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!