Roof ... and worries!

The roof of my tiny house is well underway. The height of the house will be the 13 1/2 feet that is legally allowed. I woke up early the other morning with the worry of getting Happinest into her new home. There are some trees but I think the overhanging branches can just be brushed aside as it gets towed slowly in. However, there is a hydro line across the road that seems low enough to be a potential issue. And it is a tight corner - with no area to adjust the turn if the driver doesn't get it right the first time! Fingers crossed that it will all be okay. I do not have a Plan B!

Fairy Garden

It is Easter Sunday today so, although I did pull a few weeds on my visit to Happinest Hollow today, I mostly just played. I cleared an area beside the wishing well to start my fairy garden and surrounded it with the driftwood I had been collecting for the last couple of weeks. It is a work-in-progress but I have set up my fairy houses (six so far) and a few bits of moss, some rocks and shells and a few store-bought fairy garden supplies (including adorable pink and red toadstools). This area is in constant shade so I will have to find out what fairy-sized plants might be happy growing here.

Birds and more birds :)

When I decided to put up bird feeders at my current apartment, it took 3-4 months before the birds started coming regularly. So when I found my new spot, I decided to put feeders out there right away so that the birds would be coming by the time I moved in. Well, it didn't take more than a day or two for the birds to find these feeders. In fact, I may well need a second job just to buy bird seed! In the last couple of days, I have seen an assortment of sparrows, robins, juncos and chickadees along with two downy woodpeckers, a nuthatch, two varieties of hummingbirds, a pair of towhees, a northern flicker and a bushtit (yes, just one - I'm hoping it will return with lots of friends next time). And two pileated woodpeckers have visited twice as well. It will be so lovely to sit on my deck and watch "my birds" everyday!

Healing space

My father died last week. Although it is a very sad time, I have found much peace by spending time at the destination for my new home. I have done a lot of weeding (getting rid of the invasive daphne) and a fair bit of just sitting and watching the birds. I am very glad that I was able to bring Dad out to the future location of Happinest just a few days before he died. Dad had ordered a tree that same day and Judi let me reroute the delivery of his last purchase to my new home as a memorial. In addition, I took out two of my special Robin Hopper pieces to the property - a bird planter and a ceramic mushroom. I've since added a lovely azalea bush that will produce beautiful red flowers next spring.

Walls

The walls are going up! As Jamie has a limited area to work in, the walls are going up in two stages. The first 8' of wall all the way around went up first. It will be followed by putting in the steps and loft areas and then the remaining height of the walls will be added after that. I haven't been there since it was just a floor so am excited to go and see the progress and get a true sense of the interior space. Jamie sends me pictures every few days so that I know how the build is coming along.

Construction of "Happinest" has begun! As it has been a wet spring, the first thing that Jamie did was to build a huge structure to go over the trailer. That way, tarps could be put over top so that work didn't have to stop every time it rained. The next step was to start on insulating the floor and putting on the plywood decking. So next time I go over to check on progress, I will at least be able to walk around on the floor of my new home. It will start to feel more real then and once the framing for the walls goes up, I think I will get a much better sense of the space and whether the interior design needs any additional tweaking! After months of checking the ads for used french doors, I was finally able to find one for $100. The money saved from having to buy new will cover at least half of my cost of the now-needed composting toilet.

I finally told my landlords that I would be moving in a couple of months. Although they are sorry that Nova and I will be leaving, they were both super sweet and supportive of this project!