After a few delays, including our three days without water and the early ripening of his wheat, Alvin arrived with his excavator last night. This morning, after a short discussion on procedure-mostly Alvin telling us how he was going to do it–he began to berm.
Alvin has done work for us periodically over the last decade and he is fast, efficient and cost-effective. I never ask anymore how much he charges; he is worth every penny.
After a few hours he finished about half of the first of three stages of berming. Then he busted a hose! It was nearing noon so we all retreated indoors for the afternoon. It is hazy again here today (see the pictures) as the Bonaparte Lake forest fire is burning about 20kms from us.
The timing was great as my cousin James, his wife Jennifer and their children Ava and John showed up for lunch and a catch-up on news. Our kids gave them the farm tour and Chris and I showed off the Earthship. James and family had been staying with friends in the area and we got to hear from John and Ava all the wildlife they’d seen; primarily deer and a bear cub! Helen managed to hand down some Barbie movies and Stephen gave away a soft football..but now that I think on it, I don’t think John remembered to take it!
At about the same time, Ivannia and Jonathan stopped by on their way out of town. Jonathan is Grant and Linda’s son, the folks building in Lone Butte in a few weeks with the Biotecture crew. We hadn’t met them yet, or their son, Kienan (cutie!) so it was nice even to have a short visit. On Sunday we are going up to the building site for a visit with Grant and Linda, who spent a day here last fall helping us pour concrete half blocks. I’m going to get the dope on their current plans as the CBC would like a bit of info on their project when I speak to them on Monday. It is so nice to double the Earthship community in the North Thompson/Cariboo region!
Here are some pictures of the first stage of berming. Jennifer took all the pictures of their visit and I will post them when she sends them.
