Stakes in the ground

Getting the bearings 

Oh...the excitement is hard to contain! Today architect Chris and contractor Mark visited the lot to site the general location of the house. It's exciting because it gives us hope that we will not spend the rest of our time here at Turtle Falls in a trailer...a sort of Priscilla purgatory if you will...but in a real house, with real running water and a real shower. Don't get me wrong...we love Priscilla and the wacky weed-sprayer showers but it's October now and the outdoor showers...not so fun. In fact, we have taken to visiting the provincial park down the road to use their "comfort station" showers since the temperatures are not so Mimi-friendly these days. Comfort station is a fitting name as the happy hot water showering is much more comforting there than shivering through the barely above-freezing temperatures of the TF forest. But I digress...

It was fun watching Chris and Mark talk about things that Ras and I only pretend to fully understand. It's mind boggling to think about the logistics of this project. Digging, well drilling, septic, building a house that will have more insulation under the concrete slab than conventional houses have in the walls, building a house without a conventional heating system, and then there's the whole solar panel learning curve too! I'm just thankful contractor Mark didn't run screaming for the hills when he got wind of what we've signed him up for.

The plan for the not too distant future is to do some investigative digging into the hill where the house is going to sit. Hopefully there will be no surprises in the form of badly placed bedrock. Contractor Mark has earned a reputation around the area for being able to excavate in the craziest and rockiest locations. Turtle Falls' terrain doesn't seem to scare him. This is good. He obviously has more than a pry bar and a pickle jar with which to do his digging!

As the title of this post suggests, we did put some stakes in the ground. Ras took her job a little too seriously maybe. You be the judge.

Trespassers Beware!
Not so passive woman stakes out location for her new Passive House.
 I try not to let it interfere with my peaceful painting

More later,
Mimi