First Light On Narrow Pond in Ant Village

i think orin mentioned in the original on narrow pond thread that they had made a deal where if he agreed to take the hillbilly mansion down and remove materials used in its construction that paul didn’t want there, he could sleep there and use it for storage until it was too far gone to do so.

Ian Sa wrote:I'm unclear on the story. Were you required to take down the cabin?

Hi Ian, Hill Billy Mansion is not on my acre and has nothing to do with what I am building On Narrow Pond.

Here's why I am tearing down Hill Billy Mansion:

-I knew that Paul didn't want cardboard, carpet, petro based catpets, and plastic used as building materials;
-I knew Hill Billy Mansion had these items as apart of it's construction;
-I knew Paul wanted those items removed;
-I knew Hill Billy Mansion had good building materials I wanted.

I made a proposal to Paul, part of which entitled me to all good building materials.

Paul accepted my proposal.

Now you could've read backwards and found the answer to your question in my prior posts.  In the future, I will simply reply to those kind of questions with a simple one word no/yes.

A thousand winters in one. One of masks, half masks and the unmasked. Where did the bed go when I layed down? Did I dream it? Somewhere between the flannel sheets and a soft quilt of the softest layer of feathers?

And to what reality have I awakened? Can anyone tell me? What exactly has transpired? Is it like 2020? Is it like 2021?

From the answers snarled and shouted glee, I am even less certain that I am awake, for these answers reflect not a trace of the place I remember when I was lulled into winter's to hibernation.

Perhaps another bout of slumber will wash over me and I will surface safe, warm and radiant in the bed I cannot find.

My feet find the ground and my left shoulder aches like a Mack truck has introduced itself less gently than I wished. What has occurred? Has winter really gone? Is this mid-May?

My eyes focus, sunlight through spring hail greets me and I find myself at First Light on Narrow Pond.

Cool air enters my lungs, tools come to my hands, and the strange dream that surrounded me fades to stranger eddies which threaten at any moment to erupt, to engulf my consciousness and the planet I inhabit.

No need I tell myself, to feed nor justify these strange eddies. There is hunger in my belly which needs attending more, shelter I need for refuge, and water for waking thirst.

So I exert the tools to the material while I continue the design On Narrow Pond. I hope all can find the soil upon which to stand, to breathe unburnt air, and watch the sun caress soil's seeds into green.

a bandsaw chainsaw attachment off to the machinist...needs to marry up to my battery operated chainsaw.

Two days before a Yawling Rock work crew starts to gather...

First sleeping loft beam in yesterday with the second beam's one end ready to be slotted (other end yet unmodified).

Sleeping loft is just under 6' wide and just under 12' long.  Part of the sleeping loft will support a 10 gallon water container with the hotest water for gravity feed to sink and shower.

After seeing solar hot water tanks blowing off their hot water on to the ground on roof tops in India and Nepal, First Light will see a hotest water tank (with temperatures between 60 C|140 F and 104 C| 220F ) and a larger warm water tank I guesstimate at about 27 C| 80F. This warm water tank will only be used to feed the water heater devices and serve as a reservoir for boil off water from the hotest water tank as it could breed bacteria with an anti human agenda.

In this way, I will not lose water boiled off by my solar passive devices.  { whoa! major storm in Cerebral Cortex region! note to future self hot water approaching steam changes density... same heat can reshape martensite to my benefit ‐end note to self}

So yeah, sleeping loft frame almost finished.

Continous rain so far today...time to get supplies to feed yawling rock crew.

Jon, Davin and I fitted the last rafter the loft will rest on....

....next, the boards for the loft proper

Ben made it and got clay ready for slip straw;
Davin is ready to set the first monster floor board with some very cool notch work;
Jon made a level sleeping loft out of the round wood rafters;
I cut more monster floor boards.

one straw bale shred, soaked in clay and hand packed fills a space
26"x39"x6"

....and six buckets of clay

in 42 gallons of water.

26x39 = 1014 sq in = 7 sq ft  per straw bale

so one south 12x12 ft wall = 144 sq ft

=>  144sqft/7sqft/straw bale = 20 straw bales

North wall 9x12 ft = 108 sq ft

=> 108/7 = 15.4 bales

West & East walls
2[(9x10)+(.5*10*3)] = 210sq ft

210/7 =  30 straw bales

30+ 15.4 + 20 = 65.4 bales

This is an over estimate because First Light's posts and window frames take up cubic space.

a well trained person can do 16sqft/4 hrs
or 4sqft/hr

144+108+210=462sqft
462/4= 115.5 hrs

115.5/8 = 14.4 days
or about three weeks counting clay prep

by not layering clay and straw to prior mixing and instead dipping the straw, it is much faster....we cuurently feel that merely dipping has less wall strength.

...the wall slowly grows and dries...