One Giant Leap

Geoff here -- after a long and shameful absence from this blog, here's my debut. I'll try to post regularly now, since we're making real progress, finally, towards starting construction.

The big move from Vancouver to Halifax on Monday was, to say the least, arduous - not to mention the lead-up. Two nonstop weeks of preparation, every workday lunch hour devoted to buying moving supplies (the day I tried to carry nine very large collapsed cardboard boxes four blocks through Yaletown was particularly embarrassing, looking as it did like a poorly executed Buster Keaton routine), or cancelling some insurance policy, or trying to make it to Memphis Blues BBQ so I could finally sample their famous pulled-pork sandwich before leaving the west coast (I finally did, only when passing by the place by pure chance about four hours before our flight). Still, we saved our most focused worrying for the cat, a nervous homebody who had to spend 8 hours in two consecutive cargo holds. Happily she's adjusting well to her home in Carla's parents' condo -- after an initial 24 hours under the bed she's getting back to her usual curtain-climbing and forearm-clawing regimen.

Carla and I have begun looking for a truck - not much construction can happen until some transportation is acquired to move all the supplies around. If we can sort this out by this weekend and head to the island right away, we might have foundations poured by the following Saturday. A little behind, but who needs schedules? (anyone who knows me well can see this is a total bluff - I really, really love schedules.)

We received the site survey and a copy of the application for subdivision of the property (submitted by the surveyor to the county) today... accompanied, of course, by a pretty hefty invoice. I should explain that we're splitting off a piece of land from Carla's parents property in Carla's name, so that we can put a mortgage on the building at the end of construction. Anyway. I suddenly realized, looking at the money we already owe without having erected anything, that our operating budget may not be as airtight as I'd assumed. Surveys, legal fees, and much of the site work such as a septic tank and field - we never gave much thought to those things. Frantically I've begun adding them in. All the spending finally seems real... and terrifying. To stay within our budget for this year we'll have to phase the building as much as possible; insulation, plumbing and the wood stove will definitely have to happen in 2008. Which may not be a big deal since we probably won't have time to get to those anyhow. Still, that means no Christmas by the fire in Cape Breton as I've secretly imagined...