Went to Demxx on the weekend to pick-up a door for our pantry... it's part of the old door from the Fanny Bay Inn. It seemed only fitting to stop there on the way back and have a pint. Kind of a reunion of sorts. Afterwards, we stopped to see the sea lions, (which we can hear from our house). They arrive well before the herring spawn and leave well after.... and make their presence known to everyone within several miles.

The new kitten, Taz, has fit in exceptionally well. He and Boo are now fast friends. Boo has shown him all the best places to hide and hunt. Here in this picture Taz gives Boo a "high five", or however many fingers cats have.

Strawbale House Update: The trench is in, the meter box has been mounted, the panel is installed.... now we wait for BC Hydro to come and hook us up. After a year and a half of construction, we shall soon have construction power. Most of the wiring for the house will run either in a wiring chase or within the bale walls, like where a switch box would be. The other wiring, for overhead lights, is beginning to be pulled. Permits for the construction power and workshop will be done by the local electrician. I'll be attempting the house wiring myself.... with as much advice as I can scrounge.

We've been back to a three-man crew for the last couple of weeks. All the interior beamwork is complete! A huge undertaking. Now the rest of the back-framing can continue. The only beamwork left is the front entrance, (exterior). All of the cedar components were stained last fall and are ready to go. Now to find a way to cut the ten inch square posts... Nice to have friends with big construction tools.

It's a Boy

Wow, we've had such a run of good weather.... nothing but sun and dry days for the last couple of weeks. Now that all changes, as rain is in the forecast for the next week. Led by Kari (closet pyromaniac) we did some brush clearing and burning on the lot over the last two weekends. This could be never-ending.... except I think we've resolved to claim the first 30 feet or so around the house and driveway and leave the balance of the acreage to the wildlife.

Saturday, there was a community "farewell" event for the retiring fire chief. It was extremely well attended. John had been chief for 21 years and there were many humorous stories to be told by members of the community.

Strawbale house update: We worked all week on the interior beam-work. I'm somewhat bias, but I think it's going to look spectacular. I'm determined not to post pictures until it's done. (another couple of weeks, as my post and beam expert has taken a brief vacation).

Our oldest cat, Tig, died a couple of months ago. Boo, who had a love-hate relationship with Tig has been very demanding of us ever since. So we began "talking" about getting another kitten. On her way home from work last week, Kari dropped into the local animal rescue center and of course was chosen by a little grey kitten. "Taz" fits his name. he's four months old and weighs about a pound. (About 1/6th of the sumo, Boo). That has not stopped Taz from letting everyone know who's in charge. This includes Sienna (our Auzzie Shepard) who gives Taz a wide berth.

Am I the only one that thinks the "bailouts" on both sides of the border are simply a bolstering of a system that is flawed? As we quickly deplete our world's resources, our government(s) spend billions (or trillions) to prop up our bad spending habits.... My apologies to my future grandchildren.
I thought I knew where money came from.... I was wrong!

"V" Day

Those that frequent this blog are likely waiting for a rant. No, I haven't gone soft....As soon as I can word things civilly, the rants shall continue.... there's not shortage of stupidity, is there?

I read recently that Valentines day is THE most stressful day of the year for men. Followed closely by anniversaries and her birthday. Yes, men are romantically challenged by nature.... it's not our fault. I say, an evening at the Fanny Bay Inn (our local biker bar) can be romantic! Anyway, I dodged a bullet, mostly (I think) because of the low expectations.

Straw Bale House Update: The shop is ankle deep in sawdust and shavings. My friend Charlie, (post + beam builder extraordinaire) has been helping me for the past few weeks to get the last of the beam-work ready to go up. The entry hall is framed by two beams that run most of the length of the house... about 34 feet. Between those two beams are 10 cross beams.... all which have to fit like rungs in a ladder. The cross beams have been shaped with a slight upward curve on the bottom, giving the effect of ships ribs as you enter the house. (beam sawing thanks to another friend with a well equipped shop) The pictures show the "rails" into which the curved crossbeams will be fitted. If it sounds complicated.... it is. Although the weather has remained rather chilly, I can get the shop warm enough to stain the beams before they go up. The support posts that have been installed lately have been stained in place during the warmest part of the day.... with fingers crossed that the stain will not fail.
I found a great buy on some pine T+G for the ceiling, so I bought, and had delivered 6500 lineal feet.... enough to do the house ceiling, the soffits and the loft ceiling in the garage. (can be seen in the picture stacked in the garage with curved beams on top).

Middle of Foguary

Returning home from Akumal (temps in the mid 30's) to Denman in the month of Foguary and near freezing temperatures is shock enough to forget to blog. A prearranged webcam snap (at the Lol Ha, Akumal Bay) did not go exactly as planned however here's the result (that's me front and center) and no, I wasn't looking at the girl in the bikini.... Honest !!













The highlight was diving with the turtles in Akumal Bay.
More pictures of our Yucatan adventures can be seen here.

It's been so foggy here..... how foggy is it? It's foggy enough that the ferry must blow it's horn every few minutes while crossing from 6:40 a.m. til 11:10 p.m. Coincidentally this has also been my exact sleeping time in reverse. The temperature in my woodshed on Sunday morning was -2c. At the same time it was +13c at Raven Lodge on Mt. Washington.... a major inversion.

The first structure fire since I joined the fire dept. was last week. Thankfully nobody was injured. The home however was likely a write-off. The response time of the department was second to none with the first equipment on the scene in nine minutes. I was on the pumper truck which arrived in fourteen minutes. (the drive from the house site to the hall is seven minutes, but seemed much longer at the time.)

Straw Bale House Update: After 3 weeks off, it's been a butt dragging time at work. The interior wall framing is almost complete and it's time to get back to the beam work. It's been a little hazardous as the fog condenses on the concrete slab of the house and then freezes creating an unwanted skating rink. This week I'll insulate the garage so that there will be a nice warm place to work (and the stain on the beams will actually dry). There's still about 16 posts and beams to plane and sand before help arrives next week to begin the assembly.

I was just saying the other day.... Obama should have a quiet lunch with spam and cheese whiz sandwiches to celebrate his inauguration. It would have sent quite a different message than the $125 million (projected) expenses planned. ($75 million for crowd control and security alone). But we can top that with our estimated one billion for Olympic security. I'm hoping the whole thing (Oh-My lympics)can be paid off by tolling the Sea to Sky Highway.... you know, that whole "user pay" thing.

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.