Chronicle 2003-11-29
3 more weeks have passed and the weather has been mostly cooperative even though our schedule hasn't been ideal to take advantage of it. Rain or shine, we move on, dragging logs and stacking them to keep them from rotting over the winter. It's sometimes nice enough to have a picnic on site and to work in a light sweater. I find myself regularly praising Life and marvelling at the beauty of nature, the silence. The labour is hard physically but I wouldn't give it up in exchange for a desk job.
My brother came to visit with his family early this month. He was aware that we were thinking of selling two small lots close to the main road and made an offer on the one by the river right there and then. We'll have to wait for all the papers before signing but they have already found a plan that suits their needs and are making moves to prepare building their chalet next spring. Denis is suppose to come back Monday, we'll meet the town-planner to ask all our questions about building permits.
Alain felled the first trees 2 days ago and it's raining and snowing since. It gives me time to write this chronicle and to translate what was written so far so we can upload it on the internet soon. I'm also getting ready to ask some specific questions on the discussion group I've been following for a few years on Yahoo!: Organic_architecture. I need to know the load our logs can hold for one thing. The inquiries to figure how much it would cost to dig have not been successful. They're all too busy and want to postpone until spring.
I bought a brand new best-seller from the environment ministry: Regulations on wastewater disposal and treatment for isolated dwellings: Interpretation and Application Guide. It's full of information and covers the new regulations pertaining to those subjects. Reading through it I quickly discovered that what they call an "ecological installation" (read automated composting toilet) is totally discouraged. There are only 2 cases where they can be installed:

a) for a hunting or fishing lodge (where you live less than 180 days a year)

b) for an existing isolated dwelling if a regular purifying element or another of the allowable systems can't be installed.

Since we're building a new house, we'll have to be very creative if we don't want to get a septic tank that a truck has to empty regularly but to use that resource in a non polluting manner! More on this soon…