February 22

technical

It is Friday. The crew is working a four-day week now, so no work on Fridays. I know that next week the smaller window bucks will begin to be placed and scaffolding will be set up. I am excited to see the scaffolding and how it is used to make it possible to lay the adobe blocks higher and higher. How are the small window bucks embedded in the adobe walls? No idea! But this will happen and we will all see the magic in action…

I took a walk around most of the house. It is amazing how much these “rooms” feel like ROOMS already! This is partly my imagination, but the walls make the house feel more real now. It is taking shape.

As suggested, I will soon post a floor plan so you have a better sense of how this house is organized.

personal

Well, we are here. The latest allergy attack has subsided, thanks to drugs and humidifiers. Might as well try the long walk down the ranch road towards the highway!

This is the road we have been walking for awhile now. We go a bit farther each time we hike this road. And today I’ve decided we can make it to what I think might be “the end.” I’ve seen a little red house far away towards the bottom of this hilly walk. I want to get to it. So we set out and we do finally make it down there. But it is not a little red house. And “the end” turns out to be the fork in the ranch road, so there are still challenges for our next hikes. Fork left or right? Right will take us to the railroad tracks. Left will take us back to Alpine, or in that direction, anyway.

The view of the plains just can’t be captured by my phone camera. You have to come see it for yourself–the clouds make shadows on the huge fields of golden grass and the light changes every few minutes. The mountains in the distance stand like a fence to protect these plains. It is glorious and rather awe-inspiring. I sit on the rocks and try to “see” it all (and catch my breath).

I can’t believe we made it this far! Three hours of walking up and down this hilly, rocky, dusty ranch road (round trip). That’s a lot for us–the longest walk so far.