Screw the weather; they started the scratch coat. Shares needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

It doesn't matter what they tell me; I should just keep my trap shut, because they'll contradict themselves and do the opposite of what they said they couldn't do.

Which is good, provided the weather doesn't become an issue, because today, they started the scratch coat. That's Carlos and Clarence just getting started. By the time they knocked off for the day:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Actually, they got a little beyond that point, heading over the front door, plus Tony did some patch work on the south wall and around the plumbing hookups in the kitchen.

This is what it all looks like up close:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

For a scratch coat, it looks remarkably like a finish coat in terms of texture and appearance. It is, however, both rougher and grayer than what we'll have at the end, after at least two more coats are applied. The final one will have mica in it, the old way.

Once they get this applied all the way around the entire ground floor, then it has to set for two weeks to dry completely before they can begin the second layer. Which means we'd better have some stuff for them to do in the meantime. I'm hoping I have the painting finished in our bedroom this coming weekend, but it's going to be tight. Then there are the other two rooms to do. I'm hoping that Tony can finish window and door casings and they other two can tile the bathroom in the meantime, but none of that's a given. We're going to have to buy the flooring and the water heater very, very soon, and right now, what little we have on hand has to go for labor.

So, we need shares:

• Wings's PayPal account, for donations to the house fund (out of a current $30K goal, last night upped our total raised to $2,800 since last Monday, leaving a balance of $27,200. If that link doesn't work, it's 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.

It's finally starting to look like a real house downstairs. There's a long, long, LONG way to go before it's liveable, though. Many thanks and love to all of you who are helping us keep going; please keep sharing the links.

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.