Monday, September 14, 2015

Monday Photo Meditation: An Ancient Geometry

Photo copyright Wings, 2015; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's our Monday Photo Meditation. This week, it's a rumination on a geometry of spirit, ancient and communal simultaneously. 

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. As usual, photos are available for purchase in any of the usual three formats; simply inquire via the Contact form. Also as always, shares are much needed and much appreciated.

A note on other matters: First, Hunger Road will be late today, probably very late. We both have a to-do list that's a mile long, and I'm already way behind. We set five large posts yesterday (out of a total of eight) for a section of fence that burned years ago and is way overdue for being replaced. I also have to give a hot water bath to Ember the chicken, to try to get the egg to move (the good news is that she's still hopping around, although it's more drunken staggering, in the happy pursuit of food, so I'm taking that as a good sign for her overall welfare. And, of course, there's muck duty and all the usual chores.

Second, after my post about the near incineration of our living quarters and lives on Friday morning, I've gotten a bunch of questions frOm folks on some of the topics in it. I'm going to sketch a very brief outline here:

1. The house-building project: Wings remembered this morning that, many years ago, a now-deceased friend who (with her partner, IIRC) built two houses locally gave him a copy of her plans in case he wanted to use them to build here. This was at the time when he first took over this parcel, when he was still in the earliest stages of making the land itself habitable again. Anyway, he went digging around this morning, and lo and behold, was actually able to find them again. The blueprint is for a two-story frame house, adobe on the outside, slanted roofs for water drainage, passive-solar windows, all a small 720 square-foot total, perfect for us with only minor modifications. The plans are simply pencil on graph paper, but they're sufficient. So we have a starting point. We're going to need a few things first before we can begin: moving of the gallery to a new location (already chosen), and fill brought in to raise the area where the house will go, because of the gradient of the land and the problem of irrigation run-off.  So that will be the next step, and this afternoon he's going to call the people locally that he needs to talk to about estimates. Once we have that, I'll put up the first crowdfunding link, for moving the portable building that serves as the gallery, the delivery and spreading of the fill, and grading, etc. That will be a huge step, and now that monsoon season is pretty clearly over but winter is not yet here, it's the perfect time for it.

2. The wish list: One item is purchased already; I've deleted it to avoid duplication. With regard to all but Wings's camera lens and the storage device, every item is an ongoing need for the animals: food, supplements, etc., that keep them alive and healthy. Even if there are duplicate purchases, none goes to waste, because all of them are things we buy regularly, ranging from once a month to every 3-4 months, depending on the item, the use ratio, and how many of the animals need it for any given reason. As to brands, the dog food brands are pretty well set in stone; we buy as cheaply as possible and mix them together. When your animals are rescues, they tend to come with health problems (and they all found us, not the other way around), and years of experimentation have taught us that this is the best mix to keep larger expenses, such as vet bills, at bay. With the supplements, the brands are not set in stone; they're simply either a) the ones we've been using here, bought locally, or b) the closest approximation I could find via Amazon, and in the largest amount for the price. If you're wondering about a different brand, shoot me a message through the Contact form, or via FB/Twitter if you're on either of those.

And thanks, everybody. I'm mostly over the shakes now from our far too close call. Also determined to make what caused it an irrelevancy sooner rather than later.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

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