Picture this!

May 14, 2011...

Driving home one day last week. Pick up coming toward me pulling a horse trailer with side windows. Horse had his head hanging out the window nose into the wind. Just like a dog!

Driving to the house site a couple of days ago. Passed a house with the garage door open. The lady had her back to the road, leaning over gathering bags from the open trunk of the car. Poised by the corner of the garage, peering in, ears cocked forward was a large doe mule deer.

Driving through the neighborhood this morning. Pick up coming toward me pulling a trailer with side rails but no top. Glanced in my rear-view mirror once past. Laying snout-out on the bed of the trailer was a very large hog. Black head and face, and ties holding the animal down. Couldn’t tell if the animal was resting or ready for the butcher.

Where’s my camera when I need it! Oh, well actually it was on the truck seat next to me. But stopping in the middle of the road to take a picture would be pushing it, even for low-traffic, high-tolerance Silver City.

Working the land

We’ve been spoiled. We’ve been here since November of 2008 and during those two and half years, have fallen out of the habit, not to mention the fitness of working in the yard. Last year was a wet year, so I had to weed-whack 3 times during the summer. The summer before was drier so I think I whacked the grass once or maaaaaybe twice. Pulled a few weeds in front that came up through the gravel. But not the full weekend days of cutting, mowing, whacking, weeding, trimming of old (meaning old Maryland).

But there’s work to do on our house site to mitigate the scarring of construction. We have a good team, and they’re trying to be gentle. But construction is construction and there is scraping and tracking and moving of dirt and digging of trenches. And so there is moving of rock, raking, smoothing, and building of dry-stack rock walls.

I went over this morning about 9:30 and started moving rocks. Heavy (and we’re not talking about brothers). Worked until about 2 pm. I know not to use my back, so instead, my knees and thighs are aching. My arms are aching from “walking” large rocks and picking up and carrying medium size one. My fingers are sore from shifting rocks into place once on the stack. And this is now, having just come home and soaked in the tub in hot water. I wonder if I’ll be able to move tomorrow!! And yet, it don’t look like much!

Nick came early afternoon with the self-assigned chore of beginning to thin and cut brush. Geez, I hate that term (sounds to “Bush-y”) but that’s what’s needed. I couldn’t lift another pebble, so I went to help. Do you know, I realized that pushing a saw is harder than moving a rock. So I quit, came home and got into the tub!

Our house build is going to be featured in June’s Desert Exposure. The journalist came today to take the last pictures – which will surely be stupid-looking, since I hate to have my picture taken, since I had on a cap which I couldn’t take off due to a severe case of hat-hair and since, given all that, Nick and I were standing there staring into the lens. But I’m excited about the article. Building green will grow with education and information.

I finally got around to writing the first story for the new series on building the house. I've just launched the blog site, so please take a look and tell me what you think!

http://itainteasybuildinggreen.blogspot.com/