This is part of a continuing series intended, not so much to solicit donations, as to ask for social media (and word-of-mouth) shares to spread the word further about our friends Aji and Wings’ efforts to build an actual adobe house, rather than remain much longer in the 30-year-old RV with faulty wiring and outdoor water hoses that freeze solid in winter, that has been their makeshift home since their manufactured house was repossessed six years ago. If you’d like more details on the backstory, please see this diary. If you are wondering who Aji is (since she’s been unable to post here for some time because of bad-technology issues), you might check out her past work here. If you do, you’ll note that, apart from Native American news and issues, her most frequent topic was asking help for other people. That’s why so many of us want to support her now.
Below the fold, I’ll share more photos of the good progress that’s been made recently on the house’s first floor, along with all the pertinent links to help you share (and donate if you are so inclined). We notice that there’s some interest among the followers of Saturday Morning Home Repair in adobe construction methods, so we’ll try to keep you caught up. (This group’s diaries have the whole series of photos.)
The overall total here is a big ask, and yet, it’s not the full amount that’s needed to do this — just the amount that they can’t afford to carve out of what Wings earns through sales of his silverwork and photography, which also pay all the other bills and expenses. We’ll share how to browse and buy from him below as well.
If you cannot afford to donate, you absolutely should not. If you yourself are in a bind and need help, I urge you to ask someone to help you present your needs here. We are liberals and we support our community the best we can. I don’t know when I’ve seen a longtime community member not get some help here when it’s needed. If you can pay for your expenses your own self, but it makes you so cranky that someone else is asking for help that you shame them in an open thread, please be like that somewhere I don’t have to see it. Not here would be a good start.
Here’s an overview of what happened last week. You may recall that the adobe brick walls were laid up to the top of the first floor, with window and door frames included. On top of the first floor brick walls, a reinforced concrete “bond beam” is poured in place — it’s like the sill that a lower floor would sit on, except the second floor will sit on it and it’s poured in place into a wooden frame containing rebar, nine feet up. That beam was poured before Labor Day weekend, so that it would be ready when work resumed the following week. You can see the bond beam running around the top of the brick walls in the photo at left.
After that, the spiral posts are set. These are upright members, in a traditional Native shape, that hold up header beams on which the second floor will also rest. (Sort of like Lally columns, only made of
wood.) At right, you can see the header beam in place on the east side of the house. (My understanding is that the wall-end is affixed to the bond beam. Note that I am a life long New Jersey resident without a clue about adobe, and am trying to relay what’s been explained to me without introducing errors.)
Once these major support members are in place, framing for interior walls can be added. There are a few more photos below showing that interior framing being roughed in and the beginning of viga installation. Rather than make this account any longer, though, let’s say what we need to say and show pictures afterward.
At the bottom of this diary is the widget for this project’s YouCaring page. You can see that both generosity and sharing have made for considerable progress on this phase of the project, which is to get the house exterior finished before winter makes outdoor construction impossible in the bitterly cold high desert. We’ve all heard the saying, “Many hands make light work,” and that’s why we’ve been blogging so relentlessly asking that people go to the YouCaring page and use the widget button and the Facebook and Twitter buttons to share that page. We’d rather you share that than any of these Daily Kos diaries, because it’s just more effective.
You’ll also see, below, a boxful of other ways to help if YouCaring is not your cup of tea. Among them is shopping for Wings’ beautiful silver jewelry and photography. I warn you in advance, this is one-of-a-kind handmade art, so the site doesn’t look like the web page of a standard internet merchant. If you are interested and can’t figure out how to shop there, please see this diary. Thank you!!! And here are the other photos.
About the photo above: in the comments, kishik wondered what was the row of “boxes” on top of each end wall, parallel to the vigas? Aji provided this answer:
The upper story is going to be frame, not adobe brick (plastered, but framework superstructure). Part of it's cost; part of it's weight; part of it's simple speed. If I'm not mistaken, those things that look like boxes are actually the base for where the frame and the first-floor ceiling will fit together. Once the vigas are fully installed and it's time to build that ceiling, they're going to use a tongue-and-groove style of woodworking in a herringbone pattern in between the vigas themselves. If you've never seen it, it's absolutely beautiful, and it also gives the illusion of added height and depth. I don't know whether I've mentioned this here before, but the vigas themselves are not merely nice to look at, but also eminently practical: They use the available space to provide really sturdy support, but they also contribute to terrific air circulation - and thus, to great insulation and temperature management.
Of course, the fact that the upper story is going to be frame underneath means that by next week, things are going to move REALLY fast.
Update 9/13: Aji’s new blog post shows step-by-step how a viga is put in place.
HOW TO HELP
- The YouCaring fundraiser allows you to donate specifically to this cause. You can also share the fundraiser via social networks by using the “Grab Our Widget” button (and other social media buttons) on that page.
- Their Amazon wishlist mostly supports the health needs of their rescue animals and themselves, if that’s more your style.
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Purchases from Wings Silverworks will help them make a living the way they’d prefer, by selling Wings’ work as an exceptionally talented NDN silversmith and photographer.
- If you prefer, donate via PayPal at Aji’s blog, or at her Tumblr blog where she posts her own writing and photography.
- Kosmail belinda ridgewood if you absolutely need to donate by mailing a paper check.
- And Tweet, share on FaceBook, tip/rec/republish on Daily Kos, randomly email your friends about it, drop it into casual conversations. This seems minor, but it is not! When you share, please link to this YouCaring page, or embed the widget!