A bit of progress, drains

The wall is crawling up. it's not hard work, but it's hard to just do the same thing all day... we can see the end of this part of the project though. here is the 'SW corner' of the house with the kitchen sink drain popping out. The inside end of this pipe will be well below the floor line, and possibly below the outside patio line as well. You can sort of make out a stick in the middle of this picture, right above the drainpipe. that's our rough floor marker... well, about two inches down from the top of that stick is where the floor will be. We want to have the stone wall go above that line.


Here's the shower drain, right below that floor mat on the wall. This too, will be well below the floor level. You also get a good shot of the solar trailer here... the trailer is nearest the NW corner of the house.

Correction: Northern Pygmy Owl.

Melissa the birdwatcher has decided that it's actually a Northern Pygmy Owl we found. So, we got that going for us, which is nice.

Northern Saw-whet owl!

I was kicking around the compost pile today, and thought a bit of avacodo pit had gotten away (it was pretty dark) and then I realized there was a small (I think baby) owl sitting there on the ground while I was standing right next to it.





The full-sized adults only get to be like 8 inches tall, and this guy is about 5... I think he fell out of the nest and is waiting for a mommy round-up. we left him there tonight, and will do something about him if he's there in the morning.

Slow, but steady, progress....


One of the reasons we don't have too many posts lately is all we seem to be doing is building the wall. It is coming along though. The east side, where Melissa is now standing (as though we're looking in the 'front' door [looking north]) is almost done. Once we mortar in that layer by Melissa's knee, we'll be done with rock on this side.




we do still have a bunch (like 2 feet of height) to go on the west wall though.

New Washing Machine in Place!

On our way to Modesto to pick up the old generator, we made a side trip to Hollister and picked up a used washing machine (off Craigslist). It's a super efficient, low water-use, low power use, Italian design small-ish washer. I've set it up underneath the bathhouse right now, and when the house is done we'll have it up closer.
Of course, when I got it set up, I discovered a leak, so we have to order a new part. Still, we've saved a bunch of money getting a used one. And, hey, what's a little more frustration on top of everything else?

More Visitors!

Jason and Vanessa came up on the coldness day yet this year and stayed overnight. We ate a whole bunch, managed to drink two bottles of wine, and hot tub! Not too shabby.

New Bread recipe

I can't believe it, but I saw a recipe in a magazine (Mother Earth News) and thought I'd try it... and it was great! Really nice bread, good crust, nice 'crump' (inside), and really easy. Guess I'm doing that again.

Visitors to the Mountain!

Leora and Eric and Snoop and Ollie came up for a day trip... drove their VW toreg (sp?) all the way up, and it barely rained while they were here. We did have fun sitting in the yurt picking burrs off the dogs.

Not much productivity....

Because I'm sick (still have a cold from Japan, going on two weeks now) I don't really have the energy to do too much... so I'm doing little projects, and goofing off.

Painted the first coat on an old rocking chair that will eventually sit out on the patio



set up the 'cold air intake' for our living room. This is pretty cool. We intend to have a wood burning stove in our living room, and while I doubt our house will get to the 'air tight' stage, I've read about having a place where outside, cool air can be used to stoke the fire, instead of already warmed air from the room going into the fire and up the chimney. This tube goes through the foundation to the outside, then will go through the gravel under the floor and pop out right below the door of the fireplace. I'll work on some cool looking way to have it come out of the floor... in other words, it won't be a plastic pipe sticking out of the floor.






Fixed the hose by putting a new end on it. that'd been bugging me for a couple months. Notice I needed two clamps. cheap stuff.






And, even when I'm not working, the compost pile is working away. I'm really happy with my 'speed composting' bin, where I've been working the kitchen scraps, horse manure, and leaves from around here. All this will go right into the garden, and I'll be making another batch or two before next spring.

Holiday Decorations?


before we went off for Thanksgiving, we peeled and hung 82 persimmons from Melissa's folk's tree. They should be great candy by Valentines Day. In the meantime, they're our winter decorations.

Sorry for the lack of posts....

we were in Japan for two weeks, and now we're on our way out of town for Thanksgiving. Here we are in Nagasaki having lunch at a tempura spot.