Tuesday, August 23rd 2005
One tire, two tires, three…
The first question everyone asks is: Are you making progress?
And the answer is always the same: We work at it so it progresses!
Since our last chronicle we've filled over 300 tires.
Sometimes, I'd like the world to stop so we could do just that. And we do spend a lot of our hours at it; but we have to do the laundry, prepare dinner, take the phone and internet messages, get the car fixed… I feel like I'm wasting valuable time on the daily routine.
Another question: How long does it take and when will you be finished?
I can tell you it takes about 10 pails per tire, Thierry was able to count them. On the other hand, it's difficult to say how long it takes to fill a tire since we often work on several at any time and it's not just a matter of stuffing them with dirt. For each row, we first have to resolve the placement puzzle in order to get it all levelled and to minimize the number of space blocking. Then we have to adjust the level again when they're full and not forget to place the water pipes. Since we never know from day to day how much help we're going to have, we can't tell when we'll be done…
Luckily we had help! We realize that there could easily be a dozen of us for the filling part; even the kids find something to do: playing in the sand or bringing back the empty pails to the fillers. I really like the work environment of this type of construction. No loud machinery makes for easy conversation about philosophy, the environment or just silly jokes. We met a lot of interesting people. Christian, our most devoted, spent 3 days a week for 3 weeks digging and filling tires on top of which he fixed the broken walkie-talkies and helped us figure out our telecommunication's problem, since it's his field of work. Lili and Rad with their French Fries smelling car who wrote an article on their experience. Annie who works for "Mer et Monde" training international aid workers. She came with a bunch of friends one week-end and came back with another friend the next. There are those who know about earthships and are considering building one themselves and also our parents and friends who found time in their busy schedules. There will always be a little part of you in our house and you'll always be welcome, THANKS!!!!
We're starting to feel the cold season approaching (like last Friday morning with 4C) and it's now obvious that we won't start on the back section before spring. We'll have to concentrate on closing the first part ASAP. We have two more rows of tires to fill and then we need to finish the sawmill job to get the wood we need to finish the top of the walls where the joists will rest, insulate and waterproof the roof. There's the mud/rock fill in the cavities between the tires covered by a clay/straw coating and the floor the pour. We then have to build the framing of the south face to install the windows and door, berm and insulate the other 3 sides. As you can see we still have a lot to do before we're safe inside…
On that note, I get back to the tires because I can't wait to announce the ninth row is finished!