Happy New Year's Eve 2018

I woke up early reflecting on the last year.  How blessed we are!  We started 2018 housesitting for Linda and Fred in Northern California, returned home mid March and sold our sailboat Falcon VII then moved bag and baggage to Sointula to start house construction.  And if this year hadn't been amazing enough, we just became grand parents last week for the second time.  Welcome Robson!

It's New Year's Eve and I was able to catch the last sunrise of the year over Vancouver Island from the southern tip of Malcolm Island at Graveyard Point.  Enjoy the photos.

Happy New Year.
Please stay safe, laugh lots and begin the new year with joy, harmony and happiness in your heart.

Jim and Tricia

Sointula in December

Thursday, December 20, 2018

It’s the stormiest day yet in Sointula with blasting southeast winds changing mid-day to a northwester packing freezing pelting rain mixed with snow. The worst storm of the decade hit us at the north end of Vancouver Island but was more concentrated south of Campbell River all the way to Victoria and over the Lower Mainland,  knocking power out to hundreds of thousands and causing considerable damage and even loss of life.  We were lucky!  On Malcolm Island we only had a few trees down and didn’t hear of any damage.
I’ve always loved winter storms since I spent my entire youth playing on the beach year round at Gonzales Bay in Victoria.  When I was little, during the dead of winter my Mom, my sister Moe and I would bundle up and head to the beach after dinner to collect bark, drag sticks in the sand, pull kelp behind us, and run from one end to the other at low tide.  Sometimes the winds were so strong that we had trouble making any forward progress walking in the park just above the beach. My big sister, Moe and I would stand at the top of the park steps, arms extended out on both sides of us (like that well known Titanic scene) and let the wind support our weight.  We hoped to lift off but it never happened.  Such fun and some of my most favourite memories.

I also remember one other particular tradition each year.... when Jim and I and Brendan bundled up and headed to the beach on Christmas Eve or another evening during Christmas week. Seasonally low tides occur in the evening during December.  Any family and friends over for dinner joined us on our mission. Which was...to decorate the beach from one end to the other with lanterns made out of tea candles placed in small paper bags.  Every house along the beach had a view of the lanterns, which stayed lit for a good hour or so.  I wonder if someone is still doing it.

I'm felling pretty warm while I work in fairly mild temperatures.  Part of routine yard maintenance is digging out buckets of silt from our run-off troughs.  This was my turn to get the troughs ready for the next rainfall.

Our steadfast awning has survived high winds and driving rains til now so we’ve left it up protecting a bit of outdoor space from the elements so I’m dry at least in the outdoor kitchen space.

Catching up on dishes.  The awning has been amazing though we wondered if we were going to loose it a couple of times!

Winter Solstice, December 21, 2018
Jim and I drove to Courtenay and Campbell River to pick up our new bed (Yes!), bathroom tiles and kitchen flooring.  It was a crisp, cool drive with sunshine blanketing the northern island for the entire day.  We stayed overnight south of Courtenay at a nice hotel and enjoyed watching the setting sun over the coastal mountains on the shortest day of the year.

Sunset on Winter Solstice looking from Courtenay towards Powell River and pink tinged mountains beyond.

A full moon over Georgia Strait on Winter Solstice.

December 23, 2018
Today in Sointula it's stormy and cold so I dressed in many layers to wash the lunch dishes outside. As I washed, I revelled in the loudness of the wind, the powerful gusts swirling leaves and twigs with evergreen branches dancing all around me.  I listened to rushing water next door where a seasonal waterfall follows the slope of land. Later, as I walked between our house and trailer I spotted three eagles gliding in the air currents.  They clearly loved the wind too. How blessed we are!

This waterfall next-door to us.  In the summer it dries up but this time of the year we have
the wonderful constant soothing sound of running water in the neighbourhood. 

That's Jim at the top of 6th Avenue.  The steep waterfall runs parallel to the pavement, from the mountain beyond down next to the road allowance and then it enters a culvert that takes it under a driveway and down to the ocean. 

Our house with sunshine pouring in on one of the shortest days of the year.  This is a great passive solar house
that takes full advantage of facing southwest and catching all the solar energy we can on sunny days.
The white pipes are aiding with temporary drainage around the house.  

Jim cut some holly from our property to make a Christmas tree for me.  Next year there might a 'real' tree.  

See the light dancing off the back wall? This winter sun will warm the house and brighten the space even on dull days.

Snow in Sointula - taken December 2017 by our neighbour, Jim.

2019 will see big changes for us as we continue to work on our home.  We'll do updates when we can in the new year.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy season of love and acceptance.

Tricia and Jim Bowen
tandjbowen13@gmail.com

My One and Only Princess Diary

I am such a princess!

Why just last week I was complaining to Jim that we didn't have enough decent saw horses and...voila! He got out his tools and...now have a total of four new heavy duty saw horses to help us with our many house building tasks.

We're using two small saw horses to hold the planer and two new large ones
to hold all the pieces of planed cedar we'll be using as window trim.

It looks easy but there was a lot of pulling and pushing as a team to get each board through.  

As the princess, I also told Jim months ago that if he wasn't able to design a bathroom with a six foot tub in it that I didn't want a tub at all - a nice shower stall would be just fine instead of a five foot tub. Well...he managed to design a perfect place for 'my' six foot bathtub!  Then he set about to make it the most well insulated tub imaginable for me.

The tub...out of the way in its temporary cubby hole.

Jim's used the offcuts from our ICF styrofoam blocks to insulate the tub.  There were bags and bags of cuttings to use up.

Tools of his trade as insulator extraordinaire. 

It took six tubes of heavy duty adhesive glue to insulate the whole tub.
Those are our sail bags hanging on hooks out of the way.

This was truly a labour of love on Jim's part.

You can see what a great job he did of smoothing and shaving off all the rough parts.
 Looks like a styrofoam cooler on steroids.

A little fine tuning to make it fit.

Ta Daa! Doesn't that fit well!  I can hardly wait for my first bath!  Now we just have to finish the rest of the bathroom.

I may joke about being a princess but Jim can be quite a prince himself.  For example...When he finished building our beautiful interior staircase he gave ME the honour of being the first one to climb up them.

I had a tear in my eye when I made the inaugural climb up our staircase. 

On any given day I usually work with Jim until around 6:00 then I head to the trailer to make supper.  He always keeps working while I'm cooking, only stopping when I call him to come for food. After an hour long dinner break I do the dishes in my outdoor sink, with water I've heated in my outdoor kettle, draining into a slop bucket. (I can't seem to adjust to making simple meals so I have a LOT of dishes to do. ) One day soon...I'll have indoor running hot water.

While I'm outside doing dishes at the outdoor sink, Jim's often back in the house working on something, sometimes til 10:00 p.m. when I drag him in.

Taken from the trailer while I'm doing dishes. There might not be much light but he's cleaning up anyway.

When Jim finished building our temporary front door he literally picked me up and carried me over the threshold of our new home.  A first after all these years. How about that!

You see...even after almost 29 years together there can still be a little romance! Not much room for any princesses, though.

Until next time....

Tricia and Jim Bowen
tandjbowen13@gmail.com

Our Splashy Gutters

As you might have guessed, no ordinary gutter would do for our new house.  Through JB Gutterman in Errington, BC we found beautiful, functional galvalume gutters and hauled them home on our truck.  Each piece of gutter was 24 feet long.  We used our extension ladder extended to 22 feet to make a stable platform to carry the gutters back to Sointula.  Since we know the street side will be stunning with the addition of shingle art we knew that the gutter would also become a feature.  We're very happy with our choice.  Here's how it went...

Laying each piece out to check length and make necessary cuts.

Cutting with a handy Dremel tool.  

Creating a circular hole for a downspout

Jim pre-calculated the spacing; we drilled holes and installed the brackets evenly, making use of the scaffold to do so.

The gutter slipped into place fairly easily.  It's sloped slightly down from the centre to encourage water to drain.

Each bracket is clamped into place to secure the gutter.

Yep - finishing up even as darkness is upon us.

Done! Gutters installed!

Our temporary drainage system to take the water away from the house.

We added more drainage at this end.  We also extended the porch to create more outside work space
and for 12' lengths of drywall to be delivered easier. 

Since we've been in Sointula we've experienced some high winds and lots of rain but the warmth and friendships we've created and fun while building our house in this wonderful place make it all so worthwhile.

A future blog will feature the creating of our soffits from start to finish.

Until then...

Jim and Tricia Bowen

tandjbowen13@gmail.com

Seven Months of Progress

We’ve been in Sointula for seven months now and things are moving along.  

We work outdoors when we can and then shift to indoor projects when it’s raining or too cold.  

We’re learning where the rain water wants to travel through our property and how well protected our house is from southeast winds.  

We’ve moved dirt, cut trees, created our ICF house, shaped cedar boards, collected rocks and much more. This will give you a glimpse into the last few weeks….

April 2018 - you can see the old foundation left after a house was removed 11 years ago. 

November 2018 - A bit of a change!

Jim and Chris Chateauvert, our contractor, installing the underground electrical conduit and cable conduit to the house. 

As soon as the driveway was back together the crew moved the scaffolding into place. A four person job!

After the scaffolding was in place we focused on inside as much as possible, adding studs and creating the interior skeleton of our house.

A big open space...

But not for long! Notice Jim's working in the evening, squeezing in another hour. 

I hope this isn't on our future TV ! It'll will be installed in a cabinet,  hidden behind a hinged painting. 

Time to start framing the lower level walls before carrying them downstairs.

Open space no more. First one in place separating our bathroom and laundry room from our bedroom.

View from the bathroom looking at the future bedroom area.

I know there's a plumbing pipe in here somewhere! 

Bathroom, hall and bedroom walls framed.  

The curved wall between the bathroom and bedroom takes shape.

This will be covered with a thin piece of bendy drywall then finished with
a fun design in tile.

As soon as walls were framed Kane Gordon, our electrician arrived to provide juice to the house.
This chainsaw has a special set of wheels that prohibit it from cutting too deeply into the ICF blocks
but it creates a space for the wires to go.

Fall is in the air everywhere, even Sointula.

Check out the next blog if you're curious about our pretty cool gutters and soffits that Jim and I have laboured over for a few weeks.  All worth it.

Until then...

Jim and Tricia Bowen

tandjbowen13@gmail.com