Deadline for Drying Her In Looms!!!

We got our "eviction notice" from Papa ... fruit is coming in so we have to vacate the packing house. Well, that was Thursday and we're still there. Thankfully he gave us another week to get more work done before we head of to Australia for my sister's wedding. Here's all the progress from the time here and there this week that Austin and I could spare:

Most of the pictures are self-explanatory ... the last one here is a small storage cabinet next to the front door, above the sitting bench (that hasn't been built yet!)

We're pulling a looooong weekend to try to get all the interior paneling up and the floors down. Then we're going to take a short break for our trip halfway around the world! 

Tongue-and-Groove siding should go quickly, he said...

Austin's dad generously let us pick through a stack of rough-hewn Cypress planks that were strewn, forgotten, under a collapsing shed. Austin picked out the best boards, trying to avoid the worst of the water and bug damage and sent them off to the mill to be planed and tongue-and-grooved. We paid $0.84 a linear foot. The resulting planks are phenomenally gorgeous.

Now, tongue and groove should be relatively simply, right? You just snap them into place. Voila. We envisioned just flying through the siding in one day and moving on to the roof in quick fashion. Um. No. Two days of labor and we only completed the two long walls. Obstacle #1: insect and water damaged boards. Many of the beautiful long planks had to be chopped up into smaller pieces due to damage. Obstacle #2: warped and bent boards. About 1,000 chop saw cuts, several colorful curse words, and two grueling days later, we have both long sides mostly sided ... minus the highest segment on the loft.

I'm gladly taking suggestions on coating ... I was thinking polyurethane. I don't want to stain ... I want to maintain the original color and beauty of the wood. I just want to add water protection and gloss. 

Progress! The walls go up.

So you may notice the long lapse of time in between my last post and this. Life has a way of throwing a kink in your plans ... I had wanted to finish the Turtle by August. Well, we actually didn't get any work done on it over the summer. Why? Because I'm pregnant! Construction just doesn't sound very fun when you're puking and a simple run to the grocery store leaves you whimpering for a nap. But I'm 4.5 months pregnant now and past all the first trimester tribulations and Austin has a few weeks before the citrus picking begins so we're going at it full swing. Now my goal is to finish this thing up by the time Baby PJ comes in January!

You may have noticed the change in venue. We no longer have the beautiful lake as our backdrop but we also don't have to drive 2 hours to the build site anymore ... now it is just 5 minutes down the road!

This week Austin worked on framing the walls in all by himself. He did an amazing job! I felt bad telling him there were a few placement problems. But we'll just work around them. (One window is very low and another is in the wrong spot on the wall, blocking where I was going to place a small built-in flip-out table.) Overall, he did a fantastic job and if I'd had to do it on my own, I'd probably still be working on the first wall section and it would look like a toddler was playing with Lincoln Logs.

Me helping .... notice the baby bump!!

Here's the progress from this week:

While in Virginia this summer, we found a beat up tiny door for sale at a boutique that does upcycling. The shop owner hadn't done anything to the door yet. It came from a house in Nelson county, VA ... close to where I grew up. The house was from the 1890s but not sure when the door was from. The glass is definitely old glass (wavy from gravity settling)

Step 1: remove the hardware that had fused onto the door. Seriously. I didn't know rust could be so strong. Step 2: sand it down and try not to breathe in what very easily could have been lead paint
Step 3: Realize the water damage on the bottom is beyond repair and without much forethought, bash it in (notice the hole in the middle panel....) I'm hoping Blake can fix that...

Arizona Adventures and Stalled Progress ...

After an exhilarating 8 day camping trip in the deserts and mountains of the American Southwest, I ass-u-me-(d) that i would make stellar progress on the Turtle. Well - here's what happened.

1. Mother nature has decided to water Florida a LOT lately. In two days, I only got in 3 hours of work. When it was sunny, I was at the home supply/hardware store. Arg.

2. Plumbing sucks. I had a well-meaning friend come help with the grewater drain lines. I realized at the last "build day" (rolling eyes) that I would have to undo his work ... he did not actually make anywhere for it to drain TO.

3.  also realized CPVC would be an awful choice for hot/cold lines ... one bump and those joints are undone and I've got major water damage to deal with. Switching to PEX.

4. Gnats. I *%$!#@& hate gnats. Do they serve a useful purpose on this Earth??!!??

On the less-annoyed-more-pleasant side, my desert adventures included coyotes, the best view of the Milky Way I've ever seen, the very cold Colorado River, Saguaro cacti, and nervously watching my boyfriend rescue Aussie women about to make a choice that would certainly lead to a 100+ ft fall to their deaths. Here are a few pictures :)

Build Day 1: Frame the subfloor

After a few design changes, we finally got started on the actual construction of the Wandering Turtle! The first hurdle - where to place the water tanks so that they would not be exposed below the axle but still distribute weight evenly. After playing with it, we straddled the axles with the tanks. All that was tricky to figure out since the tanks haven't even been delivered yet. (Should be here tomorrow!) Blake made the first cut and my heart soared. My dream is coming true!

Once we got the framing done, we opted for Tyvek house wrap instead of aluminum flashing. I know it may need repairs in a much shorter time frame than aluminum sheathing would. But...Blake made a good point. Tyvek will make it so much easier to access the plumbing in the subfloor should anything need repairing. Cutting out the aluminum or ... even worse ... tearing out the hardwood flooring to access the subfloor for repairs would be a nightmare. 

What a lovely day for a build! The next build event will be two days. Our goals: 1) install plumbing in the subfloor framing, 2) lay the plywood subfloor, and 3) frame out the walls. Yikes! That means I need to find the rest of my windows PRONTO!

The long, long trailer

The long-awaited phone call arrived! My custom trailer from B&G trailers in DeLand is finished!!

7ft wide, 18ft long ... dual dropped axles (10,500 GVWR) with custom fenders to minimize intrusion into square footage.

I'm so thankful for Austin's help in getting the trailer towed up to Hawthorne (Thanks for letting us borrow the truck Grandpa!). And such a beautiful place for a build! (Sorry, my camera died so no pictures yet...) Blake's workshop is nestled in rural Florida right against the beautiful Poore lake! He didn't tell me we would have such a spectacular backdrop...

I get butterflies thinking that Blake and I will start construction in two days!! Many more pictures to come. And now it is time to re-watch a classic:

Feelin' Rich

Well, I got my tax return AND I got paid. So, feeling rich, I made a few big purchases for the Turtle.

I will be using the Rainwater HOG tanks for potable water storage built into the floorboards.
http://rainwaterhog.com/

I ordered two tanks. I plan to hook up to well water at first and eventually move to rainwater catchment ... where these lovely tanks will be crucial. The sales rep was incredibly friendly with an Aussie accent that made me miss my sister! (Not that she has the accent - but she moved to Melbourne over a year ago!)

The second purchase was a mini-split heat/cool/dehumidify system. I was a bit reluctant to pass on the radiant heat floors. The idea of toasty warm toes. Just makes me smile to think of it. But I'd still need an AC for the dog days of Florida summer. So I decided to splurge on this beauty:
http://www.thermospace.com/ductless_split/ksil009-h119.php





Construction starts in UNDER THREE WEEKS!!!!