Long time, no update.

I never call, I never write, I know. I'm a really bad blogger.  Well, actually, that's not entirely true...

I'm really bad at taking a huge overwhelming task/idea/plan and breaking it into bite-sized pieces of accomplishable goodness. Really bad at it.

After delving deeper and deeper into the ins and outs of building the cabin...well...it's making me more and more of a crazy libertarian. I'm mean, I'n no Glenn Beck, but those crazy rednecks out in the Arkansas back country are looking more and more sane.

Basically, here's the rub:

1) We own a cottage on 10 acres, of mostly unused forest
2) We've paid taxes/etc there for over 40yrs
3) We want to put up a winterized cottage so we can enjoy our property year-round
4) we can't.

And to say we can't is more accurately to say that we can, IF:

1) We appeal to the county to have the zoning by-law bypassed so we can build a second structure
2) We appeal to the county to have a 2nd hook up for the well
3) We appeal to the county to have a 2nd septic system installed
4) They say yes.

So while we are NOT allowed to build any other sturcture on the 10 ACRES OF UNUSED LAND, we are allowed to operate an automotive repair or a hair salon out of the current structure.

...

ARGH.  Srsly you guys?! The government will get neither an oil change nor a haircut from me!


...The net effect of all this is I'm stuck back at the beginning, have gotten overwhelmed, and haven't written anything because the only thing I can write about is my current failure to succeed.

In the meantime, here are some interior pics of the current (non-winterized) cottage from a trip this weekend. It's a wacky 'Canadian-log-cabin-pioneer-y" alternative to the usual Scandinavian design pics I usually put up.

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p.s.
A humble offering to apologize for my lack of updates: the funniest shite you will ever read.

Death and Taxes

Ah, the two certainties in life...sigh.

The plan for today (after injecting my parent's diabetic cats with insulin...no joke) has been to collect as much info as I can find on the cost of building permits, tax rates, by-laws, and so on. That way when my folks get back into town I can present the "case FOR cabin construction" in a fully thought-out way. I guess I should backtrack a bit...

My plan for the cabin has been to construct it on our family's current cottage land. Right now there is a super-nifty pioneer cabin on around 9 acres of land...a lot of it is unused woodland, and let's be honest, I'm in no position to buy property. But this means I need to clear all the construction with my folks, and that means figuring out the permit/tax/bylaw issues.

It's a little more complicated than I'd like, seeing as the land is located in a county, not a city, we are on a well-water & septic system...which means a lot of applications and digging may be in order...if they can happen at all...sigh.

Going on the closest town, it would cost $1125 for a building permit for a construction of 750 sq. feet. (roughly what I'm aiming for). This isn't TERRIBLE, but the filmmaker in me wants to ditch the permit fees and build guerrilla-style. A plan the 'rents will definitely NOT approve. Boo-urns. In the meantime, enjoy some pics of our current (and much-loved) cottage!