UPDATED w/more photos. Looklooklook! It's starting to look like a HOUSE! Shares still needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Here's the east side of the house; they did indeed get two sides completed today. Below is a corner view, showing the front (already drying, courtesy of the ever-increasing wind), and the new work on the side:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

These were the two most difficult sides, with the big windows and the doors and the fancy lintels that had to be bullnosed. 

Here's a front view, showing the drying in the patchiness of the finish. When they come back Sunday, they'll hose it down and skim it again, too.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

It was a hectic day of absolutely beautiful work, and a mostly good day, except for the fact that we lost one of our little girls about noon today:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

It's hard to tell in the photo above, but if you click to enlarge it, you'll see that among the larger golden and charcoal-colored chicks, there are eight small black ones, the Australorps. One of those turned up inexplicably dead within a very short space of time today. If I had to guess, I think she got stepped on — one of the hazards of baby chicks is that they run around like, well, the proverbial chickens, and they run over and under each other constantly. They also step on each other, and sometimes the larger ones plant a big foot on the necks of the smaller ones. Sometimes, the results are quick and deadly. 

So little Iris, who was actually one of the larger 'Lorps, is buried next to little Sunflower, the Americauna who fell and died in the first go-round of this lot. They're also buried near Sky, and Stormy, and a few of the other larger ones who have left us in recent years, all around Carter's little spruce at the edge of the west garden. It's a beautiful spot in view of the pond and the willows. My one consolation is that, based on her appearance, it was instantaneous and she didn't suffer.

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Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

That's where they started this morning: on the roof. It hadn't even occurred to me, but of course, the inside of the parapets need to be plastered, too.

Philip and the first of the crew were here at 7:10 this morning, 20 minutes early. The full crew consists of seven guys (including Philip himself), and right now, they're all sitting inside on the stairs where it's cool, eating pizza. They need it; this is hard work. It seems to be a mix of older experienced guys and young ones learning the trade, and they're doing a fabulous job. Here's how they do it:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Yup. The old way — raising the mud in buckets via a rope, then lowering the empty bucket to be cleaned and refilled.

Here's a close-up of the completed float finish (the base coat):

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

And here's the difference between scratch and float — i.e., what it looks like when it's first troweled on, and what it looks like once they've floated it:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Before they broke for lunch, they'd already gotten the mud troweled onto most of the front of the house:

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

And they say they expect to get one of the other sides done yet today.

Tomorrow is graduation here, so they'll be off celebrating with family members who are getting their diplomas. They're coming back on Sunday, and Philip says they should be able to finish the whole house then. They are skilled, and fast, and I believe him. Then it has to sit and cure for a few weeks before they can add the color coat. While that's happening, work on the interior will continue, provided we can fund it; once the color coat is on, Tony and the other guys will build the balcony/upstairs deck.

Of course, none of this is free. It's not cheap, either. But what it is is sturdy, and incredibly energy-efficient besides. It will more than pay for itself in the relative short term; over the life of the house (which will far outlast us)? It's a huge bargain. But in a place where there's no such thing as financing, it takes a lot of cash up front. And we've got a long way to go to be able tot live in it, which means that we continue to need consistent daily shares. Here are all the links:

• First, to donate, the PayPal link is here. 
• Second, for sales (which we really need to make, and I'll be highlighting some of his high-end stuff on the site this week), the link to Wings's site (preferably with a testimonial, if you have some of his work), because sales are gonna keep this thing rolling. 
• And finally, the link to our wishlist (which badly needs updating), with an emphasis on the Lowe's gift cards, because those are what will help us pay for all the stuff that will make this place liveable, like a water heater and flooring and so forth. 

As I've also been saying, we need to make some sales, and sales of some of Wings's bigger-ticket items would go a very, very long way toward this phase (the most expensive of the entire process, unfortunately). I'm off to a thousand other tasks preparatory to more painting upstairs tomorrow. Many thanks and much love to everyone.




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.