The last week has been filled with end of school activities. Two awards assemblies took place this week from which Stephen and Katie walked away with several awards. Helen, being a primary student, can’t wait until she might get some hardware/certificates!
Baseball ended this week. Stephen came into his own this year and has proven to be a good pitcher. He and Helen were on the same Mites team coached by our friend Dave Tremblay. It was Helen’s first year and after Dave finally got her to start swinging, she started to hit a few things. Our children seem to figure out early on in their ball careers that if they simply stand in the batter’s box, the chances are good that the 8-year-old pitcher is going to walk them.
I had a good laugh this year when Dave ended up umping one of his own games (this happens sometimes due to a shortage of umpires) and called strikes for every time a ball was thrown at Stephen (even if it was WAAYYY outside of the strike zone. Getting struck out is the most effective way to get a reluctant swinger to swing!
Piano recital was this past week as well and all five of us played at least one song. As usual the kids were fantastic. If they were nervous, they sure didn’t show it. Katie and her classmate did an exceptionally good job on a duet called Campus Capers.
Chris and I still struggle with stage fright and no matter how we analyze it (and we do!) we seem to lose some control over our fingers when playing in front of a crowd! It’s been a while since we’ve done a duet and we are thinking that we will try that next time. Safety in numbers.
Today, after 26 years of warnings from the various dentists in my adult life, two of my four wisdom teeth came out. I can’t say that is an experience I’d like to repeat, but I’m going to. The last two come out on August 20th. I had them out today with just the freezing and am sitting now with a big bottle of ibuprofen in front of me and some T3s as backup. So far no swelling, but I’m told that could appear tomorrow.
After I’ve recovered this weekend I’ll be able to start pounding tires! Chris has accumulated what he thinks are the materials we will need to begin. On Wednesday Sean and Anna Renaud arrive from Edmonton. Until recently they had been living in New Zealand. We have been corresponding with them since March about coming to help us for a month. It’s still a bit amazing to us that a young couple would give up some of their summer to work on our house, but it is something that we might have done 15 years ago, too.
We have some temporary digs for them (better than a tent) and the kids, Chris and I are looking forward to meeting them finally.
Stay tuned! Our next entry may be a picture of the first dirt filled tire!
Hello Chris, and other readers as well.
I’m still hard at work planning my own Earthship-like home! However, here in Holland we’ve got a bit of a tire-issue. Tires aren’t thrown on big piles around here, but instead importers are required to collect and recycle them. Therefore, tires aren’t free, you need to purchase them!
So, i’ve been thinking of ways to build an Earthship without tires….. i’m sure i’m offending Earthship die-hards right now, sorry..
First I was thinking about using wood from sustainable forests, but… wood acts as a fairly good insulator, which will prevent the heat of the sun from getting in to my backfill. Out goes the wood.
What we do have in abundance here, and i’m sure it’s an issue all over the world, are used and discarded shipping containers. Those are made of steel, which is a good heat conducting material.
So, please give me feedback on this: I’m planning on building a sturdy wooden frame first. Then get some old shipping containers, cut out the side panels, and use them as plating to create a wall. The inside can be plasterd, the outside will be backfilled and tamped just as with the tire walls to create a thermal mass.
What do you think of this solution? Will it work, or not?
Ohw shoot, hello Chris and Sandra of course! Xcuse me.
Hi Jasper,
Not entirely sure how that would work. I would definitely hesitate to frame this wall with wood as it will be back filled with dirt.
Chris