Love has created a sacred space for us

April 19, 2015September 30, 2015 / Laura Lee Carter / Leave a comment

Yesterday was a wonder! It started out so badly, with terrible dreams the night before of horror and torture, but I went back to sleep and woke up refreshed.

Since there would be no workmen up at our new home in the foothills, Mike and I took a bottle of champagne and a picnic lunch up to just enjoy the results of so much expense and stress over the past ten months.

When I finally had a chance to relax completely in the midst of the drywall pieces and dust, it hit me:

We are actually going to be living up here very soon! I am going to wake up everyday to look out on this amazing view, enjoying each change in the clouds and weather!

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!

To give full credit where credit is due, Mike was the one with the vision and faith to pull off this amazing retirement coup. He noticed the Spanish Peaks along Highway 160 back in 2005 when we took our first road trip together to Durango. He remembers thinking even back then how nice it would be to live somewhere down here eventually.

The man has so much vision and faith in his own abilities to manifest his dream! If it had been left up to me, I would probably still be looking at the neighbor’s house across the street in Fort Collins.

Proving once again:

Why most don’t build their own home

January 30, 2015February 20, 2016 / Laura Lee Carter / 4 Comments

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar…

As we continue building our new solar home from scratch up in the foothills west of here, it often occurs to me why most don’t put themselves through this process ever in a lifetime.

And I discovered only recently, the reasons why others might not want to build their own home can be the same reasons why we wanted to.

The most obvious one is the constant decision-making! Since I’ve never done this before, I hadn’t thought so far as to realize we would need to chose every single detail of both the outside structure and the inside finishes.

How lucky am I to have a recent subscription to HGTV!

Many would not like this process, but that is also the best reason to build your own solar home. From choosing the exact angle the house faces and the thickness of your slab, to window choices, flooring and the type of supplemental heating, these are the factors that determine the comfort and future price of operating your home. If you don’t control these factors, passive solar will not work.

Then if you feel the need to raise the fire-resistant level of your home, even more factors arise. It sometimes boggles my mind! Luckily Mike has quite a bit of experience in building from scratch plus amazing research skills!

Still and all the expenses just keep going up and that can freak a person out at times. It is certainly much more expensive than your home in the suburbs, not to mention the inconvenience of moving into a rental for eight to ten months while the construction is going on…

What makes it all worthwhile? Views like these from every room in the house!

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