With a little help from my friends

It has been an intense week with weird issues arising with our bank, our insurer and contractors - but they're all resolved now (what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right????). All of the issues were unrelated, but all incredibly frustrating).

The bright side is our friends - some old, some new. Here are a few of the great folks who've joined our straw bale hall of fame this month:

Carolyn & Erroll Hatfield, Carol Ann Taylor, Frank & Kathy Rutherford, The Young Family (Dave, Brenda, Callum, Ben, Maris - and Julien - an exchange student), Marty White, Janine Van Winssen, Kerry Jo Parker,Debbie & JP Maillet, Derrian Smith and her friend Kathleen, Phil Savage, Ali Murhpy and her partner Lee, Kyle Whittaker, ...

I know I've forgotten someone (and I don't have photos of everyone, but know that we're so incredibly thankful to you.

I estimate that we have a week's worth of plastering to finish the 2nd coat (aka the "fill coat") on the exteriour.
This will protect us for the winter. We will likely wait until Spring to apply the beautiful, smooth plaster finish since this one probably won't be dry in time before the temperature drops. This mean our neighbours have to live with our mud hut look for the next six months or so, but we'll do our best...