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Thursday, November 8th
Ready to crawl back into our shell.
No
snow yet and we're happy about that. It was a big help in getting ready
for winter. We did move back indoors in early September and I have to
admit as much as I love sleeping outdoors, I hate to wake up and get
dressed in the cold. The nicest surprise about it though, is the view
we have from our bed. I knew it would be nice to see the sky in the
morning when I opened my eyes, but it's breathtaking to watch the pink
and orange shades of the rising sun in panoramic view without even
lifting my head from the pillow. At night, it's the stars and moon that
lull us to sleep, it's magical.Some
other comforts that we appreciate: the composting outhouse has a roof
and door and I did the plumbing to install the bathtub. The faucets are
only temporary ones and the structure around the tub, icluding the sink
remains to be built, but it's still quite an improvement, not having to
go to my brothers' place on a windy night to take a shower.We
also completed the last layer of the earth floor and after 4 weeks,
it's almost dry. We decided to add the color into the top coat (about
1/4 inch) instead of spraying the pigment on the surface. I was afraid
that wear and tear would quickly become visible, grey patches showing
up in heavy traffic spots. We now have to fix a few cracks, add more
color (that's me wanting to have a bit of fun) and apply many coats of
boiled linseed oil. We'll finish with a coat of wood finishing oil. Our
tests have shown that the resins it contains offer more protection
against water stains.Outside,
things moved along quite well too. The second levels' roof is ready for
planting. The plumbing vent is done, the PV pannels have been moved and
we extended the insulation over 10 feet around the house before
replacing the membrane and protecting it all with old carpets. In the
spring, we'll spread some straw and compost and let the indigenous
plants take over. Thanks again to all those who came to help dig the
trench for the water pipe. We just completed the insulating and burying
last week.At
the same time, we worked at the front of the house. Aside from what I'd
mentioned in the July chronicle about redoing the area around the door,
we had to dig the whole lenghth of the house to place the insulation
under the membrane. It had been back-filled in a hurry 2 years ago. We
now have more insulated mass to capture heat and hopefully it will also
keep the mice from coming in. We did take more drastic measures against
these pests: we brought 2 kittens home last month, Hortense and
Noircie. They were born on a farm and have great hunting genes. Since
we're both allergic to cats, they have to live outdoors, but for them
to have access to unfrozen water and shelter when it's -40, we built a
"chatte room" (chatte is the french word for a female cat). It's like
an aquarium with cats in it, altough we're not sure who is watching
whom: the dog stares at the cats who are mesmerized by the parrot while
ALain and I laugh.It
has made a huge difference this year to be working on finishing
touches; it's a lot less stressful waiting for the first snow. ALain
even had time to fool around with rocket stove trials. He'd like to see
if it's possible to install that type of super-efficient combustion
chamber into our woodstove.For
those of you who understand French or who just wnat to watch it anyway,
go to the show's website to view a segment taped last spring at our
place: Vert Tendre. In the
menu, click on "vidéo et liens" and use the arrow to go back to the
first show of the season to watch it on the web. If you prefer, there's
a link called "iPod" in the menu that'll let you download it for free
on iTunes. |
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