Farewell Brico

Years ago, I traveled Vancouver Island from Victoria to Campbell River about every 6 weeks, for work. The Brico was one of the landmarks I loved to see. Once an ocean going cable ship, she was beached at Fanny Bay and became a restaurant for many years. We were heading to the FBI, (Fanny Bay Inn) for some pub fare on the weekend... and she's being unceremoniously dismantled by a couple of excavators. It's sort of sad to see, but she's being headed for the dump... farewell Brico!




Straw Bale House Update: The geriatric construction crew of two, took a long weekend to mend some sore muscles and bad backs.. I hate missing work days when it's sunny, but the back was not cooperating.
It's hard not to notice the building boom in the Comox Valley. There are OSB, (Oriented strand board) houses and condos going up everywhere. We're trying to keep these types of materials out of our home building process. Although the use of borate compounds and formaldehyde levels are relatively low compared to those old kitchen MDF cupboards or that coffee table that you may have, it is possible to use more environmental options.
I got the roofing quote last week. The round dormer roof will be a "torched-on membrane" and the balance will be metal. The quote including labour was $18,000 more than the material-only supply price. Not a typo, three zeros... $18,000 in labour for a relatively small, simple roof. The trickier torch-on portion, Ill pay the pros to do, the savings of over $16000 will stay in my pocket for our tractor fund.
We're in the market for a small tractor to help with the construction and landscaping etc. There is some big time sticker shock involved in tractor shopping... but the roof savings will pretty much cover it. These things don't seem to depreciate, so we're hoping that we can get most of our money back when we're done, either by reselling or renting it out... operator included.

Saturday...we headed for the Old School for a Mason Bee educational talk, put on by the Denman Island Conservancy. There was a good turn-out to hear about the little buzzers from resident experts. We were offered a Mason Bee Condo and a few of the bees in pupa form. The condo has been affixed to the pump-house with a container of pupa lodged on top. The experts predict, that when the temperature reaches 13c, the prolific pollinators will emerge. Given our coolish spring, it may be some time yet.

Kari & I went on a short hike on Sunday and came across some rather large scat. A rustle in the bushes prompted Kari to find a rather large stick, (to be used as a walking stick, she insisted). The usual Denman Island critters wouldn't be responsible for the volume of the scat, so I presume our cougar is still about and minding his own business.

Elevated Straw Action

Friday evening, we went to see Kent McAlister and the Iron Choir. Opening the show for Kent was The Gruff, a band out of Victoria. We enjoyed the music and it was great to see a better turnout than usual for a "backhall" event. Things always come to my mind when I go to these events, like it's great to able to go to a concert (or our restaurant), and take a bottle of wine. Quite civilized really, and I've yet to see it become a problem. The other thing is... Denman Island is this small cross-section of society, so small that all types of people are forced congregate at the same place at the same time.... in other words, there's no population support for "special interest groups". I'm not sure how else to say it, but the result is something to experience. Social tolerance found here is what big cities lack., (amongst other things).

As Oil Production falls, and food prices rise because of transport costs, will people be forced to move closer to the food sources? The German model of smaller cities with farming and forestry close by, makes a lot of sense. The Fraser River delta, only minutes from Vancouver and arguably the most fertile farmland in the world is now concrete. There's lack of foresight. Speaking of foresight.... this question was posed to me the other day.... Knowing what you know, would you choose to bring children into this world at this point in time? My answer, an agonizing, no. Mostly, because what the earth needs is a depopulation.... Maybe, it could be achieved without war, disease or mass starvation.

Straw Bale House Update: Monday was the big day. 430 Albertan flax straw bales were to arrive on the 7:40 A.M. ferry. Barn loft space had been secured, (gratis from a local farm.) A bale elevator had been borrowed from another local farmer and six volunteers to unload the truck were standing by. Everything was cooperating..... except the weather. Eight inches of snow covered the ground from the day before... then, overnight we were hit by the "pineapple express". The temperature went from -2c to 13c in a matter of a few hours. Torrential rains began about 3:00 A.M. Oh, and did I mention, a power failure, the second failure this season. The generator, (on the construction site) could not be reached through the mud, snow and ice, so power for the bale elevator was toast. After a sleepless night, the delivery was stopped. The next day looked better and the trucking company was anxious to have their trailers back. With my labour force now cut in half.... and a third power failure, two trailer loads of straw arrived and were lifted by generator power into the barn loft. There were some calories burned over that 2 1/2 hours, all by my post 50 crew. Not bad for old guys.

As a volunteer firefighter, I saw my first flames last week. One of several power outages last week was caused by a tree across the power lines. The tree was scorched and a small candle-like fire was dripping flaming rubber from the coated lines when we arrived. It was unknown if the power lines were dead, so no water could be used. A few well placed snowballs extinguished the flames and the rest was left up to BC Hydro. Saturday, was the Fire fighter's Christmas dinner and award night. As there were very few incidents this year, most of the awards were, shall we say, of a humorous nature. (Should of had my camera for that).

Today, the (first) Pickton trial ended. The sick amount of money that will be wasted to prosecute this animal (100 + million) is second only to the sickness of the crimes. Was the outcome ever in doubt? Another 20 some murder charges are yet to be tried.

Our Kitchen: A Nuke-free Zone

One day it was gone. Nowhere to be found. I'm not so sure I can exist without it..... I enjoyed it nearly every day, even if just for a few seconds and it saved me sooo much time. Kari initiated the "experiment" and I must admit I was firmly against it. And damn-it, I hate when she's right. So, just what's so wrong with having one anyway....? I always kept mine well away from my crotch, so no worries there.... and I try not to peak in her window when she's doing her thing. As with any non-syncing of ideas and opinions, out came the laptop to Google: "dangers of microwave cooking". It took about 5 minutes to agree that the microwave should be forever banished from the house. It now lives in our garden shed, until such time, it can be disposed of. I moved here to slow life down a little, and not having a microwave oven goes above and beyond contributing. Boiling water for tea, now provides a long loiter in the kitchen while staring at the spot on the counter-top where she used to be.

I've always been proud to be Canadian eh. Steven is doing what he can to change that. Why should Canada have to agree to targets on greenhouse-gas emissions that would exempt developing countries? How about because we should be World leaders, and not whiners. "If all countries emitted greenhouse gases at the same level as Canada, the world would be nearly 800 per cent above levels considered sustainable". Now, that's leadership. I feel another rant on Electoral Reform coming on!

I like this ad directed at parents of female, TV addicted teenagers.... one of which, we have in our house.

Denman Island says: Thanks, but No Thanks.

The North Denman Lands scenario continued this weekend with an Islands' Trust sponsored community "round table" discussion. There was a good turnout from residents that wished to voice their views on the subject.... the overall point of view (in my estimation) was that less is more. The proposed 60 lot subdivision, (revised from 87) is doomed to fail. It seems that Islanders will (if necessary) forgo gifts of land from developers in order to maintain the rural-ness of the Island. The format of the meeting was to give anyone and everyone a chance to be heard for two minutes or less. Near the end of the meeting, a representative of The Kingsway Group development company took the microphone. When his time expired, he asked to be able to continue. He was refused the time and walked away in a huff. As he passed by us, someone jeered, "go home".... his reply was, "I will, and I'll take my land with me". I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I certainly appreciate the Islanders willingness to show that this island is not up for grabs. I'm confident that it will remain a rural paradise. I was very impressed with the overall quality of the event. It will go a long way to healing the divisiveness that this proposal has caused within the community. To read previous comments about the development in previous blogs... click here

I watched The Walmart Nation this weekend. Although I don't make a habit of shopping there.... I doubt they'll see me again. We're shopping the big boxes less and less. The Lumber packages for the house have been ordered through local lumber supply companies, even though we (knowingly) are paying up to 20% more than (Agent Orange) Home Depot. I'm cheap, so this has not been easy to do. HD has supplied the smaller purchases and goods that locally based suppliers could not.

Straw Bale House Update: The weather looks promising to have the roof trusses delivered on Thursday. We've finally made a decision on a straw supply. We'll bite the bullet and have the straw shipped from Alberta. Flax straw is the flavour of choice as it is the most rot resistant. It's only drawback is it's flammability. The high oil content of flax makes it a little more flammable during the construction process. Once plastered, the house will be far more fire resistant than houses built with conventional construction.

Stormy Weather

A big storm hit us on Monday and as usual we lost power for a day and a half. This was the first big outage of the year and the first time using the generator for household use. (It's usually on site running power tools). We were able to run lights and microwave etc., as well as computers with high speed Internet, (only the necessities). We still burned some candles to supplement the lighting.... and Boo Radley, our kitty took it upon himself to be the candle extinguisher. His current lack of right side eyebrows is a testament to his success. The winds topped at about 100kph. It was a small reminder of the storm we had last December that left us without power of nearly a week. It's also the time of year that a chainsaw is standard equipment in the back of the truck. (We had to cut one tree off the road on the way to the construction site.) We drove to the site during the storm to see how the winds would effect the rain hitting the bale walls. There were a couple of tree casualties, (more fire wood), and just as Kari was commenting that the house location was actually quite well protected, another tree snapped off, and it was agreed that it was time to leave.

Straw Bale House Construction Update: It's getting rather cool to be staining, but the beams need a protective coat before being raised. The heaviest of the beams are now in place, (these were extremely heavy and had to lifted about eleven feet off the ground by three guys over fifty). A few quick pics were taken Wednesday showing the last portion of the floor joists being placed. The trusses have been pushed back a week because of weather and technical difficulties.... we'd like to have them dropped onto the second floor by the truss company, to save some grunt work.

A Picture is Worth......

Straw Bale Update: We had our larger Cedar and Fir logs milled on site and the lumber is currently drying in our wet weather. Where did summer go? The Cedar tree that we felled supplied us with all the 8x8 exterior support posts needed.

Although some minor tweaking will likely take place... I think I can confidently say that these pictures are very close to what the finished product will look like.

Denman Houseboat... for rent?

This is Denman Island's version of a Shuswap house boat. Note the the plywood hull, lawn chair and slide. This particular model is oar powered.

Straw Bale Update: While Clay was here last week, he helped me dismantle the pillar bracing and begin damp-proofing the foundation. His plumbing eye quickly picked up on the fact that we had not allowed enough drop for our waste-water outlets... not a big deal and nothing that a half hour of digging won't solve. We are plumbing for a traditional septic system so that any future owner can hook up without any expensive alterations. We are steadfast in our efforts to have a waterless septic system. The beam pockets have been cleared at the top of the support pillars and are ready for the beams, (which I hope can be ordered this week). There is currently a forest workers strike and lumber may soon be in short supply. I'll order framing materials early so that there won't be any interruptions later.

Tuesday, I made a quick trip down to Victoria to look at some barley straw. It will suit our requirements.... Now it's a logistical matter of transport and storage.... and keeping it dry!

One and Two, (our foster feral kitties) have been adopted together. They have gone to a great home and we have reserved visiting rights. We'll miss them and it's something that we would consider doing again.