Decking discs and divine dining

It's been a great spring so far. We've had mint from our planters, good times on the green roof and of course the nearly completed exterior siding!
But even among great weekends this weekend was special.

In the work department, Kevin finished some milling and Mike and Malcolm started on the much -anticipated decking.

He's a lumberjack and he's OK

is that decking going down? oh my so it is!

Green roof part 2 and lots more visible signs of progress

What a VSOP (visible sings of progress) weekend it turned out to be.

We finished the breezeway roof and planted our first plants. 

We made and planted several self-watering planters

We fixed the broken seats on the boat

We ate great food

We took down the scaffolding off the south wall

We finished the breezeway roof and planted our first plants. 

Maddy and Kevin working on the decking for the roof.

The decking is made in two parts so the underside can be accessed if needed.

The Shingle Best Weekend of 2012

How many puns can people make using the words shingle and shake? About as many as the hundreds of nails that were used to put up the shingle siding on the power tower!

In addition to the many bad puns our long weekend also featured

 trampolining

swimming

 boobytrap

and nature bingo!

ready to take the plunge

getting crafty!

We also had lots of neighbours and visitors coming to check out our progress. I am getting quite practised at our '7l cabin tour.' If I had to summarize the things I emphasized most about our building journey they were:

• Start with things you love. In our case, it was the land first, then the windows which we built the house around.
• Find some common ground that will shape your decisions.
• Create a good base camp
• Enjoy the process!

Big thanks to Mike, John, Maddy and Blake and our land partner Bill who brought the beautiful cedar shakes from Vancouver island,

Synchronized swimming and the beginning of the end of the scaffolding!

Another lovely weekend for Halkett Bay Builders!

Mike and Ralphie on the roof and breezeway

Maddy finishing the painting the window sills brown

We put our salvaged corplast on the east wall of the power tower. Now both sides of the tower have a nice diffused light during the day and a great glow at night.

and we got started on the siding for the power tower

What's missing from this picture? Scaffolding!! Sometimes taking something down feels like almost as big a deal as building something up! Taking down the scaffolding off the west wall of the cabin felt like a HUGE step forward!

And we still had time for fun and leisure

Lora studying to be our tree expert

Lunch time!

Lora and Kevin practising for the Halkett Bay Synchronized Swim Club!

What a fun and satisfying weekend!

Big thank yous to Mike, Maddy, Lora and her amazing gazpacho, Alex for coming over to finish his Chinese checkers game, Mother Nature and/or global warming for the amazing lightening light show.

The view so far

The siding is now done on the south and west wall of the main cabin!

summertime, siding and silly games

Wow, what a VSOP* weekend we had this weekend!

We started with great weather and this:

and ended with 

In between was even more good weather, lots of good food, good conversation and a few games of the 'tantalizing and terrific' game Boobytrap!

enjoying the furniture...

even the ride home is entertaining!

*Visible Signs of Progress

Unsolicited testimonial!

the owner of the feet on the left sent us this email

Sonja and Kevin,

As a long standing member of the Halkett Bay Volunteer Labour Platinum Club (HBVLPC) allow me to offer this unsolicited testimonial.
Despite gnarly weather and some tough work, I can say to you straight that this past weekend was fabulous. The extensive re-modeling of the main living room has greatly enhanced the ambiance and this year's drinks selection is better than ever. Not only that, but new bedding has made the already five star accommodation even more enticing.
For those who remember the heady days when Mauri ribs were on the menu, I am pleased to report that this season's featured culinary specialty - butterfly chicken - matches the ribs for unparalleled succulent excellence.
From the scenic cruise to the island, through to the vintage red wine, the entertaining neighbors, the magnificent vistas, the up close wildlife encounters, and the witty literary conversation - this is an island experience like no other.


Anonymous

Siding the west side

Summer is finally here!

Hi everyone, It has been a slow start to the building season as I was taking a Saturday course for the past 10 weeks. This weekend will be our first full building weekend of the year. We are in a very enjoyable phase of the building where we are applying the siding to the building. Anyone who enjoys VSOP (Visible Sign of Progress) will enjoy putting up siding.
We have completed the guest cabin and most of the South wall of the main cabin.

 Since we last updated you we have added a trampoline to the recreational activities. In addition, the Canadian Grandmaster Disk Golf Champion has added the the disc golf course and improved the grounds for superior play off the tees and around the holes.

Mike test driving the trampoline we got for free on Craigslist

Molly and Malcom constructing a disc golf basket from an old blue bucket

The basket is even regulation size!

July/August 2011

This summer is going by faster and slower than we anticipated. Putting on the siding was tremendously satisfying, as was the first pee in the newly installed toilet. (But I think I will actually miss that long walk/run up to the toilet shack.) We had a grand vision of getting it all done in one shot but we did manage to get the guest cabin mostly done and it's beautiful. The closer we get from idea to thing the more amazed I am at what we've accomplished, even though sometimes it feels like we'll never be finished.

I realized how negligent I've been in the photo department when I looked at Maddy's beautiful pictures of the island this summer. She's not only a great friend and builder, but she's been our chief documenter as well.

Confessions of a siding geek

In the dreary afternoons of November it is truly amazing to look back on the photos of this past summer and see everything we were able to accomplish. All those smiling faces, all that hard work, it's a reminder of how fortunate we've been throughout all of this.

The cabin is tarped up for the winter, and now is the time when we ponder next steps (siding, roof) and dangerously day-dream about things like finishings and floors. In the summer it is easier to remember that we always have to take everything step by step. With my hands on a hammer, I'm grounded. Here in the city, it's easy to believe we can just fly through the next steps, and even at my imagination's lightening speed, I'm impatient to get there.

Siding and roofing alternates between being very boring to think about and almost overwhelmingly complex. Throughout so much of our building we've had a solid place to start from: a great set of windows, free timber, a site we fell in love with. I just don't seem to feel that we have that same clear sense of direction for how we finish the house. However n the process of trying to figure it out I've become something of a siding geek.

Some choices are easy: no to vinyl, since it fails most of the L's except low-cost.
Logical:  We are quite close to trees so something with some fire-resistance at least for most of the cabin. This means metal or some kind of fibercement siding. But is it loveable? We don't want anything too industrial looking though. I think we are agreed that the cabin should have some sense of natural variation. Inset cedar tongue and groove? Shakes? is there a 'logical' approach to this kind of ornamentation of a house? Logical/low (visual)-impact:  Colours and materials that work with dark metal window frames, fir posts and cedar decking. The east side of the cabin should be fairly dark coloured so it doesn't stand out on the hill. The dominant colours of the hill are rock grey, dirt & bark brown, and cedar green.
Logi(sti)cal: We probably need to buy most of our siding materials from a commercial supplier (vs second hard/re-purposed)since they can put it on pallets and deliver it to the dock for the barge.

i think the look we are going for is natural but tough aka rustic modern. That still leaves an incredible number of variations and possibilities though and on a long rainy afternoon, a thousand different websites and photoshopped pictures and google sketchups to ponder as we anxiously wait for spring.