Off Grid

The Piles

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Laura

I have another confession.  I don’t want to be one of “those families”… you know who I mean… every neighbourhood has them.  Their places are run down, and half put together, they have stuff all over their yards that never seems to be used, just sits there rotting and taking up space.  If anyone was doing a project at their house, my neat-freak Mom used to say, “they need to clean that mess up because it is starting to look like the ____ ‘s place”.  You can fill in the blank for your particularly messy family.  My mom kept a very clean home and she did not like mess.  Mom, she would hate my piles!

These days they have a name for people who keep too much junk.  They even have a TV show about them, Hoarders.

The thing is, that there is a fine line between people who hoard and people who keep stuff because it is useful.  Artists often keep a lot of bits.  So too do people who tinker.  Me, I have a few left over building supplies which I am still using for projects.  It is not out of hand but takes up about a 12x 9 space… just as big a footprint as THO, so this, in my opinion is what makes it look so bad.

I put it all on the far side of the house, so that you can’t see it when you drive up, but from the cloth porch, there it is, a little hoard of stuff.  It would be nice to have a shed with some upper beams to slide all that stuff in.  A shed feels a bit like a slippery slope for allowing me to collect more stuff – but admittedly it would be handy for the rotation of seasonal gear, such as boots and sandals, snow shoes and flippers.

Fortunately, I live far enough away from others that the mess is not seen by anyone but me and my visitors.  Still, I wonder, would my remnants piles drive you crazy if you lived next door?  Be honest.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Off Grid, Ontario, Re-Use, Stuff, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | 4 Comments

Again with the Dusting

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Laura

Since Hj was down on the weekend to help with a couple of things that I could not do on my own we decided to fill in the area which will next year become the stone patio with some of the stone dust that I had delivered a few weeks ago.

We put in quite a few wheel barrels full, raked it down and then stomped on it to press it down  It will further compress in the rain too as soon as a good one comes.  We did not put a board to it and level it down this time, because this job is dusty, dirty, rotten and frankly either of us felt like getting that filthy on a sticky day.  Levelling is a job that takes two hands (at least for non-professionals like me) and will take a couple of hours.  I want to do it one day when I know that I can easily jump into someone’s shower afterward, or at least when I expect a long warm rain that I can stand out in and wash up.

I also decided to place a few stones across the dust from the driveway to the front door.  Frankly the stone dust is a bit of a nightmare because it sticks to the shoes and comes into the Tiny House, particularly if it is raining.  The big issue with this is not so much that you have to sweep the Tiny Floor over and over; seriously, this is a one minute job.  Rather the problem is that Rudigrrr Wolf seems to suffer with Pica.  He eats all kids of stuff that he should not, including rocks and I worry that this might block his little tummy up and get very costly, very fast.  Plus, he chews them… chewing rocks is not a nice sound.  I hope the little stone path helps.

Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Stepping Up

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Laura

Next year’s planned job, the stone patio is giving me a bit of grief.  The big issue is that when Hj and I put the gravel dust in place the drop to the East was too large and this began to wash away because of the 1 foot deep drop for the opening at the in-house on the East side (in the image it is the dark place where the boards meet).  I want to put some steps there, not just to keep the dust from washing but also because they will eventually have to go there anyway.   It is early to do this because the dust needs to settle but still getting them in is the only realistic way to keep the dust from spilling way with the rain.  The other problem is that the stones for this are simply too large for me to handle on my own.  So, this was the other job that Hj came down to help me with on the weekend.

We brought in many more wheel barrels full of stone dust and stomped this as firmly as our weight would allow, then the two of us put the large stones in place.  Unless they go out of level, or settle too much, then this will be the last time we ever need to move them.  I am strongly hoping that we put in enough of a buffer that it will be exact, and permanent, because these big rocks are really NOT fun to move!

The two top stones are to be the first edge of the stone patio.

The bottom large stone stair will make a handy place to sit in order to change the catch bucket from the toilet.

Lets hope that they winter well.

***ps: The blue box has kindling in it plus a few pieces behind there too.  It is being picked up by someone who uses it.  Waste not-want not, right?

Categories: Family, Off Grid, Re-Use, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | 11 Comments

Newish Utility Cupboard

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Laura

A few days ago I took out the shelves that I had been using in the kitchen of THO.  I built them last summer out of left over lumber from the house construction but did not find them deep enough to be good practical storage for dishes and so forth. When I took them down I thought that they would make a really great utility cupboard for tiny building supplies such as nails and screws, extra hinges and thingamajiggers.  I decided to put it up on the South facing wall inside of the cloth porch.  Truthfully, I had this stuff in one of those big exterior use plastic storage bins with all the stuff like the big tarps, string, rope, chain, oil and so on, and this was a nuisance because the containers were constantly popping open and dumping.  Can you just about hear me cursing?

Only problem with the idea of repurposing this, is that I wanted to put it up high and and I was both too short and not quite strong enough to get them up there on my one and screw the things in.  So, it turned out good that my husband decided to come down to help me with this task on the weekend.  I held it up and he drilled it to the wall.  Bammo-presto, in a few seconds the job was well on it’s way!

After this, he put on some 1×3 to trim it up while I attached hinges to some left over 12 inch wide boards from the kitchen construction, for doors.  Oddly, I also had two hook and eye catches in the odds and ends that would eventually go in here, so I put one inside to hold door one closed and then I put the other one on to hook the two together.  I also coated them with lemon oil although I am not sure that this is strong enough for exterior use, but if they start to look ratty I will simply finish them later.

In future, I will have to stand on a step ladder to reach any of the small thingies in the newly reused cupboard – but even so, I think that this is markedly more practical, than having to root around and find them in the abyss outside!

The bonus is that the abyss itself, does not seem all that awful now either!  Funny how simple stuff makes life so much easier sometimes!

Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Re-Use, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Junk in the trunk

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Laura

This is a boring utility post which has to do with living at THO.  This is my garbage and recycling.  I had a lot of it because of the steel application on the outside.

Since my computer went for a swim, I have not felt much like writing/painting/visiting/being creative, so I thought I would concentrate on the errands/and small jobs that I have been putting off, so I needed to rent a car for a couple of days.  Getting rid of this, one one such errand.

I do not have garbage or recycling pick up and besides, I had a lot of steel bits that had to be dropped off at Kimco metal recyclers in Kingston.  Everything else went to the recycling depot.

Looks a whole lot tidier, but I still have a pile of small wood bits which would be excellent kindling for someone who burns wood.  If you do this, please bring an empty box and I will load it up for you to bring home.

Categories: Kingston, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment