Another 8 inch pour will bring the shadow of the fireplace core up to slab height and the core can be assembled.

Garage Band

Straw Bale House Update: It's been a busy week! Late last week, we had the the materials delivered for our (single) car garage.... wait a sec, I'd better start at the beginning.... Kari had the inside scoop on a local trade school program where training carpenters take on projects (like a garage) as part of their training. Two students were interested in working here and the wage scale is appropriately low. The course teacher is also on site for one day a week... and there are tentative plans for the current class (of eight) to work on the garage week after next. They will camp out on the property and and learn how to build during the day. Monday and Tuesday, the footings (for the garage) were formed and poured on Wednesday. At the same time, we were also able to pour the foundation for the mason heater. The base for the heater will be about 20 inches of concrete once complete. On the house itself, we've finished the living room beam rafters and the pine decking, (which will be the ceiling). Now we can finish the last part of the rafter work. Eave supports and a roof can follow. At the house, 4 truckloads of sand have been delivered and compacted. (Thank goodness for little tractors.) Last fall the first two truckloads went in shovel by shovel... a tractor with a front end loader does the work in a fraction of the time. The crew on site is higher (in numbers) than it's ever been. Often only one, it's currently at five. Although maybe only coincidence, I've noticed the amount of work accomplished is directly proportionate to the amount paid in extra labour. I ran into the farmer, (who's storing my straw) at the fireman's auction.... He has graciously extended my (free) barn storage, as the first cut of hay is delayed this year because of cold weather. The extra few weeks will take some of the pressure off!

The semi-annual Fireman's auction was on Sunday. What can I say.... weed-wackers went for more that automobiles and couches sold for a dollar. There was everything up for auction including a few kitchen sinks. Every two years, islanders donate their unwanted stuff to the fire department, who then auction it off as a fund raiser (to buy new equipment). This years auction netted about eleven thousand dollars. I managed to resist spending a lot of money, but was high bidder on a truckload of sand., (which I needed anyway) as fill for the garage.

Friday night, I headed over to the "Backhall" to see the "Randy Duncan Band". When not on stage, Randy is a builder on the island that builds unique and beautiful homes.

Well, anyone watching the news has seen the forecasts of $2.50/ liter gas and $10 loaf 0f bread. Rice has tripled in price in the last 6 months and a trip to the pump now costs me about $100 (for a truck tank and generator fuel). I believe more than ever, our efforts to be self-sufficient are more important than ever. As soon as the house is complete, the gardens and greenhouse will be a priority.

Just keeping it clean

Straw Bale House Update: This week, work began on the dormer. The 26 foot LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams that will support the dormer roof were (painfully) hoisted into place. (I'm still suffering a little from that) The window wall was framed and the side walls which are built on top of the beams have been started. Once complete, the rounded trusses which will make up the roof framework will be built. As you can see in the pictures we had another dump of snow. While the east side of the island had no snow, the west side (5 km away) recieved about 5 inches (on site). The rarely used road to the house, which is a full kilometer from the first intersection and 2 kilometers from our nearest neighbour was plowed the next day. (maybe it's who you know, if you know what I mean).

Thanks to Keith Walker for the new Denman weather spot on the sidebar. Keith records weather information for Denman Island. I can't help thinking that if he lived on the east side of the island, no snowfall would have been reported last week.

More on Masonry heaters. When researching for the straw blog last week , I came across this article on Masonry heaters:
Mark Twain, travelling through Europe in the late 1800's, discovered the virtues of masonry heat. Here's a little of what he wrote about it.
"To the ininstructed stranger it promises nothing. It has a little bit of a door...which seems foolishly out of proportion to the rest of the edifice. Small-sized fuel is used, and marvelously little of that. The process of firing is quick and simple. At half past seven on a cold morning the servant brings a small basketfull of slender pine sticks and puts half of these in, lights them with a match, and closes the door. They burn out in ten or twelve minutes. He then puts in the rest and closes the door...the work is done.All day long and into the night all parts of the room will be delightfully warm and comfortable...it's surface is not hot; you can put your hand on it anywhere and not get burnt.Consider these things. One firing is enough for the day; the cost is next to nothing; the heat produced is the same all day, instead of too hot and too cold by turns...America could adopt this stove, but does America do it? No, she sticks to her own fearful and wonderful inventions in the stove line. The American wood stove, of whatever breed, is a terror! It requires more attention than a baby. It has to be fed every little while, it has to be watched all the time; and for all the reward you are roasted half your time and frozen the other half... and when your wood bill comes in you think you have been supporting a volcano.It is certainly strange that useful customs and devises do not spread from country to country with more facility and promptness than they do."

I washed my phone last week. It didn't recover. So, the search began for a replacement. I'm tired of telus and their "plans" and "contracts". I wanted to try the prepaid card thing, as I don't use my phone a whole lot. After extensive research, I switched to 7-eleven. No joke.... they have a great card plan (where the cards don't expire for a year) in denominations of $25 and up. Promo right now is $50 or 100 bucks for the phone including air time.... with no contract obligations. You walk out of the store and make a call... no passwords, no personal information given or hoops to jump through. If you loose your phone or run it through the washing machine like I did... you're out fifity or (100) bucks max. Too good to be true... air time twenty cents + long distance at thirty. I bought the $100 deal.... VGA camera, with video, bluetooth + FM radio. Upload and download wirelessly through bluetooth from your computer.... so no charges for ringtones, wallpaper etc. I must have been living under a rock, not to know before this.