Lake View

 

Our property is just a short walk from this access point to Hague Lake. Once we get settled we plan on adding a canoe to the collection on the lake shore so we can enjoy some lazy paddling on this lovely little lake.

Back in the city

For the past week I've been back in Vancouver getting organized to move out of our house in April. It's two moves really... the first is to a condo in Burnaby which will be Danielle's home base for the next few years and the second is to Cortes where I'm currently looking for storage space for stuff we don't want at the condo but do want in our house on Cortes. A major logistics challenge! At the same time, my mind is still working on planning and design ideas for the house and land on Cortes. It looks like this year's agenda will be building a couple of small sheds for the electrical service and the pump/pressure tank, plus a workshop where we can store stuff, keep tools etc. I also hope to make a good start on landscaping and that's where volunteers are extra welcome! Fencing, clearing brush and deadfalls, ploughing and mulching the garden area... there's lots to do!

Meanwhile, I found this nice little video about a family vacation on Cortes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTCDqhuxlX0&feature=related

Here's a link to a Google Map of our property on Cortes .
I've inserted some place markers to show where different things are located.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=50.056643,-124.964418&spn=0.006062,0.01929&t=h&z=16&msid=105018198575337013090.0004813afd502f134b1cd

Yesterday I said goodbye to Cortes and returned to Vancouver for a couple of months of intensive organizing, packing and moving as we vacate our house, move into the condo we bought in Burnaby and arrange to have my tools etc moved up to Cortes. However, before leaving Cortes I was able to get a report from Robbie Driediger on the septic field. He thinks it will work well in the location David and I marked out. He also thinks it can be done with minimal impact on the cedar trees. All good news. I also left with some nice sketches David has done of how the house and workshop might be located as well as some preliminary design ideas for the house.
I caught the 11:50 from Cortes and drove down island hoping to catch the 3pm out of Nanaimo only to miss it by 5 minutes. After a 2 hour wait I was compensated by a front row seat for what was one of the most spectacular displays of the setting sun hitting the north shore mountains that I've ever seen. There was even a nice little rainbow. (photo taken with my phone, sorry about the poor quality)

March 1st

Got power hooked up to the trailer with David's considerable help. He loaned me two heavy duty extension cords one of which I wired into the breaker panel in the shed and then joined the two cords to reach the trailer which is about 150ft away. After making all the connections I flipper the main breaker and... nothing exploded! I checked out the lights and appliances in the trailer and everything seems to work.

Next I took some measurements so that David can start creating a plan of the site. We discussed various options for locating the house, driveway, parking, workshop etc and made, what I think is a good start on a workable plan.

We also looked at the area designated for the septic field and discussed how we can have the field built without losing too many of the lovely cedar trees. Unfortunately some will have to go but there is a bit of a clearing that should be big enough. We need to get a professional opinion from Robbie Dreidiger. Hopefully that can happen tomorrow.