Summer Time....

Oh My!!

I've been in absentia more than I would have liked. It's been hectic, and there has been some progress on the fortress - though most of it is on paper.

First to offer the excuses:
Finished big project for work - did not want to be within spitting distance of the computer for a few days
Had to get my big mall doors from their hiding place at Joe's. Now at new hiding place.
Had to spend time with family who haven't seen me, because I've been working so much (see above)
Had to take son to have all 4 wisdom teeth pulled (ouch!!) He's doing well.
Had to take Lucy (the adorable dog in all the pictures) to vet this morning to have some back teeth removed
(poor Lucy!)
Had to get ready to go on my upcoming trip for work. 2 weeks in South Africa and Namibia. It will be a work fest, no doubt.
And
Had to get back on my feet after the work related marathon I've run.

So, that being said and done, I'm back for the moment.

I leave for South Africa/Namibia on Saturday (21 hour flight each way - so much for that carbon foot print reduction thing, huh? but it is for a big international environmental conference, so I guess I don't know, I get greenhouse points?)

In the meantime, We are working on the fortress. We have decided on dimensions (10 ft x 10 ft, plus a 10ft x 3 ft bay window- with the 4 mall doors - facing south) a small loft above with a window to open for convection cooling. a deck (covered in summer) of about 7 ft that wraps around to the side where the "outhouse/composting toilet" will be. For cooling/warming we'll dig a trench 5 ft. deep, that will run around the back yard, and back and blow air 54 degrees (f) into the space. Lots of over hangs, losts of passive heating and cooling. I'd like to get the radiant heating for the floors, so we're looking into that. And more....

My darling husband, Bill, has taken this on with renewed gusto and is hoping to have the pylons set and the trench dug before I get back the second week of August. And then it's building it up from there.... We'll see. I expect it will be interesting.

Work will either slow down a lot this fall or will be fairly busy. At the moment, I just don't know. If it's slow, I'll do the work myself (at least some of it). If it's busy, I 'll pay someone else to do it.

Anyway, that's my update du jour.

More soon!

Very best,
Mary