Marching forward (well, now it's April)

Keith's trimmed out the medicine cabinet and window in the bathroom with barn wood - looks great! I've been getting ready for work in our own bathroom (after showering at my parents'). The tin is up on the shower walls. Next is the tub and toilet, each will be quite a project. I won a $50 voucher to CanvasPop last week, so I ordered an 8"x16" canvas of this print from our 2006 trip to Mexico to hang in the bathroom - it should arrive tomorrow!

Doggies waded over to the sandbar at the river last time we took them both for some play time. The river is up and steadily rising with all the rain we've had.

Lots of rain so far this spring, so we set up the rain barrel at the front of the house. Friday I'm going to dig some lilies at our librarian's house to plant between the grass and barrel.

We replaced the barn wood shelf that was swinging in front of the house with this cool old seed drill Keith salvaged from somewhere. A great aesthetic and practical improvement!

Detail of the bottom of the drill, neat old farm equipment piece.

I planted lettuce in one half and spinach in the other (seeds left over from last year) and then watered everything with a spur-of-the-moment watering jug I made filled with rain water. It's kind of shaded, though, and I hope it gets enough sunlight to sprout. If not, Plan B.

Keith has the red formica glued to the counter top, which is curing in the pantry where it's warm. Should be able to install that this weekend and finish up the outside kitchen tout de suite! The water pump will go under the counter by the bathroom door.

One afternoon last week during a sunny rain shower a double rainbow appeared over our tiny house. Awww.

Tin Lizzie

We're making progress in the tiny house lav now that the kitchen is finished (minus the flooring, scheduled for warmer weather) and Keith's finished mudding, taping, and sanding the sheet rock.

Yesterday we went shopping for supplies at the salvage yard and feed store. The salvage yard was a score - we bought 5 sheets of galvinized corrugated tin (like we've used inside the tiny house) that were technically free and technically bartered for with a 12-pack of Miller High Life. (Love that small town economy.)

At the feed store we went shopping for shower pan/bath tub ideas and found what we think will work really well---a stock tank.

After considering the size of the shower pan we already have (3'x3') and the work that comes with laying tile, etc. we wondered what other kind of set up we could come up with that would require less labor. Because we like to walk that line of minimal effort for maximum utility.

So for less than $75 I will have a small tub that will also be the drain pan for a shower. We picked up a piece of copper tubing at the Moscow salvage place a while ago for a shower curtain rod. And tin on the two walls that will be behind the tub + bamboo flooring, it's all coming together.

But first, we had to paint. We chose the color to tie the different colors of materials together (bamboo, tin, barn wood) and came to an agreement on Tin Lizzie, a VOC-free paint from Pittsburgh Paints.

And here's the first coat! Hoping for a second coat on Monday. Probably will have to wait until next payday to buy the tub, but after that we'll ready to lay the floor and finish the composting toilet cabinet. Looks like I'm getting a bathroom this year!!

The last corner

The last corner of the house needing major construction is now ... somewhat finished. Useable at the very least.

We're quite happy with how our plywood cabinet turned out, though there were - as always - some obstacles along the way.

The table folds up to cover 2/3 of the shelves to keep the main dishes free of dust and dog hair. It has a simple hook and eye keeping it closed on one side. If we can't find the map of Mexico that we used to plan our route in 2006, I'll buy another one and spray mount it to the underside of the table so when it's up (which will be most of the time), the map will show.

Table down - planning on having our first meal at it this evening.

In the triangle space between the cabinet and the window over the sink, Keith built another small shelving unit which we've already filled. Also, a magnetic knife bar going vertically holds our measuring cups and utensils. Another magnetic knife strip mounted to the underside of the bottom shelf holds our knives. On top of the cabinet we have some copper canisters, a collapsing wood dish rack, and a couple of vases.

There's still no flooring in that section of the house (since we'd intended on it being a shower, we left it just as subfloor). But Keith plans on taking up some of the laminate at the entry way and putting under the cabinet/table. We found some beautiful blue tile at Habitat for Humanity some time back that will look great in the entry. But that's definitely after the bathroom is finished!

Spring / Water

Is this a continuation of the mild winter we've had or the actual start of spring? I can't be sure, but the robins are back and crocuses are sprouting under the apple tree. Barring a snow/ice storm anytime between now and June, which is bound to happen, we're playing along with the warmer weather and longer days just like it's actually spring. 

There's a possibility that Keith is going to take a job that will take him out of state for a good portion of the summer, so I have been thinking about a) what I am going to do to stay occupied and b) a garden. 

A big garden like we've done in the past is not something I feel comfortable tackling by myself, so when I saw the book One Magic Square at the library I thought that sounded more doable. Plots that are 3'x3' and planted with complimentary veggies - I picked 3 different plots (each with a corresponding fall/winter line-up) and made a list to order seeds.

Which brings us to compost. The poor compost bin has been neglected for a while now and needed some TLC, so last weekend Keith helped me pull all the weeds out of it and give everything a good stir.

before

after

Keith and I don't have much in the way of food scraps but my mom does so I enlisted her help in collecting materials. I raked up some leaves to put in there, too and gave it a good watering. There's not enough to use quite yet, but it's a start.

While Keith waits for the drywall mud in the bathroom to dry between coats, we're working on the least developed corner of the house. This is the space that was originally going to be a shower with a half wall diving it from the kitchen counter. Somewhere along the way that plan was revised to include a place for us to actually sit down and enjoy a meal (as opposed to eating in bed which is not too bad once in a while, but gets old) or do work/play Scrabble on a flat surface.

We've always talked about having a booth, like from a restaurant, but they're hard to find and expensive and bulky, so we're making our own out of a nice grade of plywood. I've sanded the bench seat and back smooth and applied 2 coats of tung oil (not tongue oil like I originally imagined when I heard the term, eww). The back will pull forward to allow for storage behind it (on the backside of the barn wood/window wall). Across from the bench is a cabinet we built out of the same kind of plywood that will have a fold-down table attached.

Another good development for ease and comfort is our water bottle hand pump arrived so we took our two Culligan bottles to a spring about a mile and a half up the hill to fill and now we have about 10 days worth of water. Granted, this is not bathing water - mostly it's for drinking and making the occasional batch of cous cous or pot of tea, but it does help us feel a bit more self-sufficient.


I was astonished to read recently that the average person uses over 1,000 gallons of water a day (including the water that is used to make energy and all of the products we consume). There are some very interesting infographics about this here and more info from the National Academy of Sciences here. It's no secret that access to clean water is a struggle that many people all over the world deal with each and every day, so having this free source of good, clean water is not something we take for granted. If anything, I hope this system will help us monitor our usage.

La Cocina

More progress on the outdoor kitchen area this weekend (too cold for taping and mudding the sheet rock in the bathroom)...

Keith installed two overlapping clear plastic panels in the roof space bridging the existing porch and the added-on bathroom part. Lets in lots of light in what would otherwise be a dark corner.

And then he put me to work on the business end of a wire brush to get some barn wood ready to go on the wall. And patiently posed for this photo (in case you don't know what a wire brush + barn wood looks like?).
 

Brusha, brusha, brusha.

Gorgeous 12"+ wide planks of barn wood salvaged from a co-worker's property (with permission!) less than 10 miles from here, who knows how old it is but it sure is pretty!

We have a neat gnarled long piece of barnwood that will go at the top of that wall for decoration, maybe painted. It resembles an alligator, so maybe it will say, "La Cocina Caimán"? We're not there yet.

Saturday morning I was just getting out of bed when an unfamiliar car pulled up in the drive and 2 people got out an knocked on the door. They'd seen our house on treehugger and then saw the blog and are interested in building their own tiny house and wanted a tour. Admittedly a main function of this blog is to share our experience and encourage others that they can do it - but please, for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, don't show up a stranger's house unannounced and expect to be met with warm cookies and sweet tea. I haven't decided if I am going to contact them to schedule a tour for a later date.

Building a bathroom at 36° (it is February)

Now that my one-man construction crew is back home, we're making progress on the house again!

Keith insulated the bathroom while I was at work the first part of the week. This is the corner the composting toilet is going in, probably in a corner cabinet. Inspector Lazlo is always underfoot.

In this photo, Keith's measuring how far the 3x3 shower space will extend into the room. It's not a very big space, but then again it would be kind of silly to have a giant bathroom out of proportion to the rest of our house. 

We had a large window left over from some scavenging we did at some point and knew the bathroom could use a big light source, so that's on the north wall to help let in light without letting in too much heat. I think it's 3x4. 

We bought a medicine cabinet in the same fashion as pretty much everything else, salvaged from somewhere on the cheap, that Keith mounted in the wall. It's not wired for light and we might have to install a solar light on the wall opposite the window to balance things out.

We took a day to go to Missoula for supplies last weekend and made a stop at our favorite store to find salvaged materials, Home Resource. (I took my new mini toy camera, so that explains the photo quality above). 

We were on the hunt for some tile, a storm door for my parents and some galvanized gutter hangers, but it was a bust and we moved on the mainstream big box building center stores where we compared prices on bamboo and cork flooring. Ended up going with bamboo since it was on sale and we're always trying to save money for The Rest of It.

Monday night we cooked dinner at the outside kitchen: cous cous and veggies in one pot and a veggie patty fried in the cast iron skillet. Keith had leftover chicken. Our menu options are limited right now with no running water and only a camp stove, but it was delicious with that special made-at-home taste! 

I ordered a water pump so soon we'll be hauling water from the spring a mile or so up the hill and we will have a Mexican kitchen! (We realized while staying in San Blas, at LaQuinta California specifically, in 2006 that we don't need a lot of modern conveniences and fancy appliances to be happy so a Mexican kitchen is actually something we're aiming for.)

Antici.................pation

Stupid dogs wouldn't let me sleep in. They're persistent. It worked out alright, though - I got the house into a semi-clean state and get all the bedding washed. Keith is on his way home, all is well. 


I've been sick for a week or so. Deadline for a big project at work + Keith being gone + floating germs = the sickness. I'll be glad to have my natural stress reliever back in the same state as me.


We woke up to some impressive hoarfrost this morning.

This winter has been really strange. Yesterday was beautiful, if cool. But the sun was out and the only snow left is in the shadows. Dogs and I had an extended lunch break at the river and then wrestling in the yard. There were three boats on the river just in the space where we were. Last week I saw a river otter swimming.

Found this fantastic mini zen garden at the river yesterday and pocketed it. Don't regret it one bit.

Percolating ideas

We should know soon how much longer Keith will be working in Montana. We're hoping for extremely short-term and I am trying to be less whiney about him being gone.

So let's focus on something positive - like when he gets back we will have money to finish some of our tiny house projects! Kitchen and bathroom are at the top of the list. I've been slacking reading many of my design inspiration blogs, but I am still pinning plenty on Pinterest. It's addictive!

Here's my tiny house pinterest. You'll notice a lot of pallet-reincarnation, rustic spaces, upcycled goods, etc. Obviously we won't be incorporating all of these into our house, but they're just images I refer to when we're working on a project and/or wishlist items...

I've also been watching a lot of movies and reading (though less than usual since movies are easier distractions). 

Good DVDs as of late: Best of The Larry Sanders Show, Bored to Death (my favorite find of the year! Schwartzman, Galifianakis & Danson slay me), 50/50, Midnight in Paris... 

Good reads as of late: 1Q84, The Paris Wife, Memorial...more on my Shelfari

White all over

Early last week we got our first significant amount of snow for the season. It's mostly melted and mucky mud now, but it made everything nice and white for a few days.

We're still missing Keith. Not sure when he'll be home, maybe a couple of weeks. This weekend is his birthday, so we sent him some goodies in the mail. I made a mix CD that included the song "Stormy Weather" by Etta James. 

Don't know why /There's no sun up in the sky
Stormy weather /Since my man and I ain't together
Keeps raining all of the time

Oh yeah Life is bare / Gloom and misery everywhere
Stormy weather, stormy weather
And I just can't get my poor self together
Oh I'm weary all of the time /The time, so weary all of the time

When he went away / The blues walked in and met me
Oh yeah if he stays away / Old rocking chair's gonna get me
All I do is pray The Lord will let me / Walk in the sun once more

Oh I can't go on, can't go on, can't go on /Everything I have is gone
Stormy weather, stormy weather
Since my man and I, me and my daddy ain't together
Keeps raining all of the time / Oh, oh, keeps raining all of the time
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah raining all of the time
Stormy stormy /Stormy weather /Yea

My Daily Zen

(A warning: this is a dog post.)
Mornings are still too cool to get in any effective exercise for the doggies, so since Keith's been gone I've been taking extra-long lunches and the pups and I walk to the river and they wrestle and eat/smell various and sundry things and I enjoy the quiet and try not to think too much and just breathe deep. 

We're very lucky to live so close to a really great unofficial dog park.

The winter has been so mild so far. It's hard to believe this is January. There were three boats on the river today, fishing.

This is what distraction looks like, waiting for husbands to return.

Lazlo, Brown, Buster

Mia, Pia

Mixed Canine Arts

And...rest...with tongue, of course.