Singing to the Moon

Today when we got home from the Seattle Boat Show, I heard birds singing in the trees behind Mom's condo. I had to go investigate.

I then had to go out and record their raucous song. They are new to our area.

I went to Cornell's All About Birds website and think they are European Starlings. If you think I made a mistake, I'd appreciate knowing what kind of birds they are.

For great skies from around the world, be sure to visit Skywatch Friday. -- Margy

Off the Grid Presentation at Village Books

Author's Book Signing and Presentation

Off-the-Grid Living

Saturday, February 4
4:00 p.m.

Village Books

in Old Fairhaven

1200 11th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

Tel: (360) 671-2626

Featuring Up the Lake, Farther Up the Lake and the newest book in the Coastal BC Stories series, Cabin Number 5.

Cabins float in a cut-off fjord of British Columbia’s south coast. One man tackles an on-going dream to construct a floating cabin on Powell Lake, from the water up – not his first, but his finest. Read Cabin Number 5 by Wayne J. Lutz and experience it for yourself.

Go to www.PowellRiverBooks.com for more information.

Float Cabin Tours: Welcome Aboard

Welcome to our float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC. If this is your first visit, here are some quick links for more information:

Float Cabin Living
Float Cabin Construction
Cabin Accessories

And here's a video tour for your viewing pleasure.

Next Tuesday come back for a tour of our remodeled kitchen with new propane appliances. -- Margy

Kindling Kollection

On Saturday, I shared about filling our shed with large pieces of wood to dry for the upcoming winter months. In addition to large pieces of wood, kindling is an important part of fire starting. We could split wood for kindling, but plenty of small pieces float in for easy retrieval.

In the fall, we store tubs of dry kindling in our floating wood shed. We bring the wood in as needed to replenish the tub next to the wood stove. We learned long ago not to bring the full tubs indoors. We transfer the wood by hand so that mice that might be nesting in the bottom don't take up residence in our cabin.

Just as our firewood needs to be replenished throughout the winter, so does our kindling. First we collect it in buckets from around the cabin's float. Next, the wet wood is dumped into our repurposed dinghy. It many not be able to float any longer, but it's leaky bottom makes it a perfect container for drying kindling.

Next, partially dry wood from the dinghy is transferred to tubs stored under the porch roof. On relatively warm, sunny days I dump the wood from the tubs onto the cabin deck and spread it out for faster drying. I call this "cooking wood." I rotate the wood from top to bottom several times and in about a month it is ready to go into our burning rotation. -- Margy

Reflections of Granite Lake

Granite Lake in the Powell River back country is a favourite destination for a quad ride. Our last trip was in October when the sun was brighter and the leaves were turning,

There's an island in the middle of the lake. It looks like a beautiful spot to take a kayak or canoe. As we sat on the shore, our good friend John told us this story.

Hey Wayne and Margy, see that island? One time Eldon and I rode our quads out there. It's a beautiful island to explore. Can you figure out how we did it?

Wayne and I tried to figure it out. My guess was that they got a running start and the air in the tires on their quads gave them enough flotation. (OK, that was an airhead answer). Wayne thought maybe they had a raft stashed somewhere along the shore. That was more reasonable. People have made rafts for similar purposes on other lakes. We never did come up with the answer until John told us. Can you?

p.s. Here's a hint.

Stop by Weekend Reflections for more great photos from around the world. - Margy

Wood Rotation

We start using our wood stove for cabin heating in November and keep it going pretty much every day through May. That takes quite a bit of firewood. We try to get our woodshed pretty full in the fall when the wood is dry and lighter, but it's never enough to last the whole season.

Our floating wood shed has two constraints, the size and weight of its contents. If we put too much wood in, the float logs submerge and saturate. That's bad for the logs, and also lets water get to the bottom of our dry wood. Consequently, we have to use a wood rotation system.

This year we were lucky. John redid his cedar deck and gave us all of his old wood. We stored about half of the precut lengths on our log work float. Wayne pushed the float up to the dock and tossed the wet boards across. I tossed them into the woodshed and stacked them criss-crossed so the wood would dry quicker. We have enough dry wood to last another month. By then, our wet would should be ready to use.

Thanks again John. You help us in so many ways. -- Margy

After the Storm

We don't get snow very often, so I love it, especially when we are at the cabin.

Almost as good are the clear blue skies after the storm. Above is a view of my floating garden with Goat Island beyond.

This shot is from our friend John's deck looking up Powell Lake to Chippewa Bay. Want to come visit? There are float cabins for rent by the day and week. But be careful, you may never want to leave. -- Margy

Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

On January 7, 2010, I was surprised to find my garden float featured on Lloyd Kahn's blog. I left a comment thanking Lloyd, and not long after I received a unique request. Lloyd wanted to feature our float cabin on Powell Lake in a new book he was putting together about tiny homes. I was thrilled.

Two years later, Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter by Lloyd Kahn is finished and available for purchase. I've already got my copy and it's an amazing book. It has 1,300 full-colour photos of a wide array of small homemade shelters.

Tiny Homes on Foundations
Tiny Homes on Wheels
Tiny Homes by Architects
Prefabs and Kits
Earthy Materials
Treehouses
On the Road
On the Water (that's me!)

Check out pages 210-211 for Our Little Cabin up the Lake.

Links for more information and purchasing options:

Lloyd's Blog
Shelter Online
Shelter Publications on Facebook
Shelter Publications on Twitter
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca

Check it out online and get a copy for yourself. -- Margy

Powell River Books at the Seattle Boat Show

Author Wayne J. Lutz of Powell River Books will be at the 2012 Seattle Boat Show from Tuesday, January 31, through Thursday, February 2.

Author's Book Signing

Tuesday 3:00 to 8:00
Wednesday 11:30 to 8:00
Thursday 11:00 to 2:00

Captain's Nautical Supplies booth at the Centurylink Field (Concourse #2237).

Seminar Presentation
Wednesday, February 1
1:00 p.m. on the Silver Stage

Off-the-Grid Living: Tips for Establishing a Remote Home - Features Boat Access & No Public Utilities

Wayne will be showcasing his newest book Cabin Number 5 which chronicles the building of a float cabin. Also featured will be Up the Lake and Farther Up the Lake about off the grid float cabin living.

Stop by and pick up a signed copies for yourself. Can't make it to the Boat Show? You can purchase Cabin Number 5 and all of the other titles in the Coastal BC Stories series online. Go to www.PowellRiverBooks.com for more information. -- Margy

My Snowy World

Last week in Coastal BC we had storms move through that left us with several centimetres of snow on the ground.

I was at the cabin during two of them. Here are the results.

Where we live the snow doesn't last much more than a week, sometimes less.

So I enjoy it when I can get it.

Thanks for visiting part of my world this week. For more great posts from Our World Tuesday, click here. -- Margy