NEW BLOG ... Q and A from Vardo For Two

We have created a new blog.  It's called Q and A from Vardo For Two.  Pete and I have been communicating with more folks beginning or thinking about building a safe haven similar to our vardo. 

QandA From VardoForTwo is a place to ask questions about the process of building BEFORE you get fully into it. If you have begun and find yourself with a muddle to work through, maybe we've muddled through a similar thing.


Rather than address individual questions through email (which is still a good thing) ONLY, we'd like to spread the information whenever possible to make best use of the energy involved in answering.

YOUR COMMENTS will fuel this blog. It does, it seems to us, take time and the energy of many to make change and then change is uncontrollable.


If you're thinking about building a moveable safe haven this winter and need to run your ideas by someone(s) who have been on the journey leave a comment/question/idea by us here with your comment.

This new blog and format for directing questions might be useful for the need for safe housing is still the #1 issue for so many of us.  A vardo-like home is one possibility.  Mindful process and support through the journey have been essential.  Go to the new blog with your questions, mullings or quandries.

All the best,
Mokihana and Pete

The V-42 ... can you guess the shape of such a thing? It's a plane, no, a plan ...

"The Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster was an experimental bomber aircraft, designed for a high top speed. The unconventional approach was to mount the two engines within the fuselage driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers mounted at the tail, leaving the wing and fuselage clean and free of drag-inducing protrusions. Two prototype aircraft were built, but the end of World War II changed priorities and the advent of the jet engine gave an alternative way toward achieving high speed." 

-both photo and description above are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Warmth has returned to the Pacific Northwest.  "Warmth" being relative, my brother would still shake in disbelief when I tell him it's 40-something and we like it.  JOTS is in kitty-land bliss:  the slantboard with the lamp on over head.  The quonset is warm.  Through the leg of my wolly sweats, my thigh is toasty. 

Winter is difficult for lots of folks.  I've been to two friends with blogs in different parts of the North American continent to catch up on their lives since these tutu in the vardo have been living their lives.  My heart goes out to 'em.  We send prayers and soon a little bit of support to help in other ways.  The pipes here have unthawed, the hoses run water to our sink and the breezes are blowing through the tall trees.  I'm just back from my first stroll since just as Christmas, and I feel good!  The migraines have passed, at least for the now and I have experienced more of my real life.  If there is some lesson that came from those pre-ecliptic slams on the insides of my head it might be:

1. keep an open-mind (put don't let your brains fall out!)
2. reach out (how would I know I could get by with a little help from a Coke?)
3. amazing grace comes from all sorts of places/spaces (pain being one of them)

Just a few days ago we got a comment from our long-time cyber friend Liberty.  She referred to our blog with a tag that I've not recognized as a form of naming.  I loved it, and laughed when I saw how you get called what you get called and sometimes it works/sticks or just becomes a plan.  She referred to Vardo For Two as V42.  Thanks, Libby.

Necessity has long been one of the reasons for invention, in Frank Zappa's case I don't know?  Anyway today's post is a meandering thing, like thawing pipes I'm innocent in the flow of things.  Being human here on the Island in the Sound with no radio on, and WHAT?  It feels like home to me.

Tiles B4 floor

Winter, 2008

White Center, WA.

 The V-42

newly topped, tiled and not yet ready to be home

White Center, WA

Winter, 2008

Life here on the Earth is an experience.  An experiment?  I read somewhere that we are the gift Creator gave to us.  What we make of ourselves is what we give to the Creator.  Hmm?

Mercury in Retrograde in the sign of Taurus: an excellent time to review the meaning of HOME IN A VARDO

That's me looking through the unfinished Dutch door of our vardo to be. 

It's winter, 2008 and we are in White Center, WA

A snippet of photos from Vardo For Two string along here as a way for us to review time and place and the meaning of "home" as Vardo Folk.  Much of life is unpredictable, and though there are plans more often than not there are adjustments.  With Mercury in Retrograde from April 17th through May 11th a relook at making a home from a vardo seemed right.

while on an 'ole day walk in West Seattle ... home means so many things 

Attending to the path

It was a sunny Northwest day, and gratefully, the sense to use the clear skies and dry weather for our well-being showed up and we road the energy into town. We need to concentrate our energies and my resources on enclosing the porch of the vardo. The tiny space that is under-cover is the real space we can work with. Like all the construction for VardoForTwo, the process takes being aware and awake to the steps and materials. We have plenty of the white oak siding used throughout the wagon; and Pete will use it to enclose the porch for a two-pod space.

Our day was spent in the city, Seattle, hunting and successfully finding a very-well worn old porthole window for the min-kitchenette/JOTS apartment. Pete's got all the weathered fir for the flooring, we picked up the oak for studs and Habitat for Humanity had 12 tiles that will work well for a non-skid floor. With luck and resourcefulness there will be days for building the pods.

I am recovering from the gas poisioning ... nebulizing with Glutathione diluted with filtered water and opening up my lungs using the Lomi-lomi pressure point work I learned. I don't tolerate the steroid based inhalers for asthma. A lot of filtered water (drinking it) and the nebulizer loosens my lungs and allowed the exhalation. The vardo stays very toasty with the Radiant Electric Ceramic Heater and the Austin Air Jr. keeps the air as fresh as possible.

We attend to the parts of life we can do something about and then pray for help with implementation. There are no pictures from the vardo for the while ... so words will have to satisfy the visual needs. Wish us luck.

Back to Everett

We are in Everett, Washington ... old mill town and home to long time friends, friends who have housed us many times. The adjustments are happening; it was a twelve hour drive (through some beautiful central Oregon country), and now the fragrances and environmental realities of a city make their presence known. I'm recouping and looking forward to a lot less brain fog and weakness.

Bernadette and Pete made the trek without incident. The report from Pete includes lots of thumbs up from the passers-by as they marveled at the wee home. I followed with Scout and Jots (who was very vocal for most of the four hundred mile trip ... "Are we there yet!!") Driving in the nighttime hours was stressful and what a culture shock to go from country field to freeway. YIKES!

We are parked temporarily in the driveway, where once we parked the Scout two or was that three years ago. We have some work to do on VardoForTwo ... enclosing the porch for a kitchen and a closet. We've measured up the dimensions and have a small refrigerator to add to the mix of necessary comforts. Shoring up those cracks in our foundation it will take both of us a bit more time.

Thanks to all the well wishes and many, many thanks to our Tribe.

BUILDING THE VARDO: "We have power!"

This is a happy man, with a smile the size of which I haven't seen for while! "We have power," Pete announced at the Kitchenette door just minutes ago. Pete spent part of the past two days wiring VARDOFORTWO, and now "The umbilical cord is working!" The extension cord on the outside attaches to the 'mother ship' earthbound house with electricity.
Inside the cord for the fairy lights and tools work from one of two electrical outlets that will serve us inside VARDOFORTWO. It's progress. Yippee!! Thank you, thank you.

BUILDING THE VARDO: "Piecing the tank"

The image at the top ... "Piecing the tank" is a thousand steps into the landscape of imagining a way to wall the vardo with as few reaction triggers as possible. Pete has been measuring, cutting, trimming, setting and fitting for a couple weeks. He is cutting each stainless steel sheet with tin snips. If you look closely, the pieces in the upper corner are loose ... he'll be screwing those panels in as I write this.

IMAGINING More

These yellow cotton curtains will come with us into VARDOFORTWO ... it helps me to see the piecing of the tank with these curtains ... Once Pete is pau with the piecing, we paint the ceiling, wash the stainless of the oil lubricant they put on the steel sheets (using the dish soap we use ... PLANET Uncolored & Unscented is the brand and varieyt), and then I'll be trimming and stitching up the yellow cotton curtains to fit the four windows. Old colored flannel sheets, a treasured quilt and favorite fabrics we have used 'safely' for months/years will become wall coverings and fabric panels.



IMAGINATION is the landscape of tomorrow's yet to be.
Our life as builders of a multiple chemical sensible
wee home on a trailer is all about
being open to imagine something yet to be.

BUILDING THE VARDO: We have a cozy roof

March 2009 ... VARDOFORTWO is roofed and as you can see, if you look closely, it's on there just in time to keep us cozy from the rain.
(See the drips running over the edge?)
Pete's already inside tapping in wall insulation and the stainless steel panels for the walls.
The tiny fairy lights will be our major lighting source ...
Pete's in there working with the lights on.

A view of the new roof without rain.

The full top view of the roof.
It's a metal roof
24 gauge sheet metal, with Kymar 500 paint (baked in).
Assembled using a technique traditional metal workers would recognize as 'the only way to do it'
with smooth cleated seams and crimped edges.
Thank you Joe Neal, Pres. of VSM Contractors

BUILDING THE VARDO: The cost of simplicity

Clip art credit: www.designedtoat.com

"People are often confused as to why a 100 square foot costs more than $150 per square foot. The mindset in America is to look at the cost per square foot. Increasing the size of a room by 50 square feet costs almost nothing. Basically, all you’re paying for is the roof and flooring, and maybe a little extra wiring and plumbing. One of the easiest ways to make a house cost less per square foot is to make it bigger."
-from the Q&A Section of Tumbleweed Houses' Blog.

More and more people are looking at "smaller is better" as a option for their lives. Tiny may push the edges of okay-ness for most folks, and yet the attention that the tiny home revolution receives must say something about the re-think of the American dream. Pete and I began building our VardoForTwo because 1) 'normal houses' made us sick, 2) rent and a mortgage made no senses 3) we saw an option that just might work and it was called a 'vardo.' We are moving ever closer tothe completion of our 8x12 foot home with a porch. Today Pete is talking with yet another (that would make five) roofers to help put a roof on VardoForTwo. Gods willing we will have a deal that works for everyone by the end of the day:))

The excerpt from Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Houses blog is an important point to make for any of our readers exploring or just curious about the real life dream and activity of a tiny home builder. Building small WITH quality does not mean it will be cheap. We have put our money, time and Pete's labor into the best quality material we can afford and live with without an ill-effect reaction. This home of our is mostly cash and carry. We buy what we can pay for.

After yet another detailed discussion about roofing the vardo today, I just felt the need to get something out to our readers that might help you walk through the process. The cost of simplicity is: a lot of true work! It will not come cheap, but then why would you expect that. Here are a few vital points to consider before and during the process of building a tiny, MCSensible home:

1. Be patient. If you are building it yourself, be patient with yourselves. If you are having your home built, even a builder who 'specializes' in MCSensible home-building will not know your particular brand of sensitivities.

2. Have reliable back-up.

• This means, who are your health-care supporters? Will they and can they support you through the testing material phases of building your home?
• Escape Hatch: do you have somewhere or someone who will give you safety if you need to leave the building site?
  
• It also means who will be your 'go-fer' shopping and pricing all the materials you think you'd like to use. Again, if someone is building your home for you, the ultimate bottom-liner will be you the owner-builder-MCSer. Build in the time and energy it takes to go through this, then add another 15%-25% of time, at least.
  

3. Know how much you will spend on your home. In our case, this amount of money is money we already have. There were no loans/mortgages. There were two gifts that amounted to $2,500 which paid for our four customized windows and part of the custom front door.

• Living with MCS has meant we have no regular income sources.
  
• We have a set amount of money from past investments that pay for every bit of our daily expenses and building costs. We aimed at a figure for spending that would leave us a very frugal allowance to live on for one year after VARDOFORTWO was completed.
• Add 20% to the original budget you aim at ... it just works that way.

4. Material and Set-up. For each phase of our building Pete has beavered away at finding the best suppliers and providers of service. That is such an incredibly valuable job. It's value in dollars saved would probably add another 15% to the over-all cost of the tiny home.

• We are not using the most readily available or least expensive/potentially harmful materials. So finding these materials and testing them takes a lot of time. It's one thing to build as many do, with exterior plywood for siding and flooring. It's quite another to innovate and research other alternatives.
• Set-up: this phrase refers to the heating, air purification and electrical cooking/lighting that will make VARDOFORTWO comfy and cozy. We live a higher quality life with no gas appliances or heat, an electric radiant heater has been our choice, an Austin Jr. Air Purifier cleans the air for us now and we'll include it in the vardo. Electrical outlets for those appliances plus one lamp and a string of small 'Christmas lights' will light up our home. One outlet will be used for the laptop so we can keep this blog alive.

There are many other details involved in building any home, and a tiny home is no different ... perhaps it involved more detail there's no room for 'junk drawers.' If you're a lurker whose interested to the point of getting serious about building ... spring's a great time to take the first steps. Questions? Comments?

Cheers! Mokihana

BUILDING THE VARDO: "Tile and Stainless Steel"

These are the rolls of stainless steel sheets we'll be using for inside walls. "Now that's INERT!" Ha, Ha. Thanks for that Leslie, sister MCS tiny homer.

These are the 13 inch terra cotta tiles that will be our floor. The spacers are there for me to decide whether 1/4 inch grout lines or 1/8 inch grout lines will be the choice. Yup, lots of teeny, tiny details in building a home.

VARDOFORTWO folk must be resourceful and open-minded. That line from Judge Harry from the old Night Court sitcom comes back...something like, "Yes, I want to be open-minded, but I don't want to have my brains spilling out." (Punch lines, I'm challenged to remember them, LOL).

Warmer weather and our first Friday night on the town mini-date in a neighborhood diner, Circa in West Seattle, last night have brightened our spirits. "Okay, we're doing this, in the groove...progress. " And before we hitch 'em up and move from the city I had an itching to experience it FOR THE FUN OF IT. We did have a wonderful tea and torte date with minimal anxiety and maximum joy for a full sixty minutes!!

THE PHOTOS ABOVE GIVE YOU A PEEK AT THE TWO NEWEST MATERIALS WE'RE USING INSIDE VARDOFORTWO.

We're on to paint mixing and floor work.

Have some fun today.

Cheers! Mokihana

BUILDING THE VARDO: "Liveliness always needs the potential of becoming..."

www.designedtoat.com

Yesterday we did small and satisfying gatherings. We went looking for floor tile and hardware for the front door, and found both. The tiles will be like stepping on well-worn terra-cotta, pinky-red worn yet not slippery. The door knob! It's a glass knob with a pineapple on its face. You know how tickled I am to have that small delight waiting for me when I come home? Oh so very tickled! A simple bolt to hold top to bottom half of the Dutch door is ordered as well.

The quote included in the title of this post comes from our favorite zen book of architecture, THE TAO OF ARCHITECTURE. (The book is available through Amazon.com, link on the title if you're interested.) Today the sun is bright in the sky, the pale blue is almost transparent. Snow still covers the lawn, melting slowly just to remind us of the in between-ness of today. The day is our example that "liveliness always needs the potential of becoming."

The book THE TAO OF ARCHITECTURE sits in the living room table next to the wheatgrass. When I went through the front door of the apartment this morning I saw it lying there, face down. It called my name, I reached for it and this paragraph read itself to me:

"Liveliness always needs the potential of becoming. It seems that one way to curb flooding in space is by holding an environment together by an intangible line suggested by tangible mass ... in perpendicular relation with the direction of flowing ... an effect between being and non-being of flowing...This effect is equivalent to a "retard" in music..."

Pete: "Where are we with this? What I like is the curve of the roof. From the front to the back it's in unison with the curvature of the Earth."
Mokihana: "Good question. It's a perfect time for us to consider how to curb flooding in space ... by holding an environment together.... We're starting to move from the outside into VARDOFORTWO. The tiny home is one open 8x10 space. What I imagine is hanging partial fabric 'walls' from the arches in the ceiling. Like in The Kitchenette ... we can create a pause with a fabric wall between THE DOOR and SPACE for the computer ~ Another pause falls in front of the bed.

The paragraph in THE TAO OF ARCHITECTURE ends with this beautiful image comforting us as we play with the possibilities, "A rather confined environment hence becomes a visual volume of melting softness."

BUILDING THE VARDO: It's still winter

We woke to a reminder that it's still winter. And, from many places on the Earth, a complete Lunar Eclipse will be visible in the night sky as well. So, here we are in Seattle, being with All the Is taking a few more steps to getting the inside of VARDFORTWO finished and liveable.

Here's what we've been doing:

The walls

• I've ordered a second bunch of organic cotton samples, this time from Near the Sea a great web-store in New Mexico.
  
• Pete is out and about buying a single sheet of stainless steel

Our combined thinking (not over-thinking, thank you) and intuition about the walls goes something like this:

1. Insulate (using staples)with the denim batting we already have. Using the materials we have already purchased makes a lot of sense, and blesses the use of our resources we do have without spending what we don't have. Does that make sense? With prayers to the angels and guardians we attract wise direction ... a magnificent solution!!
   
2. Cover the denim with Denny Foil (use staples and if I sense the need, cover the staple holes with tiny strips of Denny tape) to seal out any smell ~
   
3. Install (using screws) panels of stainless steel as walls. The need for more paint or the possibility that the oak and paint smells could lead to reactions is avoided. Stainless is very easy to clean.
4. Here's where the draping of organic cotton panels could be the beautiful and warming touch over our stainless steel walls. The swatches from Near the Sea cost only 50 cents a piece and they mail through US Post, which is very responsible.

This post is as much a visual affirmation of belief that a magnificent solution is in the making. This journey is about transforming and BE-coming two dears living in our beloved VARDOFORTWO.
This post written while it is still winter is like my weekly Dream Coming True posts in that when I commit to writing the real process of thinking-intuition and action the 'dream' gathers collective love!!!

The sun is brilliant as I finish.

Cheers, have some fun today.

BUILDING THE VARDO: A Show Case of Magnificent Progress

JOTS and Pete Welcome You to VARDOFORTWO!

The back wall detail: milk painted Hawaiian scented fern, my beautiful lau`ae.

The back wall ... the trailer hitch will attach to a truck ... maybe in the future a seat for a driver and a couple beautiful oxen (you never know!)

THE FRONT OF VARDOFOR TWO ... A LONG VIEW: looking through the long-limbed, unpruned ancient climbing yellow rose that the White Center birds love to perch on ... while waiting for us to scatter more seeds.

FROM THE SIDE WITH HER WINDOWS SWUNG OPEN

SIDE ANGLE VIEW : Showing off the snappy look of those tori`i windows ... yup, they ARE two different sizes.

THE CURVED ROOF: in its prepared for a roof top condition.

Here I am looking through the puka (hole) in our front door, envisioning the delicious conversations we'll have.

We are mid-way to the Spring Equinox. Sunnier days make these Hawaiian bones happy, never mind still needing the Duo-Fold wool long underwear. VARDOFORTWO has been living under wraps for most of Winter, like everything else. And yet, this week the hydrangea and the rose bushes are sending spring messages ... "We're waking up," they tell us.

So to start this precious new day we've pulled the tarps off and post here, the current state of VARDOFORTWO magnificence!! She is indeed, a rose in the blooming.

Building VARDOFORTWO with gentle to the Earth materials is our primary motivation. Building this mobile tiny home with awareness for the chemical sensitivities that challenge me is an equally important motive.
Building with joy and magnificence that is a choice. We choose that.

Cheers and Aloha, Mokihana and Pete

BUILDING THE VARDO: One more time ... the roof

Pete, I think, could have been a mail man, or a pony express rider! Snow, hail or rain it don't stop my man. WHAT IS HE DOING? Ah, this man is walking his new roof template to our home in the making.

The search for a new roof is a journey of a (nearly) thousand steps. Pete has rebuilt a template for the new roofers to view as they prepare new bids.

Leslie Lawrence has given us a great lead to a product called GRACE ULTRA a rubber like weatherized underlayment that will go over the plywood dome cap, and provide a moisture barrier between the metal roof (of a material yet to be determined). I have tested the GRACE ULTRA and I do okay with it.

It's still very much winter, waking to WEHAVESNOWONTHEGROUND! A dusting of it, with temperatures in the high twenties.

Hope you are cozy and well where ever you be. A hui hou, Mokihana and Pete

BUILDING THE VARDO: Calling for a new roofer etc.

Good morning,

THE COPPER ROOF

If you've been following VARDOFORTWO you know that Nick the roofer Pete was working with suffered a set-back last week. His shop burned to the ground. Pete spoke with Nick yesterday and learned it was the roofing business attached to his that was the source of ignition. Lots of flammables over there. So Nick and his family have a lot to re-consider, and it sounds like they will be re-building the shop. He sounds like a fine fellow, Nick does, I never met him. He recommended other metal workers, and asked Pete to promise he'd come by when VARDOFORTWO with roof in place was complete.

In the mean-time Pete is shopping around again finding copper sheet prices, getting roof plans re-drawn (originals went up in the fire), and talking to metal workers including his brother, Bill whose a welder on Maui.

INSULATION

We have samples of the Latitude wool insulation. I'm not sure of my reactivity to it ... at this time my body is reacting to a lot of things I was 'okay' with. This is the condition that makes MCS such a tricky illness. Re-setting my internal sensory network is tender work and takes patience. Costs are becoming more an issue as this project progresses. This insulation would cost about $450 including shipping ... lots to weigh out. One day at a time.

BUILDING THE VARDO: Wheel Well Redux

Give Pete a bit of rain-free hours and there is progress on the projects. Western Washington was deluged with rain over the past couple of days. Last night the rain soaked lawn under VARDOFORTWO was covered with two inches of water. Parts of the state south and north of us have been hit with heavy rains and the melt-down of snow that was still thick upon the ground. Floods. So we are thankful for the mild manifestations of winter. And Pete is happy he can show some evidence of a 'BEFORE AND AFTER' mug shot of the vardo's wheel wells.

Milk paint over painted metal doesn't hold up in rain. See the picture to prove it. The AFTER shot (THE PICTURE ON TOP), of the same wheel well is Pete's solution. He used fine grit sand paper to polish down the milk paint and the residual metal paint. He's going to wax the shiny finish ... it just might work!

BUILDING THE VARDO: Mini steps and Maintenance

The snow comes and goes, and this morning it is purely rain. The ground is soggy for the moisture, the mold spores multiplying in glee. Winter conditions are teaching us to continue taking action in mini steps, and to watch what happens to the work we've already done. As VARDOFORTWO rests under a tarp roof, we take these mini steps, take a step back before moving forward, and maintain what we're already done:

1. All the steel brackets in the ceiling have been covered with oak corner pieces. These are small and delicate cuts that need to be fit just right. With his characteristic work ethic, Pete has found small patches of time when the break in weather allowed him to set up the saw to cut and fit the pieces.

2. The 4 inside window frames are finally completely painted and waxed. Working with dry milk paint is very different than opening a can of pre-mixed paint of the shelves. We chose milk paint in this form because we could mix it as we need it. But we're finding you need to write down the proportion of dry mix to water once you find the color you like ... otherwise, it's a different tone of color everytime you paint.

3. Waxed Milk Paint on the exterior means you wax your house often. "Often" will vary I guess, dependent on the weather. After the month of snow, the outside needed another coat of wax. It takes about 2 hours of elbow grease to get another coat on.

4. Milk Paint over metal paint isn't a good idea (see the picture). The milk paint is good at taking up the metal paint on the wheel wells. We've gotta come up with some other idea here.

5. Insulation. Samples of wool insulation from New Zealand, a product called LATTITUDE is sitting in jars getting ready for me to do a sniff test for reactions. The insulation came from Bend, Oregon where our MCS friend Leslie Lawrence is also building her tiny home. I'm testing the stuff today.

6. More milk paint has been ordered to work on painting the door, and mixing colors to decide on the shade(s) we like on the ceiling and walls.

7. Still waiting on the roof.

8. Floor. We're pretty sure we're laying tile instead of a wood floor. Many choices in safe materials involved with this ... more on that as we take this project on.

BUILDING THE VARDO: The door is here

This is Slim, and what a craftsman he is. He's been working on our front door and it's a beauty!
The simple lines of this solid white oak Dutch Door with a window are such a welcomed sight! We'll need to find a door knob, latch for the top piece and hardware to hold it all in place. Pete will drill out the door knob hole, fit the door for hinges, frame and hang the front door.
This is the funnest part ... practicing the 'chat and visit' position. We measured the perfect elbow height for leaning into a chat, and I think Slim got it just right. THANK YOU, SLIM.

Both sides of the door will be milk painted, and I will stencil the front of the door and then all will be waxed to seal.

BUILDING THE VARDO: Mostly 'ON HOLD'

December has been mostly one long snow day. Today's the first time the sun's really warmed things up enough to uncover parts of the yard. See the remains of our beautiful Christmas Tita SnowWoman in the fore-ground? The last football game of the year is on, so I suspect Pete's upstairs getting a dose of testosterone. He's got the tiny space heater warming the inside of VARDOFORTWO and I see evidence of sunshine through the blinds in the Kitchenette.

Pete's gearing himself up to do some work. After almost three weeks here's what Pete reports:

1. "It smells like milk." Translation: the milk neutralized the oak ceiling and windows. The milk paint smell will need to air-out. So if we get a day or two of no rain/no snow we can open the hatches and let her breathe. Then my decision will be whether the beeswax is a sealant I can be with without reacting; or is a low-VOC clear sealant the choice I need to try?

2. Cut and trim up the ceiling brackets, then paint.

3. Paint the missing spots on the windows.

4. This could be the week for the roof. If the snow melts on the road in front of our house and we're able to line up roofer and transportation, we'll be moving VARDOFORTWO for the first time. Destination: Roof Maker Land.

MAHALO, MAHALO ... before we forget, and the calendar goes 2009 we thank our friend Annie and my son Christopher for their generous contributions to THE VARDO FUND. Thanks to you we have four beautiful windows and (will soon have) our cozy Dutch front door.

Building the Vardo: Updates on insulation/door/reality of cold and MCS COMMUNITY Building

"Baby, it's cold outside." So this Hawaiian is mostly inside with toes curled in woolen socks and legs covered in wool long johns.


Pete's been outside cutting pieces for the brackets or molding over the steel plates holding the roof ribs together for VARDFORTWO. The temperature's dropped below 30 degrees so some work just has to wait until things aren't freezing ... like until we're not freezing. Paint won't work at this temperature, so we wait on that.


There is progress to document, and a growing community of MCS safe builders is part of that progress and process. So here it is:

The ceiling is painted with the first coat of milk-paint. The smell of oak seems to be neutralizing. After the temperature warms up, I'll do a sniff test.

• The inside trim for the windows is taking much more GARDEN SEED than Pete anticipated. Some pigment doesn't cover as well as others, and even though GARDEN SEED is supposed to be a darker pigment that covers better this is probably the fourth coat and still counting.



• Ceiling trim pieces are cut and ready to be painted and nailed.


• We've taken inventory on the remaining milk paint, and are preparing for a final order of HOMESTEAD HOUSE Milk paint for the inside walls, door and ceiling.
• Slim's working on the door. Pete checked with our door-maker to ask about the glue he's using the put the door together. It's a water-based glue that dries hard...I'm crossing my fingers and turning that one other to the goddess.
  
  

LATEST UPDATE ON INSULATION ... this decision has been a biggie. We posted at least twice before the difficulties we have had finding safe insulation. Leslie who has a terrrific blog THE OKO BOX Blog did a great post about 4 Types of safer insulation. I read her post, thanked her for the great research and commented on her discoveries and then I talked with another Leslie last night. Leslie Lawrence is building an MCS safe movable home in Bend, Oregon. Our conversation was community building and support in real-life. We talked about issues beyond the building of our tiny homes, and yet every thing connects to living in a safe home. A link on Leslie's Website stirred me to re-look at wool as an insulator. Here's a summary of what I've learned about insulation through the process of building a community of MCS support on-line:

1. From Leslie at The Oko Box, I learned that Fiberglass Insulation COULD be manufactured without chemicals. But, my intuitive sense about fiberglass is that it wouldn't 'work' for me because of the fine spun glass ... makes me itch to think of it. Through the 'COMMENTS' section of Leslie's post we explored FELTING WOOL as an option, like my ancestors the MONGOLIANS do to cover their yurts. I left feeling "okay, maybe I'd be crazy enough to try it, too."


2. From Leslie Lawrence I learned that eco-wool batting from The Shepard's Dream MIGHT work, except it would be pricey even though VARDOFORTWO is approx 80 square feet.

• Wool Felting is available through this Northern California resource, and I might order a bed size length of felt to use on our bed or as a rug (the felts are very versatile, and in general I am good with wool).


• MOTHS love wool. So Leslie L. cautioned me about the moths' love of wool, and said I'd have to wash the batting or felt with borax to make it distasteful to the winged ones.


• Leslie L. has found a wool-blended insulation originating in New Zealand and sold in Bend that is probably going to work for her. She is mailing a sample of it to me wrapped in aluminum foil so it doesn't collect any 'stuff' during transport.

BUILDING MCS COMMUNITY

I know it seems like such a long read. A good story takes time ... Last, and with such joy, we received a wonderful comment from Francesca in Italy this morning telling us that VARDOFORTWO is inspiring her as she builds her safe space in an old stable in the Italian hills.

FANTASTICO, Francesca!