Cloth Porch

Lush

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Laura

It is warm and beautiful today in the Kingston Area. I woke up late at Tiny House Ontario sat and had a quiet cuppa and a granola bar then I did some work around the house. Before I did this, I took a moment to notice the woods around me.

The outdoor kitchen in the cloth porch is much too high so I took it apart and shortened it 8 inches.

I also moved the left over lumber pile. I only have about 10 boards there now so I no longer required the huge tarps and I also wanted to move it behind the house so that one does not see them when you drive up. It helps to make it look tidy.

I also picked up a lot of bits of tiny lumber ends and put them into the former home for the privy. I taped this closed so that they will not fall our the door and it held a surprising amount.

My husband put some boards up inside of the cloth porch and this makes the interior of the cloth porch much tidier and complete looking.

It has been a busy spring and because there are so many small things to do, I still have not been painting or writing much.

I am so busy that I have hardly noticed the big changes in the forest.

It is lush now… only the prickly canes have yet to fill in.

I still do not know what these are, knowing them only by the local name of prickly pear. If you happen to be a botanist, I would really like to know the real name of these ferocious, non-blooming canes that look somewhere between rose and blackberry plants.

I am still waiting for my soil delivery so that I can plant my garden and I have a lot still to do, but even so, if Baby does not get back from the shop, I will be forced to go back to Hamilton again for the week. I simply cannot stay at Tiny House Ontario without wheels.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Cloth Porch Damage

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Laura

After hanging there for a year through the winter and everything mother nature could throw at it, the cloth porch has an eight inch long tear in it at floor level. I had some red thread on hand and have fixed it up.

I did not see it happen… and I hate to point fingers… but I check it every morning to make sure nothing wild got in and at 10:00 am I caught this one on the other side.

“Do you think the grass looked greener over there Minnie?” I asked. She claims that she was framed by a one armed man… but she looks mighty guilty doesn’t she?

I took this the day before. I did not know that she was contemplating her escape… silly me!

Categories: Cloth Porch, Dogs, Forest, Friendship | 1 Comment

The cloth porch is still standing

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Laura

I have written before about the cloth porch. A few dollars worth of deeply discounted fabric, some left over boards and two boxes of staples as well as a screen door is what it is comprised of. While I was building it, then banging in the staples, I resigned myself to having to redo the cloth covering annually because I assumed that the thin, semitransparent, fabric roof would never stand the weight of the winter snow on it. We have had a couple of pretty good snow falls now, so I thought for sure, when I arrived to check in, it would be down. It is late January now, and to my surprise the cloth porch is still standing.

I know! I know! It is not the most beautiful addition that was ever put on a Tiny House but if you have ever been to Ontario in the spring (and summer) you will know that if the black flies don’t get you in the spring, then deer flies, horse flies, ticks and mosquitoes surely will get what is left of you before you freeze to death in our winters.

I am starting to believe that buying and installing new cloth is one job I may not have to do in the spring! Time will tell.