Rempel Strawbale

After months of not posting here, I've decided to put all new posts on my new Blogspot blog. This site is just too much work to maintain, update, etc. It was a fun experiment, but from now on, updates about my straw bale house will be at http://strawbaled.blogspot.com

See you there!

This week I'll be starting up at the building site again.

I've arranged to have a ton of rebar delivered to the site on Tuesday. I've also ordered a bunch of epoxy that will arrive on Tuesday. I'm going to use this material to make the framework to pour a second layer of concrete on top of the existing garage foundation, to raise it up to the same height as the house foundation.

I gave up caffeine for Lent. This is my second update.

For the most part I've felt pretty normal since my last update. The daylight savings time change threw me off a bit, and for the last couple of nights I've slept poorly. But no headaches.

When Elfrieda and I bought our land a few years ago, we were told by the owners that they had signed a lease with a natural gas drilling company that allows the company to prospect and drill for natural gas on the land. There wasn't much we could do about it, and the likelihood of that happening seems remote, so we bought the land anyway.

I'm giving up caffeine for Lent.

I don't consider myself a caffeine junkie. Over the past few months, I averaged probably about 200-300mg daily caffeine intake per day (one mug of coffee plus whatever might be found in chocolate ice cream or whatever).

But I've often wondered what life would be like completely free from caffeine. Would I notice any difference? How long would it take to notice any health benefits?

Hey folks, sorry for dropping off the face of the web like that. I ran into some troubles and got too discouraged to post. I'll try to quickly sum up what has happened since breaking ground.

Barry excavated the garage trenches and the inspector declared them okay. I had Double-H Concrete come in and pour the footings and foundation walls for the garage and workshop.

Well a lot has happened this week and I've been too busy to post much. But I did take some pictures, and they're in the Project Progress album where you might expect them.

Well the day has finally arrived... I just found out less than half an hour ago that I have got my building permit! About 10 months after hiring an engineer to draw up my plans (Jan 15/08). Now that I've got my permit I'm lining up the main starting trades: excavation and foundation, and I'm preparing the timber frame folks to be ready when I'm ready for them. That's all for now.

Great news! Google Earth and Google Maps now show much sharper imagery at my building site's area. Be sure to make use of the Google Earth files I posted earlier to check out my property lines and so on.

A lot has happened since my last update. Sorry so long. I've been very busy.

Last time I said I was ready to cut some corn. I did, and I have pictures. I'll post pictures as soon as I can figure out why Drupal won't let me upload them. Anyway, I cut a bunch of corn down and had a big blue 40' shipping container delivered. I've put a lot of stuff in the container already, and locked it up tight. Mostly stuff like my Dad's old windows (someday they will be a greenhouse), some sawhorses, and a few tools.