June 16, 2013 update. A new post showing the arrival of my landscaping tractor.
March 29, 2013 update. On a walk today on the island, I took pictures of the amazing machines that my neighbors have, which, if I can arrange to borrow or rent them, could help clear brush and landscape my properties.
Alex has this big Kubota front-end loader.
He also has this John Deere `Gator`, which would be an amazing thing. I need to replace my own electric golf cart with something more capable, like this.
Alex also has a better wood chipper than the one I have.
(Actually, here’s mine, its also a Bear Cat brand.)
Art has this bobcat, and a Hitachi mini-excavator.
July 20, 2012 update. I’ve just returned from a Hudson Island weekend visit, and it was fantastic. I finally have met all the other island owners at least once. It’s truly the island of handsome men and beautiful women. Everyone there is incredibly attractive. (Just stating the facts.)
Anyway, I decided to turn this old post about landscaping work, into a more comprehensive work-to-be-done list, so that I can refer to it from anywhere. So click to see work to be done, forewarned that it is boring.
- Clear dead branches everywhere on lot 2 and 3. Chipper/shredder work plus cut usable dead logs into firewood lengths.
- Trench path from house to workshop, to extend 220V powersupply there.
- My little shed storing woodworking tools, is too small to actually work in, and the tablesaw can’t fit out of the door. I need to expand the workshop, and have a much bigger door, and get a few 220V upgrades to the big tools.
- Replace wood deck around house, rotting sections.
- Cover house roof with new metal. I believe this will take place shortly, using product from protechvi.com.
- Add lots of skylights to house roof
- Replace boat dock, add pilings
- Rig an aluminum ladder to get down to the shorline from my upper dock platform, useful only at low tides.
- Create walking path along ocean-view, lot 2 and 3.
- The tiny deck outside the workshop has rotting railings, but instead of replacing them, I need a much bigger deck surface created, to allow the power tools to cut wood in the outdoors, so sawdust stays out of the workshop.
- Bring a welders Oxygen cylinder to the island, so I can refill for flying.
Here’s former ideas, that I’m not certain of now.
- Trench path for phone cable, to a box where future neighbors could potentially trench to it too, to hook into phone or internet, if desired. This is uncertain because I should wait until I get decently fast internet somehow, perhaps from Beacon Wireless on Salt Spring Island. Then we’ll figure out how the infrastructure (perhaps antenna, tower and amplifier) could be shared.
Sept 16, 2012 update.
-Repaired top of stairs from my dock, creating steps over irregular rocks and repairing the wheelchair ramps to be smooth and usable again. Looks Great. Thanks Dave.
– Build support shelves for kayaks in the kayak shed.
– Oil change and maintenance on the boat engine. Boat bottom cleaning, zincs on motor. Repair/replace impeller pump system.
– Spray wood house to kill termites and other insects making holes.
– Refill all the gas containers for running lawn tractor, shredder, generator, etc.
August 17 2012 update.
– Work-item done. Hiding my airplane winch inside a stump. Thanks Dave.
August 7, 2011.
On Hudson Island (a small island in the Gulf Islands of B.C., located north of Salt Spring Island), I now own lot #2 and #3, and on my first visit there I took these pictures of the untouched areas of the land. You can see from these pictures, how much work there is to be done to clean up the dead branches and leaves. That stuff is so thick and tangled that it’s difficult to walk around, let alone enjoy the land or plan how to develop it.
So, I’ll be hiring someone to work on cleaning up the brush. But who? Well, whoever, they’ll have a nice place to stay.
April 15, 2013 update. Janet (mostly) and Dan have been clearing a walking path, and took some photos of it.
