The adventure goes on …
We celebrated our first winter solstice at the cabin today. From here, we can look forward to the days getting longer. I’ve always struggled with the short, dark days of winter, and always feel uplifted as we round mid-winter solstice and start heading into spring.
We were starting to run out of supplies again, and our list of required building materials was growing, so it was time for another trip to Campbell River. However, no more dark drives over icy roads – we were going to stay in a motel this time, and enjoy our first showers since May!
Although we now had our wood cook stove in our cabin, we still had a long ways to go before the cabin would be warm enough for us to move in.
When we were still living in Prince Rupert, we had become quite interested in getting a wood cook stove as an auxiliary source of heat for the upstairs of our house, and also as a stove which could be used during power outages (which occur frequently in Prince Rupert). After much investigation, we decided that we really liked a stove called the Baker’s Choice – an Amish made stove designed and manufactured in Canada by a company called Suppertime Stoves in Ontario. This stove is a durable, functional (but not fancy) airtight wood stove made from welded steel plate, and has been recommended by many homesteaders, both for heating cabins and as an excellent stove for cooking. However, before we actually purchased a Baker’s Choice stove for our home in Prince Rupert, we decided to sell the house and begin our adventures with simplicity and sustainability.
Friday, November 13th we finally got the roof on our cabin. For some people, this may have been considered an unlucky day, but for us, it was a very lucky one indeed!
We’ve been busy critters. As it turned out, all the materials required to build our house took three loads (Moody Blue towing our herring skiff) to get to our site, rather than the originally estimated two. It’s amazing how much stuff it takes to build a 20′ x 20′ cabin!
As a part of our approach to our work, we are always looking for ways to reduce our impact on the environment. After an evening’s discussion with like-minded friends, we started putting our minds to the question “What would a sustainable research vessel look like?” After much mulling and some research, I put our thoughts down on this page to stimulate further discussions.
The Northcoast region has been undergoing dramatic changes with respect to how natural resources are being utilized. There is a need to diversify the resource industries in the community so that resources which are currently under stress will not be exhausted and new resources can be brought on line. This has led to the exploration of opportunities in new fisheries, in value-added processing, and in mariculture.
Continue reading “Northcoast Plankton Identification and Monitoring Program”
The USAT Brigadier General M. G. Zalinski was a U.S. Army transport ship that served in both World War I and World War II. She was a steel ship 251 feet in length, 44 feet in width, and 26 feet in depth. She was originally built in 1919 as the Lake Frohna (Hull number 765) at the American Ship Building Company in Lorain, Ohio as a cargo vessel for the U.S. Shipping Board. From 1919 to 1924, she was owned by the U.S. Shipping Board.
Houses, like relationships and careers, need to have a solid foundation if they are going to be able to stand the test of time. Unfortunately, foundations are often under-appreciated. Most people take them for granted, or can’t even see them, until there is a problem. So, wisely, we have decided to spend a great deal of effort making sure that the foundation for our cabin is strong and solid.