VARDOFORJOTS

This is JOTS ... Johnny On The Spot. Shortly after we settled into the Kitchenette a scrawny black kitty began showing up whenever we cooked chicken. Out of nowhere the little one was at my ankles and available for attention and chow. We weren't looking for a cat. In fact, our journey from O`ahu included a tragedy and loss of a very loved kitty friend, Spence ... and that is a chapter The Storyteller may have to tell ... in another place, another time. For now though, these pictures tell the story. In spite of my allergy to kitty dander JOTS has found a place in my heart where a special sort of filter allows me to find creative solutions to the problem.

ABOVE: Warm organic milk for the kitty. It's 18 degrees outside, and warm milk is the cat's meow.

ABOVE: JOTS SAFE AT HOME.

She would love to be cuddled up inside the Kitchenette with us, and she made her way into that inner sanctuary a couple times during the past week. Pete's elegant solution has been 'building' VARDFORJOTS ... one step at a time: First the old cardboard box that carried something (tools/books?) from O`ahu to White Center. Next, Pete's wool thrift store sweater lined the cardboard box. Temperatures dropped below 40, a piece of foam board insulation went into the box, the sweater went on top of the insulation. Temperatures dropped below 32, the string of white fairy lights that brighten the window and table outside is long enough to wind in a circle under the sweater in the box. It warms the sweater, isn't hot enough to burn any thing and is now JOTS personal electric blanket. Blowing snow shows up, and an old flannel blanket from Joel's storage room becomes the roof for VARDFORJOTS.

You may not be looking to love, ahh... love may just be looking for you.

FIRST WINTER

The rains are back, so plans for mixing paint to do trim and touch-up will have to wait. Weather forecasts say maybe Thursday and Friday will be a clear day. So ... we adjust. We arrived in Seattle in early May of this year (2008), needing a stretch of time to level off from life on the road and on the run. The seasons have changed and today we approach our first winter on the continent in fifteen years. Building VARDOFORTWO is a huge dream made up of a billion tiny details. We don't exactly fly by the seats of our pants, and yet a precise plan doesn't work for us.

Knowing what IS important is essential, and though it's been fifteen years since either of us have lived with a winter that is not Hawaiian we have collective wisdom that gets us where we need to be.

PETE'S IN...that's one of the most important things about building. Get the walls and the roof up before the rains (and whatever else) come. The picture in this post gives you a glimpse at the inside of VARDOFORTWO.

• If you look closely you'll see the beautiful arch in the roof.

• Notice the WHITE 'walls' behind Pete? This is the vapor barrier, we use a product called TUTUFF.

• Diagonal steel braces(see them against the vapor barrier?) are nailed in to provide insurance against wind sheer when we move VARDOFORTWO, and also gives the home stability when we are 'parked.'

• The vardo is a one room home, no walls will separate the bed(room) from the rest of the space. Like many traditional designs our vardo will have a raised platform at the back of the house, where our Soaring Heart Natural Bed (eco wool and organic cotton futon) will be. The futon will remain open (not folded during the day). A safe sleep on a comforting bed is A PRIMARY NEED. We're building around that need.

• The kitchen and bathroom will be either: outside or shared with the family/friends who share their stationary home and facilities.

• The process of sharing space, learning how to communicate and collaborate, and the simplified style of being together in the VARDOFORTWO is a story in the making. We have two friends who are working with us to be that family who share their land and their lives. These are special people you'll get to know as VARDOFORTWO grows.

For now, enjoy the first peek INSIDE our tiny home in the making. And as Pete said as I snapped his picture this morning, "Welcome to my world."