Tiny House Ontario

Sunday Morning

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Laura

At 6:45 am, the sun filters into the bedroom window at Tiny House Ontario.  Many birds are singing and the grouse thumps, the temperature is warm but not yet uncomfortable.  The breeze rustles the canopy around us.

“I had a crazy dream last night”, I tell my husband.  I won’t bore you with the detail of it, but the long dream involves rescuing a miniature ape from a helicopter and finding out that it is a very important animal whose hospital wings around the world, are ready for him should anything happen.  Oddly, the ape belongs to my brother and sister in laws who live in Germany, but I don’t know that this animal exists until now.  There is a long snake who tries to bite me but misses and the crash is on my home farm, which is a place which I choose not to be a part of.  It is convoluted.  Still it fills the peace of the forest with a detail of life, no matter how off the mark of reality it is.

We climb down the ladder stairs and I start the propane element on the BBQ for bodum coffee and pat the dogs with my husband while we wait for the kettle to boil.  We settle on yogurt and granola for breakfast, feed the dogs and listen to rustling in the forest.

It is a typical morning at Tiny House Ontario.  There are no electronic interruptions.  There is no news from the outside world.  We know nothing of the last 12 hours as we quietly sit and eat breakfast, chatting.  We pat the dogs some more, laugh at the silly Bad Little Wolf who is harassing his sister and jumping around.  I break the pattern to record this Sunday morning at Tiny House Ontario for you.

I took a clip on this morning from the top of the BBQ with my computer, but I do not know how to upload videos.   Sorry!

Here is a photo of our cloth porch breakfast.

Could you get used to this?

Categories: Cloth Porch, Forest, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

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

In-House Adaptation: Already!

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Laura

I bought a Separett Privy kit a few months ago and installed it at first into a small second hand cupboard that I bought for 7 bucks at a junk store.  I thought at the time that this was very ideal because I could open it at the side to remove soil.  This did not work due to the size of my Tiny in-house.  But with the urine drain coming down so low and being right in the front, it is IMPOSSIBLE  to remove soil from the front if you build it as they show in the diagram below.  You must remove the top and disconnect the urine unit from the exit – even time.  I did not like lifting the lid… while there is no smell the gross out factor is HUGE for me.  I had to redesign and this was not great so I decided on a different option.  Industrial pipe.

The thing about the Separett, is that while is works for the function it was intended for, it was NOT well designed.  I think for the cost they could have done a significantly better job with this aspect, but, then I suppose that people would not buy the more expensive units if the cheapies are great.

I think differently, I think that a good product compels brand loyalty.  For example, I always buy Arm and Hammer baking soda.  I think that most people are the same.

I don’t know anything about their ecological toilets.  Maybe they are the very greatest?  Still,when and if I eventually go that route, I do not feel compelled to look at them first, nor to recommend them, even though the Canadian rep is very nice and my order came promptly with no errors.

So, I made some changes again to the system and will probably do it over again once I see if it works because with the industrial pipe (I) made to fit (what a pain in the ass that was – pun intended) I need a little less space for the top and can regain about 3.5 inches of floor space (by 27 inches).  I think this is ~3/4 of a square foot and this is a huge recovery when once has a 14 square feet of floor space with a sink and toilet in it.

After the pipe was fitted, I had to figure out where the joists were, miss them, cut a hole in the floor with an absurdly dull new $16.00 keyhole saw (which claims to do the job fast).  I also custom fit the catch bucket to the bottom, so the until is full enclosed in and under the Tiny, tiny bathroom.

The good thing is that there is NO SMELL… Honestly.  The coconut husks do exactly what they are supposed to do!

If this functions better well I will change the outside surfaces to a nicer counter top type of surface. If it does not, I am not sure what I will do since I already cut a 10.5 inch hole in the subfloor…

Categories: Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Guilt Trip

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Laura

Still no word about Baby.  Apparently the bike hospital cannot figure out what is going on with her.  Even so, I took the train from Hamilton to Kingston today.  I am going on a boat bash with a gang of girls tonight in Kingston.

The trip down was great.  Sat with a fantastic woman, Bonnie, for most of the trip and we had a great gab.  I bashed the monster, which is always good sport even if this is an easy target.  Too, the Via rep was a total sweetheart and easy on the eye, all in all not too shabby!

Forgot my sunglasses in Hamilton and hope that my husband will pick them up for me when he comes tonight… I can’t reach him, but think that time will tell me.

The guilt trip, I confess, is that I had to stop by at Tiny House Ontario.  You see, when I left last Sunday I sprayed for carpenter ants (I hate to do this but the eco traps were not working).   The nest in the dead tree next to the house seems to make them think that Tiny House Ontario is a part of their territory.  I am afraid that if this does not do the trick, I am going to have to remove their home.  I really hate to do this because it brings the woodpeckers and insect eating birds right up to my windows.  I really love to see the birds up so close and personal.

If anyone has and suggestions on how to get RID of ants without chemicals, I would really like to know!  Again… I want to have them as tasty little NEIGHBOURS that bring in birds.  Their home is four feet from Tiny House Ontario.

You know, I really hate to poison them because I think that poisoning is an awful, awful way to die.  Also, I also want to keep the house organic… but I already blew that last week when I relented with poison.  The tipping point, was that I cooked a pot of rice and found that an ant had fallen in and this was gross to me.  Vegetarians also don’t eat bugs – unless they were Starbugs clients that is, because as we now know that company have been feeding bugs to the people who chose to buy $5.00 cuppas for a long time.  Thankfully, I never go there.  So, the pot of rice-a-la-ant went to the compost and I started again.  Propane, water, rice and time all wasted.  As soon as I could I went to Home Hardware and bought some big gun spray… squirted out the stuff for 7 seconds and shut the door and left for Hamilton.

The point, I went to wash the floors and wipe the counters and table so that when the dogs get there, they will not be exposed.  There were about 50 dead ants on the floor.  I was not surprised!  It was absurd how many there were in the Tiny House.  They were crawling out all over the place.  Thankfully when I went to wash up today the only sign of life (inside of the house) was me.  I really hope that this stays that way because I really hate to murder even the smallest of creatures, even those who are intent on eating Tiny House Ontario.

Categories: Nature, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment

Siding

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Laura

The local saw mill has still not been able to get its hands on 16 foot cedars to cover Tiny House Ontario.  Sadly, without any covering she had a little leak this past winter and the interior boards on the North East wall sustained a little bit of damage.  This damage is behind the kitchen cupboards so it does not show… still it bugs me.

Even with this, I still think I want to wait for local cedar (and don’t have any of my own) but I also want to keep Tiny House Ontario safe from the weather.  So… I decided to flash the whole house.  I figure that this can stay on forever and will act as a great barrier against everything Mother Nature throws at a home.

It should cost about $400 to do the whole house.  24 inch wide rolls of flashing that are 100 feet long can be purchased at Home Hardware for a little over $200/roll.  I had used about 35 feet which I bought last year at the base of Tiny House Ontario to keep and rain water away from her at ground level, and also to keep ants out.  So this is what the brown line at the bottom of the house that comes up about a foot from the cement pad is.  This year I bought one whole roll of it and started the process of nailing it on.  I don’t have a bender or anything but since it is not meant to be a final cover just a protection for now, it does not matter if it is a wee bit wobbly.

I have used about a third the roll now and this is where I am so far.  I think it looks better than the Typar, but soon I am going to have to look up Gananoque Home Hardware in the phonebook instead of just looking at the outside of the house.  The top of the house does not have the number because it is a left over and donated bit from Leo.

I think I have enough to get up to the second floor windows.  Not exactly a fairy tale look, but it will do the trick!

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