home sweet home

The love of my life and I have finally bought a house, after six months of searching in the stupidly tight and crazy Winnipeg market. I asked for only three things: 1) if there was a garage, I wanted it detached; 2) a shower we can stand up in (it's been 4 1/2 years since we've had that luxury); and 3) a reasonable distance to work, so we could bike. He was more fussy, but in the end, we're both satisfied and have a place we can (semi) afford.

Now to start "greening" it...

To start, we had an ecoEnergy Evaluation done. This means that we will be eligible for rebates on the energy efficiency improvements we make. The list is long! These are the things we could/should upgrade:

• windows (all but one)
• doors (they are wooden, old and not sealed properly)
• insulation (basically, there isn't any, and we live in Winterpeg, Manisnowba)
• hot water heater (ours has reached it's life span, so we want to switch from gas to electric)
• shower head (much as I love the torrential downpour we currently have)
• window frames (need to be caulked)
• programmable thermostat

On the want list are:

• new fridge
• fence for the back yard
• ceiling fans
  
• painting the exterior of the house
  

Add to this, we have old wooden soffits with a hole in them, and therefore "tenants." So new soffits, fascia and eaves troughs, though not eco, are essential. Since we aren't swimming in money, we may go a bit deeper in debt and get a Power Smart loan for some of the work.

And then there is the yard. I have started 5 types of native prairie plants from seed, but let's just say, it's going to need a bit more than that...

commuter challenge

Yesterday at work, I found myself volunteering to coordinate the Commuter Challenge. It almost feels like cheating, as our bike rack is always full and most of the rest of us take the bus. But we are spending two days of that week at Fort Whyte Centre, hiking in 20 minutes to the cabin where our staff retreat will be held, so commuting will actually be a challenge. We're already talking about car pooling or maybe bike pooling. The green commuting will actually be less of a challenge than getting the wonderful folks I work with to log their modes of transportation and their kms. 

Actually really looking forward to the whole thing... I never bother keeping track of how far I go on two wheels, so will be interesting to see the distance I travel in a week. Figured out that it is 5.5 kms each way to work, which is perfect to start and end the day. Not to strenuous when I'm not awake; gets the blood flowing after a day of sitting in front of the computer. Have been really lax about riding this spring, but Monday... that's when it gets serious!