Another week has passed

and things are rockin' and rollin' at the house. The drywallers are hanging the "rock" today and will come back next week to tape. Drywall really changes the look of things.

The garage door has arrived, the garage is being wired, the lot is being graded, the furnace will be tested today...lots going on. What's left to finish? Here's the To Do list:

Kitchen cabinets
Bathroom cabinets
Sinks
Toilets
Exterior lights (I'm painting those today)
Interior lights
Interior plaster
Paint
Adobe veneer on LR wall
Seal floor
Carpet in boy's bedrooms
Hang doors
Install sola-tube
Install WB stove

Quite a list! Onward and upward.

Most importantly- today our younger son, Joe, turns 14! Happy Birthday Joj!

Playing in the Mud
Plaster Party




Last Saturday some friends came to help celebrate my birthday and apply the first coat of interior earthen plaster. We had a great time and thanks to Sam, Connor, Dave and Shayne, who kept us supplied with mud, we were able to get the first coat done by about 1pm.



Amy and Olga



Sam and Shayne



Connor




Thel...errrr Loui......uhhh Robin!



New acquaintances, Phyllis and Mary, who hope to build a strawbale cabin in NM.



I must have been tired, because the camera shook. This is Mariel who came with her husband Bill and MIL Elsa. They also helped with the wall-raising and Bill helped put the roof on.



Casey, Me, Donna



Karen and Victor



Rick, Michelle



Lunch time!



Finished wall-we had to leave that space above the first course because we hadn't had the electrical inspection yet.
We have now been inspected and we passed! But not before having to run out and buy and install fire alarms....duhhh!

We were so busy we didn't get pictures of everyone but we sure appreciate all the help and encouragement.

We now have the garage roof finished and the "driveway", all 4 feet of it, poured. Victor will begin the stucco on Saturday.

Kitchen cabinet decisions have been made-they will be Plyboo! I was having a difficult time deciding what to use then picked up a copy of one of those glossy home mags and there it was, The Answer. I was drawn to the mag because our neighbor's house is on the cover. This issue is dedicated to "green" building and living.

In search of Red Clay in So Arizona

If you know of a spot where there is reddish clay that I can dig-please leave me a comment. I want it for the window trim so don't need much.

In search of other colors, I went to Originate yesterday and bought some pigments. The store has a nice variety of natural building supplies and if she doesn't have what you need she might be able to find it for you. I bought yellow ochre and green pigments. The finish plaster in the living areas of the house will have the yellow ochre added for just a bit of color. Our current house came with an old gold paint in the living room and it is such a cheerful, warm color. I love it, but I would probably never have painted any room yellow on my own. The sparkly stuff is mica-I'm going to add that to the dragonfly wings and also some of the interior plasters. What fun!

Be on the look-out for red clay!
 

What We Did This Weekend...















Coated burlap with clay slip and hung it for the wood to bale transition...



















added bamboo to a corner transition (stencil will come later)...




















cleaned up the cement stucco...















and took all that disgusting plastic off the windows and doors and stood back and admired!



But then I realized "Yikes, (I hang around Olga too much) it's December!" I'm one of those who likes to have the Christmas cards (I love Christmas cards AND the newsletters) done by Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping mostly completed by my birthday (Dec 7, the Day that will Live in Infamy). So now it's the 4th and nothing, zip, nada. But, NPR to the rescue! As I was driving to Civano on the weekend I heard a story about Mighty Goods. I'm saved! I'm off to cyberspace to shop, I can be finished by the 7th!

The Garage That Ate the House!




Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

Looks huge, huh? It is pretty huge but remember, this is the BACK of the house (but probably the side most people will approach the house). We had to have a garage so might as well have a decent sized one. It will provide a place for the freezer, w/d and tools, so it is utilizing non-conditioned space for things that don't require conditioned space and/or produce heat. Also you might notice the slope on the roof beams. When it rains, this will provide water for landscape purposes and the solar panels will live up there.


Remember, this the front of the house. (before plaster)



That's Sam and me finishing up the plaster on the south side. The blue tarps are to keep the sun from drying out the plaster. I worked without one the first day and what a mistake. It's just too dry with the intense sun to be able to finish it the way it needs to be done. Luckily the temperatures were only in the 70's during the day.

Now I just need to complete the west wall. And I have the tools to do that now!

Final Plaster...

looks good! We were able to finish about 1/3 of the exterior yesterday but boy, were we tired.
But it was a good tired, as Rick likes to say. And the results of the labor are beautiful.

For this, I am Thankful,

My Mom doesn't have to spend Thanksgiving alone,
My family,

A 17 yr old who dresses in black but has a smile that lights up the room and a sparkly wit,

An almost fourteen year old who asks the most soul-stirring questions,
That I have the time to listen and to discuss those questions (they are often unanswerable) ,
A husband who builds and doesn't mind my "change orders" (not much, anyway),
All the trades we've encountered who still take pride in their work and see it as a craft,
All those who have stopped by during building and given us encouragement,
The friends who have helped with the building ,
A vocation I enjoy, an avocation I love,
That I still feel excitement at hearing the cadence of a marching band,
Things that are so beautiful they bring tears to my eyes,
Books that I want never to end,
Tucson sunsets

The garage floor is poured!

Things are moving now. The garage looks like it takes an enormous amount of space-but it's all relative to the size of the lot. It's a normal 2 (1.5 usually!) car size. It will also house our W/D and freezer.

Here are some more photos of The Big Pour. Framing next week and then Victor will come back to stucco it.

Some work did happen over the weekend

A friend came over and helped me hash out the design for the west wall. And she brought me chai, she fielded questions from curious passersby and we laughed alot-what could be better?

Kiko Denzer does beautiful work in clay. I can learn a lot from his style. He has a great book on building earthen ovens which I used for the oven we had at our previous home. The book is much more than the mechanics of building an oven-it's about the importance of bread, "the Bread Cycle" and our relationship with the world around us. A quote-"Life doesn't ask us to buy, it asks us to participate-to watch, to learn and to create."


Still working on the buildouts around doors and windows-fun stuff!


This is my bamboo scene-wanted something with plant life but not cactus and coyotes. Digital cameras are so useful because I can study this and see what, if anything, needs to be added. There are also 2 dragonflies that are very hard to see at this angle.


The dragonfly.

The forming for the garage floor is completed and the pour will be tomorrow. We can get that finished quickly. (i know we can, i know we can, i know we can)

And the Gumbati Cons. guys came over to discuss the kitchen, which meant I had to get a final drawing for what we want where. It's such a small space it's imperative that we use it efficiently and I think I have a pretty good desgn.

So things are happening!

Ohio State over Michigan 42 to 39 - 11/18/2006

Just One More

The Victory Bell rang at the 'shoe!

There were a few tense moments with a couple of heart-stopping turnovers but the Bucks persevered! Buckeyes 42-The other team 39.

Hang On Sloopy at OSU vs Bowling Green game

Hang On, Sloopy-the Bucks are comin' to Arizona!

Script Ohio

Across the Field

Fight the team across the field,
Show them Ohio's here
Set the earth reverberating with a mighty cheer
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hit them hard and see how they fall;
Never let that team get the ball,
Hail! Hail! The gang's all here,
So let's win that old conference now

OH--IO

Work will knock off early today in honor of a special Ohio holiday-the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes will play that team from up north, in Columbus....mayhem will ensue.

Go Bucks!! And just to get you in the mood, enjoy TBDBITL

Great Week for Plaster













Only the finish coat to go!

Moving Right Along...

Ever have a great day? Ever have 2 great days in a row? Not just a good day when nothing catastrophic happens and you slog through your job and come home and have meatloaf (your favorite) for dinner and then it's NCIS (your other favorite) night on TV and you get to bed before 11. I'm talking about the kind of day that makes you glad you have been given space on this earth for a period of time. The sky is blue, the birds sing, rabbits romp, butterflies float, the plaster practically jumps on the wall (and sticks), and the strawbales begin to disappear under that coat of beautiful mud. If you've had a day like that, you have an appreciation for my last 2 days.

I used to get nervous when things would seem too "good". Did you know that's a carryover from "evil eye" myths and superstitions? Envious people would cast the "evil eye" on someone for whom things were good and then bad things would begin to happen. And it wasn't an intentional thing-those looking weren't witches or evil, just envious. Good to know it's a myth-now I can enjoy good things when they happen.

The plaster is about 50% complete. And that's just 2 days of work. We still need to build up the base coat a bit because I want smooth walls, not lumpy-bumpy this time. Then it will be time for the finish coat. I'm also thinking on the detail work I want to do around the windows to provide a frame. I think windows look better with some type of frame. Nothing fancy because the house is small and the windows already have some detail. At the moment I'm seeing a curve at the top with straight sides and perhaps a slight curve at the bottom. The curves will tie in with the other curves and help soften all the strightlines and angles of this very linear house.

This is Jose from Rite-Way Ventilating. There are some jobs that may seem like not much but are back breakers. Lots of bending, stooping, up and down the ladder, small space work. He worked really hard getting that duct work up.
Above is the west wall after the slip was applied. Below, same wall with first plaster coat.




North wall, almost finished with first coat. How about an arch over the glass block window?
I'm working on this corner to get it plumb (or at least close). It's a good one to play with because it's on the northeast corner and not many people will see it.
Still not liking the color-too pale, too beige. Haven't found any darker clay. May have to cruise the washes and roadbuilding sites looking for a darker material. Have shovel and bucket, will travel.

Sun's up, gotta get to work!

I asked her what she planned to do with her life & she said she was way beyond that point already. I'm just happy I remember to be there when it happens, she said. storypeople

Testing, testing...1, 2...testing....

Plaster samples-this is very sandy clay as it is actually adobe MIX from an adobe block company. It will need almost no sand added. I'm not excited about the color but will play with it.




This is the scratch coat under with a sample brown coat over-too sandy!








The slip is going on with the help of a sprayer-pictures of that coming soon.

Changing Landscape

The orientation period for my new position at the hospital has ended and I am back to working 24 hours/wk and am finally able to get started on the plaster. I screened some of the clay in order to make clay slip and some more straw-clay (more holes to fill). I'm screening the clay for the straw-clay and the first coat of plaster through 1/4 inch hardware cloth. The clay will then be mixed with water, long straw and a bit of sand. This clay is pretty sandy as it is. I made a test mix and put up on the wall yesterday and will see how it looks when I get back there on Saturday. The number of cracks should tell me how much sand is needed. All clay is different in its composition and requires testing.

When I get to the finer finish plasters the clay will be put through a 1/8 inch screen and then for really fine stuff, a window screen.

For the slip, I took some of the leavings from the screening, soaked them in buckets of water then screened that mixture to remove the larger bits of rock. This will have no straw added and is applied to the walls to create a bridge between the straw and plaster. One of the best things I learned at the Canelo workshop was to let all of the mixtures to sit, at least overnight. The slip becomes "slippier" and the plasters and light straw get gooeyer and easier to work with. It a also takes on a very, shall we say, earthy, aroma!

Sam, installing the box for the ceiling fan.


Rick with his thinking cap on. The knee is about 85% at this point and he will be finished with directed physical therapy next week. From there it will be up to him.
Beautiful curve created by Victor who is doing the cement stucco. The plan is to stain this a rusty orange-red. I got an excellent deal on some cement stain at the Habistore (how I love that place). The original plan had been to use ferrous sulfate and we may still- have to test the stain colors to make sure the color is right.

The lot was graded this week so we no longer have to jump trenches and we were able to do a rough layout of the garage. The HVAC guys will come next week and get the ductwork up. Then the floor will be stained and it's on to drywall. On the outside, the slab for the garage is to be poured next Saturday and then the framing will go quickly. A large part of our lot will be swallowed up by the garage but it will provide us with some privacy to the east and create a nice winter patio area looking to the greenway.

Things will really move from this point!

(ed. to remove "shoulds"-our language creates our world)

The North Patio


I love Craigslist. This was listed on Friday evening, I emailed "The Guy" about it on Sat morning and within 30 minutes we were the proud owners of this beautiful slate. We went to pick it up yesterday morning. Did you know slate is quite heavy? And this is all about 3/4"-5/8" and 12" x 12". We figure it was about 1000 lbs of stone, loaded into the truck then out of the truck. And we'll have to do that again at the house. But it will be worth every sore muscle.

"The Guy" we bought it from was very nice and helped us load the stone. He's had this laying around in his mother's backyard for years and she finally said "Get rid of it". Thanks, MaMa!

I have met the nicest people through Craigslist and eBay. I hear stories about all the stinkers and cheats but that has not been my experience. Kind of restores your faith in humanity.

The house with it's stucco skirt. All that above the stucco is mine to Create with Clay. Plans are finalized on what to do next. We are going to finish the outside and get the garage up and then be able to move to the inside for finish work.

We're probably about 6 weeks behind our dream schedule but what building project ever goes as planned?