New Calendar Needed

I woke up this morning out at the acerage to find alot of snow. Now it is 6:00 pm, I am now at home, and the snow still has'nt let up yet. I really must be looking at the wrong calendar, because I thought the month of June was about 12 days away. This is why it is called the "great white north" I guess.

Anyway, I spent the last 5 days out at my acerage. It was the May long weekend in Canada. Victoria day. I went out on Thursday and got home this afternoon (Tuesday). There were a few old friends that came out for some of it, and we did a bunch of camping and ATV'ing. Even the hermits gotta get out and play once in awhile. The weather was not real great, but we had alot fun anyway. The bush was nice and muddy, just the way we like it. I have a few pictures from the extra long weekend.

There were some minor damages, but no one got hurt.
The beaver were pretty busy building a dam.


We did see some wildlife, including elk, moose, squirrels, lots of different birds, a wild quad drivin jack russel and a weasel right on my own land. That might not be a good thing if I were to have chickens some day, but I really don't see much in the way of mice either.

Well that was my weekend. There were others with cameras out there too, and some other photos may come my way through email in the near future that could possibly get posted. The weather on this camp out was actually quite miserable. Rainy and cold. Friday morning was -5 celcius, I think I heard the radio say. There was frost on everything. I always had my furnace stoked right up at night. We did'nt let the weather hold us back from having fun though.

Splitting Wood.

Call me crazy, but I really enjoy splitting firewood by hand. I have a hydraulic wood splitter that you pump by hand. It is a little slower than all that powered up stuff, but it will split a knotty pine like nothing. I have never split a days worth of wood in my life. But I have been doing a fair bit of it lately. I built a wood shed recently out of a bunch of old lumber I had laying around, and in the process of cleaning up my building spot, I thought I may as well split the wood and have some on hand just incase I find myself in a cabin on my miniature ranch someday soon. I put a video of me splitting a log. Very entertaining stuff. lol. Just wanted to see if a video would upload, thats all. It's nothing special, just wanted to show off my splitter that I picked up at an auction a long time ago, for next to nothing. I don't even know if the video will upload or not. Anyway, so the wood splitting is kinda fun for now, but I wonder when it gets old. I can see me maybe getting tired of this wood splitting style someday in the future, but for now, I guess this will have to do. Does anyone out there happen to know how many cords of wood I would need to heat a 16x24 shack through a cold winter? How long does a cord of wood usually last? It sure seems like it takes a long time to split it anyway.

I have been keeping myself pretty busy lately. Got the backhoe running, and my quad, and I have been doing some cleaning up out there. Also research. I have been reading alot of different things, on framing, and wiring etc. I usually just go and build things and not even worry about it, but it is a little different when you know the inspector will be involved.

They're forcasting snow for tonight, and by the sound of the wind outside, just about anything might blow in tonight.

Waiting for the word GO.

I know it seems like nothings going on over here on my end, but believe me I have been going like a wildman over here. Yesterday, I finally got my stuff over to the county office, after drawing more pictures and all that for most of the day. Finally. Now, I don't know what, wait and see what I can and can't do on my own personal paid for piece of land, I guess. Kinda feel like a grade three student trying to get permission to go to the bathroom. I can understand why they need to do things like this though, I for one had all kinds of strange plans up my sleave, but having to go through the permit process kind of brings you back to reality a bit. lol. I honestly can't believe how long it took me to plot my peice of land on paper though. I did have a few other things hold me back however, such as work and what not.

Now I have been busy with other important things pertaining to my little project. #1, still hiding from work as much as possible. #2 Trying to get some front wheel bearings and seals for my old quad. It's been riding around in the back of my pickup on three wheels for quite some time now. The goodies should be in maybe Thursday. I went to a bearing place for my parts. Two bearings and four seals all for the price of just one bearing at the local Kawasaki dealer. They don't need my money very badly I guess.

#3 The old backhoe really needs some tlc, for she will be pretty busy for awhile in the near future. The beast.

She needs a couple new pins and bushings in the bottom of the boom.

It was an interesting day. I got all greasey and dirty and I loved it. Anything is better than measuring and drawing all day long. I got the boom off the tractor, and pins in hand. Tomorrow I'll see what I can do to beat John Deeres price for pins and bushings. Maybe I can get some built, and save a hundred bucks or so. Maybe I can build my own. We'll see. So thats whats going on in my life at the moment. Still being frugal, still being Candian and still being a hermit and still trying to keep everything as simple as possible, which is sometimes easier said than done.

Decisions, Decisions.

I have always had a hard time making important decisions. Everythings got to be just right. I did'nt think things would be so hard about setting up a place to live on. There are so many obstacles, power line, creek, ditches, propery line, trees, trying to hide from work, sewer, cistern, propane tank, solar power, sewage mound (that one takes alot of space), parking, where am I going to put my fire pit after it's all done. Thats the main concern.

Anyway, I found all my property markers except for one. I have a pretty good idea where that one should be, but it should'nt really matter for now. If for some reason I have to have one put in, it should'nt be a real big deal, but until that time, it is good enough for me. I have spent the last few days either at work, getting some lowboys and trucks ready for action, but mostly I have been trying my damdest to stay away from work so I can get my plans all done and sent in for approval. I'm kinda worried that there will be some silly thing that will get me denied. I have never done anything like this before and I'm not real sure how easy the county is to get along with. Sometimes I think it would be alot simpler to follow in Richard Proenneke's foot steps and just build a cabin in the bush. lol.

It will be a little while before I actually start swinging a hammer at my shack, there are a lot of things I need to do while waiting for approval once I actually get my plan into the county office. My acerage is a mess. There happens to be a big pile of wood and other miscellaneous stuff right on the potential building spot.

It would be kinda nice to get that all cleaned up and maybe slap some kind of a wood shed together to put it all in. My backhoe also needs a little TLC. The main boom pin and bushings are wore pretty good. Some other pins are a little wore too, but those ones are not a real concern at this time. My place in town will need a little TLC also, if I plan on renting it out. And all the while, trying to hide from the employer as much as possible. Won't they please fire me? lol. Just kidding, it will be nice to take a drive into the wilderness the odd time with pay. Tomorrow I gotta go to Edmonton and pick up a piece of equipment. The boss man just bought two more machines. I guess he must know something that I don't about having some work going on in the near future.

For now I have a plan where everything is supposed to go. I am getting pretty close. I just have to look into a couple of other issues and I'll get things going. There are some good and bad points as to where the shack might be built. Can't win them all. Where the sewage treatment mound is planned to go, it will be sitting on about a 6% downhill grade, this will probably cause the mound to be wider than it normally would have to be. From the stake right in front of the camera in the picture below, then straight ahead to a stake up to just before the garage and then to the right to the bush line. That is the mound. I might possibly be able to make it smaller than that, but from my calculations so far, this is about what it will look like. I could be wrong, hopefully. I just "hope" it dos'nt need to be bigger. lol. And then it is quite possible they might reject it anyway. The shack is going to be built up past the garage and camper into that far right corner. Thats the plan so far, anyway. It will be over looking the creek, and set on about a 45 degree angle with the garage. I will lob a little off the top of those four spruce trees that are straight past the garage to open up the south veiw of the sun for optimal solar panel sunlight. I will miss a tiny bit of the early morning sun in the East, but will catch it for the rest of the day until it goes down in the West at night.

I have been getting my exercise lately, alot of walking back and forth and measuring. I have been out there probably 4 times, just trying to decide. lol. I guess, I should'nt rush things anyway, it could be my home for alot of years to come. There is only so many options availeable also, so there's not much I can do differently really. Finding all the possilbilities and then doing some research of the allowable dimensions and what not does take alot of time.

Frugal Canadian Surveyer

I thought maybe I have given mother nature enough time to get rid of most of the snow. Here is a picture of that picnic table again, just for snow comparison reasons. There is still a little of the white stuff laying around, but I can get around real good. I also drive my truck right in if I want.

So I phoned around for a couple estimates to get an idea how much it would cost to get my 3.6 acres of land surveyed. I need to know where all the corners are. There are six of them. One guy is a minimum of $750.00 but I never did get a maximum out of him. I did'nt think of it. The other guy said $500.00-$600.00 if all the markers are there, but if not, it could run about $2500.00. From experience I think I know how this all goes. I thought I better go and give it try myself, maybe even if I can find 2 or 3 stakes it might help. Apparently the stakes could be buried 6 - 12 inches in the ground and they were put in quite a long time ago. It is harder than I thought. I did'nt have much luck today, I do know of two survey markers near the entrance of my property, and I'm not totally sure which one to go from, I'm sure one is my corner, but which one? Hopefully I will figure it out eventually. It is quite possible I might have to get a real surveyer to help me out with this eventually, but I'll see what I can do for now.

The creek is running pretty fast, although it is not as deep as I always thought it usually was this time of year.

I don't know what it is, but sometimes the simplest suppers are the best. And the little dog agreed with me 100%. We both like roasted weiners over the fire. It was nice weather for awhile, but it ended up getting pretty windy and rainy before the weiner roast was all complete. I did'nt really feel the wind that much, but I could hear it and the trees were acting real funny.

Still Have Some Snow

I went out to the land again this weekend to check out the snow situation. I decided to let mother nature remove the snow for me, it should'nt be much longer. Last week I was wishing I could get around like a dog, but this week is a totally different story. I can now walk around pretty well, the snow is only to the top of my boots in most places. But they are tall boots.

For the poor little dog, it is a totally different story. Last week she was running all over the top of the snow with no problems at all, this week the snow is pretty soft and mushy. How the tables turn. I was trying really hard not to laugh at her, I was just laughing with her. I think. LOL. She is kinda hard to see in the picture, unless you are looking for her.

Here is a picture of the picnic table and the catwalk, just for a comparison from a week ago.
I really thought that I would have seen water running in the creek by now. I imagine that it is running under the snow a bit, but in a few days time I expect it to be kinda like a raging river. Just a bit of an update. Bye for now.
Mark

My Exercise for the Month

Closer to town, when I look in all the fields, the snow seems to be getting shallower all the time. Almost shallow enough to walk on. Except for at my place I guess. Kinda thought I would go out there today and get some measurements, so I had a better idea with my upcoming plans of a cabin. Kinda had my heart set on lighting a fire and roasting some hotdogs also. There was a little more snow out there than I thought there would be. Even my backhoe will have a hell of a time cleaning that up. I'm sure it will do it, but it won't be easy. That snow is deep and heavy. I can just about walk on it, then I crash through it deeper than my knees. I had a couple of boards in my truck, that I thought I would use as snow shoes. They helped, but I sure hope nobody was watching the event. It was very slow going. I tried several different methods of walking on these things. I thought I would throw one out there, walk on it then move the other one, it kinda worked, but then I would break through and it was very slow. I took the top lace out of my boots and tried tying the makeshift snowshoes to my boots. That was short lived. Finally, I just held the lace by hand and kinda pulled the boards along as I went. It worked sometimes, but it was still pretty slow going, and I imagine I looked pretty stupid out there. My dog was running circles and I am pretty sure she was probably laughing at me. Maybe she was embarrassed that someone would see us. Sometimes I wish I were a dog. This one has it made in the shade.

Thankfully the snowmobilers, must not have noticed the no trespassing signs that they drove right by to get in there. There were snowmobile tracks about halfway in that I could walk on, but after that is where all the fun began. I know the signs must be pretty hard for them to notice. lol

So I got in there anyway. It sure was alot of work. My campfire idea is out and so is the measuring. I know that if I had to build a campfire, I surley could have, but it just did'nt really seem worth it today with it so hard to get around. But I did manage to bar-b-que my hot dogs. I also found another really good use for snow.

Those are only 0.5%, but they are kinda like the real thing.

I made myself a little catwalk over to the picnic table.

This last picture shows the trail I had to break. I went in and out on this one and I mangaged to break one of my snowshoes coming out. I guess maybe I had too many hotdogs.

Well I don't know. I did'nt get much accomplished but it was a nice day. I did envision some potential spots for the upcoming cabin, what ever it may be. I am looking for the perfect spot where everything will be allowed and also what would work best with a solar energy system in amongst the trees etc. I did notice today, that at noon the sun seems to be pretty darn high. So in April, I can't really see much problem with shading on solar panels etc. I should have sat out here for a day in Dec and I could have been quite abit smarter about that. I guess the trick is to get the panels up high and maybe trim a little off the top of some trees. That should'nt hurt spruce and pine I hope, does it? I know a good solar energy system would be best in the wide open area, but I do love being surrounded by trees. So I guess I will work around that somehow.

I am not even perfectly sure where all my boundery lines are, I have a good idea, but that is not good enough and I think I have to get a surveyer in here to find those for me before I can even apply for a developement permit. Thats kinda what I got out of my last conversation with the county girl anyway. I guess I had better get plowing some snow soon. Maybe even tomorrow. I have a feeling this is all going to be a long drawn out process, but I do want to try and keep it all legal so there are no complications down the road. The land is only 3.6 acres, it has six sides, and with a creek running around the outside edge of alot of it, so hopefully everything is going to fit. There is always a way, I guess. I hope. This is all going to be a learning experience for me, the next time everything will be alot smoother, including the purchase of the land. Later days.

Mark