O.K. so we won’t have to contend with malaria, nor with digging a gigantic trench through remote jungles, nor include huge locks and levies.  But we do have a draft plan for the house, and we have also made some progress on the next giant steps. 

Soon we will move the Earth.

First: A Plan:

I have completed a draft plan for the house.  At 1450 sq feet it’s a much more human sized residence than the Furniture Museum (what I call our current home and former Bed and Breakfast) but still spacious enough to accommodate all of our needs.  Yes, it is still larger than my original idea (I had a plan of a max of 1,100 sq ft) but some allowance for our Americanized lifestyle had to be made and we needed the ability to have guests stay with us – something we enjoy doing from time to time. 

The plan remains a straw bale residence with (gabion) stone walls for interior thermal mass.  I mentioned this plan to a local contractor fellow (who makes an appearance in the next section of this post) who was very intrigued about the idea.  He mentioned that he had built similar houses but with adobe for the thermal mass to which I replied that adobe had become much more expensive in recent years and I have all the stone I could ever want right there on the property. And it is interesting stone at that.

My architect cousin in Tucson has gone over the plan with me and heartily approves of the gabion walls.  She has offered to turn the draft into formal architectural plans and go over anything I may have missed along the way (Isn’t she great!).

Second: A Canal:

Visited the property with a fellow a friend recommended as one who could put in a nice road/driveway.  He may also be my man for digging the trench foundation, and installing the cistern and septic (he has designed his own high tech septic system).  It’s not as much work as building a canal, but there will be digging.

While we were out on the property, I had a water tank delivered.  One needs water if one wants to build anything and with 1,750 gallons; I’ll have a good start.  The plan is to use this tank for all the water needs until the other (buried) tank goes in and move this one to where Susan will have her animals.  I bought a filter for the tank so we can set it up as an above ground cistern, catching rain falling on the various out buildings (barns, sheds, shade structures).  But that’s later, for now the tank will be our primary water source.  It gets filled next week.

No photos today.  I have to pick up a new camera as our old one died.  It put in a good number of years of service and now it is time to upgrade.  I will have pics of the tank and the building site as soon as I can.

 

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