snow day(s)

Well, the snow has had a significant impact on the house progress. I've decided that it's time for winter holidays. We've been hit repeatedly by snowstorms and there is well over 70cm on the building site. The highways have been treacherous at times and even the Denman Island back-roads have been a little tricky, to say the least.... (a photo of my truck in the ditch will not be accompanying this blog). However everyone here seems to know how to hunker down and wait for the rain to wash it all away.
As the "ticker" to right would indicate, it's time for some sun. We'll be negating our low carbon lifestyle with a trip to the Caribbean. Ahhhh.

So some snow pictures are in order.... and last but not least... a view from the webcam at the beach where my butt will be parked next week. (yes, it says 84F at 5:30 in the afternoon). Cheers and Happy New Year to you.

a most excellent letter

The Annual Firefighter's Christmas Party was held Saturday evening.  A good time was had
by all.We had a good dump of snow overnight which meant chaining up the trucks first thing in
the morning. (hangover or not)
A First Responder call around 9:00 a.m.resulted in a good turnout to ready the trucks. By Sunday,
mid-day we had about 25 centimeters on the side roads (with more in the forecast).

Straw Bale House Update: About half of the interior walls have been back-framed, (including
shear walls). This is the time when the room sizes take shape.... so far I'm liking what I see.

This most excellent letter speaks for itself. (I hope the writer will not mind republication)

The Daily News (Nanaimo)

Wealth of wild salmon needs to be reconsidered

By Alexandra Morton
Dec. 10, 2008


During financial instability who is going to feed you? A corporation
or a 10,000-year-old system that delivers to your door?


Norwegian corporate fish farmers in B.C. are riding out the global
financial storm. They require enormous expenditure to feed their B.C.
farms on fish from the South Pacific and they are suffering huge
losses to disease in Chile.

They are a luxury item in a world tightening its belt. Salmon farms
kill wild salmon through lethal disease amplification.

Wild salmon, however, are an independent wealth. They fertilize the
forests we need to pull carbon out of the atmosphere. They transport
the vast energy of sunlight hitting open ocean waters to our door on
a schedule. They are clean food manufactured without greenhouse
gases. They fuel a $1.6-billion tourism industry in B.C. and swim
right into Vancouver by the millions, perhaps the greenest badge of
honour possible. And they belong to you.

You might think yourself so civilized that wild salmon are not
important to you, but your forefathers would disagree.

When times get tough, we all turn to the supply lines right outside the door.

Wild salmon have survived our rapacious greed, but they are not
surviving violation of their foundation natural laws.

Atlantic and Pacific salmon cannot meet, nomadic fish cannot be held
stationary in pens, disease runs rampant without predators and young
salmon are not surviving swarms of farm lice. Ocean productivity is
running high on this coast and wild salmon would thrive if given the
chance.

However, with unfathomable lack of vision Gordon Campbell just
allowed Norwegian fish farms to expand on one of earths' most
valuable wild salmon runs, (Fraser River) and so our salmon will
continue feeding farm lice, not us.

Now is not the time to gamble. This not a test. Keep B.C.
independently wealthy remove salmon farms from wild salmon migration
routes.

Alexandra Morton
Echo Bay

Fair Ferry Fares Boost Faire

Who says Canadian politics are boring? OK, maybe it was me, (not so long ago) but I take it all back. As it stands, Stevie has sent himself to the the "time out chair" until mid January, (with the blessing of his mommy) for being a bully to the other children. Now both sides of the argument are spending hundreds of thousand to tell us that they've been done wrong. Recent polls say that many Canadians believe all three federal party leaders should resign and I tend to agree. Should a federal election spring from this mess, somebody is going to get spanked.

The Denman Island Christmas Craft Faire is one of the biggest days of the year for local Artisans and entrepreneurs. The last two years have blessed the Faire with some of the worst weather of the season. This year, the winds and snow were absent and from first appearance the attendance looked pretty good. The ferry fare has been reduced by a third until the end of January and the last of the "fuel surcharges" have been eliminated making it somewhat more appealing for shoppers to come here from Vancouver Island.

Straw Bale House Update: The garage stairs to the loft are operational and efforts switched to back-framing in the house. There is still a considerable amount of beam-work to be done which leads to a bit of a catch-22. The beams (some 14 pieces) are yet to be planed, sanded and stained. As the weather will no longer permit staining outside, the garage will have to be insulated and heated to act as a drying facility.