By STEVE ELLINGSON Throughout history dog been mans dedicated col league serving him well as shepherd policeman guard guide and above all as com has panion and loyal friend Perhaps that explains why so many dogs have been called Pal dog can say more beautiful heartwarming things simply by wagging his tail than legions of poets or philosophers Since dogs are so unselfish and so very loyal it seems only fair that we return their faithfulness with kindness One of the best ways to do this is to furnish them with suitable home of their own The handsome dog house shown here has all of the benefits dogs like Some of the features are It protects them from the wind The front door is suspended from hinges that make it easy to go in and out yet the door stays closed In the summer it may be fastened open The house like mans is built up off the ground That keeps it warm and dry in winter The roof is adjustable and may be opened in summer as shown It may be taken com pletely off for cleaning Final ly it has window something dogs like as much as people The easytofollow pattern for making this dog house is laid out in such way that it may be made small for little dogs medium for middlesized dogs and larger for dogs like Lassie To obtain the easytofollow dog house pattern No 299 send $250 plus 25 cents for postage and handling by cheque or money order to The Examiner Barrie Pattern Department 4030 atherine St Montreal 32 2W6 Rooming house planned battle may be brewing over proposal to turn Ross Street duplex into rooming house but if so one side is keeping its head well down City hall officials say anonymous callers have pro mised to present petition op posing the rooming house pro posed for the northwest corner of Ross and Mary streets However neighbors question ed by The Examiner said they knew nothing of such petition and expressed no opposition the proposal Developer Ed Jennings needs number of minor variances from zoning standards to con vert the existing building into rooming house The Committee of Adjustment will hear his ap plication Thursday at 510 pm at City Hall The building has rear yard of only about 16 feet instead of the required 25 feet one of the 18 units would have only 1130 sguare feet of floor area instead the required 1200 square feet and Jennings wants to reduce the required eightfoot buffer area next to adjoining properties to four feet or substitute sixfoot fence All residents within 200 feet of the property have been notified of the application The property is currently zon ed RMZ multiplefamily residential zoning The 10000 squarefoot lot fronts on Sophia Street as well as Ross and Mary Streets Surrounding properties are mainly residential but there is an auto supply dealer across Sophia Street Ross Street building is scheduled to be turned into an Iiiunit rooming house if the citys Committee of Adjustment agrees to permit number of minor variances from zoning stan dards The building stands at the intersections of Itoss and Sophia streets with Mary Street Examiner Photo Home decoration problems can be solved with thought In decorating home or an apartment some rooms are easier than others Some rooms come with builtin problems Others are perfect gems Even bare they suggest cozy retreat or are so perfectly pro portioned that they are at once inviting and satisfying Problems rooms come in variety of shapes and sizes Some are small dark dull and claustrophobic Others are long and narrow Some have lots of windows and no wall space or have walls that are broken up with series of closet doors Heating units and electrical outlets are awkwardly placed or the ceiling is too low And so itgoes Sometimes the problems seem too much to handle But with patience imagination and good sense of design theres no problem that cannot be over come perfect example is room recently transformed from ugly duckling to swan by the hus band and wife design team of Lynn and Irwin Berman In spite of some good qualities such as handsome hardwood wall panelin and lovely fireplace wit an attractive mantle the room was cluttered with architectural detail and idiosyncrasies All of these things would have been fine in larger room but in this small space they were overpowering To make things even more difficult the fireplace was very awkwardly placed It was almost in the corner of the room next to wall that was more window than wall The windows on that wall plus bank of three smaller Windows on the adjoining wall tended to dominate the space breaking it up into small Squares The problem was how to create unity in space where none existed Without making any structural changes the Bermans knew that they had to lower the windows and bring the fireplace into focus They accomplished this with an elegant mix of patterns warm colors and rich textures Draperies with matching wall aper on inserts in the paneling and on the ceil ing give the room harmony that was sadly lacking in the original design Fabric blinds on the win ows in con trasting pattern using the same colors are left lowered to minimize the height of the win dow To create feeling of greater space the Bermans kept the furniture to minimum The selected few beautiful 0a and maple tables and small chests to provide rich accents of warmth and texture Theres nothing like wood whether its an anti ue eher end table or cm birc chest to bring room to life says Mrs Berman In larger room the Bermans would have stripped the wall paneling down but here they needed to pull the room together with matching windows and walls The mold that frames the panels is erfect And of course the ardwood paneling is smoother than plaster and it has lasted for hundred ears and is good for another undred Mrs Berman says PORCH SLIPPERY Our 0pm front porch is wood which gives us trouble Any moisture settling on it whether its rain snow or even only dew makes the floor and steps terribly terribl slippery Is there any kind paint We could use to eliminate this haz ard Use any top quality out door floor enamel with an ex tra ingredientsand Stir enerous amounts of sand directly into the paint It will give mod antiskid surface It wont be tracked into the house either because it is embedded right in the paint Heal By PAUL DELEAN ExaminerStaff Re rter STAYNER You ont real ly need house number to find Denis Mildons home in Stayner The impressive structure with the rough pine exterior and tin roof is hard to miss on drive along Church Street Unusual as the design may be the heating and insulation systems are what make the building trul extraordinary The house is ing constructed to generate and conserve as much heat as it can twostorey glass column at the front will convert the suns rays into heat which is driven by fans into the basement to be sucked into the furnace and distributed throughout the house Aside from small vents on their perimeters the custom built windows cannot be open ed Each has four layers of glass The landscaping of the yard is such that the entire basement outcro is now covered An the basement wall has been Styrofoamed right down to the frost line and out two feet the owner adds He says the home is not solar house but rather home designed to be maximum energy efficient and just hap pens to use some solar energy to that end The house isnt liveable yet and wont be for few weeks but its merits have already been well debated in Stayner The talk began shortly after Mildon decided to tear the roof off his traditional oneanda half storey home 11 weeks ago NEIGHBORS WONDER People wonder about the glass column the unfinished exterior the pine will need year to dry the tin roof the cost the design the resale possibilities Mildon isnt wor ried Its house that will be far more attractive visually then the one had before ne thing you cannot guarantee is how well its going to work These systems havent really been tested enough yet But in all the reading Ive done people with solar energy systems in their homes have had better results than even they expected Id be willing to bet money Ill be pleasantly surprised The real upshot of this home for me is that hopefully its go ing to affect my familys philosophical outlook Well be taking far less for granted be far more cognirant of things like sunshine nature and weather Solar energy homes even when ineffective tend to use ¢v Garden notes Speak out to save maples far leSS energy because the peo ple who live in them tend to be more aware and careful in their consumption That to me will be one of the benefits He estimates that the cost of transforming his home into larger and maximum energy efficient structure will be $25000 bought it for $20000 four years and it was worth $45000 efore the work Id say its in the $080000 range now though hes been interested in solar energy for several years the course of action decided upon wasnt in Mildons original plans HARD TO MATCH My wife and were looking around for new house We couldnt find another to match this lot for conveniece and beauty at least not at rice we could afford and still ave enou to build decent home en we looked at the possibilit of building solar energy dition to the house Peter Fluker of Barrie came in and did an energy study of my house He deter mined that the addition would only be able to sustain itself in energy Id still be paying fortune to heat the house because it was so poorly in sulated Enter John Nord Stayner resident specializing in creative homes and the shape of thin to come began to un fold uker Nord and Mildon discussed various ways the house could be altered and an overall strategy was developed by midMay In addition to making the glass column which is 12 feet wide 18 feet high and extends five feet out from the front wall Running down the clack sprayed masonry wall at the back of the column is fine cop per tubing hooked up to the houses central water supply The intention there is to preheat our hot water Mildon explains The black wall will also absorb and radiate heat The 31yearold high school teacher doesnt expect the col umn or wood stove he plans to install in his basement to carry the bulk of his home energy load Hell be satisfied with any kind of dent since its positive step toward self sufficiency OII IO RISE suspect oil will cost hell of lot more in five years than it does now The prophets of doom say its that serious which bodes badly for homeowners reliant upon oil in any case its the way want to spend my money Since Mildon associates Nord and Fluker and student laborers have done much of the Hy JEAN ABLE Harrie Horticultural Society This week got shock Im hoping it will shock you the readers of this columne into raising your voices had asked local tree expert to save maple on private property across the street from where live It only got sick this summer and recall when the owner now deadeplanted it about 25 years ago The expert said it was doomed but offered to try to save it It is now dead He has his own diagnosis and has been having trouble getting an expert from Guelph to come and see many 0t make new one er maples so affected to confirm his diagnosis or He says there are about 60 maples in Barrie like that right now Can you imagine ntario without maples The elms went in an awful hurry Cant we save our maples Maybe only the voice of the people can If so for heavens sake TRY Some people think spring is the only time to plant trees shrubs or even roses If you can get your trees and so forth planted just as soon as the ground can be worked and we dont have drought like we did this year spring may be the ideal time However have seen some very good trees planted in the fall and have had good luck moving shrubs in the fall Potted roses can be planted anytime There is more time in the fall The cool nights and the rain we usually get in September are great for planting There are exceptions and one is birch trees Birch trees should be planted before their growth starts in spring Much as love birch trees they area ain in the neck If it isnt one thing that gets them it is anot er and soon as they reach size to be useful they up and die and break their owners hearts In the light of the trouble with our sugar maples am told catalpas are also in trouble We should be looking for tree that will stand up in our area If we wait until the maples are gone it is going to be late indeed SOCIETY NEWS On Aug 13 bus load of local horitucltural society members visited the sales barns at Stouffville and had lunch at one of the most beautifully landscaped restaurants Ive ever seen on Highway 87 at Markham Road and enjoyed IHello Dolly at OKeefes Driving throu gh that country was beautiful experienceebeautiful farmland lush with harvest So many people have wanted to see the Irish Rovers at the CNE and cant get on our two busesrwe will try to accom modate them when the Irish Rovers come to Orillia Aug 27 at pm Cost will be about $900 complete Call your hookers reader of this column gave me clipping of new ser vice in Vir inia It is called the Plant Hotel where you park your ants when leaving on vacation and also it acts as plant hospital where you take your sick plants Well Bar rie isnt far behindit has had lant babysitting service for some time but to my knowl plant hospital ge we havent yet got We were to tour Barrie gardens Sunday Since only four people booked on our bus it was cancelled That disap pointed some home owners who were hoping to share their gardens beauty Just in case you are drivtng by here are some addresses where youll see some nice gardens 19 0t taway Ave 48 Barry Lane 266 Duckworth St 206 Well lngton St East 145 Shanty Bay Rd 104 Wellington St West 197 Toronto St 59 Strabane Ave 44 Grove St 29 Gunn St 24 Peacock Lane and 25 Berczy St There are countless homes with lovely hanging baskets and lanters and please dont forget to enjoy all the public Llan ings done by our city and our society Nobody needs to ve our city to see beautiful flowers even the industries and commercial establishments are doing great jobso in gr moment of leisure drive around and really enjoy utlful Barrie helps eep it the examiner Friday Augu It 19 1977 Unusual Stayner home indoors Deiiis Mildon makes measurement for the glass column that will soon be in place at the front of his hurch Street home in Stayner The column will translate the rays of the sun in to usable energy to heat the Mildon residence which has undergone extensive renovations to become maximum energy efficient The house has numerous windows in the front which faces south but only one in back The column is the centre of passive energy system built into the home which should at its worst provide 20 per cent of the household energy needs Mildon says Examiner Photo work on the home constrUction costs are not excessive lheres lot of work that if you bother to read up on it can easily be done by yourself and some students says Mildon lie was between jobs and had the summer to devote to the project The skilled jobs were left to llovwvcr prOltSSlOIlill jwh33si carpenters plumbers plas terers and electricians After 11 weeks Mildon is getting little anixous to move into his new twostorey experi ment It hasnt been easy for his wife Helen and their three small children Theyve spent much of the last month in tent behind the house Its been lot of work and lot of money but Mildon is con vinced that it was the right decision lot of books on solar energy are written by ex perts who have never ap lied the theories believe the oers always come ahead of the ex perts Hes one doer who would im mensely enjoy observing theory become reality from the com fort of warm unique and economical home Energy crisis should mean bright future for dimmers Dimmer controls are great for matching home lighting to the mood of the moment Bright for homework notsobright for TV just friendly glow for dinner party all with turn of theknob But todays homemach are discovering another good reason for replacing their swita ches by dimmers Dimmers help save electricity As recently as five years ago dimmer controls on domestic lighting were luxury feature Ihen lowlcost simple torinstall solidstate dimmers appeared on the market and anadian homeowners were quick to realise that controlled lighting was one luxury they could very easily afford Because dimmer works by limiting the amount of power being fed to light it helps to Ont AM 4T6 my favorite photo Children continue to be popular subjects with entrants in The Examiners weekly photo contest This weeks winner Is classic shot of flvemonthold Sonya Marlo Lee daughter of Tom and Debbie Lee of Shanty Bay The Lees win free roll of Koducolor film plus processing from the Kamera Shop in the Bayfield Mail To enter send your favorite snap shot to My Favorite Photo The Examiner Box 370 Barrie conserve electricity And because the light isnt being fed full power all the time it lasts longer So dimmers are one luxury that you dont have to think of as wasteful The most popular type of dimmer today is the push onpuslroff rotary walltype unit says Paul Watt nuirketing manager wholesale division Smith and Stone one of Canadas largest manufac tttrcrs of wiring devices Its easy to see whyverhead lighting is what most people want to control and this type of dimmer unit can very easily be installed in place of the existing switch Walltype dimmers are operated by turning knob to reduce the intensity of the lighting On some the lights are switched off by turning the knob to the limit of its travel on others the knob can be push ed in at any int on its travel toturntheli tsoff Most types of residential dim mer will control lights up to 600 watts total only heavyduty types are available for larger lightin fixtures Stan ard dimmers are for me with incandescent lam only Special models are ma for fluorescent lamps and are irstalled in the same way with the addition of special dimming ballasts Installing the dimmer is not difficult provided precautions arrtaken Read installation instruc tions carefully before you start advises Paul Watt and before you open up the old switch on the wall turn off the power by unscrewing the fuse or tripping the circuitbreaker Then remove the faceplate and remove the two screws that hold the switch itself in place Pull it out and disconnect the two wires attached to it Dont touch any other wires that may be in the box behind it Then connect these two wires to the dimmer Bug killer warning out Consumer and Corporate Af fairs Canada has cautioned con sumers to look for the Canadian Standards Assocation CSA stamp of approval when pur chasing electric bug killers The department warning comes as result of bulletin isued by the CSA stating that gproximately 10000 Chadwick ectric Bug Killers ma be of fered for sale in ansda without CSA certification The Chadwick Electric Bug Killer has been submitted to the CSA for certification on two separate occasions and turned down because of the roducts potential fire an shock hazards CSA official pointed out that the bu killer In ques tion does not ve flame retardant enclosure and could short out when wet and give person an electric shock Electric products are not cur rently subject to regulations under the federal Hazardous Products Act They are re quired provincial law to be certifie as conforming to Canadian Electrical Code safe ty standards WW