The mercury's now dropping below freezing; time is not on our side anymore.

Photo copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved.

It got down below freezing overnight. When I got up this morning, everything was rimed with a thin film of ice. Most, possibly all, nights going forward are going to get down to those kinds of lows now.

Which means we're in a race against time and weather and season.

That photo up there? That's part of the existing septic system, [mis]installed seventeen years ago. That's one of the rotted sections of pipe, because the folks who installed it screwed Wings over badly: not below (hell, not even near) the frost line, and with virtually no downward gradient. The day we broke ground on the house was the day we learned that we would not only have to replace the entire septic system, but also relocate it entirely. Originally, that was going to be the last thing we did. Now, we have to worry about beating the ground freeze.

We need less to raise less than $2K to close out this stage of the process, involving the walls, framework, and ceiling fro the ground floor. Next week, they'll finish the ceiling, and then we're going to have to order the lumber for the upper level. But I think we're going to have to fold the septic system replacement into the next stage, which will add at least another $7K to its price tag. We don't have a choice. There's no sewer system out here (not that we'd be on it anyway, being on the tribal side), and a functional septic system is something that, any more, is an absolute necessity. And the old one is going to be a complete loss.

So we still need daily shares of our YouCaring page via the widgets provided, especially the widget code from the purple box at lower right that produces this:

 

We only need $1,666 to close out this stage. Then, of course, I have to turn my attention immediately to the next one. Time is no longer on our side; overnight, the pressure to get everything done just ratcheted up drastically.

We also nee daily shares of Wings's site. This is what pays the ordinary bills, but it also funds the construction. Without supplementation from our sales, none of this would have been anything close to enough to permit us to get as far as we have. But that requires more than full-time attention from me to make it happen, to say nothing of the long hours Wings spends in the studio on top of everything else he does every day. And those studio hours will be getting longer, so folks contemplating commissions for the holidays need to get hold of me now, because he'll need time for each stage of the creative process in order to get them done in time.

Many thanks to everyone who has given us a hand with this process thus far. We've been out most of the day running errands that had to be delayed all week. Tomorrow is already overloaded, but I'm trying to get some time set aside to catch up with folks. We have a very long way to go, and the amount of time left to us is decreasing fast, so I'm going to spread extra-thin in the days and weeks to come. I promise, I'm trying to juggle everything as best I can.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.