It's Monsoon-y!

(monsoony-dew point at 55 or above, muggy, sticky, it's gotta rain weather)

But then the clouds build up, lightning, thunder, wind and the driving rain comes. The temperature drops 20 degrees in 20 minutes-ahhhhhh...

It was a great storm-our neighbors recorded one inch of rain.


Our wall/fence (maybe it should be called a wence or a fall) is almost complete. We're slowly adding rocks from the lot but will have some delivered tomorrow. I can't believe I'm buying rocks! Dave and his crew are working on the gates.
Again, we have stumbled onto wonderful people to work with, and work they did in the 105 degree pre-monsoon heat. Dave's real job is making custom bikes at Bohemian Bicycles.

The mesh will rust (or patina) with time and really complement the other colors and textures of the house.






The beginning of the monsoon also means mesquite beans are ready to harvest. This is a mesquite with some mature pods (the yellow clusters). When dried, the beans can be milled into a flour which is a good source of protein and can assist in regulation of blood sugar. The flour has a slightly sweet, nutty flavor. As a toddler, Sam, our oldest son loved to pick them up off the ground and eat the whole bean .

Right now mesquite are laden with pods that need to be harvested before the rains knock them from the trees. They can then be further dried and kept from moisture and bugs until milling time in the fall.


I dried and slightly toasted my beans in the solar oven. What an amazing aroma, reminiscent of baking bread with cinnamon and maple. I can only imagine what a treat these beans must have been for native people.

A five gallon bucket of pods will make approximately 2 lbs of flour so I have so more gathering to do. So many seeds, so little time.

More mesquite information here and here.

Also milling dates for Tucson area can be found here at the Desert Harvesters site..

What does Independence mean to you?
Freedom from, for, to, of...
Listen to this short talk by William McDonough on Cradle to Cradle Design
Now that's independence!

With thanks to Ottmar Liebert, I find the most interesting things in his blog.

The Front Porch on a Hot Afternoon

This is the beautiful slate we bought and have moved various times. It is now set in sand as our front porch but can be taken out and used as something else if the mood strikes. It's a great spot to watch the birds and butterflies but is just too hot right now. We're looking forward to watching thunderstorms from this vantage point.

It's HOT!

104 today (but it's a dry heat).

This is Gen, the other member of the family trying to get cool. He gets as many parts as possible on the cool concrete.

In our attempt to get cool we trekked up to Mt. Lemmon again to camp for a night. Getting away for even one night is relaxing. I finished one book and started another. It had been so long since I had actually read a book I was worried that I might no longer be able to sustain my concentration for long periods. Glad to know that's not the case.

No Touch Monkey by Ayun Halliday was the book I finished-a very funny account of her travels as a "dirty backpacker". If you can while away hours reading Lonely Planet guides and have traveled in that mode or wish you had, check this book out. (She'd probably rather you bought it) It is, as they say, laugh out loud funny.

I had pictures of our new tile front porch but somehow managed to lose them in my picture files. I'll take more but it's too hot right now-maybe in the morning when it's only 71!

Desert Person

I was doing some computer housecleaning today and found a poem I'd forgotten. It's by an author who just happens to live in southern Arizona, Byrd Baylor. My favorite work of hers is Yes Is Better Than No- a wonderful story for those working with people from a different culture.

Desert Person
by Byrd Baylor

Like any desert creature,
I build my own
safe shelter
with what the desert
gives.

I make thick walls
of mud and straw.
With my own hands
I shape the earth
into a house.

But when I say,
"This is my home,"
another desert person
always knows
that I don't mean
the house.

I mean
the farthest mountain
I can see.

I mean
sunsets
that fill the whole sky
and the colors
of the cliffs
and all their silences
and shadows.

I mean
the desert
is my home.

And now, my home.

This is the view from the bedroom into the bathroom and on into the shower. I love this view, it feels so calm and peaceful.

Then there's the other side of the room...


which actually looks better now that the tile is grouted and the sink works. Now to finish the backsplash.














We're still working on details. Got handles on the kitchen cabinets and drawers and shelves in my office. I'm getting organized!

This week we get an estimate on the wall for the back lot and we'll get started on the front patio.

Until next time.

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. ~Ralph Nader, quoted in Linda Botts, ed., Loose Talk, 1980

Things That Make You Go Hmm

On mornings I don't have to go to work, I walk the dog. 5:30-6:00 is the best time during the summer months but that is just a little too early for me. I need to have at least 2 cups of coffee before I start. Others are up and out at that time and I usually meet up with several dogs and their people on the walk. On the weekends I see many people. I walk from the neighborhood down a dirt road into the wash and then under the powerlines near where Pulte is building their watered down version of Civano. (For more on the history of that controversy see Simmons Buntin's article here). Long story short; the developers always win. And now the housing market is flatter than a fritter and all these houses are being built. Just have to scratch your head-hmm

The houses being built to the right of the walkway shown in the photo are another bone of contention. I will have to say the models are quite mmmmm, what's the word....ugly. But the problem is not the aesthetics but the number of houses, the size of the houses, the wall around the development, segregating them. They're mostly 2 story, which Civano has its fair share of already. A 2-story house in the desert just sort of flies in the face of energy conservation. After our Vail Experience, I've had all the developer controversy I can handle but the builder hype found in this article is just over the top. I guess it's better than Pulte.

On with the walk. These are crosses erected in remembrance of someone killed in an accident on this little dirt road. Roadside crosses are prevalent in the southwest and I've started to see them in other regions. There used to be more information written on a piece of paper there but that has disappeared. There are flowers in the wash bed which is about 15 ft below the crosses. Hmmm

In Memory of John Roman Voytas
June 18, 1956-June 3, 2006
There were fresh flowers there on 6/3/07

Freshly mined urbanite-could be my patio! Hmmm

General, with Civano in the background.

Back in the neighborhood, 7 Generations Way.










Houses along Civano Blvd.













Walkway in the Desert Country neighborhood.
(There are houses on either side)













Just before crossing the bridge to our house at the end of our walk this day.

The only thing missing is the sound of the birds and the darting quail and rabbit families that are abundant this time of year. The bunnies drive Gen crazy, he would so love to take out after one but, he ain't nuthin' but a hound dog, even off leash.


Upadate on punch list items. The solar hot water is now connected and working. It's a Copperheart and keeps the water heater filled with preheated water decreasing the constant heating and reheating of water that just sits in the tank awaiting our use at the turn of the tap.

We can now get a car in the garage. Yeaaa!!

We have the landscape plans and have started some preliminary work.


Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient.
~Aldo Leopold

Hmmmmmmm....

“I AM ALWAYS DOING THAT WHICH I CANNOT DO IN ORDER THAT I MAY LEARN HOW TO DO IT.”
— PABLO PICASSO


La Ducha


When you build your own house you do have certain leeway in making on the fly changes-and I am the Queen of Change. Step back, take a look--"Hmmmm-that's not it. Let's try something else." Now, I haven't quite figured out if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I know it drives the other member of the team a bit crazy but, that goes both ways.

The shower had its share of changes, at least that's how it appears but in my mind, it looks just the way I envisioned it. You see, I compromised early on what I wanted for floor tile and was afraid of the lime plaster. After I decided to go for it on the lime and got the tile I wanted, it all worked but I had to make a few mistakes first.


This is the lime before polishing and staining. I loved the way it looked at this stage. So smooth and level and white.

The next step was polishing with a small steel trowel (it's all about the trowel) and polishing....and polishing...and polishing. This is not a process to start late in the day. You have to be there to trowel at the right stage and for the right amount of time. You just don't know beforehand when that time will be. Working with these old techniques really gives a view into the life of artisans and craftspeople of years gone by.




This is the before tile on the right and the after on the left. The rock tile just fits the rustic look of the shower walls and the colors are perfect.



This (right)then is the finished shower. We use it everyday and so far so good. The only problem we have is the lack of slope on the whole shower floor. A miscommunication or lack of communication with the slab crew. But, we have a longhandled squeegee that we use on the floor after every shower.

It's all good.

We got our landscape plan and are pleased with it. Scott is making a few changes and should have it to us tomorrow so we can submit to the "Design Review Committee". I don't foresee a problem. The concept of the design is a more wild or natural look around the perimeter of the lot with the area on the south side that will be walled in more linear and formal, which suits the style of the house.

The most exciting part is the wall design. I had agonized over this for a long time, going from cob to block to cob to bamboo to... Nothing caught. When Scott was here for the initial meeting we talked about gabions and possibly using the large number of rocks left on the lot in some way. The planets lined up and as he was driving in a neighborhood in central Tucson, he found this:Awesome, just what I wanted!

Scott's doing an interesting experiment this summer. Going without air conditioning and evaporative cooling. Got my goat because we buckled early on turning on the air, so now I'm back at it. Our biggest problem is the blast oven heat produced by the sons and their computers! Sizzlin! So I just close their doors and give a hearty "Good luck with that!" Right now at 4:20 pm it's 95.2 outside and 82.6 inside. Not bad. Just have to do most of the cooking outside, which we do anyway, watch the lighting (no incandescent or halogen) and don't leave windows and doors open. We'll see what happens. I once tried to eat only foods produced within 100 miles of Tucson-not an easy task. I lasted about 10 days. My inspiration was Coming Home to Eat a fascinating look at food and why we eat what we eat.

So, I'm off to check to solar oven-Blueberry Crumble.

And lest we forget-All gave some, Some gave all. Memorial Day 2007

Midnight at the Oasis

The hall bath. This is where we started, a decidedly minimalist look. Pretty bleak.

Then we progressed to this. This is the plywood stained rosewood-nope, that's not it.


And now we are here. Not sure of the style, funky, eclectic, flea market-whatever, I like it. I painted the wood with a Chocolate Raisin (or something, who comes up with these names anyway?) and then dry brushed black over it. The back splash is hardiboard painted and stenciled. The bottom shelf has baskets to hold whatever supplies need to be there.


The color of the border and ceiling-awaiting me to get up on a ladder and stencil. The difficulty in this room is it has a very tall ceiling and is very narrow with a toilet at one end and the vanity at the other making placing a ladder near impossible. But, I will do it someday when I'm feeling really rested and adventurous. And I'd better love the outcome because it may never get painted again.


So, that's Bathroom Number 1. Next installment: The Shower.

More kitchen photos...

Here's the beauty of the pantry by Rev-a-Shelf. It holds a lot of stuff and moves in and out easily. Right now it has some items which will go into the yet to be built baking island. In the Rita Ranch house we had a pantry closet that was always full but we were never quite sure with what. It had those deep shelves that allow items to hide. It also had a really high shelf and the floor-where things went to die. This is much more convenient and you can see everything.

This, of course, is the spice rack.
We opted for the drawer and door hardware with Blumotion-that means they close silently when you give them a firm push. I thought it was a bit over the top but the spice cabinet doesn't have that feature and we miss it. Spoiled already.
The dish rack. People find this fascinating, I guess because all of our dishes fit on this rack.
Our LG fridge, which is a big improvement over a side-by-side. Again, things don't get lost on the lower shelves.

And the stained concrete floor in the kitchen. I used the same combination of colors on all the floor just varied the proportion. The kitchen has a bit more green.

So, that's the kitchen.

House For Sale

The minute we moved into the Civano house we started working on the Rita Ranch house to get it ready for sale. After much painting, floor installation, new sink and counter tops, it is listed for sale and can be seen here. Know anyone who needs an great house in SE Tucson in a good neighborhood with EXCELLENT neighbors? This is the house.

And what else have we been up to? Well, way back at the end of March (???!!)we had a great dinner with fellow HouseBloggers from This Old Crack House
Really, Gary's not as bad as everyone says.... and who else would listen to my stories of mixing paint with powdered milk, lime and pigment and not glaze over and run for the door? We had a great time and it was good to connect with o-Hi-ns.

Then we moved-y'all know what that's like-grueling.

We also took time out for a couple of days in Puerto Penasco-fabulous-as we cross the border (S to N) I always have to ask, "We are going back because....?" We ate shrimp, read, beachcombed, napped, read, beachcombed and ate shrimp. What could be better? Thank you, Kathy and Tom. This picture is the essence of the trip.

Now we can work on finish details at this place. Finish, you say! What could possibly be left as you've moved in? Plenty, I say, plenty. Trim details, landscaping, garage or as we like to call it-Disaster Area! All in good time, all in good time The Civano house is performing well, it stays about 5 degrees less than the ambient external temperature without air conditioning. It hit 100 Saturday and we turned on the air; with the thermostat set at 82 it keeps the place comfortable.

Rick and I went camping on Mt. Lemmon last week. Just an overnighter to check out our "new-to-us" Starcraft pop-up truck camper. No pictures as I forgot the camera. It was a cool, green respite at the beginning of a long hot summer.

Now for house pictures. I'm starting with the kitchen because it got the most questions at the Nosy Neighbors home tour. I'm also going to give things a Do-Again Scale, 1 wouldn't even think of doing it again and 10, in a heartbeat.


This is just after the lime paint had been applied and the kitchen sink is in its CoA mode.

And this is Nick, mid-cabinetinstall.
And the completed (well, the handles aren't on yet) kitchen. To the left, under the stovetop is a spice rack. Didn't think I'd like it and I don't--I LOVE it! Holds much more than I imagined it could. Drawers directly under stovetop hold pots, pans and lids and right now the silverware as the island which will hold the utensils is not completed. Under the sink is the garbage and recycling with a little curtain. I find that much easier than a door for places that get accessed frequently. then it's my Craigslist dw which works beautifully; quiet and actually cleans dishes. Amazing! Placement of the dw allows things to be put away when clean without moving much at all. The only difficulty, and it's a function of space not design, is the lack of space to the left of the dw. You can also see the built-in cutting board on the counter above the dw. Very handy.

The wall oven with a cabinet above which holds the microwave and cookbooks. Below are 2 huge drawers for crockpot, small appliances, plastic storage container and various miscellaneous articles. To the left the crowning jewel, costing a king's ransom, the pull-out pantry. I agonized over this purchase but it was definitely worth it.

Do Again Scale on the kitchen-10. Anything I'd change? I would have measured the diameter of my glasses so they would fit more easily on the shelves of the dishrack. I might have had a bin type door on the front of the undersink-but maybe not. I would have come up with a viable idea for the backsplash sooner. Sooner than, I still don't have one... The lime paint is fragile and not easliy cleaned, so I may just put a coat of latex on it, just not sure yet.

Really, once we get the island built this will be just what we need.

Oh my gosh, it's been over a month since I last updated this blog. Nothing bad happened, we're all OK but we did MOVE! and move...and move... Even though we got rid of a bunch of "stuff" we still have alot. And it just seemed to grow. But, we are in now and even were part of a Nosy Neighbors tour here in our neighborhood of Civano. We must have had 100 people through checking out the house that many of the visitors had watched evolve. I will post some pictures at a later date but wanted to share this with you. If you remember, last October I went to a workshop at the Canelo Project for a week to learn more about earthen plasters and other finishes. I got an email from Bill and Athena Steen with a link to a film made while there as part of Nora Naranjo-Morse's sculpture project for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Always Becoming Two films are on this page-I'm seen briefly in the second one (No autographs, please!) (Warning-the films would not work from Mozilla Firefox but did fine from IE).

Before and After

Not everything you do when building is good. This might be a surprise but I'm here to tell you, feces occurs.

Here are some examples:Shower floor-not bad looking but would never have drained the way it should. Thanks to Chris (one of the Gumbatis) who bailed me out, we now have this:
...a beautiful riverstone that is complementary to the walls and concrete floor. And, it's what I originally wanted-which just goes to show-go with your gut. The book Blink explores the mysterious, complex thinking process that occurs in the first 2 seconds after we encounter something new. Looking back, decisions made "in the Blink of an eye" have probably been my best decisions.

Cabinets-kinda, sorta... This is Nick working on the cabinets. The photo is blurry because he's moving so fast, all the time.
I haven't been to the house since last Saturday as I've been working (I do have a J-O-B) and packing. But I understand that the cabinet drawers are finished and the pantry is in and it all looks wonderful. The countertop will be poured tomorrow. I'll take a field trip later today to check progress.

I really dislike moving but it does give me chance to look at things and ask:
"Do I love you enough to go to the time, trouble and expense to move you?" Funny how many things don't pass that test. I've found that as I get older, I need less and less "stuff" cluttering my space. I want to really enjoy what I really love and not have to be burdened with things "just because". It's interesting how many people will try to talk you into having more stuff. I have really whittled down the kitchen and people are amazed but we only keep things we use-and we cook everyday sometimes twice a day. All I can say is, less stuff feels good.

Anyway-here's my progress-this is probably 50% of what needs to be packed, minus clothes:

The photo reminds me-that chair has got to go!

We're still at it

but so busy I haven't taken time to post.

• Cabinets-50% finished.
• Floor-sealed but don't like the sealer-really strong odor and left unsealed spots.
• Shower floor-done and beautiful.
• Office-painted.
• Sam's window-finished and trimmed.
• Our bath-cabinet built, stained and countertop surface done.
• Our BR window seat-built and stained.
• Wood stove-in the house, not fully installed but it's in the 90s now, installation not a priority.
  
• Exterior-cracks repaired and paint color chosen (for cement stucco skirt and garage).

I'll post pictures tonight. As I have no new pictures-here's a link to The Small House Society
Enjoy their pictures.

And, Site Meter is Back!! Now I can learn more geography-I'm off now to look up Wollongong, NSW...

Feeling a little Sisyphean



Everytime we leave the house at night we have six more things to finish. EVERY NIGHT! That means these details are replicating.

I know that we will never be "Finished" (with a capital F) but it would be nice to be finished.

Progress was made on the landscape front (and back). We met with Scott Calhoun from Zona Gardens (and also a neighbor) who will be doing the design. We read his book, A Yard Full of Sun and attended a reading he did awhile back, so were pretty sure of our choice. Meeting him only made us more sure of our decision. Our first priority will be to get a wall on the south side and then we will work on the other elements over time.

Back to pushing that rock...