I am back to work after a bit of a hiatus. The cloth porch is looking better bit by bit. I guess it is about 2/5ths level now after spending a few more hours on it. I still need to get a little more rock but have not been able to do this because of work being done at the quarry. I can’t gain access. Thankfully my brother-in-law is willing to keep the truck on the road for a little while longer so I can get this done (I am paying for the insurance). Thanks B.I.L! You are awesome! 
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Categories: Off Grid, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View
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Stay Puft Sunset
Last night after the radio show, Shannon and I were leaving the studio to catch the Glenora Ferry back to the mainland. When we got outside we were treated to a magical sky that included a psychadellic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man peeking over the clouds… Do you see him? LOL!
I took a number of photos because it was so gorgeous out. Here is the best one of the night. I think I am going to paint it.
Categories: Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View
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Scary Night and Nice Changes
It has been a very busy week for me, so I have been neglecting updates here simply because I did not have the opportunity to sit in a cafe with an internet connection.
Aside from work I had, what I think was a visit from a bear on Saturday night. I could hear it, but I could not smell it or see it. It woke me up with banging and growling and since I was up in the loft I thought it prudent to stay there instead of climbing down to turn on the lights and draw attention to myself. The good thing is that it went away without incident. I don’t think it got one of the neighbours chickens which is where it seemed to be. (Update July 5, 2013: unfortunately two chickens were killed that night.)
In terms of great stuff, one of the awesome things happening at THO is that the fireflies are back! I know that they come back year after year but every year it surprises me and makes me so happy!
The other awesome thing is that a robin has built her nest a few feet away from the North door on a low branch in the maple tree, and she is nesting, so there will be baby robins soon I hope!
Life is great!
Categories: Forest, Nature, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View
Tags: nature, outdoors
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Total Darkness
Three nights ago, I awoke… peeked at my light up watch. It was 3:00 am and I was in my loft at THO. It was dark. I opened my eyes, but they did not adjust to the light. I looked out the window but there was no light, I could see nothing at all.
It dawned on me that I have not, even in the forest of the tiny house been in complete and total darkness since I took a photography class many years ago. I lay there, petting my dog who I could tell was Minnie by the way her fur feels in my hand. She is the neediest of my dogs because of her being a runt perhaps and she is always cuddled right in to my tummy while I sleep.
I am not normally insomnia ridden but I lay there awake for about two hours until the daylight broke the darkness. It was not restlessness or frustration that kept me awake. I was looking at nothing because my eyes never adjusted. I simply enjoyed the rare experience of living without light.
Have you ever been outside, or in a room with many curtain free windows and experienced absolute total darkness?
Categories: Forest, Off Grid, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View
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Tiny r(E)volution and the Giant Hoax
Tiny me has the pleasure of being interviewed by the charming and hilarious Drew (Andrew Odom) and my wonderful and inspiring twin Laura (LaVoie) of Tiny r(E)evolution. Their funny and vastly entertaining Episode 37 interview with yours truly is here.
The unanswered question after the interview… is it too wild to live there full time? Made me laugh a little (okay… a lot).
It is not all the fault of our American friends that this “WILD UNTOUCHED FREEZING NATION” is the understanding you have of Canada. It is in movies, TV, books and truthfully from a Canadian perspective we like to emulate that we are all Bob McKenzie’s living in igloos to our American neighbours. We can’t help ourselves! We find it funny to keep this joke running. So I vacillate between answering truthfully or taking the Canadian stance and to pull your legs.
Not that Canadians are liars, but we do enjoy telling a fish tale and afterward giggling… I am no exception.
So there are two equally good response questions…
1. Do I have to build THO a customary igloo covering in order to protect it from the elements and use sled dogs to get around 10 months of the year?
Or…
2. Do I live less than 50 km from the US border and have the same weather as New York?
I won’t answer rather I will show you the map of weather zones (for planting) and let you know that THO sits in the yellow zone that is right above Lake Ontario.
The map will tell you that at THO we can expect similar winters to people who live in parts of Kansas and New Mexico. It can also expect easier winters than those who live in North Dakota and significantly better than Minnesota. We really don’t experience very hard winters in the most populated areas of Canada. In fact, is is not until you get North of the 60’th parallel… beyond the tree line… where actually people once did (a hundred years ago) live in igloos.
This said, if you want to sleep in an ice house, in Montreal they build an ice hotel in the winter and you can rent a room there if this is your kind of thing.
THO is roughly 25 km (15 miles) of paved roads from Kingston. The city itself has a population of 125,000 people. Kingston is a foodie town with lots of creative people and amenities. It is also the home of the Ivy League, Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College which makes it a very vibrant intellectually rich city for it’s size. It has a lot of tourism not just because it is pretty, but because it sits at the Thousand Islands and the tri-county region is not only the home of these islands it also has over 1000 lakes so there are cottages everywhere. It is also where the Rideau Canal starts and goes up to Ottawa.
I invite you to visit the city and partake of its culture and sites.
Honestly, there is nothing dangerous that is keeping me from living in THO… it is just a matter of having the money to install a well, a pump, getting running water going, having regular heat, a septic bed to put waste water in and of course, a shed to store my igloo building kit in.
I am getting there a little at a time. For now… I stay there a lot of the year and paint the town.
Thank you Drew and Laura for having me on! It was a pleasure and an honour to speak with both of you. I hope you will get up for a visit sometime! Don’t forget to pack your snow suit!
Categories: Kingston, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario, View, Winter
Tags: an temperatures, climate, hoax, Igloo, Sled dogs, Tiny r(E)volution
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Tiny House Ontario 