Upheaved

I’ve been gone on a long blog hiatus, as I sometimes do, but this time, I have a better excuse than usual.

Due to bureaucratic whim/circumstances beyond our control, we were suddenly required to uproot and completely relocate at the end of March.  Moving stock and barrel is rough at the best of times, but to have to do it quickly and unexpectedly, with no warning, is traumatizing.

We managed.  It was exhausting, frazzling, and affirming.  We got unexpected help and had wonderful things happen to offset the difficulty, but the whole experience was more or less on par with eating a solid dropkick.  I’ve been doing the emotional equivalent of  sitting and blinking like a lizard suddenly exposed to light ever since, but I’m recovering the faculty of movement, optimism, and the sense that everything is turning out for the best.  For a long while we were just telling ourselves and each other that it would surely turn out for the best, while the present moment was most definitely sucking.

Coming so soon on the heels of completing the barn reno made the title of this blog post cruelly ironic.  Since I’d expected to be able to enjoy the finished barn suite/home for at least a little while, having to leave it abruptly on the eve of completion was sad and painful.  Now our next fixer-upper is an 11′ long little project.

Now I live in the USA.  We are temporarily settled into a corner of the Pacific Northwest, staying with friends who are living and studying sustainable agriculture, so there is an abundance of poultry, mulch, and weeding to make us feel at home.

Forth!  Blogging on this channel will resume shortly….

Yay for labour-saving devices

I’m proud of conquering one annoying detail of life.

I was fed up with the funnel.

Every time I filled up with biodiesel before, it’s been an awkward dance with a dripping funnel, best executed with two people, at worst balanced with a couple of cold fingers and at least one fatiguing arm muscle balancing the jug and waiting for it ever so slowly to empty.

I got the plumbing parts at a growing supply store for <$8, and the only glitch was that the fitting inside the lid was too big and I had to grind it down for it to make a seal.

But now, the whole operation is dripless, super fast, and streamlined. No more funnel!

My DIY device doesn’t have a breather, but the containers the biodiesel comes in are flexible, so the sides suck in and they still empty into the tank in a few seconds. Easy and expeditious.

Now running bio is just that much more pleasant, and the semi-virtuous mixed feelings about driving continue.

No one can put biodiesel in the tank without smiling:)

Biodiesel in the Kootenays

First day of spring?

"Hoooo, still cold...alternate feet, alternate feet!"

Yesterday, the chickens were bounding around outdoors all day.

They pop out of their door when it’s opened like they were under pressure, scamper all over the paddock, around the barn, and the woods behind the coop, like was normal for them when the snow first appeared. It seems as long as there is some bare ground to explore, they don’t mind the snow.

Today, however, the “first day of spring”, there’s a solid new blanket of heavy wet snow and more coming down.  So the chickens are inside again.

Almost done, it must be about time to move again!

We’ve been on a concentrated push to truly finish the barn. That is, our home. It’s been “adequate”, by my standards, for some time, and I’ve been living in it, but the true goal is to have all the trim and paint and handles and whatnots complete. It’s tiresome to be constantly surrounded by a to-do list in 3D.

We’ve finished all the floor, putting in click planks of cork. It’s a compromise; I wanted gluedown because it looks better and has no adhesives in the laminate, but the cork could outlast the subfloor so it’s nice to be able to take it up, and I was told that Torlys has peerless environmental practices. We finished all the last voids of canvas, plated all the outlets, finished all the baseboard and thresholds, exterior wood, made custom curtains, a tile pad for the woodstove, and many storage shelves. It was more work than it sounds like.

Not that I was ever out to prove this, but I feel I’ve proved that a home can be as sexy and cozy without plumbing, with wood heat and minimal electrical, as a house much bigger with a $1000/month mortgage (I’ve been there).

We have a strong ethic of not buying any materials if we can figure out a way to avoid it. This frees up money to spend in the right place, IMO- on better quality and more attractive versions of what does need to be purchased. It also means multiple varieties of wood trim, reused and denailed lumber, and using stuff for applications it wasn’t exactly meant for.

The creative alternatives tend to be more satisfying and unique. Ceramic insulators and baling wire for curtain “rods” (I have a hunch that champagne corks with a hole bored in them would be pretty cool too), DIY wooden switchplates, 12″ tall (short) wainscotting pieced together from dozens of scraps, and of course a pulley-operated dumbwaiter. My favorite is the dumbwaiter, to send morning tea up to the loft. No home is complete without one.

It’s very satisfying to have all the inevitable stuff of life support organized and arranged for optimal accessibility and function. It takes a fair bit of time and attention to orchestrate that. It’s quite emotionally satisfying, a relief even – in H.W.’s version of “A place for everything and everything in its place”: “Everything has a holster and everything is holstered”. Our kitchen won’t look like the average kitchen (maybe anyone’s kitchen), but it has functional zones and we can lay hands on everything commonly used instantly, and less used easily.

I’m especially in love with this composting container from Lee Valley Tools. It’s meant to hang on a cupboard door, but since we don’t have one, I made a custom catch for it to hook on, and it slides the length of the counter and slides off to take it and empty it. The unexpected advantage of this is that it slides the length of the counter, and one can deftly sweep all the crumbs straight into it with a flourish!

The final price tag for this entire reno, from the starting point of roof, framing and dirt floor to (plumbing-free) suite, is under $12 000. The biggest chunks of that expense were the certified chimney, the Roxul insulation, the cork floor, and the essential but unseen drain tile.

Accidentally Green

Little notebooks, little notebooks…

 

I made some little notebooks.  All paper salvaged from an office recycling, cut to fit with little cardstock images I found graphic and entertaining – a flight safety pamphlet (no, I didn’t remove it from the seatback pocket), the cover of an antique trashy paperback, postcards, and bits from calendars.

In theory it would be a good way to add value to paper and saved images, but it took rather forever to cut little stacks of paper to fit and match up some attractive front and back covers.

After I had them all ready to bind, I took them to my neighborhood copy store that smells like toner.  I wanted the spiral coil binding, but that required sending them away and waiting for days, so I accepted the Cerlox binding they could do immediately.

Voila, little notebooks!

The freeloading late bloomers are laying!

We hadn’t checked on the chickens for a few days and H.W. came back from the henhouse telling me I’d better come see for myself.  I hadn’t even noticed hearing them for a couple days (their food and water supplies last for two weeks so we can ignore them at times), so I freaked out.  “Just tell me if they’re dead“, I wailed, on my way out to the henhouse without a jacket, but he wouldn’t.

The chickens were fine, milling nervously in the corner with their necks stretched tall and tilting their heads at us, cheeks comically fluffed out.  The big event was prominently featured front and center in the first nest box- eight perfect pale blue eggs.

I’m so proud!  Our chickens are all grown up!  Finally.  They were due to start producing around November, but that was the beginning of winter.  So they helped themselves to a whole ‘nother season of free feed before starting to earn their keep.

I was expecting some “starter eggs”- gnarled, diminutive, or otherwise dubious quality eggs while they were “breaking in”, so to speak, but all the eggs are uniform and perfect.  Next, I’m all excited about getting an incubator, and multiplying the flock.

First getting the little blighters

Long live the Covered Bicycle…

I truly love my bicycle and I treasure the times we spend together pushing each other to the limit and beyond, exploring the edges or just relaxing on a sunny afternoon. I take care of my bike and my bike takes care of me, as it should be for any quality friendship. But what of those moments in time when I am not sitting proudly atop my two wheeled chariot or faithfully de-greasing and re-greasing the simple inner and outer workings?  What of the times when I must park my bike overnight outside or store it for a extended duration inside of my old dusty barn?

My Machine

If I truly want this incredible machine to last a lifetime or at least to look good and work well for years to come then I must wrap it in love as much as possible. What I mean is that I must protect my bicycle from the elements when I’m not riding it. The best way to protect a bike or any vehicle for that matter from elements when not in use is to put a cover over it. This will add years to the life of a bicycle, guaranteed.

I recently was contacted  by Empire Covers in response to my “Adventures of the Bicycle Life” blog and was offered an opportunity to review the company’s bicycle covers. I checked out their website (empirecovers.com) and was impressed with the materials and wide selection of covers they make, from R.V. covers to bicycle covers and everything in between.

About the size of a football rolled up in its storage sack

I am always in need of a quality bike cover when I am camping during a bicycle tour or even just when I have my human powered machine parked in the dusty old barn between regular rides. For years I have used military rain ponchos as my bike covers. They work pretty well as they are camouflage (for when I camp) and waterproof, but they are not a perfect fit, especially when my bike is tour loaded with panniers. Then the poncho gets blown out of place easily by the wind.

Empire Covers make 3 well-designed bicycle covers: the standard, sun-proof, and waterproof covers.  I have utilized and am in the process of long-term testing all three. For the bicycle cover testing I’m using a 58cm Surly Long Haul truck with 700c wheels and Surly Nice Racks , and 22.5  inch Marin Larkspur with 26″ wheels and a rear Surly nice with a Jandd Extreme front rack.

"TaDaaa! Bicycle!" Standard bicycle cover.

The standard cover priced at $25 with a 2-year warranty is made of a silver, lightweight, high quality, breathable polyester material, that folds up to about the size of a football when stowed in its (included) storage sack. According to the Empire Covers website this cover has high protection ratings against dust, rain, sun and mid-range protection against snow.  It is very simple and quick to use. I pulled it out of the stow sack, unrolled it, located and positioned the “front” labeled side and slid it down over my bike, snugging the elastic band at the bottom of the cover around my wheels and drive train. Total installation time, 30 seconds. Now my bicycle looks happy, all sealed up, impermeable to dust, moisture and sun. I think it will be my perfect long-term indoor storage bike cover, as I always store my bicycles indoors at home.

Sunproof cover

The sun-proof cover priced at $35 with a 3-year warranty is made of a high quality lightweight, breathable Du-pont Tyvek material. It is a very nice and well-engineered cover as well, with the same elastic band at the bottom that keeps it snug around the bike. It installs over the bike with the same process as the standard cover. This cover boasts a 100% sun protection rating, with rain and dust ratings not far behind and a mid-range snow protection rating also. This cover would be ideal for the bicycle owner that stores their bike outside exposed to the hot sun.

Waterproof cover.

Then there is the top-of-the-line waterproof cover. This cover is by far my favorite  cover for outdoor expeditionary  type use (i.e. tour camping) because it is made of a heavy duty nylon material with an extra tough elastic band around the bottom and it is an easily concealable black color, requiring the same installation process and time as the other two covers. This cover boasts a 100% rain, snow, dust proof rating and a sun proof rating of at least 75%. I would say if  I was to buy just one of these three covers then the most versatile, long lasting and weather proof  option for me would be the waterproof cover.

I also had the opportunity to test a set of Gust Guards. These handy little items are located in the automotive accessories department of the Empire Covers website, but alas they are just as practical for use on bicycles and I was glad to give them a test run on my bike.

Gust Guard in action

Essentially the Gust Guard is a set of short black bungees and four clips that attach to anywhere on the bike cover. You attach the clips at the base of the cover on opposite sides of the wheels and then hook the bungees onto the clips, which pulls it all snugly together so no wind gust will blow through and blow the cover off the bike. I think the covers are super snug and secure on my bikes on their own because of the form fitting design and tight elastic hem around the bottom, but the Gust Guard will give added security for the person that feels they would like it.

All three covers where large enough to put over my bicycle and racks when it was tour loaded with four large front and rear panniers.

These covers are great for protecting during storage all kinds of bicycles  in the garage (or barn in my case) because they protect against standard dust or sawdust and protect the bike frame from the occasional bump when I am working in close proximity.

These covers are great for the person that stores their bikes outside whether at home or during a tour because of their sun/water/snow protection, which is crucial to maintaining  the long term integrity of the bike frame and components.

These covers are well designed and made, well worth the $25 to $40 investment in protecting the beloved bicycles for a lifetime of riding, one pedal stroke at a time.

A bow and a solid hand shake to Empire Covers, well done.

- H.W.

Bicycles, Get Some!

Bicycle trailers:Pushing/Pulling the Limit