We're Still Here!

Ok.  So where were we?  Ah yes.  Meters and power.  We are happy to say that we have resolved this issue.  That is not to say that there are not going to be inconveniences and a bit of a hassle (there are), but here is basically what needs to (and will!) be done:

1. Our landlord will replace the pole where the old meter used to be (needs maintenance).
2. We will hire an electrician to prep the pole/meter area and to issue permits needed by the utilities company ($500 + $50/hr for any additional work necessary).
3. We will pay the utilities company to install everything needed to activate the power - wiring, transformer etc. (>$1000).
4. This means that we do not have power right away for construction.  Luckily our wonderful friends have a brand new generator that they will lend us!  Hopefully it is powerful enough - which we will find out in a couple of days when the building begins!
5.  So basically tBOY and I will pay for the costs upfront and the amount will be deducted from our rent - so essentially our landlord pays for all the costs (since it is his responsibility to provide the power for the land).

Phew!  The plan is still on!  We are relieved that it is going to work out on this land - because it is a beautiful place to be.

However, before we met with our landlord and got this all sorted out (and I was rather stressed out), I went to meet the friend of a friend of friends (!) who is possibly interested in sharing land (10 acres).  Oh.  And he also lives in a bus - of course!

His bus is a big Greyhound-sized one

The inside is more spacious and the windows are huge (with a wood stove, bien sûr!)

The land includes this massive commercial-sized garden (used to be used for that purpose)

Turns out he wants to sell his bus.  But it is not set up the way that we want, and plus, the best part about our bus is we get to design and customize it our way (and it's big and yellow!)

Speaking of the bus, we've done a few more things:

This mucky floor...

got a good power wash (such a handy tool...
I should get one for the days tBOY decides he is too tired for a shower!)

Voilà!

These are the yummy wrappers that I swept off the floor, but that's not all...

when tBOY separated the seat cushions from the metal frames...

he found more goodies wrappers (yuck!)

The cushions and fabric went to the dump in our friends' big red truck (so jealous!)

Just back in and haul the stuff out.  The dump fee for all the cushions was $35, but...

by taking the metal to the scrap yard we made $50!

The bus seats paid for sushi :)!

SOS!

We have encountered our first (and hopefully last?!) big obstacle of the project.  We were hoping to have moved the bus to the new land last week and to have already begun construction.  We were under the impression that the place was already completely set up for electricity - all we had to do was call the utilities company and get them to reactivate the meter.  But when we went to check out the meter...

Meter? What meter?  In fact.  What wiring?!  Eeks.  So we met with our future landlord to find out more.  It turns out that there was a meter there until a few months ago.  The utilities company had been charging him rent for the meter even though no one was living there, so he decided to ask them to remove it.  What seems to have happened is that they also removed all the wiring to the main power pole along the road.  Our guess is that this set up was made oh so many years ago, and so when they came to simply get the meter, they realized that the wiring was not up to code and just ripped it out (looks rather ripped-out!)  

So now we are looking at a rather costly endeavour to get a certified electrician to prepare and set up the metering area + wiring as well as paying the utilities company to do their portion of rewiring etc.  An electrician came yesterday and his estimate for his portion is $1500 (eeks!)  The obvious conclusion is that the landlord is responsible to bear the cost of all of it since the agreement is that we are renting land with power.  However, tBOY and I are not so sure that he is ready to do that.  He did not give us the impression that he was willing to go through the trouble and the cost :(! - but perhaps we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves... we still need to meet with him again when we have more information.

We started considering a more off-grid set-up for the bus, so that we are not tied to land with power, septic etc.  I'm not sure that we are ready to go that route... but we will think about it. Sigh!!  We embarked on this project because we are tired of the lack of control re: our home and space as renters.  Yet, we will still not be land owners, which means we are still at the mercy of landlords :(!

So.  tBOY and I each slept terribly the night after we discovered this.  Home building is stressful!  Since we do not want to start construction until we know where the bus will reside, we went for a 5-hour bike ride instead of going to the big box home building store!

I felt way less stressed out afterwards :)!  Also, we went to a party in the evening and met some people who have a friend who lives nearby who may be looking to share some rented land... a possibility?  We'll keep you posted.  In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for us!

Let's Talk Food and Land

tBOY and I hardly ever eat out and we choose only whole foods.  We buy local and organic.  Food is our highest monthly expense (exceeding rent!)  When we lived in the city, we shared planters with our neighbours, which were beautiful, but between 4 adults and a young child, we didn't get more than a handful of salads.  Moving to the country, we were hoping to offset some of the food costs by having a garden.  

With a bit of help, tBOY turned this...

into this!

Here is some of our harvest

Living where we do, means that we have direct access to:

Fresh milk and meat

Chickens and eggs (the best!)

Weekly veggies delivery (to our door) from neighbour grower (in the summer)

Yet despite that, we continue to depend a lot on the grocery store for most of our food. Yesterday, I went to the bog city with tBOY.  As with most trips to the city, it meant a stop at the grocery store for the goodies we don't find out in the country.  

I only had time to pop in and out quickly and came out with only these items: organic sprouted granola ($12 for 227g), smoked salmon ($12.60), Grassfed non-homogenized yoghurt ($7), fromage frais ($9) - all locally made - and a handful of European unpasteurized almonds ($3) for sprouting.  10 minutes and 5 items later meant almost $45!  Craziness!  We need to learn how to grow/make more of our foods!  Will be looking for inspiration from here:

I have decided that this season will be about planting, growing, weeding, sprouting, dehydrating, fermenting, canning etc!  Last year, tBOY was the designated gardener because I was writing my master's thesis.  But thesis is done and so soil and compost - here I come!

On the land we are renting, there is already an enclosed garden:

There is a lot of work ahead of me!  Luckily I have some friends who are amazing veggie growers, so I will tap in on their knowledge and wisdom.  What's growing in your garden?

Speaking of growing on land... here are some pics of the land where the bus (and us) will reside:

Enter from the top

Bus construction/conversion will happen in this clearing

The bricks will be cleared leaving only a low pad where the bus will sit.  

Come with us for a little ride...

through the Forest...

alongside the magnificent Trees...

to the River!

When converting a school bus...

So many things can happen in the span of a couple of days!  I guess it is also because it has to in our case because we are on a tight timeline (self-inflicted!). 

Yesterday, tCarpenter stopped by and dropped off some tools.  Our climbing/bouldering area under the deck was to become the workshop.  But then, upon further discussion, we realized that it would make more sense to construct the bus where it will be parked.  So that set off a bunch of phone calls and conversations with present and future landlords.

So now, we are going to be moving the bus to its new home (in the Forest) before we start the construction/conversion.  There is much more space for tCarpenter to spread out his tools and materials.  The power on the land has been deactivated as no one has been living there.  So on the to do list is to call the utilities company to find out what information is needed to reactivate it - whether we can do it or whether it has to be our future landlord etc.  

As for me today: more appliance research (blah!)  Luckily, I had the help of 2 friends who kept me on task!  They even fed me lunch and one of them showed me her trailer so that I can get a sense of small spaces and small appliances:

Her trailer is 19 feet long - which is just over half the length of the bus.  At this point, we're leaning towards forgoing RV appliances.  We feel that there is enough room for compact appliances (ones that are designed for apartments).  We have yet to lay the design onto the bus floor, so we may change our minds (not the first time!)

After meeting with my friends, I went to an appliance store.  I found everything that we're looking for.  The prices seem reasonable according to my research!  I just wish I had gone there from the beginning.  Unfortunately, because of the time constraint, we will probably end up with all new appliances.  I need to know the dimensions of the appliances to make the layout before tCarpenter can get started, so I don't have time to drive around for hours checking out secondhand stuff.  Sigh!

My friend read my blog and saw that I need a power washer et voilà:

I knew this blog would come in handy!  I also called a lumber company who can potentially supply us with the cedar we want (we love the smell of cedar!)  When tCarpenter has a better idea of what we need, he will send the lumber guy the list and get a quote.  I stopped to look at a wood stove, but it was not in stock - darn!  Finally, I got some masking tape at the hardware store and went home to do more internet research!

When tBOY came home from work, he went to start pulling out the plywood while I was having a texting conversation with tCarpenter - updating him on things.  Then tCarpenter casually mentioned that we should keep the plywood in while we worked on the roof!  So I had to run outside and stop tBOY from the destruction of the floor.  Ah... all in a day's work.

Teal Bus. Teal Tool.

A chunk of today for me was spent in front of the computer researching appliances.  I met with tCarpenter to break down the project and to figure out what needs to happen first.  At the end of the meeting, everyone got some homework.

tBOY: 

Remove the last 6 seats.  Remove flooring (rubber and plywood).

tGIRL: 

Power wash the inside of bus (which means locating a power washer).  Find and purchase/order appliances.  

tBOY & tGIRL:

Find out whether bus can be moved to a better location for construction (with current landlord).  Find out when bus can be moved to rented land (tCarpenter thinks it's best to build on site).  Design layout and map it onto cleaned bus floor.

tCarpenter: 

Prepare his work space next to bus.  Design & gather materials to create a roof over the bus (with tarps etc.) to protect from rain (which is inevitable) while constructing loft + skylight.  Continue to come up with creative building/design ideas.

tBOY and I have until Friday to complete our tasks.  tCarpenter will be there bright (hopefully) and early Friday morning to get started.  (Where to start still remains to be determined!!)  

tBOY was working from home today (typing away on a computer and having phone conferences).  When he was done his workday, he got to the bus work.  After pulling out the last seats, he got to work on the flooring. It was back breaking work and tBOY has a completely new appreciation for skilled trades work (and me for tBOY!)

We considered keeping the plywood to save a little $ - since we would want to put in plywood as well.  However, once tBOY started ripping, we realized that it was too yucky and the glue for the rubber was stuck on so well that the plywood got ripped in some places.  So we will just gut it down to the metal and start from scratch.

All the rubber is gone!  tBOY is exhausted.

My work was less messy.  After spending too much time in front of the screen, I decided to go for a groceries run and made a stop at the home building store to pick up a power drill for tBOY.  We're planning on painting a strip of colour around the middle of the bus - partly to cover the name of the school that is still visible, but mostly to add a little contrast to the yellow (which we love and want to keep).  I was thinking teal.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

The neat thing is, right after I grabbed the paint chips, I went over to the power drill department and solicited some help from someone working at the store. The drill he recommended turned out to be the same colour we are considering for the paint.  A sign?!

When I was sent on a mission to buy a 'good plug-in power drill' I was a bit worried that it would cost hundreds of dollars.  I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be only be $99! (And it wasn't even on sale.)  Phew!

I have to admit that when we first decided on a school bus as our home, I was a bit worried that people would think that we are wacky (and we are, I guess!)  But the response has been overwhelmingly supportive and enthusiastic!  A new friend yesterday is now considering one for herself.  3 boy neighbours stopped by today and expressed their envy for a big yellow school bus of their own.

"OMG!  This engine is amazing!" 

"So amazing in fact, let's stick our heads in it!!"

I suppose we have a biased sample.  These are all people who live where we live because they also love to be in the Forest and to play in Nature.  Most of them have creative homes as well (one lives in an Airstreamer, one built his own little cabin, one spends the whole summer living in a tent guiding wilderness retreats).  But still.  It's encouraging and fun :)!

P.S.  This is the roofing we want for our bus.  We also want similar panelling along the windows. Doesn't it look great?

Carpenter Hired & Seats Be Gone!

We met with two more carpenters this morning (five in total).  We felt like we were conducting job interviews... well, I guess we were!  We finally made the decision and chose one.  Our teeny tiny home carpenter actually has experience with converting buses into mobile homes in the 1980s.  He helped a friend weld a VW van onto the roof of a bus.  And on top of the VW van they welded a VW bug convertible!  In the 80s, they were allowed to drive that around!!!  Back then tCarpenter even lived in a bus chasing the Grateful Dead.  He showed tBOY his GD tattoo - a culture reference lost on French tBOY!  

Also, the work has begun!  tBOY has been working hard all afternoon removing the seats using his new power tool.  

the first seat comes off the floor

Since we only have one angle grinder, there was not much that I could do to be helpful... and since it was sunny... I went for a mountain bike ride :)!

I was so impressed when I got back 3+ hours later.  tBOY had become a pro school bus seat remover!

Those sparks were pretty wild.  Check out the pile of Christmas presents (seats!) on the left.  And here is me and my big yellow bus!  I used to ride these to elementary school each day.  I imagine going back in time to myself when I'm 8 years old and telling me that one day I'll have my very own school bus - hee hee!

tBOY has returned and called it a day.  Only 6 seats left!  He definitely deserves the beer and cheese fondue that await him.  

Tomorrow: Meeting with tCarpenter in the morning to do some real planning.  Also going to show tCarpenter where the bus will be parked - stay tuned for pics of our land!

School Bus Owners!

We are the proud owners of this:

Our bus arrived in the pouring rain in the dark

Happy bus owners!

It is parked next to our cabin and ready to be worked on.  The school delivered the bus to us - which was very helpful as you need a special licence to drive a bus.  It is a bus until the seats are removed, and then it's an RV which can be driven with a regular driver's licence.  I had to buy one day of car (bus) insurance for the delivery.  

Now onto the first task: seat removal. Luckily, our neighbour just sold us his angle grinder:

tBOY's very first power tool!

The seats are bolted down and initially we thought we would be doing a lot of unscrewing. But apparently the nuts are below the bus, which would mean that someone has to be underneath the bus holding the nut while someone else unscrews it from the top.  Very time consuming and unpleasant work.  So we learned that it is much easier to just grind the bolts off.  tBOY doesn't mind :)!  

tBOY and I also went to the big box home building store to get an idea about the cost of appliances and to get acquainted with the world of home building.  

tBOY: Wow!  Look at this massive machine!  And it's only $150!!

tGIRL: What does one do with it?

tBOY: I don't know.  But look at how much machine you can get for just $150!

The nice thing about the fact that tBOY is 6' tall is that it is pretty much the inside height of the bus (with the existing flooring) so when we are wondering whether something will fit into the bus, we just get tBOY to stand next to it.

Yep.  This stacking washer/drying combo will fit

Being in the big box store felt like being at the home show.  Everything is designed BIG to fill BIG houses.  After 1.5 hours of fluorescent lighting, we were so ready to go home.