Good Morning.
As you will see this morning, it does snow here on the high desert, and we got a needed dose this week. Two weeks ago I mentioned my project to convert the upstairs of the chickencoop into a guest/meditation room:
As is usual, SMHRB exists to aid Kossaks in need of home repair/improvement advice and encouragement, so speak up and perhaps our loyal ad hoc cadre of construction professionals and gifted amateurs can be of help.
Follow me over the fold for an update on that funky chickenhouse...
Fisrt of all, the chickens live. In almost three years, they have been reduced from about 30 to a present 7 birds, 5 of which are hens, but they are past their prime as layers, and I feed them now, more or less as pets.
Meanwhile, I like to eat chicken, but not enough to eat my friends. Yet. I'll deal with that issue when the need arises. In three weeks the next batch of chicks arrives and the whole thing starts again, and by July or so I'll have, once again, all the eggs I, and all of my friends and family, can eat.
Despite all that, that upstairs space has been yelling at us lately to do something with it, so...
(Truth be told, this is to be partner evelette's getaway room, a "room of her own"...)
windows, and a landing/deck
and stairs up to:
and into: the inside, which is smaller then it looks. This is about 90 sq ft, with limited headroom.
I am totally proud of this ceiling and its dormer window. This magnificent drywall job was executed by our ranchmate, Kossak native, who has hunkered down with us out at the High Desert Caravansary while the economic storms blow over.
Below the window will be a small bookshelf.
At this point, I am ready for lath and plaster, which will probably be some kind of earth/lime plaster mud made from our local dirt. I try to take photos of all plastered walls before the plaster goes on, so I know the location of things like wires and pipes about to be hidden. And yes, those are adobes, home-made sun-dried mud bricks, still the best material for enduring the temperature extremes (135 degrees worth observed here over the past 25 years, from the lowest low [-24] to the highest high [+111]) of the southwest climate.
The exterior walls will receive a layer of rigid EPS insulation and then a conventional 3-coat stucco job later this spring. Oh yeah, and I'll get some metal roofing up there over the tarpaper that has served as roofing for the past couple of years.
Fortuitously I got many tons of manure spread out over my gardens and rototilled into the soil just before this snow hit; it has been in the 50s all week. This is not proper January weather for these parts. Too warm. Too weird. Agriculture reduced to a crap shoot, where I throw seeds into the ground and see what makes it; see whether it all freezes, or perhaps Groundhog Day has become the day to start my garden instead of the first day of Spring.
Finally, I'd like to thank exlrrp for hosting last week's SMHRB, and to extend an invitation to any readers who feel they have something to offer to guest-host a SMHRB with their own stories. I am also a little concerned that I haven't heard from the stalwart CodeTalker, who has been dealing with various personal issues. I hope you are finding some peace and serenity and can join us again soon.