“Paradise is where I want to wake up every morning… where I can be the way I want to be.” — Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture
We found an excellent local man, Ron Pino, to do our drywall. He started out working with his Dad when he was only six! He works alone and is doing an incredible job for a very reasonable price. He’ll start texturing the walls today and then we can begin painting the interior.
In the meantime we met a woman who is one of the original members of the Libre Commune north of here. Libre was established in the early 1970s as an artist community, with lots of unusual dome homes. There are still some members in the area. If you have any interest in this topic, check out the book Huerfano: A Memoir of Life in the Counterculture.
Yes, we are keeping busy meeting new people everyday, and enjoying a different view of life on the long and winding road into rural America…
It started to snow a bit as we left. I have learned through a number of backpacking trips how quickly the weather can change at high altitudes. And sure enough we went from this lovely, snow-capped scene to a mini-snow storm in just a few minutes!
Things are looking rather chaotic up at construction central this week. We finished the spray insulation on Monday. Think of it as dried up marshmallows pumped into your exterior walls…
Now we’re working on the drywall installation, ceiling first. And yes, it is quite tough holding up those boards to secure them. Can’t wait until the drywall is up, taped and textured!
Then we can begin the fun part, finishing the kitchen and baths with cabinets and tiling!
We picked some nice charcoal-colored tile for the main floors. It should absorb the solar heat beautifully in the winter, and then our insulated 6 inch slab should hold the heat a long time.
In spite of two sets of back problems and two cases of bronchitis, Mike and I are still up to the task of completing this house! Mike is nebulizing here, with Rasta’s help…
Yesterday was my 60th birthday and yes, I know I look older than when we got married in 2005. Suffice to say I no longer believe that 60 is the new 40! We celebrated my birthday by clearing the land below our new home to mitigate fire danger.
Here are the men clearing the land down below. So sorry to see a few beautiful trees disappear… Mike even killed a pack rat as it ran out of one of the big old dead ones!
But we must have our views after going to so much trouble to get them!
To get some idea of the layout of our house, you enter from the door on the left and are immediately in the great room with a kitchen, dining room and living room. The kitchen cabinets will be along the back wall seen here. The curved island will hold the kitchen sink and dishwasher. What a phenomenal view from there! The east end of the house (seen here) will hold the master suite and office.
The west end holds two smaller bedrooms and a bath.
This picture gives you some sense of the view from the great room. It faces directly south and is all sliding doors and windows for maximum passive solar gain in the winter. There is a large overhang outside to keep out the sun in the warmer months. The roof of that overhang is the correct angle to hold photo voltaic panels, providing enough electricity to completely power our new home.
As you can see, we are high on a hill with only a few houses down below, and an unobstructed view of the Spanish Peaks, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Mount Mestas. We own a couple acres below our house. No one can ever obstruct our view!
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 