Evil has returned!!!

Well, the freakishly cold weather is almost at an end. The next few days are going to be nice, unfortunately a) I'm getting a cold, and b) I have to work for 5 days in a row just as it starts getting nice!!

That's not the worst problem we're facing right now. I wish it was. We received word about our permit application the other day. They turned down the application, and demanded that we removed the trailers from the "site" within 30 days! We all freaked out a little bit, but I did a little bit of legal digging and found some GLARING errors in their reasoning.

The county is claiming that we don't qualify for a second residence because we don't have a farm fuel number from the Province. The only problem is that the bylaw doesn't mention a requirement to be a farmer in the section regarding additional residences. It says, and I quote "engaged in agricultural pursuits on a full time basis for at least six months of the year." The county cannot just add to that on a whim, or because they think that an additional qualification would be nice. The bylaw says what it says!

Next, they claim that a trailer doesn't meet the presumed meaning of a residence. I found a section in the Municipal Government Act that says it is a residence. The county also says that travel trailers are not a discretionary or permitted use. The MG Act says that a travel trailer is a manufactured home, which IS a discretionary use under the bylaw.

At the end of the letter, there was the ominous threat that we have to move the trailers from the "site" within 30 days. Are they suggesting that it is illegal to park a travel trailer on private land?? I beg to differ! The trailer is not attached to any structure, and it completely self-contained. Our friends are camping on our land, and that is not illegal under any statute in Alberta or the county.

I sent a letter to the head of the Committee that made this decision and sent the letter. I will be at the county office tommorow at the opening of business to discuss this further. We're not going to put up with this ridiculous nonsense. All we want to do is place a second residence so our friends can live their homesteading dream as well as us! The laws are clear, and we've followed them very carefully. I'm pretty good at legal research, and I've done my homework. We're gonna fight this, and with God on our side, we WILL win!

In other news, the workshop we're building is proceeding nicely, although not as quickly as I'd hoped. I've got the walls up on one side, and I can probably get the roof joists in place by the end of tomorrow. Once it warms up a bit, I'm going to finish off the water tank and fill it up with water. Then, I need to thoroughly insulate the pipe coming into the house with some heat tape and foam insulation! The pipe that brings the water in right now is frozen solid, even with heat tape on it. I suspect the heat tape is no longer working, but we have no running water right now. It should thaw by tomorrow or the day after that at worst. Hopefully the warm weather will last long enough to get some cementing done around the foundation. That will strengthen the base, and protect the bottom layer of straw bales from moisture. The irritating thing is, it's apparently going to snow tomorrow 5 cm! That's quite a bit of snow, almost an inch. Then it will melt and make my bales all wet : ( They should dry nicely, though, and then I can start stuccoing them when it warms up.

I'm going to make some more lemon honey tea now....