Here's a more up-to-date photo of the extension!!!! Should be done this week!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
almost done!!!
well, the extension is almost finished now. We re pretty excited.
All of the walls are up, and we re putting on the roof beams and starting the rafters today. We ve also started siding the outside of the house with pressboard. Pretty awesome. Im thinking itll be done by the weekend? Sorry there havent been many pictures. I do have some on my phone, but my phone doesnt let me upload them. I have to use a computer. Sorry. But pictures this week!!!
I cant wait. The extension has a 12x12 living room, a 5x8 bathroom (yes! A real bathroom!!), and a 12x7 sparwe room. So cool. Itll also have a living roof, and some other really rad features... Like gyprock walls! Haha. Stoked.
All of the walls are up, and we re putting on the roof beams and starting the rafters today. We ve also started siding the outside of the house with pressboard. Pretty awesome. Im thinking itll be done by the weekend? Sorry there havent been many pictures. I do have some on my phone, but my phone doesnt let me upload them. I have to use a computer. Sorry. But pictures this week!!!
I cant wait. The extension has a 12x12 living room, a 5x8 bathroom (yes! A real bathroom!!), and a 12x7 sparwe room. So cool. Itll also have a living roof, and some other really rad features... Like gyprock walls! Haha. Stoked.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The progress:
This photo was taken about a week ago. We had one and a half walls up at this point.
As you can see, this extension is HUGE!
Just waiting to cell our roots...
So, this is our lovely new root cellar. Thanks to Airoe, Reece, Haley, Andre, and Cud for helping dig it. It's an old freezer in a hole 5 feet in the ground. Still working on the hatch for it. But soon.
Props to Reece's root cellar book for solidifying this idea..
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
sunshine and chainsaws
Its been a busy few weeks here. I dont even know where to start.
My best friend ellen and her partner pat were living in calgary for the past few years, which in my opinion, is too far away for a best friend. So i started a campaign to convince her to come live in pei and id give her some land. So, finally, last monday, they made it here. Its awesome. Theyre building a house behind ours at the top of this beautiful hill, with views of the sunset. Its gorgeous. More on their house as it comes i guess.
Yesterday we got our well dug. It was really neat. I guess in pei they still use a pretty old fashioned method. Basically they take this giant, relatively blunt rod and pound it into the ground. It took hours. The end result is a 70 foot well. Pretty neat. We decided we re going to use a submersible pump and run it off of solar panels eventually, but for now, our generator. Its an expensive decision, but i think itll be worth it to have water running straight into the house.
Also this week, our driveway got finished. We have a big space at the top for parking and turning around. Its pretty rad. I probably, hopefully, wont be backing into any more trees.
As far as the extension goes, the floor is finished, and one wall is up. Slow, but steady i guess. Yesterday i spent all day thinning out part of the forest with a chainsaw to make our yard a bit larger. It looks much nicer, and theres a nice spot for our bonfire pit (the extension is getting built over the old pit).
Ellen and i also bought gym memberships this week. Its been hell. Youd think i would be in better shape what with all the building, digging, and whatnot i do in a day, but apparently not. Ive been in bed by 9 or 10 every night since we started at the gym. And im aching all over. We re on a campaign to get fit and feel healthier. Im pretty stoked about it, and ellens never been to the gym before but shes been wanting to go forever.
My best friend ellen and her partner pat were living in calgary for the past few years, which in my opinion, is too far away for a best friend. So i started a campaign to convince her to come live in pei and id give her some land. So, finally, last monday, they made it here. Its awesome. Theyre building a house behind ours at the top of this beautiful hill, with views of the sunset. Its gorgeous. More on their house as it comes i guess.
Yesterday we got our well dug. It was really neat. I guess in pei they still use a pretty old fashioned method. Basically they take this giant, relatively blunt rod and pound it into the ground. It took hours. The end result is a 70 foot well. Pretty neat. We decided we re going to use a submersible pump and run it off of solar panels eventually, but for now, our generator. Its an expensive decision, but i think itll be worth it to have water running straight into the house.
Also this week, our driveway got finished. We have a big space at the top for parking and turning around. Its pretty rad. I probably, hopefully, wont be backing into any more trees.
As far as the extension goes, the floor is finished, and one wall is up. Slow, but steady i guess. Yesterday i spent all day thinning out part of the forest with a chainsaw to make our yard a bit larger. It looks much nicer, and theres a nice spot for our bonfire pit (the extension is getting built over the old pit).
Ellen and i also bought gym memberships this week. Its been hell. Youd think i would be in better shape what with all the building, digging, and whatnot i do in a day, but apparently not. Ive been in bed by 9 or 10 every night since we started at the gym. And im aching all over. We re on a campaign to get fit and feel healthier. Im pretty stoked about it, and ellens never been to the gym before but shes been wanting to go forever.
Friday, August 6, 2010
being an adult sucks.
Okay. I feel like I need to do some venting, so here goes:
Things have been getting progressively more and more stressful to me at our homestead these days, I'm not sure exactly what the root cause is.
I'd like to say that having your partner as your roommate is great, and sometimes it can be, but sometimes it just causes all this trivial problems in the relationship that could easily be avoided if you had your own spaces. Things like "Argh! He left his dirty socks on the kitchen table!" or "He hasn't done the dishes in weeks!". Things that if said person was just a roommate, you'd only be a little angry, but since they're your partner, you're furious. Furious because you can be, because no matter how shitty you treat them, they're not going to just up and stop being your friend. And even if they did decide that, you'd totally see it coming and it would be this long, drawn out, horrible breakup and by the end of it you'd be convinced that they were a horrible person anyways.
It's been really difficult staying positive about being home all the time. What i thought would mean "lounging around in my underwear" actually means "cleaning up after the millions of houseguests, orchestrating getting a well dug, dealing with the excavators working on the driveway,searching the country for windows, doors, a well pump, a donkey, you name it!, while trying to single-handedly build a 12 by 20 house extension using money almost entirely from my unemployment cheques". I am not a happy camper. Perhaps if that were it, it wouldn't be so bad. But, I also have to take care of my dog, cud's dog, the rabbit, and the chickens (which includes tons of shit-shovelling, and the like), AS WELL AS do the laundry, buy the groceries, sweep up the house, scrub the the outhouse at least once a week, and respond to what sometimes feels like literally thousands of emails from people who want to come visit (often with replies like "it's not really a good time" and then ending up feeling like a total asshole about that).
So, obviously, I've been feeling angry at Cud about a lot of this. Maybe resentful is a better word. The way I see it, all he has to do is work. He works like , 60 hours a week sometimes. He gets home from work, it's nighttime, he eats leftovers of whatever we made for dinner, goes to bed, wakes up, goes to work, etc. He doesn't have to be the one who has to "have a talk" with whatever said houseguest is being crappy, he doesn't have to take care of his dog, sweep the house, buy the groceries, do his laundry. So, for me, I get frustrated because I sort of feel like I'm doing everything.
I know I'm probably being unfair.. and He's not doing anything wrong either. He's been putting up with me lately, being super cranky all the time, snapping at him for no reason (well, the reason is because I'm resentful), AND quitting smoking. I feel bad for him. And all this time, he's still super sweet to me, and patient, even though I'm a total asshole. It blows my mind sometimes.
But sometimes, the stress of living with your partner when you're already stressed is too much. I miss things like "quality time" where you actually hang out with eachother instead of just being in eachothers spaces occasionally and counting that as time spent together. I miss making an effort to see the other person. making an effort to do something nice for them, or take them for dinner instead of having them cook. Things that couples who don't live together do. Like, go for a walk, or talk about feelings. Why are those things so often forgotten when a person moves in with their partner?
I think cud and I really need some time alone. We haven't had any since before we picked up mogli and josie while we were on tour... so, like, May. Otherwise, I don't know what'll happen. We might just kill eachother... or worse.
Things have been getting progressively more and more stressful to me at our homestead these days, I'm not sure exactly what the root cause is.
I'd like to say that having your partner as your roommate is great, and sometimes it can be, but sometimes it just causes all this trivial problems in the relationship that could easily be avoided if you had your own spaces. Things like "Argh! He left his dirty socks on the kitchen table!" or "He hasn't done the dishes in weeks!". Things that if said person was just a roommate, you'd only be a little angry, but since they're your partner, you're furious. Furious because you can be, because no matter how shitty you treat them, they're not going to just up and stop being your friend. And even if they did decide that, you'd totally see it coming and it would be this long, drawn out, horrible breakup and by the end of it you'd be convinced that they were a horrible person anyways.
It's been really difficult staying positive about being home all the time. What i thought would mean "lounging around in my underwear" actually means "cleaning up after the millions of houseguests, orchestrating getting a well dug, dealing with the excavators working on the driveway,searching the country for windows, doors, a well pump, a donkey, you name it!, while trying to single-handedly build a 12 by 20 house extension using money almost entirely from my unemployment cheques". I am not a happy camper. Perhaps if that were it, it wouldn't be so bad. But, I also have to take care of my dog, cud's dog, the rabbit, and the chickens (which includes tons of shit-shovelling, and the like), AS WELL AS do the laundry, buy the groceries, sweep up the house, scrub the the outhouse at least once a week, and respond to what sometimes feels like literally thousands of emails from people who want to come visit (often with replies like "it's not really a good time" and then ending up feeling like a total asshole about that).
So, obviously, I've been feeling angry at Cud about a lot of this. Maybe resentful is a better word. The way I see it, all he has to do is work. He works like , 60 hours a week sometimes. He gets home from work, it's nighttime, he eats leftovers of whatever we made for dinner, goes to bed, wakes up, goes to work, etc. He doesn't have to be the one who has to "have a talk" with whatever said houseguest is being crappy, he doesn't have to take care of his dog, sweep the house, buy the groceries, do his laundry. So, for me, I get frustrated because I sort of feel like I'm doing everything.
I know I'm probably being unfair.. and He's not doing anything wrong either. He's been putting up with me lately, being super cranky all the time, snapping at him for no reason (well, the reason is because I'm resentful), AND quitting smoking. I feel bad for him. And all this time, he's still super sweet to me, and patient, even though I'm a total asshole. It blows my mind sometimes.
But sometimes, the stress of living with your partner when you're already stressed is too much. I miss things like "quality time" where you actually hang out with eachother instead of just being in eachothers spaces occasionally and counting that as time spent together. I miss making an effort to see the other person. making an effort to do something nice for them, or take them for dinner instead of having them cook. Things that couples who don't live together do. Like, go for a walk, or talk about feelings. Why are those things so often forgotten when a person moves in with their partner?
I think cud and I really need some time alone. We haven't had any since before we picked up mogli and josie while we were on tour... so, like, May. Otherwise, I don't know what'll happen. We might just kill eachother... or worse.
half of the extension floor...
So, the extension is coming along much slower than i had anticipated. First, i had no money, then, i had to wait for cud and I to cut down a gigantic tree, now, i'm just frustrated with trying to level the block foundation... by myself. I don't know if you've ever tried to lift a 12 by 12 floor and move it by yourself, but it's impossible. I need help. We have lots of houseguests coming and going, but very little help. And Cud's always working, it's rarely daylight when he's home, so I can't ask him for help.
I'm also getting to the point where I'm pretty sure I don't want to see another houseguest for the rest of the summer after this wave coming up. I think this one might be my breaking point. Pat and Ellen and their dog (who piston, MY dog, doesn't like) PLUS hiker and his friend, hiker's dysfunctional dog Domino (who apparently is doing better) and his friends dog as well. And Reece and Travis are still staying with us. Making a grand total of 5 dogs, 8 people, and a rabbit in a 10 by 16 cabin. hmm.... should be interesting.
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