Tiny me has the pleasure of being interviewed by the charming and hilarious Drew (Andrew Odom) and my wonderful and inspiring twin Laura (LaVoie) of Tiny r(E)evolution. Their funny and vastly entertaining Episode 37 interview with yours truly is here.
The unanswered question after the interview… is it too wild to live there full time? Made me laugh a little (okay… a lot).
It is not all the fault of our American friends that this “WILD UNTOUCHED FREEZING NATION” is the understanding you have of Canada. It is in movies, TV, books and truthfully from a Canadian perspective we like to emulate that we are all Bob McKenzie’s living in igloos to our American neighbours. We can’t help ourselves! We find it funny to keep this joke running. So I vacillate between answering truthfully or taking the Canadian stance and to pull your legs.
Not that Canadians are liars, but we do enjoy telling a fish tale and afterward giggling… I am no exception.
So there are two equally good response questions…
1. Do I have to build THO a customary igloo covering in order to protect it from the elements and use sled dogs to get around 10 months of the year?
Or…
2. Do I live less than 50 km from the US border and have the same weather as New York?
I won’t answer rather I will show you the map of weather zones (for planting) and let you know that THO sits in the yellow zone that is right above Lake Ontario.
The map will tell you that at THO we can expect similar winters to people who live in parts of Kansas and New Mexico. It can also expect easier winters than those who live in North Dakota and significantly better than Minnesota. We really don’t experience very hard winters in the most populated areas of Canada. In fact, is is not until you get North of the 60’th parallel… beyond the tree line… where actually people once did (a hundred years ago) live in igloos.
This said, if you want to sleep in an ice house, in Montreal they build an ice hotel in the winter and you can rent a room there if this is your kind of thing.
THO is roughly 25 km (15 miles) of paved roads from Kingston. The city itself has a population of 125,000 people. Kingston is a foodie town with lots of creative people and amenities. It is also the home of the Ivy League, Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College which makes it a very vibrant intellectually rich city for it’s size. It has a lot of tourism not just because it is pretty, but because it sits at the Thousand Islands and the tri-county region is not only the home of these islands it also has over 1000 lakes so there are cottages everywhere. It is also where the Rideau Canal starts and goes up to Ottawa.
I invite you to visit the city and partake of its culture and sites.
Honestly, there is nothing dangerous that is keeping me from living in THO… it is just a matter of having the money to install a well, a pump, getting running water going, having regular heat, a septic bed to put waste water in and of course, a shed to store my igloo building kit in.
I am getting there a little at a time. For now… I stay there a lot of the year and paint the town.
Thank you Drew and Laura for having me on! It was a pleasure and an honour to speak with both of you. I hope you will get up for a visit sometime! Don’t forget to pack your snow suit!
Tiny House Ontario 
Laura, I have had the pleasure of visiting Kingston back in the early 80’s when the Canadian Expo was held there. A female friend who was a local country singer wanted to meet Bill Anderson when he was there. We stayed the night because we were both exhausted after driving there and me being in school for nursing and she had a family of 3 girls to care for. We loved it so much, that we brought the kids the next weekend. I only didn’t expect to have to pay $50 USD for 5 hotdogs. Today I laugh about it, and learned to check the exchange rate before I go. I had heard some of the jokes the Canadians like to tell and had a few of my own to add. We all got a laugh from it. Now I also tell the same jokes to unsuspecting Americans and Canadians alike. My family is from Canada and I will always be a Canadian by heart. I am not new to the tiny home movement. I lived in a “tiny home” which I called my hunting shack for 6 years in the winter and summer. Loved it but had to leave when the land was sold. Now I want to find a small chunk of land and put another place that I am designing now, on it. If you ever get a chance, bring your family to the Adirondacks where you will still find tiny homes along with the big ones. Keep up the great work.
I have been know to perpetuate that myth as well when down south!
Tell them we leave our skins at the border and get American style clothing until we go back 0_o
Oh yes… I think all we Canadians have. It is a nation wide hoax!
I am enjoying all your interesting tales Keep doing them! Shirley Gibson-Langille
Thanks Shirley!
xo
Laura
My grandparents first took me to visit Thousand Islands when I was 4 I love the area.
Ah! Wonderful that you have seen them! They are lovely, I agree. Absolutely worth visiting.
I hope all is great with you Lois!
Laura
Thanks for talking with us, Laura. It was awesome. I grew up in the Detroit area and spent quite a bit of time in southern Ontario – especially Windsor. And, of course, my Grandmother was born and raised in Kingston.
A lot of people in the south are surprised to find out that this part of Canada is SOUTH of Michigan.
Hi Laura! It was lovely to speak with you finally! I do hope to get down to meet you and your town sometime – though probably not this summer due to my market gig at the city…
You are right! But again… we do pull the legs of every American we meet so it isn’t a wonder really. For some reason this teasing we do is a national pastime. But you know… life in an igloo can be pretty boring and we have to find our fun somewhere! ;-P
Detroit! I don’t believe I have ever been there but I was in Windsor a while back. You must enjoy the little bit warmer climate that you are getting down in Asheville! So much more green and rural too I imagine.
Thanks for the opportunity! I really enjoyed myself with you and Drew!
xo
L
Eh….I’ve talked to hockey playing beavers that were more interesting than……I kid. I kid. What a blast that interview was. Thank you so much Laura for joining us. I would love to get up to Canada and see THO. Heck I might even trap me a elk or something. HAHAHAHAHAH!
HA! It was an honour and a pleasure to speak with you and Laura. I always appreciate humour and you have a great batch of it! It would be great to see you up here!
L
It’s not just the southern US folks that are surprised to hear about Windsor being south…I have a friend in Winnipeg that was quite shocked (many years ago) to hear that I had to drive due south, through Detroit, to get to Windsor from my house. 🙂
I believe you John. I don’t think we have much geographical knowledge either side of the 49th parallel.
I had one of the best times of my childhood in (what I assume is) your state. I was at Mackinac Island with family and friends. What a great spot you have there!
xo L