Ontario

Chair King

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Laura

It was a little cooler this morning but still no rain.  Hj did a little reading in the shade of THO.  I thought he looked comfy, King of the woods.

I believe that he was working on the finishing touches for something that Kingston Poet Bob MacKenzie asked him to do.

As it turned out we did not get much done again today but this is not related to the heat, rather, I had to go to to the doctor for a little infection and this took nearly all day.

Rain would be great for the woods, but also it would be nice to see the house without the chalk-lines.

Categories: Cloth Porch, Family, Off Grid, Ontario, Writing | Leave a comment

Pole Beans

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Laura

Today has pretty much consisted of sweating, whining about the heat, playing a little Skip-O, but we relented and finally got off our chairs for a few minutes.

We put up a bit of fence for the pole beans to climb.  Not too much work.  We used about 5 feet of left over fence, two barely used boards, c-fencing nails and six screws to attach them to the base of the raised bed.  Took about ten minutes but made us sweat like hell.

I hope the beans don’t think that it is too hot to climb.

Categories: Food, Forest, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment

Rain Dance Required!

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Laura

At Tiny House Ontario my morning ritual is to look out the window to see how the forest survived the night.  There are changes every single day even if it is simply wildlife that is moving around.  Currently, the forest is gasping for a drink.  The tops of the maples have started turning yellow in response to the current drought conditions.  It took 100 litres to give the garden a drink and I suppose that the forest would need about a million litres for it to help them through until the next rain.  That is a hundred of those water trucks full and then there would be the issue of getting it spread around.

The ancestor tree next to the cloth porch is the only tree that seems to be OK but of course, I always give it my bath water, dish water, left over tea and coffee including the grounds and leaves as well as melted ice water from my cooler.  Lucky tree.

Today, when the forecast called for rain I think I even saw Dictator chipmunk doing a little dance.  Sadly, the rain turned out to be less than a mm.  The good thing is that it did cool off the air a bit, so there is something to be grateful for.

There is hope! I just looked up the weather on my computer and found that the forecast calls for possible storms tonight and there is rain on the forecast for the next couple of days too.  I hope that we will have a few days of slow steady rain.  I am sure that the farmers would agree!  I can’t wait to tell the chipmunk!

 

Categories: Environmentalism, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | Leave a comment

All Wet!

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Laura

Hj and I carried in 100 litres of water for the garden yesterday.  We are fortunate to have neighbours who are kind to us because we do not yet have a well on our land.

Today the garden looks really good again!

Hj, also did a bit of clearing nearby so that we can get the solar panels set up there next week.

Categories: Environmentalism, Food, Forest, Kingston, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Rocky Paths and Just Dessert

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Laura

If you have ever owned property, you will probably know that almost everything that you do is basically two steps forward and one back.  In my case, when the steel went up, the gate went down and the stone walkway which was just laying there settling, had to be removed.

Today we had fairly good weather warm but with a nice breeze, so I resized the gate and put it back in.  It also had to be turned around so that the hinge side is on the post and not on the house because I do not want a bunch of screw holes in the steel.  Because I turned it around I also need to buy a gate hitch.

I did not put the flag stone back into place because I did not have the time.  Instead I had a shower at my sister’s home and drove to Kingston for the wake of my friend’s mom.  I am slightly uncomfortable with going to services such as this in my bike because someone made fun of me when I attended one such service last year on the bike.  Nonetheless, I think there are some things that cannot be helped.

Today, both life and death have stumbling blocks and rocky paths.  Still, the sun is shining and  I am taking time to treat myself well.  I have a comfy seat here where the coffee and service is great (at the Mug and Truffle at 350 King East.) and I am having a lovely cuppa with a treat… mmmm.   If you get a chance to pop in for some air-conditioning and perhaps something yummy, tell them that Tiny House Laura sent you.  If I am there, please say hi and please don’t sit at my table, unless you will share it with me.

Categories: Family, Food, Friendship, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario, Writing | Leave a comment