LaLaLand

We had another zany episode last night,a continuation of Tuesday previous.

We talked about the Petch House and decided to spend yet another $5.k on an airy-fairy quest for "detailed"information about restoring a cabin which has sat mouldering and crumbling , gathering dead carcases and other nasty stuff and rain and snow for the past six years, perched on concrete blocks on the east side of Leslie just south of Wellington in the Town of Aurora.

It is regularly referred to as a "log house" .

It is not .

It is a clap-board house .Nearest thing to a log are boards cut from it . Clap board cladding has long since disappeared.

It is referred to as the "oldest' house in Aurora.

It is not

Aurora's historical boundaries are almost three concessions distant.

The house was built in 1844.

Aurora began as the Village of Machell's Corners. Established in 1854, It did not appear out of the mist. Homes, taverns, hostelries and other buildings were undoubtedly there before to justify it becoming a unit of governance.

The most remarkable aspect of the Petch house is that it's still in one piece... but not for long and only as long nobody lays a finger on it.

Its size has been estimated as two floors of equal dimension.

That's not right.

Attics in old houses have rafters ending about two feet from the floor.It's called a knee wall.

A floor can't be identified as living space if all you can do is kneel on it.

Dormer windows can have sills at floor level.

Stairs in such a building are little more than a ladder leaning against a wall.

Reference to design in this context is utterly nonsensical.

For practical purpose, can the building be restored and maintain authenticity?

Not according to Heritage Trust of Ontario They don't want it.

Can it be brought to Code?

Can it be insured?

No answers there.

It's not a log house.

It's not part of Aurora's history.

It is crumbling as we speak

Can one seriously contemplate spending almost half a million public dollars on a few hundred square feet of space you don't own. you don't know its true condition, you don't know if it can be brought to code and you don't know if it can be insured ?

You can if you are followers of the Mormac regime and think spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on a rotting relic of no significance in Aurora's history will guarantee support in the next election.