Scratch coat maybe tomorrow. Overwhelmed, in more ways than one. Shares needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

First day back for the week, and the guys spent it on lathing the small stuff — the painstaking work of wiring the seams wherever the drywall meets the wood, such as around the vigas and at the edges of the stairs. I think they have a little of that sort of thing yet to go, and then they'll probably begin the scratch coat tomorrow afternoon; they're picking up the Structolite and so forth tomorrow morning.

There's so much to be done; it's unreal, the sheer volume and number of things that go into building a home. And it's not even a complicated home. I look at the faux Pueblo-Revival McMansions down the road in the developments across the highway, and I can't even imagine what went into them, given all the bells and whistles and stuff involved in them. Sheesh. I'm overwhelmed at least a dozen times a day, and that's with the simple, basic design. But even overwhelmed, we are moving forward.

I'm overwhlemed in other ways, too. We owe thanks to a bunch of folks for recent stuff. In no particular order: Avila, Avilyn, basket, belinda, bfitz, Bill, Erich, gabriella, kishik, lexalou, RunawayRose, TokenLiberal, River and Charles, Joe, CS, PMcM, and a few whose names/initials are unknown to me, because the receipts don't always include a sender. This is for moral support, e-cards, notes, texts, DMs, e-mails, wishlist purchases, Lowe's cards, purchases of Wings's work, and the donations that helped us close out the last stage and get a big jump on this one, even despite the outside attempts to hinder its progress. I owe so many personal notes, and I'm so far behind, and so many of you have reduced me to tears without knowing it and given me the strength I needed to keep going at some of my absolute lowest moments over the last difficult weeks (difficult for so many reasons, not the least of which have been the health and medical issues we've been dealing with, one way or another), and I'm so profoundly grateful to you all that I have no words.

I have no illusions about the difficulty of what we face, and I'm not talking only about finishing the house, although that's a huge one. But, as I have said so many times, I am nothing if not bull-headed, and neither is he, and we keep moving forward, even if it's only one step a day. And it's the shares that help keep us going, no matter how tough it gets:

• Wings's PayPal account, for donations to the house fund (out of a current $30K goal, we've as of this moment raised $2,315 since last Monday, leaving a balance of $27,685. If that link doesn't work, is tied to his e-mail address: wingsoftaos [at] newmex [dot] com.
• His Web site, for sales (always preferable, and the base upon which the whole project hinges anyway, along with paying our day-to-day living expenses) — and just by the way, he's got some really incredible new works up now.
• Our Amazon wishlist, which contains Lowe's cards that will allow us to purchase some materials more cheaply than here in town, and also allow us to divert the extra funds to labor costs.

Tired or not, much more work tomorrow, on many fronts. Thank you all, and we love you all.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.