Tiny House Ontario

Waiting and Going Green

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Laura

It has been 15 days since I arrived at Tiny House Ontario.  The forest changes so much every single day; I can’t capture it’s move from brown to green.  A slow motion camera would be fantastic  – or even a shot of photos taken three times a day, every day would have been great too.  Next year, perhaps I will remember to do this?

Now the canopy covers me and Tiny House Ontario disappears into deep forest.

Here is Leo packing up after the build a few days ago… see how green?

These days, the trees are so dense that the dogs hear people arriving before I can see them coming down the half kilometre lane.  Still, they keep me aware of what is going on.  This is Minnie standing guard.

It is so warm now that these plants that I initially had in my window are moved outside.

I start the little 10×10 raised garden too.  At dusk… another day until the soil arrives to the rock.

Categories: Dogs, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Nature, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

In-house

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Laura

I have a place to go!  The in-house (eco-outhouse) is finally done!

A sink and toilet are fully enclosed and I will also have an outdoor shower.  The little building is right beside the Tiny House – One opens the window and walks thorough to get into the tiny in-house….  The building is fully removable if I get into any issues with Tiny House Ontario being larger than 9x 12 now.

It adds just 16 square feet of living space (minus the 3 and 5/8ths wall on three sides and it is in fact so small that it had to be built from the inside out.  Plastic, then tile-wallboard, This was then insulated from the outside and after this the plywood was nailed on and the steel roof too.

My friend Leo did most of the work because a lot of it was out of my element and also with it being so darned small… workspace was pretty limited.  As easy on the eye as Leo is… being in a 4×4 room together working is a might too small.  ;-P

My cousin Vernie built me a beautiful custom vanity with a carved floral door and it has a Habitat for Humanity sink in it, which was $20… It makes the room really pretty.

I have to tallied the costs yet but even so – The interior is done and ready and in use.  I have not yet put in the eves trough and rain barrel, so there is no running rain water yet but the drains work so I use a small enamel pitcher to wash for now.  When the rain water is done, I will tally and I will let you know what the 4×4 (exterior measure) bathroom cost.

Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 5 Comments

Crazy Crazy Glued

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Laura

When I purchased the four foot counter top for my place and it was 2 and 3/4 inches too short I just sighed a little and accepted it.  This may have been the right thing to do in retrospect.

I put a piece of wood in there and aside from the appearance, it worked just fine for me at that size and shape.

Still, I was visiting the Home Hardware in Gananoque and getting a  piece of plywood cut and noticed that there was a piece, the same as mine, left over and sitting in the waste and thought I should ask.  The young lad doing the cutting said that the counter guy was gone and therefore he would not let me buy it and told me to come back the next day.

Next day, I went and talked to Diana who asked me to show her the piece – she went back with me to see it and talk to the guy and the store manager Laura said – if the lads can cut it, I can have it… so I left it too them.  Jim, showed the patience of Job and did an excellent job with the cut which was a funny one because it goes under the stairs.  I brought it home and it slid right into spot.  One problem though was that the little cut end was still exposed – but ever frugal, I had a little sample of the counter top, so I used my Japanese saw and custom fit it for the end.

Anyway – this is when things got hinky.  They did not have crazy glue at the store so I got the store brand and this came to so fast that I had the stuff everywhere.  It covered my left hand and sadly, I glued myself right to the little counter top.  I can tell you that gluing your fingers together is NOTHING but if you glue yourself to something smooth like a new counter, you are in trouble and do you know, it hurts too.  I took the counter out and went outside and used an exacto-blade to cut myself free.  Left a good layer of skin there. I also needed to get a manicure because took so much skin and nail off of the left hand.

Still, the counter is in and it looks finished now that I have scraped my thumb off it.

Thanks to Gananoque Home Hardware for all the effort… I wonder if you might be able to help me with the bit missing from my thumb?

 

 

Categories: Tiny House Ontario, Writing | Leave a comment

Evicted!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Laura

 

Last fall a Ms. Mama Mouse moved into the BBQ at Tiny House Ontario and because I am a person who is highly concerned about the ethical treatment of animals I left her be.   I also fed her and her family when I went home.  She liked Mary’s Organic Crackers (who doesn’t?) and also the peanuts that Liisa brought her were a big hit, and the shells became part of her bedding after, so these had a HUGE added bonus.  Ms. Mouse came to look forward to my visits and would come out to see what sort of tasty treats were coming her way.  When I peeked in with a treat, she would peek out at me.

Even so, now that it is spring, and this is my main means of meal preparation I had to evict Ms. Mouse.

Since she has come to expect nuts, seeds, she sat watching me, totally aghast, as I took her home apart.  Poor little girl.  I think she even cried a little with me.  It was about half removed by the time she decided to run for her life.

After clearing her out, I turned the BBQ on bringing it up to 500 degrees for a good hour and then allowed it to sit at about 200 for an additional hour in order to kill germs or whatever she left behind.  The BBQ is probably in its last year of life, so I think when this happens I will leave it in the forest for the mice.

It is two days now and so far she has not moved back and seems to have accepted the newly located home that I have made for her.

 

 

 

Categories: Forest, Friendship, Nipple, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

2012 Season Begins!

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Laura

After we arrived yesterday, and unpacked, it was so great outside so we decided to take the dogs out on a nice walk through the woods and see how spring was looking on the land.  First observation is that the forest is very dry.  It is a dry spring so far.  Also we have at least one black fly that lived through the winter.

The pathway grew in quite a bit with the prickly bush, so we have to do a little more clearing this year so that we can walk through with the dogs.  Their little faces are just the right height to be scratched and their leashes get annoyingly wound up in the branches.

Also a lot of rocks fell at the fence line for the dog’s garden so these had to be put back up to keep them safely in and other critters safely out.

The stone cairns in the back of the land are still there and looking great.  No trees lost, that I can see, but still a few to clear from last year when the storm brought a tornado close to us.

We cleared a path through this morning and will bring the dogs out this afternoon to check it out.  Hopefully it goes a little better this time.

My husband put the rocks back up along the dog’s garden.

It was cold too but with the small camp heater we got cozy and slept long and well.

Now we start the real work!

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Categories: Dogs, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Simple living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 1 Comment