Tuesday, July 26th 2005
We have lift-off...
We got our permit and filled our first tire Sunday. No, it's not dynamite on the picture, it's a candle! Daniel, who came to lend a hand, arrived just as we were getting back to work in the afternoon and he helped us level the base of our front wall and fill the first few tires. It was great and we hope he'll come back with friends sometime soon.
Starting today, the work-site will be open for business 7 days a week, weather permitting. ALain worked his last day at his job yesterday in order to spend all his energy on the project. It's real nice to see the enthusiastic response of volunteers and since a lot of them are free during the week, it's obvious that we have to use the remaining nice days of summer to the max.
But let me go back a bit and show you what's new since my last chronicle. First, the tires arrived in a 53 feet truck on a Friday morning. It took 4 hours to empty and quickly sort them out. ALain then spent a whole day making nice piles by tire size. They're all R16, mostly 225/75 and 245/75. But from one to the next, even when the numbers are the same, once you fill them up you get up to a half inch difference in height! It'll be hell trying to get all that level...
The septic tank and leach field are in and the final excavation was done last Friday. We don't have electricity yet and might not install the photovoltaic system until we're ready to put it inside the house. At that time, Lili Haury of Ecosolaire Int'l will come over and help us set it up right. In the meantime, we'll start the generator whenever we need to cut a tire to make a half brick. Since we're using the tires as huge bricks, every second row, we need to end the wall with a half-tire. The technique to make those is explained in Michael Reynolds books and on the internet if you're intrigued.
We're also getting ready for the next stage: putting a roof on the tire walls. I've contacted Weyerhaeuser and they're studying our plans in order to find the best solution for the green roof. The combined weight of the snow and the vegetation demands special care and we're really grateful for their help.
I brought our puppy, Tara, home July 13th and she got used to the new surroundings real quick. She hardly cried at all the first night when we put her to bed in her cage and she's waken me every night since in order to be let out to do her thing. She's just 2 months old, very curious but rather calm for a puppy even if ALain finds her annoying when she's with us at the work-site. It's true that she gets in the way when all she wants is to play with the shovels we're handling but mostly, she gnaws on sticks and digs holes in the ground to get a cool place to lie down. She also loves to go raspberry and blueberry picking and readily swims with us. She made friends with my brother's dog and Sushi our parrot. As for Bernadette, our rabbit, it's more complicated because she's extremely fearful.
And then, there are the medias... following the article in "Le Journal de Montreal", many journalists have contacted us for interviews. There was Radio-Canada for the regional news and L'Été et rien d'autre" then 98.5FM for a live interview on a Monday morning. Since then, the municipality is getting daily phone calls and visits from people who want to see the "tire house"... that's how we found about 15 serious volunteers so far. We're now figuring out how to organize everything for them. We got some experience with volunteer teamwork on a construction site when we helped with the "Centre Pierre Boogaerts" so we know how difficult and stressful it can be. We've decided to start out slowly and have only 4 of them at any time for this first week. We plan on having one day where we'll invite a bigger group so that those who have only a few hours but still want to get their hands dirty can come and try it out. If you'd like to join us, e-mail us with your interest
If you'd like to see more pictures, visit the "Photos" section of our website