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In the beginning there was going to be an earthbag dome. But we thought on that for a long while and have since changed our minds. The first off grid building we build will be a traditional, stick-built house. There is plenty of space at Dusthaven and room for earthbag domes in the future.
We will do most of the build ourselves but we’re working with a contractor to build and dry in the frame.
Before the snows came last fall our contractor moved in some heavy equipment and began excavating the foundation hole. There were many rocks to be moved. In fact, while we ended up with the name Dusthaven, Rockhaven was a runner up for the project name too.
Rocks. Let me show you them.
Still don’t believe me? How about these? All pulled from the hole in the ground the contractor was digging.
This winter was the snowiest winter on record in the Eastern Sierra and that winter spilled right over into the eastern side of the White Mountains in Nevada where we’re building.
Now that it’s April and winter has finally chilled out a bit, we’re able to move some of the snow out of the way and get back to work. Here’s Eric using the little-Kubota-that-could to remove a patch of snow from our layout yard.
And here’s the newly widened excavation hole getting ready for the footings to get started.
Looking northeast.
Looking west southwest (Eric for scale).
While we don’t have a building yet, we’re thinking ahead and ordered our windows. This involved a three hour drive to the Home Depot in Pahrump, Nevada to pick them up.
After another three hour drive back, Eric navigated eight miles of unpaved roads going as slowly as he could so nothing would break. This was the nailbiter of the trip. It took an hour to go those eight miles.
Once he pulled in we opened each box one by one to see if anything broke. It was our very own Dusthaven Easter surprise waiting to see if any would be broken. Unbelievably, every window made it intact. Andersen 100s for the win!
Speaking of Easter, we’re trying to get to know folks in the community more so I volunteered with the Dorcas Women’s Club in Fish Lake Valley and helped them host their Easter event this weekend.
Turns out they needed someone to be the Easter bunny and Eric was the man for the job.
Gratuitous bunny butt pic:
It was really cool to meet other people with kids in the valley and to escape from the snow in Mammoth and play in grass and dirt.
Happy Easter!