Since last I wrote:

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted! How time flies. Getting the gravel done was a huge accomplishment. However it was pretty strange to finally be done with it! I spent most of the summer shoveling the stuff and it was pretty anticlimactic to have it done. We took a much needed vacation to North Carolina the week after Labor Day and when we returned I found I had picked up a nasty bug on the trip so spent most of the next week recovering. What a drag. I could feel my shoveling muscles dwindling away.

It felt a little like momentum had been lost but each day I went out and did something. The next task was to make sure everything was straight and square. (I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about this!) We spent a day re-measuring and fixing a few places that had gotten out of whack. That done, we felt better and moved to the next step – cutting the insulation to the right height.

I’ve been dreaming a lot about form building – no really I have! This is a task neither Rick or I had ever done and while we looked at every book we have, each one showed something different and none of them really showed a grade beam over rubble. So I spent a couple of days ‘sperminting: what kind of stake works best (smaller one); how hard is it to drive stakes into the gravel (not too); will leveling be a problem (not really). This week we started. Didn’t get very far the first day and a few things had to be re-done (really frustrating) but finally got the hang of it and it’s moving pretty nicely now. We are using 2 x 6s that we bought 7 years ago. They’ve been sitting on the property of the friends we bought them from and we were sort of surprised that they were still there after all this time. We got them all moved – finally – and they are coming in handy. They are making fine forms which should hold up to the cement pour.

Wood pile with dog (Tex).

It’s pretty exciting to get the forms up and start to see just what shape the house is taking. The walls are more defined now and it’s looking like it will be a huge space. It’s funny how each stage looks different visually. The house is exactly the same size it was when we first set the corners and put up stakes but at each stage it takes on a different feel. For a while there, while I was shoveling gravel, it looked sort of small. Now that the forms are taking shape, it’s looking huge! Can’t wait to start putting up posts! Really ready to have something start growing above ground that can be seen from the drive.

First day of form building.

Second day of form building. Made good progress!

Rick at work.

This is the view looking toward the office and studio. What a wonderful space it's going to be!

This weekend is the Taos Wool Festival and next weekend is the Abiquiu Studio Tour so my house building time may be limited for the next week or so but we are still pretty much on schedule to maybe get the roof up before heavy winter weather sets in. Fingers are crossed!