Hello? Is anybody there?? I forgot this blog existed!
Anyway, same old over here. Working the job and working on the house slowly but surely.
Gas cooktop was installed which was one of the last things keeping me from moving in. I've slowly moved my things into the house and at the time of writing this post I'd say I'm officially living in the house full time. You'd think that would speed up the construction of the house, but that didn't seem to happen.
Spent a night on Block Island with friends for Greg's birthday. We had a wonderful time of course.
But we also get restless and found some ways to keep us entertained.
My brother stopped by the house and we wired up a power inverter. The house is now officially off grid! So far it seems like the 3 panels and 6 batteries will be sufficient. I think the winter will be another story. We'll see when we get there!
And I did my first tile job. Tiled the entryway with some tile I got for free on CraigsList.
Thanks to a few Youtube videos, I think the tile came out nicely!
Christian and I have also been doing a lot of preparation for Burning Man. We've upgrading the Saturn bed to allow for "legal" passengers in the rear seat. This way Camille and I can pick up Greg and Christian at the airport and drive them into Burning Man, rather than them paying $160 each for the bus that goes to the event.
For my birthday weekend, a bunch of us hiked the presidential traverse in the White Mountains. It was great being with so many friends, some of whom I haven't seen in a while. We had great weather for the weekend (minus a few hail squalls) and overall had an awesome time.
Christian, Alana and I installed the wood flooring as well. Another huge step towards making the house feel homey. We had just barely enough flooring to cover the entire first floor, including the bathroom.
A fun little project was to install meters to measure the charge and discharge of the battery bank. It faces you as you're sitting on the composting toilet, a perfect time to check the battery levels.
I started to tile the platform on which the wood stove would sit. Unfortunately the ditra underlayment didn't hold onto the mortar very well. Had to rip up the underlayment and remove the mortar. I'll end up just tiling directly to the plywood.
Found a nice bathroom faucet on CraigsList. To raise it up to the sink, we're putting it on a small Birch log.
Some more small things to add to the homey feel.
Christian and I decided that a deck was necessary. He has a bunch of cedar boards leftover from tearing down some of his fence so we decided that would make a great decking material. A few 2x6s and 2x4s and a couple hours later we had a nice little deck! Ready in time for the Tiny Bash.
We also picked up some 275 gallon totes to collect rainwater. One for supplying my house with water and the other for an outdoor shower. Two of the many projects in the queue.
Christian bought me a beautiful stone sink for my bathroom. Way nicer than the $2 glass salad bowl I was going to turn into a sink. The water lines have been hooked up and the bathroom is taking shape.
Then for the 4th Christian's family invited me up to Maine for the weekend. They rented a beautiful home right on the water. It was super relaxing and a perfect break from days full of programming and working on the house.
Now I'm sitting in a car driving up to Canada with the Tims. We'll be climbing near Quebec City for the week. I'll attempt to get in a half weeks worth of work in between climbing and drinking beer. We'll see how that goes.
Also, Camille arrives in 11 days!
