PLEASE NOTE; THIS PROJECT WAS TEMPORARILY PUT TO REST AS WE HAD TO MOVE BEFORE COMPLETING IT.  HOWEVER, WE WILL BE RE-INITIATING THIS PROJECT VERY SOON IN 2009 OR 2010. OUR HOPES IS TO NOT JUST MAKE A WHELPING KENNEL THIS TIME BUT A HOME FOR OURSELVES COMBINED IN ONE! wE ARE NOW IN THE PLANNING STAGES OVER LAYOUTS. PLEASE KEEP THIS PAGE BOOKMARKED FOR FUTURE UPDATES.

(Shalouand Kennel has now moved to www.shalouandkennel.ca )

This page is dedicated to all of our old friends back home in Weyburn. Praise God, He has enabled Trevor with the knowledge to attempt to build one of these. Maybe the house fire of a year and a half ago was a blessing after all.

Our friends would often plan after church or in small (bible study) groups on how to build an environmentally efficient home. At that time, they hoped to build it out of straw bales.

No this is not the straw bale house he was going to try and build seven years, but we hope to incorporate (eventually) straw bales into the roof. We don't know if we will get this finished this fall but here is our attempt. Now that my kennel is finally a reality (a dream of 10 plus years), we have a need to build a good whelping kennel. I thought Trevor was crazy collecting over 900 tires a few years back.....I guess he has me talked into attempting this now.

Up here, our winters can reach -40 degrees Celcius for as much as 3 to 4 weeks at a time. We have to make sure our dogs are safe and sound with a building that can not only withstand that cold but also maintain it's inner heat.

This smaller building project is actually the pilot project for bigger plans in the future. If this all goes well, we hope to start our new house in the spring.

Play-by-play of the building project;

	Prepping the area - August 18, 2006 We had to prep the area to begin with since the area we are building in is actually part of our pasture area. Our dog runs are actually converted horse paddocks and the finishing touches will be put on them once this project is finished.
Filling the tires - August 18, 2006 Usually, it is required to dig down below the frost line to start your first row but since this ground is such hard clay, we are going to try laying semi tires as our foundation and then stacking regular tires on top. Trevor is filling the tires by wheel barrel full. Shannon later packs the dirt in solid. This is a process by which we later perfect with a pry bar and a sledge hammer.
	Hired Help -August 18, 2006 Indie, our latest addition to the family, is enjoying a comfortable sit-me-down. We much prefer her sit-me-downs over Moses' help anyday. Moses would dig out all that we packed in.
August 19, 2006 This is after about two to three hours of work. We are about 1/3 finished the first row.
	August 25, 2006 - Ho, Hum....This is boring Alicia does not find this too amusing as mom (Shannon) works away!
Packing into the crevices This is one of the methods that Trevor and I use to get the gravel into the corners. A crow bar works great.
	"This is the second time I told you....I don't want to beat it into your head!" Just Kidding I don't think Trevor would actually do that....but all of you who know Trevor would know that he likes to have a little fun.
A little fun on the side That's our Alicia! Always goofing off! LIke father like daughter!
	A little help from Moses! Moses is actually behaving himself here. He is usually digging the dirt out as fast as we can pack it in!
Second Row is over half finished - August 30, 2006 Here you can see that we have started the second row. As of this evening we are over half finished the second row. Our neighbour, Dorothy Norum was gracious enough to let us use some of the dirt from the banks of her dugout which they dug a few years ago.
	We have only spent a few hours this week.... However we made good process in the time. Two and a half trips to Dorothy's dugout banks gave us enough fill more than half the second level. We are now using normal sized tires
Further rows will be staggered like bricks. Unfortunately this effect has not been established yet due to the two different sized tires.

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