Small steps on the tiny house...

Other than saving enough money to fly the coop at the end of the year, one of our goals for 2010 is to do more work on the tiny house. I'd say FINISH the tiny house, but we'll see how it goes.

Thursday we had a couple of small projects to get back in shape. I can hear the knees cracking and smell the IcyHot, can't you?

1) Install wire bookshelf supports around the bedroom.
The shelf, you remember (or not), goes along the top of three walls on the north end of the house. But it wasn't sturdy enough for us to comfortably use them and not worried about being bludgeoned in our sleep by falling books.

So, we've had this idea for a while and stalled executing it, but once Keith started it went pretty quick. We used wire, eye screws, and hondos. Wait, what are hondos??

These are hondos.

The first wire has a little slack in it because it was the prototype, but once there is weight on the shelf it will look like the others. The rest are tight like the Golden Gate Bridge cables, yo.

We used this wire-eye screw-hondo rig on every other rafter above the shelf. And I really love how they turned out.
I had to go dig for some books to test them. Once I have the shelf full(er), I'll post a photo.

2) Fix the solar panel lights.
Ever since Keith put the barn wood up above the shelf the solar reading lights haven't worked quite right. We didn't know if the cable had been damaged or what, but Keith climbed up there and hooked it back up and it seems to be working alright. They're dimmer than they were before, I think, and definitely dimmer than the CFL lamp next to my bed. My eyes will have to get over it. End of story: the solar panel works.

The dogs did their part by staying out of trouble. When I went to check on them, they were getting some Vitamin D therapy. (This IS February, right?)

Lazlo's hiney is healing surprisingly quickly, so I am going to attribute it to the spray my friend Seneca sold to me that's supposed to help healing. Since I don't have a control group I can't be 100% sure, but they were deep puncture wounds and 3 weeks out they're almost completely healed. Hoping we don't have to deal with any more injuries, but I think the spray might also help Mia with her itching (Dalmatians have sensitive skin).

What's the next project undertaking for the tiny house?? Bathroom or kitchen. Those aren't small projects, though. And finishing either or both with a self-limiting budget (see: saving for flying the coop later this year) will be interesting.