Building our new house
In early 2007, we began building our new Round House here at Sacred Groves with a vision to expand our residential community on this beautiful land.
We purchased 3 round structures from Oregon Yurtworks--a big house with a large round Great Room that has become the heart and hearth of the Sacred Groves community, and 2 yurtlettes, private bedroom-cabins for new residents. We are modeling a "small is beautiful" lifestyle with small personal spaces, sharing kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, living room. We are enthused about the joys and challenges of community living, committed to the spiritual and personal growth required for sharing life in this way.
This blog, which has the most recent entry at the top, tells the story of the construction of the new house, starting with the foundation built Spring 2007. Carpenter and Groves resident Tere Carranza has managed the project from start to near-finish.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
The foundation walls are up!
It's been a slow week at the building site. At least it has been for me. I've taken an extended exhale after the pour on Friday, and it's only been at some point this afternoon that I feel like I'm ready to inhale and get back to my usual pace. However - the boys have been huffing and puffing all along. Check it out - they've pulled all the forms off the concrete and have started to stack them in a beautiful and orderly fashion on the drain field. Austin and Eddie - you guys DO rock!!
I"m trying to think ahead here, and avoid having to move this material more than necessary. We're going to need a lot of room to stack the panels that come off the trucks sent by Oregon Yurtworks ( if I was more computer savvy, I'd have their link right here...) , AND we're going to need a lot of room to maneuver the reach-lift that will be picking up these panels and delivering them to the proper location around the foundation. So - that means anything NOT associated with the Oregon yurtworks part of the house assembly must be out of the way. Hence - the drainfield comes into the picture. I know, we're not supposed to place ANYTHING on the drainfield - but I think it's OK to 'temporarily' stack a bunch of wood that we anticipate will go into the building once it's enclosed.
On a serious note - part of my inability to rally all my resources this week has been that I've had Andrea's health on my mind. I've taken to checking the phone for messages from Therese almost hourly... and in fact - she just called with an update - sounds like Andrea had a better day today. She's being weaned off the meds ( sedatives, heart + blood pressure), she's more aware and awake ( she told Stacy GET ME OUT OF HERE ), and her heart seems to be recovering ... all in all - good news!
I used to dream that doing carpentry and being a chef would be the BEST - however - this week, doing carpentry and being a health reporter (when the news is good) takes the cake!
posted by Tere # 8:34 PM 