But Is It Fun?

Our uncompleted house...made of logs we cut, strawbales and mud from our land...

Playing fetch with Angel the dog, in our front yard. Note the fire pit...which we can use now that it is the rainy season. Smores anyone?

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With Joni away in San Diego (taking care of her Mom), I sit down to a dinner of Bacon, Baked Beans and Beer! Breakfast was Baked Beans and Coffee. This is living!

We have been living up here for 1 1/2 years now. Our Addition still isn't done. I've been sleeping under the exposed elements of our new Addition for 1 1/2 years now. Some nights have been spent outside, sleeping under the stars. The temperature has been in the 30's during the night. I sleep with a stocking cap and thermal underwear. And two sleeping bags. Most nights I fall asleep listening to blessed Coyote songs.

We don't have hot water. In the summer, some shower bags left in the sun meets those needs. In the summer, we shower butt naked outside. Now that it is colder, we heat water on the stove. When Joni mentioned this to her sister (who lives in a McMansion in a cookie cutter suburb of San Diego), she couldn't fathom it. That was just not okay: "You have to have hot running water!" she said. "How can you live that way?"

Right now I don't have running water into the Cabin because I broke the water inlet pipe. Haven't gotten around to fixing that yet.

And we have one wall left to build. And only one layer of mud on the house...although that is holding up well in the rain due to building eaves that extend quite a ways away from the building.

So, is this fun?

Yes! I am having the time of my life!! All those accoutrement's of modern living will show up eventually. But in the mean time, I have beauty all around me. Space to play with the dog. A campfire pit! Skunks! Deer! Mountain Lion! Bear! Fresh air! A hiking trail that leads to the bottom of the canyon--with no one on it!

I have a funny looking house, incomplete, that Joni and I designed. We helped cut the logs and stripped them of bark. We have made all the mud for the house. Collected all the rock for the foundation and mortared them into place. We have made very few trips to Home Depot.

This isn't industrial living...this is living close to the Earth. With Earth for walls! This is how 50 percent of the world lives!

We have an anemic garden and chickens that we can't tell if they are boys or girls. We have Rednecks and Apocalyptic Christians for neighbors.

So never mind that we stink a little. Or that we have to haul water. Or that we have to ration our television and computer time. This is how I want to live! And we are thriving!

Hanging Out With Amy Goodman...

With Joni out of town for the week, I snuck off to Chico to meet Amy Goodman. I described meeting her on my other blog.

Amy Goodman is one of my heroes. Frankly, the left side of the ledger has some pretty good talent: Amy being one of them; Thom Hartmann is another. The work they do on Free Speech TV and their radio shows certainly bests the hefty, barbed wire loving, talking heads of the Right.

Amy Goodman had a booksigning and then a speech. I've heard Amy before, but this time she was much more comfortable at the mike. And also much more real as she talked about her experiences over the past couple of months watching her Mother die in a hospital.

Amy said they had to "stand guard" over the ineptitude of the doctors and nurses who took care of her Mother. The problem to me (since I am an RN) is that her Mother was in a hospital that doesn't value the skills and talents of the nurses.

Doctors need to have a good relationship with their nurses. After all, it is the nurses who actually are with the patient. I am blessed with having a good relationship with the doctors I work with. I can suggest treatment modalities; bring up things the doctor has overlooked; I can have knock down drag out fights with the good Docs I work with. All of this means that there is less of a chance for mistakes. And things do not get overlooked.

The more empowered the nurse, the better the care provided. When doctors and nurses work together in an atmosphere of respect and collaboration, better care is given to the patient.

Back to Amy. She gave a hell of a speech. Witty. Graceful. Informative. Filled with snippets of wisdom--I'm glad she is on our side. If you haven't watched/heard Democracy Now!--I heartily implore you to give the alternative media a chance!

A Frustrating Day...

I got some tin up on the back wall today...

I like how it looks. Now we can complete the last straw bale wall...

The backdoor. Even has a workable doorknob now...


And the front door is fully operational. A doorknob and additional lock adds non-security..

And we have our wood stove. The only problem is my piping is the wrong size (used)...got to get a few more parts before that will go in. Don't worry...I have a Fellah helping me with this. Don't want to build the place--just to have it burn down!

Now the frustrating part. I dropped a bit of tin which severed the water line into the house. Off to the hardware store...only to find this is PVC c pipe. My fittings were the wrong size! So we will haul water for the evening. Or maybe a tad longer...

You gotta expect a few challenges now and then...

Tin from the Year 1915!

I bought 35 sheets of recycled tin and had it delivered this morning (I need a pick up truck--anybody have one they want to sell me? Or better yet: donate?).

This tin is from a barn that was deconstructed (for you post-modernist fans!) down on the valley floor. Royce, who sold me the tin, told me the barn was built in 1915.

This is from the same barn that graces our roof. By the way, we haven't had any leaks...

The tin is also on the side of the building...

I plan on attaching this tin to part of our newest framed in wall...

We also will use it inside the family room--along the wall that houses our bookshelf in this photo.

I wrote about tin yesterday on my other blog. Today, I ran across this excellent indictment of our economy. The video is long--but nicely done. Reusing tin (that is almost 100 years old) is, hopefully, a way to help build a new economy. I hope you will peruse the highlighted video. It is quite excellent!

Front and Back Doors!!

The outside view of our new Front Door!!

I have to quit making predictions about when we will have "this and that" done. The more you predict--the more wrong you become. Or as a friend of mine has told me: "If you want to make God laugh--tell Her your plans".

We have a new Family Room! These photos are sunny; but they do indicate just how much light (and warmth) we will get in the Addition--having built the place for the natural passive solar heating with a southern exposure. It is winter now--and it warms up just fine. Even without the walls totally built.

The inside view of our Front Door! Pretty plush living...

An outside view of our Back Door! Yahoo!!

An inside view of our new Back Door!

Our new Family Room...with the door open (and Angel observing me) to our old Cabin.

I'm not going to talk about our plans...but, I do have a load of recycled tin coming tomorrow morning. With this I hope to finish up the exterior. This will lead to building the last straw bale wall. Then we can mud the last exterior wall. Now, will I get it done this week (after all, I am nursing an injury)? Your guess is as good as mine...

I also have a new "used" wood stove. This will go into the Family Room. With any luck, this might get installed this week. I have a carpenter friend coming over to help me with this...

All in all, we just might have a usable, cozy Family Room this winter!

Front Door and Back Door Framing...

The Front Door is framed in!

And the Back Door is Framed in. There is a window above the door! Now we can build the last Straw bale wall. All walls will be in some sort of semblance of semi-completion...

Halloween 2009

I was gone. At work. But we were happy to have a nice visit from the girls' Mom. Jazzy was a Faerie for Halloween. Kylie chose to be a rather whimsical "dead Hannah Montana".

When I got home, the girls' already had my yearly "Halloween Allan Tax" of Halloween candy put aside for me. I feel it is good that they learn to share... and I was pleased that they even included candy that I like in the "Allan Tax".