The Year 1998 |
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The IndexThis index updated June 3, 1999. |
First Quarter 1998I could not resist this Straw Bale idea. This project is something I need to do. I knew it when we started meeting years ago. One of the original ideas was to buy a bazillion acres out in the country and build off the grid, have a home based business, do composting, be eco friendly, have grey water, go photovoltaic, be permaculture, live cohousing, use rammed earth, share vehicles, sit on composting toilets, build straw bale, share a community building, skinny dip, organic farm, do the small footprint, blah blah blah. It even scares me all those big fancy words. In the end it was too much even trying to understand what those eco words mean.From all those meetings and discussion one thing stayed in my mind. A Straw Bale home with its wonderful benefits. There was no question, I needed to build a first one, a small test Straw Bale sturcture, in the city, "..unplugged and personal" :) The only way to see and understand the benefits w as to build this thing.
Late June 1998Back in Edmonton from a three month vacation. Time to set my feet in some other muddy adventure and get to work. Its fun to see dreams in reality. I have decided to remain in Edmonton and get the dream on the road. Edmonton is ready for this House of Straw. Ya, the _Three Little Pigs_ jokes are a natural.Thursday July 16, 1998Spoke with the City of Edmonton building department. I told them what I would like to do - build a straw bale garage within the city of Edmonton. I asked if there has been other such projects. To their understanding there has not been any straw bale structures build in Edmonton. They seemed quite informed about it, mentioning that many such structures were built in neighbouring rural communities. He seemed to indicate that as long as I had an engineering stamp and the regular paperwork that there should not be a problem. It seems too easy.Friday July 17, 1998Rummaging thru the Hub Cigar Store on Whyte ave I bumped into a great magazine called The Long Term View. The issue was on Community and Isolation. It has some great articles in it. The first article (in PDF format) is called Sparking Community and fueled a new round of ideas. I had gone to a great house warming party in Victoria, BC. The homeowner had hired a jazz quartet and caterers. It was a wonderful time. I am going to do the same here in Edmonton. When in doubt, celebrate.
Thursday August 6, 1998Met with engineer Paul Belanger at _The King & I_ restaurant. My brother Dan was interested in the meeting and so he came along. We talked about many things, and were excited about working together on this. I mentioned the things I was interested in and he mentioned some of the things from his experience and we got excited about the possibilities.Tuesday August 11, 1998Needed to get the clearances for building a garage from the City of Edmonton. They are quite hip, they have a fax back number - simply call 496-6044 or wander over to their web site!Wednesday August 12, 1998My subscription to The Last Straw magazine arrived! I am on my way.
Friday August 14, 1998Received communication about the cost of drawing up original blueprints for a simple Straw Bale garage: $1200. Thats a little more than I had bargined for. I was leaving for Washington DC on monday August 17 and so did not have enough time to search around for other quotes. I needed to give the approval to draft up the blueprints before my 2 week trip to the states, so that the process was started. I was putting myself under a little to much pressure if I had okayed this expense, rats.
Monday September 1, 1998I flew out to Washington, DC to a computer conference Aug 17. I returned August 30 to Edmonton, and feel that I am out of time or rather too rushed for a build this fall. Even the Farmers Almanac says snow before September ends.I will be targetting a spring build, and will have time to plan this without pressure. I will keep a separate page of expenses occured and projected costs. This will be added later. The extra time will give me a chance to better prepare for the occasion, such as setting up my own server and video-cam so that a weekend build will be captured on the web. Should be interesting, and there are many others things I can do to make it fun - no that will not involve me removing my clothes. Monday September 14, 1998I have always received positive response when talking to people about this project. I am scoping out getting a new computer and setting up my own server, we'll see how this goes over this winter.I have found that to create original blueprints is a costly venture. If this was a house I would have been in for quite a surprise!
Saturday November 14, 1998In the Toronto Star there is a repeat of an Edmonton Journal article on a Straw Bale house going up in Sherwood Park. Will see about scanning in the article as I didn't find it on the Web site. Nice to see the interest in this is growing. Anything new, especially in construction has a hard time being adopted, even if it is better and costs less.Tuesday November 24, 1998Tomorrow at Boston Pizza on Whyte ave is a private party. I am not sure what it is all about but am invited. Something to do with hoping for a better future, straw bale will be mentioned at least a few times, and hoping Y2K crashes everything. Looking forward to music and food and conversation. May even post a little summary of the gathering tomorrow night.Monday November 30, 1998The meeting turned up some interesting ideas but focused on the Y2K thing and the problems that will come and how to get ready. Really of little interest to me, even tho' I am in the computing industry. I did discover that the interest in communities covers all numerous political beliefs and an eclectic slew of beliefs.In visting some friends over the weekend - the first time in many months I find that the interest in the spring build is self propelling. Friends of friends know about it, and many are eager to come and be a part of this. |
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