Under Pressure

I try not to listen to talk radio, but it can be addictive. So, I was listening to an interview with a federal politician the other day, (it could have easily been any politician I guess), and he made a comment that still makes me shake my head in bewilderment. "Canadians have higher expectations from their elected representatives than other countries". I think Canadians (and I could be wrong) want only three things from their elected representatives. Honesty, Integrity, and Common Sense. Apparently, three elusive characteristics. I really should stick to blasting the tunes from the Ipod while at work.

Straw Bale House Update:My camera is broken. No pictures to show, so will have to catch up on those another time.... I've been thinking though... of buying a digital SLR as a replacement. The House is nearly ready for interior wall finishing. We've been working on the balance of the plumbing rough-in. Pressure testing has been done with air and water... and with only a few small hick-ups I think we're almost ready to cover. The house has been left for the weekend under 40 lbs of water pressure.... we'll see Monday how she did.

Floored!

Straw Bale House Update: The concrete staining is complete. I'm pleased with the results so far. The final look won't be known until the acrylic finish has been applied. That will be done after the walls have been plastered.

Stain being applied with a garden sprayer.

Some of the results.... starting to look like stone.

A small amount of clearing is being done to let in some additional light and allow some space for a future paddock (if required)

The sills, window trims and returns are done. Everyone loves the deep window returns in straw bale houses.

Holidays have to come to an end at some point. We ended ours with a short foray into the Okanagan. We've come close on several occasions to choosing a horse (or two) to join our family. Mostly we've looked at and test driven Paints and Quarter horses. As we knew nothing of how to choose a horse.... we've taken a lot of time to educate ourselves. The trip to the interior satisfied our curiosity about the Peruvian Paso breed. Now lets be clear... I've never ridden. This may be a good thing as I have no fear of horses. The Peruvian is on the small side for a horse and has an attitude that goes with being short.... short horse syndrome, if you will. This spirit, is referred to as "BRIO" in the Peruvian horsey lingo. We looked at about 10 Peruvians during our time off (one day at each ranch). All the horses had one thing in common...sweet gentleness and very friendly. At one point we were in a field with several stallions, (which I'm told can be rather foolish), but they were a friendly bunch. The actual pasture we were in, can be seen on this youtube video.
Again, I stress, I've been on a horse very few times and do not know how to ride. I can only make the comparison between driving a car.... most horses are standard transmission with no extra options, A Peruvian horse is an automatic fully loaded. With a five minute lesson, I was riding the smoothest horse in the world. Check out the Peruvian gait on this video. The Peruvian horse owners that we met were just as great as the horses. All the Peruvian breeders know each other and often recommended each other. We've been invited back for trail rides and lessons before deciding on a horse. We'll be taking them up on that offer.
Thanks to:

Leslie at Silver Cloud Peruvians

Rick at Paradise Ranch

Judie and Ivan at North Okanagan Peruvians

Rob at Janice at Del Oeste Peruvians

Rick on Acuario... a champion stallion we got to ride.

A Prince Of A Guy

No.2 son landed his first paid acting gig... Prince Owain is off to Ontario to star in a family production play.... local media interview coverage can be seen here and here and here Break a leg, Curt!

Concrete Actions

Straw Bale House Update: The concrete scribing is going well. There is a learning curve and it's just as well we started in a closet. The acid stain has been ordered. Picture is of the master bedroom floor. Doesn't look like much yet, but just you wait!

Over-due house pics.

Straw Bale House Update:

Picture taken from the kitchen into the living room.
The Mason Heater is fully functioning and heats the house, even after the fire has gone out. (about 15c) The house currently looses 2c over night, (16 hours) with the outside temp in the 2-3c range. This should be reduced once the interior plastering is done and the thermal mass is increased. The goal is to have the heater hold a 20c temp with 2 short burns a day.



Picture of the Kitchen. The horizontal boards are for cabinet mounting. Wired for electric stove and plumbed for propane. (wire coiled on floor coming out of the slab is for the island.) The square hole between the windows is a box built to carry a seven inch stove vent. Window returns and sills are in the near future.



The front door entry finishing has been a challenge. Any questionable angles are sorted out with a little extra plaster. All of the door hardware has been installed and we're officially at lock-up. we're still considering side-lights made with bottles, (more on that later.) The green tape around the posts is holding the plastic which will protect the posts from the concrete acid stain....the next big project.

Picture of the dining room french doors. These are actually double doors that swing out onto a patio/bbq area. we rounded the top return with straw to match the other view windows. The dining room will have a nice ocean/mountain view.

I was able to get my hands on some very nice quarter-sawn Douglas Fir (milled on the island) to frame out the seven view windows on the south and west sides of the house. There was just enough left over to top the wrap-around window bench (which will provide tons of extra living room seating and a great cat look-out).

This week the layout for the tile pattern in the concrete floor will be cut and the acid stain ordered. (the designer still working on the colour)

Getting Plastered

The unbelievably warm weather prompted us to venture to the mainland to test drive a few horses. Tara and Clay at Hayburner Haven provided their expertise in how to pick out a horse. We learned that the most important attributes in a horse are: a) it must be able to go. and b) it must be able to stop. (We looked at a few horses that were challenged in one or more of these requirements.) In the end, it was agreed that we must continue our equine education before committing to horsey ownership.

The island is abuzz with firewood cutting chainsaw noises and the cats are growing a thick furry coat.... all signs point to a cold winter. Boo Radley is beginning to think twice before pulling those all-nighters as the night time cooling is now in the 5-6c degree range.

Strawbale House Update: This week we built bins out of bales and plastic to store the mixed lime plaster. It can (and should) be mixed ahead of time and will store indefinitely under the right conditions. Mixing day was Tuesday and we mixed all day. We began the "scratch coat" on Wednesday. It's going quite well. As the learning curve progresses we're getting better and faster.