April 13th 2011

The adventure begins in earnest. After five months in the city, I am back on Cortes Island to begin building our new house. Last year we (me and some very competent local helpers) built a workshop, had the septic system installed, upgraded the electrical service, buried water and electrical lines, built an outhouse and fenced the garden. The trailer I bought last spring has provided a comfortable, if slightly cramped living space with water, electricity and phone/internet all connected.  Our dear friend David Rousseau has designed a very sweet little house for us and last fall, Mike, the carpenter who helped me build the workshop, took charge of building the forms for the foundations and doing the concrete work.

So we are almost ready to start the framing. A load of good Cortes Island fir lumber is stacked and waiting for us and more construction materials are to be delivered later this week.  Next Tuesday, April 19^th, Mike  starts work and together we will start creating the floor over the crawl space on which the walls will be framed.

How am I feeling about all this? Hmmm… nervous, excited and yet quietly confident that the project is good shape and with Mike and David’s expertise, we will end up with a very nice little house. 

Top photo: Getting organized in the workshop

Bottom: Spring!

Thought for the day: Compassion brings intelligence to trouble