the 8747 house

KEN-A-PALOOZA......EX-LANDLORD, FRIEND AND ARTIST......UNLEASHED.

2011-11-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

The best view I have in my life (besides blood relatives and good friends) is outside my windows. The next-best view I have in my life is everything inside my windows..........and a whole lot of that is due to my ex-landlord, friend and MULTI-talented artist Ken Richardson. From the first cup of coffee in the morning (in a pottery cup that he made in his shop and fired in his backyard kiln) to the bed I sleep in every night....he has designed and crafted more good things in my life.....animate and non-animate......than I could ever mention. The latest of these non-animate objects is a metal sculpture he has been visualizing since the house was completed. Naturally, I took pictures of it for the bbllllllllog.......and found that I couldn't stop with just the sculpture. Hence, the KEN-A-PALOOZA one man show.

view from inside looking out........little nibs of rebar embracing hard, cold steel.......how's that for a catalogue description?
view of sculpture from the kitchen.....prior to opening the icebox to sort and alphabetize the left-overs.......

the shadow knows........

little nibs of rebar embracing cold, hard steel.......with autumn leaves.

where it's at.......so to speak. And therein lies the newest addition to the best view in my life outside the windows........by Ken Richardson. It has only been there for a few weeks, but I can already tell that the quality of my life has been ramped up a few notches. Dramatic, but true. Now.........on with the show.

yep.........pottery and wooden spoons by Ken Richardson......place settings for eight......preferably, for only two or three people at one time. (food and beverages optional)

...welded metal and glass table in the bathroom for morning coffee or crossword puzzle

nudes in the bathroom........towels by Target

welded metal vase...........with dried grasses gathered from the meadow (that's a lie.....they probably came from a Hobby Lobby in Indiana)

sculpted clay wall things/rocks with holes in them.......but, you knew that....

mystic metal pyramid........knows all.....sees nothing......speaks only to the pure of heart.

who else do I know who would take a bed spring (rescued from a river), apply it to a welded stand, and top it off with a glass disc? (And make several more on commission for the city's only contemporary design store?)

this is the best company for breakfast, lunch and dinner a person could hope for.......mannerly, encouraging, compassionate listeners, no real baggage of their own......and they love the view as much as I do.
on the other hand.......this is more of a flash mob. Obstreperous, but energizing. (And they do know their place.)

seriously, it's easy to see why Ken's work has been commissioned by designers, featured in a variety of publications, included in the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis and named "Best In Show" at several regional arts festivals. He has spent a lifetime giving "found objects" a new and different use or appearance....he has never stopped acquiring techniques or tools that could broaden his horizons.......and most importantly, his soul and sense of humor are in each piece......before, during and after it leaves his hands.

not your typical IRONMAN triathlete........

"copasetic"

all I wanted was a simple metal frame for a mattress that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg.......impossible to find.......but ken whipped it out in no time.......at a bargain price......

.........and I took two.

So.....there you have it. KEN-A-PALOOZA. It's like living in a gallery........both inside and out. Not bad, eh?

From wonder to blase (accent over the "e")......and back.

2011-05-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'll admit that in the beginning of this process I could write an overwhelmingly descriptive paragraph about a shop vac, a punch list or a red shag rug. And did. EVERYTHING was a wonder. I had feelings to share about EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. Now that I'm living the very dream I've been chasing for fifty-some-odd years, it has taken me SIX MONTHS to even put a few words under blog pictures that I seemingly take for granted. Have I become blase (accent over the "e") since the house and surroundings are mostly completed? Do I fail to notice the joys and intricacies of gravel spreading......rock placement...... lavender planting......tractor driving.....dog smiling events these days? So much so, that I don't even put a caption under the photographs that commemorate these happenings? I'd better be bringing back the wonder.......and I'd better be bringing it back NOW.

I will address "The Psychological Ramifications of Living Smack In The Middle Of A Bllllllllllllogggggg" at a later date. For the time being, it should be written that I'm loving every minute of being in this glorious and extraordinary house......in every way......and due to that very reason, I haven't had an opportunity to put stuff down in writing. That's not blase (accent over the "e"). That's wonder........belated but not forgotten for a minute.

perceive.......contemplate.........examine........discern........
J and J's ROCK REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT....."We dig rock...."

John R. has the tractor......Jason has the camera.......look at that gravel......look at that rock work. It used to be a carport. Now it is a pavilion.
Former Greenwood Street daredevil.
Behind every great pile of rocks........there is a daredevil.....
and probably a lizard.
Finally. A civilized way to get from Point A to Point B........and everything in between.

It ain't over....till it's over.

2011-04-24T14:37:00.002-07:00

Remember the red water faucet that graced this prominent space with its presence? Later painted "Black Fox"? Well, that camouflage wasn't good enough for my friend Ken Richardson. He thought a sculpture was needed. He took a discarded piece of the container....probably part of a window that was cut out.....found the perfect rock on the gravel bar in front of the house.....had a piece of hedge he had been saving for something very important.....and saw a discarded bed frame in a country ditch & called on his wife Shirley to help haul it into the truck for the metal that was required. He calls it a water feature.

And.....like father, like son. Ken's 92 year-old-father decided I needed a bench in front of the house....... had been saving that piece of wood for something very important.......fixed it up and sent it my way......and I now have the perfect place for some heavy duty meditation. And plenty of subjects.

So........I now have a bona fide place to park my truck......vents in the roof of the storage container.......a metal door on the house-end of the container which makes for a speedier and somewhat more civilized entry........great shelves on the inside.......a hand-rail/cable combination on the ramp......a metal door to get into and out of the crawl space.......a gorgeous metal roof vent cover.......and the participation, once again, of some great friends and family.

Michael Mardis......applying the one-of-a-kind, architecturally-designed, state-of-the-art vent fan cover........to replace the previously 24 hour-a-day racket-flappers that caused me many sleepless nights. Phew.

And the crew from Advanced Welding who put up the railing and storage container door in record-breaking time without a hitch. All things should go so smoothly.

I know. It's not everyone's dream......but that metal crawl space door that Michael installed is definitely a work of art.....and guaranteed to keep any love slaves that I happen to adopt safe, secure, and tremendously obedient.

None of the self-help books I've read have sufficiently explored the positive aspects of the solid roof vent cover.......but, I swear, I'm a much better person now than I was.

Pretty slick, eh? Other than a very short period of time back in the mid-seventies when the family was able to sustain a cleared-out garage..........this was the first time in my adult life that I've not had to scrape off my windshield every dang day in the winter. I would highly recommend it.

There is a plan in the works to extend that nice gravel all the way to edge of the carport....and to paint the door black.

At some point, I seem to remember using this space to curse crab grass, non-growing Buffalo Grass.........and the whole *&#$:*(:@+! process of landscaping that non-river-facing area of the site. I have recently entered into a new phase of confronting this difficulty and have had some really good help and plenty of natural resources. See boulders above. Jamie (of the prior tree-planting operation, John R. (of the newly acquired giant tractor), and Jason (of the wonderfully on-going designer/builder/architectural fame have now taken this project to a new level. Actually, it is the first level.

I'm not asking too many questions......but it involves finding big rocks.....chaining them into the tractor bucket......transporting them to the house site.......telling a lot of stories......eating jelly beans........laughing........and then doing something with the rocks.....some left-over dirt.....raking.....more laughing.......mouthing off.......thinking about gravel.......and some other stuff. So far, I really like what I've seen when I get home from a real job.

And then there's MY contribution. It is very cerebral. I have harvested these flat rocks from the bottom of the James River.....drug them to the gravel bar on a blue plastic sled that I found washed up in a log jam.......wheel-barrowed them to the truck and transported them to the house.....to make a nice little rock path leading to the faucet which is camouflaged behind the sculpture.......the water feature, remember? And all of that took a long time......but that is my idea of a very good time. Wading in the river and looking for rocks. Great.

So......then I put the flat rocks in a fairly straight line, made a hard right turn, headed directly to behind the water faucet..............and thought that was the stupidest-looking and stupidest-acting path I had ever seen. Good grief. A rock path (that was difficult to even walk on, at best) to a water faucet.
Consequently, I got my wheel barrow and picked up all of the flat rocks and transported them to the side of the driveway and stacked them over by the propane tank and I no longer have a nice rock path to a water faucet..........that looked very stupid.

DISREGARD THIS PHOTOGRAPH. I COULDN'T DELETE IT......AND DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. IT DOES NOT BRING BACK ANY MEMORIES AT ALL. THAT'S JUST FINE.
And here are a couple of nice spots to contemplate flat rocks.......and other world situations. Stay tuned........it ain't over till it's over.

From WASTE AGE to TURKEY COUNTRY......

2010-10-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

From WASTE AGE to TURKEY COUNTRY.......with a lot of crab grass and good porch time in between. Yeah. Remember a year-or-so-ago when someone accused me of being a "media whore"? Whooping it up about this house? Foaming at the mouth? Sending out press releases on the day the big cranes were on the site? Well, now you can read all about the house in the September/October issue of TURKEY COUNTRY......the one with "Muzzleloaders You Can Eat Off Of...15 Easy Steps on page 135" on the cover. So I guess that guy was right.

Vicki Cox wrote the article (which she actually began several months ago) and took the pictures......and happens to be the same journalist who interviewed the Human Cannonball who lives in Halfway, Missouri. I can only imagine how interesting HER life must be. (Vicki's life....that is.)

In addition to that frenzy of media attention, (which was brought to my attention by a very cool 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher at Jarrett Middle School.....or I never would have known about it) I have had some really good encounters from people who have read this blog. A couple of great people from Siloam Springs, Arkansas stopped by on their way home from Chicago.....who plan to build a shipping container house in California.......and spent time asking questions, taking pictures and tromping up and down the hill. I absolutely loved that visit. And another couple who live in this area came to see what the house looked and felt like and talked about a project they are thinking about that could be extremely important to a whole community of people. And a lot of emails asking questions (Bagelpower has stumped me with some concrete floor concerns, but I'm working on it) and offering support and keeping me informed about their progress and pitfalls. I had no idea this would be so INTERACTIVE. Especially since I was trying my hardest to cut down on my interactions. There you go.

So........not much to write about these days......but a whole lot of living is going on here.....and it is real good. Real good.

John R. planting David's Tree.......he'd be proud.

And just when I was ready to ship in a truckload of Amish to finish this thing up.......Michael and Jason showed up on a blistering hot day to pour concrete for the piers that will support the canopy for the carport. Out of the clear blue sky...........

......followed by pork tenderloin sandwiches and really, really thin onion rings at Joe's Diner in Strafford. That was a very good day.

This here is what's called "crab grass".

Remember the plan? Remember the turquoise hydro-seeded yard that was going to magically turn into Buffalo Grass? Native to the area......low maintenance.....drought-resistant.....don't have to mow it.......Buffalo Grass? Well, what we have here is what's called crab grass. But don't think for a moment that we haven't tried to remedy this situation. I am just choosing to leave this life experience out of the narrative at this particular time. %@*(&#**$!!@&

The motivation for these next pictures was the decision and purchase (FINALLY) of table and chairs for the two porches. Boy, does that make a difference in how I've spent my time. What a concept!

Next on the list......besides the canopy that will attach to the piers and to the storage container for a carport and storage/storm shelter....... a railing for the ramp.....some electric work for the storage container........light fixtures for both porches......and ceiling fans.

Now days, I'm whooping it up and foaming at the mouth about porch furniture and possible ceiling fans. I'd say that's progress, wouldn't you?

As I said before, there's not much to write about these days.......it's just all about living here. Look at that porch. How would you like to be able to bring your coffee and yesterday's newspaper out to that table......and not be able to take your eyes off the river long enough to figure out what #6 across on the crossword puzzle is? I go to work.....I come home to a house that I've wanted for as long as I can remember.......and then there's no place to go.....because it's all here.....and so am I. Phew. I'm thankful.

Back to the future.....and the here and now.

2010-07-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Back to the future....and the here and now. And, yes, it's been a while since I've reported on the day-to-day happenings. Let's hope I can remember what's happened.

I've paid more good money for good dirt.....some less money for not-so-good-dirt (probably something my parents tried to teach me at some point)....and I've gained some firsthand knowledge about spreading dirt (I'm pretty sure they talked to me about that one).

John R.'s friend Bryan helped with the yard detail....brought his tractor and rented a Harley Rake......John R. has gotten a newer, bigger tractor, in the meantime.....and Gabe and I picked up rocks and raked. On foot.

Next came the hole-digging for the trees to be planted.....with some slight miscalculations on my part about how big those holes needed to be. John R. and Gabe and I dug the holes....the trees almost fit.....Jamie came to dig more and deeper the next day........and now there are two spectacular River Birch trees planted in the yard with a hole just waiting for a third one. And, once again, I was getting some ever-thoughtful and well-researched advice and diagrams from my West Coast connection about placement and timing. We needed it.

Then there was the day I drove into the driveway from a hard day's work.......only to discover that the entire area had suddenly turned the most bilious (and that is the perfect adjective) shade of sea foam green I've ever seen. No warning.....no explanation....no flags.....no signs.....just sea foam green forever. (A hydro-seeding trick in hopes of growing some Buffalo grass.)
Meanwhile, Tom and Sid (previously known as Frick and Frack) have been lovingly, carefully, methodically and knowingly preparing each and every cedar board (and the screws and nails that go with it) side by side in perfect.....and I do mean perfect....relationship with the next....to finish the ramp and both porches.

Words cannot describe how it feels to have two friends who took it upon themselves to get involved in this project. Amidst record-breaking heat, wasps, bees, ticks, copperheads, lightning, poison ivy, long drives to get to work......and the never-ending life issues and family situations that most other folks are dealing with from the comfort of their air-conditioned homes.....they planned and measured, constructed and installed and gave me even more reason to love them and love this house forever. Thank you Tom and Sid. And thank you Michael and Jason for knowing that the cedar wrapped porches, the ramp and the cedar ceiling in the living room, kitchen and hallway would take this house to yet a higher level of design elegance.

I know that I'm not the first to mention this, nor will I be the last, but building a house is certainly a whole lot more than building a house. When I stop to think about all of the people I've encountered along the way....and the experiences that have accompanied the people....it is definitely life-changing......in a very good way.

So....what's next? Michael is going to be back on the job soon with plans for the porch and ramp handrails and for the canopy that will attach to the storage container for a carport. And I will be sitting on the gravel bar in front of the house reading a magazine and eating my lunch.....or paddling slowly down the James. ......back to the future......and the here and now.

Whoa.....Fifth of July and I'm talking about a wood stove?

2010-07-05T13:35:00.001-07:00

Whoa....Fifth of July and I'm talking about a wood stove? You betcha. (Strike that. I SURE don't want to sound like the person who ruined "you betcha" for me.) Yes. I forgot to talk about the wood stove, and I think it's definitely worth talking about. (*Background note: there was originally supposed to be a fireplace in this house, but there was an early mistake that made it impossible to add.......thus, the wood stove instead of my first choice fireplace.)

First of all, it's not easy to find a wood stove that isn't all goo-gawed up with scrolls and eagles and curvy legs......but not too hard to find beautifully sleek and simple Danish or Norwegian or Swedish designs that would make anyone drool....but also cost thousands and thousands of dollars. And well worth it. I'd been searching websites for a couple of years hoping for something affordable and PLAIN......then looked at the dealers around here.....and finally found someone who could order a SCAN stove......at a pretty hefty price.

I had plenty of support in making the decision to spend the money (and the tax credit that I was going to get).....mainly, because I sure needed to have a backup system if the power goes off during an ice storm. Which it will. Thankfully, before I had the dealer order it, I made one last check with other places around the area to see if I could save money and/or actually see a SCAN stove with my own eyes.

Lo and behold, I found one in Ozark, Missouri at Missouri Insulation, drove over and looked at it, liked it, liked the people there.......and that was the beginning of a most wonderful experience from beginning to end. The price was MUCH better than the other place and the people were honest, energetic, reliable, competent and hard-working. And all of those things came along when I sure needed them the most.

The installation guy came out ahead of time to see what he was in for......never having seen a shipping container house before........Jeff, one of the owners, came out twice before the installation and once afterwards.......and I couldn't be happier with the stove or with their whole company.

Yeah, it's July.......but good service and good people need to be remembered any time of the year.

It's about time.......:

2010-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

It's about time......time leftover at the end of the day to put thoughts down on paper....(not much)......time for a progress report.....(not much).....time to try and remember what I've talked about in this bllllllog and what needs to be said....(not much).

I've thought this thought before, but life these days....and probably for a lot longer than I'd care to admit......is like that old Road-Runner cartoon. I don't remember much about the cartoon, but I do remember watching him being chased by a coyote, or something, and the road would just crumble off at his heels as he was running.....and then he would get to the end of the road and his feet would keep running but he would be in thin air and come crashing back to ground. And, life would go on. Now, I don't mean this illustration to be grim.......I'm just saying that every day is a new day with new stuff happening (or old stuff happening on a different day), and I don't carry a lot of yesterday with me. And all of that blah blah blah is merely a disclaimer for probably leaving out chunks of what's been going on and for waiting so long to even think about it.

So......now it's Spring. I thought it was Spring, a month or so ago, when I was watching the flooded river from my window and tromping around the high trail where you can see the Blue Heron Rookery. In fact, you could see EVERYTHING.....forever. When I looked back at those pictures today, and look out the window now, it seems like that was the dead of Winter. Overnight it has become overgrown......overnight.......you can't even see where you're stepping....and all of those blooming green things are BLOCKING MY VIEW!

I'll show you some pictures.....

Looking out my window today. Where is the river?

So.....this is what happens when friends think your house-building pace is a little too slow. They assess the situation.....say they have a little time on their hands......have a conference with Michael.........order the lumber.....assemble their tools.......and I found them sitting on a stack of delivered cedar out by the road on the very day at the very moment they said they would be there. They may not have patience with me and my on-going project, but they certainly have the knowledge, the experience, the artistry, the ethics and.......God love 'em.....the generosity of spirit to lend their precious time and energy to applying the cedar to the ramp and porches. And talk about patience? Ask Michael about patience and cedar. Putting those boards side by side by side.....wasps buzzing around your head.....air compressors blowing gaskets.......nailers going haywire......getting locked out when they needed to be locked in....yes, they've got it.

These friends, who prefer to remain nameless for the time being (for fear of being inundated by other desperate, displaced homemakers with project lists and agendas) could be playing Pitch, shopping for khaki pants at TJ Maxx or enjoying the days with their extremely supportive, beautiful, and exciting wives.......and, instead, here they are.

I feel like Ms. Universe every time I walk up or down this ramp. Can you imagine the genuine "pain in the neck" that went with those cedar boards on the porch ceiling? And, there's more to come......

Michael prepared the ramp, the porch and deck for my "volunteer" work crew.....who refer to themselves as Frick and Frack.....to apply the cedar wrap.

Great looking wood stove chimney....canoe and kayak at the ready...... OOOOOOPS. I thought I could add all of the pictures that told about getting the new wood stove. For some reason, I can't include them.....the stupid @#%*&)** blog won't cooperate. I'll try to do an amendment to this one with just old pictures. Dang. And you're thinking, "What wood stove?"

Deck and porch getting ready for the cedar.....chimney standing by. What's that chimney for?

.
Those couch pillows in such disarray........that merely indicates a big time the night before. A big time: ten o'clock news and a chocolate-covered-mint Eskimo pie.I only got to use the Scan wood stove three or four times before it started warming up. The last three fires were certainly better than the first, but I can see why people like these things. It takes so little fuel, compared to a fireplace, to get the same result......with such a lesser degree of maintenance. Hmmm. I guess you could say that I like my wood stoves like I like my people. And vice-versa.

What wood stove?

This is where I try to figure out my Webster Electric bill each month. It's a lot like reading a Beirut subway schedule, I think. I read my meter......I figure it out....I send in my check.....and then I get A CORRECTION NOTICE AND AMOUNT DUE. Story of my life.
Michael is going to drill some holes for wire-hiding, and that will help this space look better I think. It's okay. (Right this minute, I am out on that porch that you can see through the NEW SCREENED DOOR......with a card table, a computer, my rolling chair, the river gurgling below, a Great Blue Heron honking, and that's definitely more than OKAY.)
Once, when I was living in the rental house in town (for 13 years!), I went to Eureka Springs for a weekend. I pulled in the driveway, when I got home, and there was a new garden beside my house. I had made no secret of the fact that I didn't want any houseplants, no green stuff to water or feed or fertilize......and some people just didn't think that was American.....or right. As much as I hate to admit it, I grew (so to speak) to really like that garden.....mostly the mint and horsetail. So, here we go again. Same friend. Same plan. Same hard heads involved on BOTH sides of the pick ax.

Here.....there.....or nowhere. That's progress.

2010-02-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

If it's not in here.........with the exception of a weed eater, canoe and kayak......

or, someplace in there (meaning that beautiful house above).....including stuff that's still in cardboard boxes or paper sacks......then it's nowhere. Yep. Gone. No turning back. Moved out. I'm pretty much committed to living right here, right now......unless I run away from home and join an order that requires ridding yourself of all worldly possessions.

There's still a lot of work to be done.....finishing the storage container/carport with electricity and the canopy.....putting the cedar on the ramp and on the porches and deck....crawl space work....ceiling porch holes to be covered....making a decision about a wood stove in the living room.....covering the electrical panel and putting an outlet in the laundry area....exhaust fans in the bathrooms....trim plates installed....finding a dining table....finishing the counter in my bedroom and figuring out the best storage plan for underneath it....straightening and organizing all of those things in the storage container.........and working on the berms and planting on the outside.....stuff like that. But, just take a look at what's been done..........

Michael and I made a visit to Architectural Artifacts and picked out a couple of huge chunks of character-laden wood, which Michael transformed into a coffee table and three side tables.....similar to the work he and Jason did for The Coffee Ethic. They are gorgeous.....functional......and have as much history as the shipping containers themselves......or me, for that matter.

417 Magazine featured the house in their February Issue......and I can't say enough good things about Lifestyle Editor Savannah Waszczuk, who came out to see the house, talked to both Michael and me several times to make sure her facts were correct, and wrote an interesting, informative and accurate article that made me very proud. Photographer Kevin O'Reilly and Art Director Cassie Darst climbed up and down the hill like a couple of mountain goats, arranged and re-arranged lights and equipment, didn't waste a motion or a moment, seemed like there was nothing they would rather be doing, and stuck around for some hot chocolate when they were finished.

A message from the Editors in the front of the publication states, "Every article aims to make your life better in some way." That sure seems to apply to both the read-er and the read-ee.

Check this kitchen in another few months......see if it's still clean and shiny.

John R. has been transporting furniture, firewood and belongings on my behalf and has been the most capable and willing Wilderness Manager a person could ever have. He can load a load and back a trailer...........life skills we should all have......and appreciate.

Gabe, bless his heart, has had the challenge of Technological Training/Management for the Elderly and Dysfunctional.......need I say more? (And a whole gob of it is hidden in that cabinet above.) The best compliment I can offer, in describing both his patience and his thoroughness, is the fact that I have gone nearly four weeks without dialing ANY 1-800-hotline/help numbers....and we're talking TV DISH Network, Cell Phone, Laptop Computer and cheat sheets to go with 'em. What a man. I'm telling all of my friends.

I usually move that metal vase out of the way when we set up the bowling pins on Saturday night.

A glimpse of the laundry area.......

And part of my vacuum cleaner and heat pump..........

And this bed, my friends......and the one in Morgan's room.....was designed and hand-crafted in steel by my EX-landlord Ken Richardson. It may be hard to appreciate in this photograph, but we did away with the box springs, ordered a set of slats at IKEA, and Ken welded the frames and legs, and we have two beds that look like they just arrived from the Herman Miller showroom. (At a fraction of the price.)

Jason made this good-looking steel counter for the non-sleeping part of my bedroom. When I get the underneath storage figured out, Michael will finish installing it with the legs and holes for wires and hook-ups. I MUST be connected....at all times. HAH. And I'll need a chair with wheels and a different lamp maybe. And another cheat sheet.

What we have here, is decor. In tubs, boxes and sacks. Things that may or may not go on the walls or on a shelf. I've got some great stuff.......clay things that Ken Richardson made.....Eskimo artifacts......masks by Van Hee that I love........but I'm not one bit anxious to drive the first nail in the wall.

And this is Morgan's room.....with another bed that Ken made and the night stand that Michael made.......with much appreciation for my sister Judy, who hemmed up the bedspreads on both beds......and, believe me, that is the very LEAST of her gifts and talents.

Morgan keeps her cheat sheets next to her sleeping mask and her headlight.....out of sight for the photo op.

That little pile of papers by the propped-up mask (no nails have been used here)....is a collection of the Punch Lists that used to be taped up on the windows and throughout the house....and a few add-ons of mine. I've never HISSED at Michael when we've gone over some of those to do's, but I will admit to FLUTTERING those papers.......just to make a point.

This has been and still is a really big fat deal. All of the decisions....the anticipation.....the changes.....the apprehension......the permanency......the pleasure.......the pride........and that just applies to the planning and building part. The biggest, fattest and sweetest deals have been the relationships that have resulted from this........and the living that is just beginning to make this house "the only place like it on the face of the earth".

It doesn't exactly have the drama of airborne containers on cranes........but I'll keep you posted for a while longer......until there are nail holes in the wall and berm-fulls of buffalo grass.

Moved in......but not moved out......whooooooooeeeee.....it's a head shaker.

2010-01-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Moved in.....but not moved out......whoooooooeeeee.....it's a head shaker. For a whole lot of reasons.

I don't know where in the course guide for Designer/Builders it says, "Know when to stop......", but Michael and Jason could have written the syllabus for that part with their eyes closed.

They've always practiced the "less is usually more" philosophy with both their professional and personal lives, I've observed, and all of the GREEN and SUSTAINABLE principles that go along with it......but somewhere along the way, they have learned how to out-smart and HANDLE a sixty-six-year-old-hard-headed-set-in-her-ways person who could have (and might still) drag this project out another year or two. I'm here to tell you that when I started whining about outlets and doors and toilet paper holders and just exactly what I thought needed to be finished before I could possibly move in..............Jason leaned back in his chair and said, "I think you should just move in and start living there. Wednesday." And I did.

So......I've been handled. And don't think I couldn't write some stuff about how disappointed I am in myself by my inability to get organized, get moving, adjust my baggage to this space and to understand and operate Dish TV.........I'm not one bit happy with the way I've been acting. And don't think I have been a mature and accepting role model for Morgan's first week in this very different household........I actually HISSED at her when she tried to talk to me during my fourth (count 'em) phone conversation with the Dish Help Hotline. HISSED. (And, if hissing wasn't enough, I also had the gall to call Michael and accuse him of DOING something to the TV when he was spending the day installing outlets for the washer/dryer and making sure the ramp was clear, etc. etc.) Yes. It's a head shaker.

But.......all I need to do.......yes, indeed......all I need to do is to look at these pictures below and remember what it felt like to look out my window that first day.......MY WINDOW......and see what I saw.......and walk down to the river.....THE RIVER......WALK DOWN TO THE RIVER......and look up and see what I saw.......and that makes me shake my head again and again and again. I couldn't be happier.

View from the living room window
View from my bed.....into the woods
View from the porch at the end of my bedroom
View from the gravel(?) bar
View from my bedroom window

And what to my wondering eyes should appear.......

2009-12-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?..........but a red rug on the floor.....from the Netzers, I fear. Yep. It was bound to happen. A person has a basic character flaw.....be it an aversion to color or a fondness for Precious Moments.....and some folks just won't let it alone. Don't count on seeing this rug on the floor for more than another few days....gift or not.
Phase 2: Technology. (I guess the phone installation was Phase 1......and not a whole lot less complicated than this one.) High definition......straight from Sam's.......not bad for a non-card-carrying, lukewarm-TV-watcher. (New chairs from Target in the picture......and old, rickety camping table from the basement.)
The TV in Morgan's room will be right over her desk. Check out the custom closet doors that Michael made from the translucent plastic panels in a metal frame.
By encasing the plumbing innards in steel, a fairly ordinary bathroom has been ramped up to industrial chic.......Michael and Jason's good idea.

And Jason has finished making the doors for Morgan's room and bathroom, for my bathroom and for the utility room from pieces that were initially cut out of the container walls. They plan to paint them white, but I'm sure attached to the "character" of the rust spots, dents and lettering and hate to cover that up.
This is Michael's Red Banana Berm plan. Try selling that to a landscape company from Rogersville. If I've learned one thing during this process, it is NEVER to use the term "dirt cheap" again. Instead of having just a flat area planted with Buffalo Grass on the non-river side of the house, we thought that berms would make it more interesting and help with the drainage issues as well. That was before learning how un-cheap dirt really is. We'll see how this turns out.

Later.

Not exactly the Shroud of Turin.....

2009-12-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

Not exactly the Shroud of Turin.......but that mysterious purple stain on the floor in the kitchen is, at the very least, sure to be a conversation starter....and at the very most, a tourist attraction which could possibly become as popular as the World's Largest Ball of Twine or the Spam Museum. Where did it come from? What does it look like? Would you drive all the way from Elk City, Oklahoma to see it with your own eyes?

Seepage from an exotic, ultra violet, gelatinous substance being carried in the shipping container from port to port.......only to find itself on a Webster County kitchen floor? Residue from a squid held hostage by a band of starving gastronomes? The outline of a dagger used to slit the gizzard of Australian rain-stick player? Plumber's compound? Bad vibes or good?

Well, enough of that. It's definitely character in the floor to be "celebrated".

Other news: the couch has been delivered......twice. Remember when I went to Chicago and sat on every couch in every store in the city until I found the perfect one at Room and Board? Thanks to the wonderful assistance of Kathleen......and her helpful, intelligent, non-judgmental guidance. Since that day in March, someone has called to check with me, every three weeks, to see if I was ready for it to be delivered. Finally, I said yes. The day before it was to arrive, the Room and Board truck driver called to make the final arrangements and said he would deliver it between seven and nine the next morning. I asked him if he knew the way, and he said he had a good map. I rushed out there at the crack of dawn, unlocked the door and made a welcome sign and stayed as long as I could before returning to work......knowing that it was going to be late that day before I could go sit on it. I went home (to my old house) for lunch, like I usually do.....and there was the couch, wrapped in plastic, sitting vertically in the corner of my living room. Oops. I honestly don't know if I never gave them my NEW ADDRESS or I did and they didn't put it on the paperwork....but I called and told them that there had been a mistake. Instead of telling me that it was my mistake and there was nothing they could do about it....or citing their order numbers and blah blah blah.....they said that they would reduce the delivery charge if I could find a way to get it to the new house, but if I couldn't, they would return next week and pick it up at the old house and deliver it to the new house. Yes, that's right. They would return from their warehouse in Minneapolis and drive to Springfield and then to Rogersville to deliver the couch. ROOM and BOARD. You won't find any better, smarter more conscientious service than that.

I've had lots of family support these days.....bearing (and baring) gifts and talents that I didn't even know existed. My son Gabe, having worked as a home entertainment/security systems installer while finishing Engineering school, has probably experienced one of the more frustrating jobs associated with the building of this house: dealing with the telephone company and the TV people. Need I say more? (Personally, I've got a notebook with a hit list of names from AT & T from the times my Internet service has been severed......which is totally unrelated to THIS undertaking....Linda in India, Bob in Phoenix, Mary in St. Louis, Rick in Mexico, et. al.....). With the details of the installation too gruesome to include, let me just say that this is definitely a labor of love on his part.....on-going, but almost there.

And my son John R., with nary an agricultural/horticultural gene in his body (that I know of), not only has been clearing the land around the house and down to the river, but is now working on smoothing the driveway area with his tractor and new attachments. Another job that has its pitfalls......ticks, scratches, frostbite....and a never-ending need for MORE new attachments.

My daughter (and part-time roommate) Morgan, seems to be in denial. I'm genetically familiar with that trait.

All in all, when it comes to having "good help", it doesn't get any better than what I've had.

Cooking on all four burners........

2009-12-10T19:11:00.000-08:00

Cooking on all four burners.......and a whole lot more......as of just last week. I bought all of the appliances for the house, way back in October, at Metro Builders Supply in Springfield, and

must say that it was a good experience from beginning to end. No heavy-handed, slick-talking, promise-you-everything sales people.......just the facts, some very smart and very personable professionals, a bit of education about why some products are better or more efficient than others, staying within the budget, saving money wherever possible, free delivery to the house (17 miles away), and for a reasonable cost: INSTALLATION.

I am extremely close.......extremely close......to living the dream. And I'm talking about a cold water dispenser and the possibility of crushed ice here. Not to mention a dishwasher for the first time in thirteen years. And, finally, the ability to fix pancakes on the griddle or fry cheese burgers without the smoke alarm going off......thanks to a vent hood. CRUSHED ICE. What next?

And how about the floors? Have you seen the floors since Jason put those coats of sealer on them? Oh, yeah. Now I remember talking about "celebrating" the character of the various imperfections......or some such thing. Well, they are just great. Just great. In a day or two, I'll take pictures of a very distinct "character/imperfection" to be found in the kitchen floor.....and an accompanying "celebration". Folks from miles around may be lining up to see this phenomenon.

TO-DO LIST POSTED ON THE LIVING ROOM WINDOW

And if that isn't an oxymoron, I don't know what is. Imagine marching up to the list, tools in hand and a head full of motivation.......and then you spot a Bald Eagle cruising right down the river runway......or see a couple of ground squirrels having the time of their lives. What to do?

TO-DO LIST ON MY BEDROOM WINDOW

And a great view of all of the clearing John R. and Nicole did one great Fall day.......

See why it's taking so long to get this project wrapped up? So much TO-DO......yet, so much to do........

Am I as smart as my mailbox?

2009-11-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

Am I as smart as my mailbox? Only time will tell. It just arrived today......a Salsbury Post-Mount Locking Roadside Mailbox with Front and Rear Access #4325......AND a matching #4315 10 lb. newspaper holder. HAH! I'll never be accused of not having MY priorities in order. No doors on the bathrooms yet....house entry is still a propped up board/plank.....no stove or icebox......but "neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night........" you know the rest. Gotta have Netflix and the newspaper. I'm a little worried about the "non-locking access panel", "rear locking door", "convenient outgoing mail tray", and the incoming mail compartment" and two keys. But I totally understand the "adjustable red flag".

So.....here's what's been happening lately.

The ceiling is finished. As I said before it was totally done, it is a genuine work of artistry and design. Not to mention, labor. I can't imagine doing such a thing for ANYONE.....regardless of the cost and commitment.....and I feel both honored and enriched to have such beauty for the life of the house. Thanks to Michael and Jason.

Closets are finished and will still be standing a hundred years from now. That may seem like a trivial operation to some people, but I'll bet that closet installations have tested many a happy American family. One needs to bare one's soul to one's closet engineers to have ample hanging space and room for shoes. And a terry cloth robe. And a reflective vest. And "did you notice how many GRAY tee shirts she had?"

Today was the day that Jason was going to put sealer on the floors. I spent parts of Saturday and Sunday shop-vacuuming, sweeping, scraping and wet-mopping the area.......with instructions to "work my way to the door, back out of the house, leave no footprints and head on outta there." I did as I was told, and if I hadn't been practicing yoga for a while, I wouldn't be around to tell the story. Kneeling, squatting and pushing a mop should not be attempted by the untrained worker. After the concrete floor was initially poured, a long time ago, I had visions of it being a cool, elegant, monochromatic slab of grey. In reality, the floor will probably be like most durable elements of life.......and even most durable people in life.......its complexion will be a reflection of a most interesting and varied character. And it will be "celebrated" (a favorite designer word) and cherished for what it has become and how it has gotten there.

I can't get over how much better it is looking and feeling on the outside of the house since Ken and "crew" did two days of work. The driveway gravel is no longer in a pile by the road.......the dirt leveling process really puts the house, the ramp and the storage container in a better perspective. He burned down the trash pile, trimmed trees, moved brush piles into the trash pile.......and will be on hand to help with some berms planned for that same area. We're planning to plant that space with Buffalo Grass in the Spring, but after getting some expert advice at Nixa Seed and Hardware, I got some rye grass seed to put down until then. And got a lesson on how to throw it. Right there in the store. I love that place. And the people in it.

Meanwhile, John R. has been doing some clearing on the river side of the house and has been making a more user-friendly path to get down to the river. "Stobs" may be a regional term for those deadly, cut-off parts of trees or seedlings that stick out of the ground, not high enough to notice, but high enough that you will surely trip on them, bust your shins and screech the worst words you know....and John R.'s specialty is stob-removal. And there are a lot of stobs on the hillside. He should be everyone's best friend for that public service.

Most of this work, lately, has been fueled with Squirt, goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches and homemade ham salad made with Jenise's one-of-a-kind-relish, deviled eggs and Ghiradeli's double fudge brownies. Not too bad for Webster County, huh. I've been having the time of my life.

Earlier in the month, Ann Brown invited theworkshop 308 to speak to the Southeast Rotary Club about the designing and building of the house......and invited me to come for lunch and listen to the presentation. Michael was at the house installing cedar.......one plank at a time......while Jason gave an outstanding account of the 8747 house....beginning with the day I walked into their place with my shoe box full of house ideas to the present stage of development.....and finished with an intriguing hint of a project-in-the-works planned for a more urban neighborhood in Springfield. His commentary was so descriptive, yet concise... and his pictures, as you have probably seen on the flickr part of the blog page, are just great. It was both conscience-raising and entertaining and I commend Ann for her vision and her taste in program selection and applaud the Rotary for the consistent good works that help make this a good place to live.

And, if that wasn't enough........a week-ago-Friday, Bob Weddle and Andy Wells brought some 5th year Architecture students from Drury University to talk to Michael and Jason about the house and to tour the project. I liked seeing and hearing their reactions to this undertaking. It was good.

Plenty of stuff left to do.....interior doors......the ramp......woodstove.....deck......cut the door in the storage container.......canopy for my parking place......Gabe's audio/visual/security system operation.......various small jobs both inside and out.....I'll try to keep you posted in a more timely manner.

Out of the gutter......into the closet.....and some real dirt.

2009-11-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

Out of the gutter....into the closet....and some real dirt. In other words.......hacking away at the to do list.

Who knew I could get excited about gutters? Flat black, commercial-type......the perfect go-with, accessory for a black fox shipping container. Kind of an agri/industrial/Calvin Klein look.

And this, my friends, is how many great works have begun........drawings on a napkin......or, in this case, my friend Sally's plan for my closet on top of a styrofoam chimichanga-leftover carton.

.................with her structural engineer husband Tom to install the plan. This is a first class operation.

These ceilings are going to take your breath away. They have truly taken the whole look and feel of this space to a new and elegant level.......have brought warmth and color where it was needed........and, if it wasn't before, will certainly make this a one-of-a-kind dwelling.
And, yes........we're paying for dirt here. Never thought I'd see THAT day.

Loyd sharing dirt stories with Jason.
Ken......friend, landlord, retired teacher/librarian, potter, sculptor, banjo-player, bike-rider, runner, renovator and heavy-equipment operator returns with his crew to move the earth. Did I say clogger?

And wife Shirley......who brought her chair and book......and read nary a page.
You get a yard full of some smooth dirt and people just come out of the woodwork to sit around and admire it. Quite the support group, eh? Only George and the dogs are missing.
Jason......on the porch......contemplating four-part-harmony.

9:00 a.m......the buzzards were circling....the campfires were cold....

2009-10-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Oh..........if only this baby could talk.
You cannot buy those orange leaves at Hobby Lobby.
Today's view from the porch off my bedroom....nary a buzzard in sight.
.........and it sounds as good as it looks.
Black Fox (the paint color) Big Bertha.......the pride of Webster County.
Track for the sliding bathroom door.
This is where I will keep twist ties, rubber bands, carry-out menus, and my fake bubba teeth.
And this cupboard will house Cheetos, Hot Tamales and Wasabi-flavored almonds.
It seems that Michael and Jason have gone screaming and waving their arms.....into the sunset. (Again.)
Look up.....wood strips on the ceiling for attaching the cedar.....sample cedar straight ahead.
Look up, again.......wood strips on the ceiling for the cedar AND new track lights.

9:00 a.m......the buzzards were circling.....the campfires were cold.....and not another single, solitary person was in sight. I had the whole place to myself and plenty of time to check on the week's progress. It appears that theworkshop 308 boys have been very busy. Bless their hearts.

Excitement level: fevered pitch.

2009-10-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Excitement level: fevered pitch. Progress: whiplash speed. Buzz: never-ending.
And that is not ALL due to the cabinet man's speedy recovery from the flu. Stuff is happening. I'll have some pictures in a day or two. Cabinets are looking awesome. I will be surrounded by smartness and splendor for the first time in many, many years......cabinet-wise, I mean. Some of the windows have gotten an eyebrow treatment, never previously duplicated in this civilization, to facilitate proper rain management. Three square light fixtures and a porch light have been installed. Berms and landscaping are being passionately discussed. A conservation agent has been contacted. Kitchen appliances have been selected and purchased.
Most of the plumbing fixtures have been tested successfully. The heat works. The air-conditioning works. Ditches have been dug with top-of-the-line rental equipment. Conduit has been laid that would rival the Alaskan pipeline. The propane man is poised and ready for action. And did I mention THE RAMP? Oh, baby. Am I going to have A RAMP! One of my thoughts for the house design has always been to make it barrier-free. Any one of us could stumble into one of those ditches or become disabled by a fall on the dance floor at any moment; and I, for one, certainly want to be able to operate any type of mobility aid throughout the house without worrying about narrow doors or a flight of stairs......and make that a possibility for any visitors. And what A RAMP! By the time it's finished, the house may appear to be merely an afterthought. There's not a convention center or an opera house in town that has A RAMP like this one. Keep your eyes on this space for more pictures.....and more progress.

This blog page entitled "Whadya do when the cabinet guy shows up complaining of the flu?" has been deleted....due to inappropriateness of material.

2009-09-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Lights.....camera.....a little more action to report.....

2009-09-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Lights.....camera.....a little more action to report. I thought I'd better check things out, after work on Friday......but didn't expect to see LIGHTS inside the house! Now, that's ACTION. Not all of the lights are in, but the few that Michael has hooked up are making all the difference in the world. It's starting to look very civilized and genteel......if you overlook the table saw in the living room and a few other construction accessories. The storage/shelter container has been lifted onto the piers and is now where it belongs. Jason has installed, but not finished the translucent wall that separates my bedroom and bathroom. The plumbing fixtures are nearly in place. And when I walked in the door last night, there was MUSIC coming from the speakers that Gabe installed. What else do you need?

It's "taking a village", alright......

2009-09-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

It's "taking a village", alright.....if a person were to collect the names of all of the people SO FAR who have been involved in this project, it would definitely look like it belongs in the Ozarks. Friends, neighbors, hired hands, true professionals, blood relatives, in-laws, consultants, prospective clients, students, passers-by, droppers-in, tourists, dogs.....and a story behind every one of them, if you had the time and the inclination.

I was out at the house on Sunday and thought I'd do some serious picture-taking for a blog update......but, I was getting in the way of progress (On Sunday? People working? Yes, if you happen to be related to someone.....and were helping on your day off...) so I came on home.

Meanwhile, I'll give you a brief update. As you may have noticed, a great deal of trash had accumulated on the building site, including four of the shipping container sections that had been cut out and had fallen down the hill. There were also several dead trees lying around and one that was too close to the container to be safe or practical. My friend and landlord Ken Richardson was hired to get the trash shoved into one pile and out of the way, to cut and remove some of the dead trees and to retrieve the container panels from the hill. So, Sunday before last, he brought his new Kubota tractor and his ninety-one-year-old dad Loyd to get the job done. Quite the crew, eh? A 55-year-old, a 65 year-old, a 91-year-old and thankfully, no dogs. That was about an eight hour operation, with time to sit on some overturned buckets to eat lunch, and an unforgettably impressive experience to watch how Ken and his dad work together and know exactly where to put the chains, where the tractor needs to go, where to attach the "come-along", how to use the pry bar to guide the tree or the metal that was being pulled, which wood was good for what.......and enough energy and humor for conversation and philosophy and a couple of Loyd's famous jokes. That was a day I will always remember and appreciate. And it wore me slick.

Michael created a beautiful concrete pad on which has been installed an air conditioning unit.....Jason finished the piers for the storage container to be installed on Thursday (WITH A CRANE!!!!).....the pier that will support the ramp that goes from the house to the ground by the storage container/car port is now in place.......Michael and the plumber have been at work in the crawl space getting it ready for a pump and hot water heaters (which could not have been a fun job).... sinks have been installed in the two bathrooms......toilets are there and almost installed....Jason is getting ready to put up the translucent panels that will separate the bathroom and my bedroom...the furnace is in place.....Gabe installed the speakers and did a final check before the phone guy and the electrician come....more people have been out to check on the progress......and I'm back at work and no longer able to spend the whole day standing in the future living room, looking at that river and trying to decide between lawn chair, kayak or inner tube. It's tough.

paint + cedar = a fist pump.

2009-08-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

A "Whiter Shade of Pale"......nearly primed and ready...

2009-08-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

A "Whiter Shade of Pale"....nearly primed and ready....and in one of my favorite colors (other than Black Fox)....."Pure White". That will be the color of the walls and of the container ceilings in the areas which don't have cedar-wrapped ceilings. Pure as the driven snow.

Jason and Michael have been taping and papering the windows and floor and using a newly acquired Craig's List paint sprayer to let 'er rip with the primer and paint.

The pictures seem a bit puny.....not nearly as exciting as sheetrockers on stilts or sparks from a plasma cutter....but definitely another step closer to "happily ever after" and a realization (with the pictures of the spider, the moth and the butterfly) that almost every phase of this operation has been accompanied by some form of flora or fauna. And I'm not just talking poison ivy, ticks, and good-looking, intelligent, hard-working men.

And, speaking of flora and fauna, we've certainly seen the seasons change during this building experience...and I don't mean that facetiously......I mean that in a reflective way. Having the crane deposit the containers on that cold day in January...driving through snow and ice to take pictures and check on things....watching the river rise to flood stage after detouring around the closed roads...seeing the red bud trees blooming where I didn't know there were any...pulling up to the house to see the same rabbit over and over again...hearing about the eagle who visited a nearby tree a few times when the framing was going up....blue heron from the nearby rookery squawking back and forth....the weeds and stinging nettle that keep growing in the path down to the river.....the search for relics around the house after the bulldozer was there....an owl in the afternoons when all is quiet....those baby wrens Michael rescued from the air vent.....the gigantic black snake that inched up the gigantic tree....eating lunch on the gravel bar and feeding Cheetos to the minnows and fish (who now EXPECT me)......watching a lowly armadillo root around the house site.

And the joys of hearing what other people have discovered and told about on their trips to check on the house......a bobcat sighting at the end of the driveway.....the lunar moth that was pointed out by friends who noticed it sitting on the window sill....nor would I have noticed the swallow- tail zebra butterfly without the help of a trained professional....much less known what it was called.

Not exactly what I'm used to here in the middle of Springfield. Practically all of my flora here was planted by a friend (who was appalled by the fact that I refused to have even a house plant) while I was away for a weekend....lots of mint, lots of horsetail, a very few flowers and the stupid yard that always needs mowing. As for fauna, that's mostly squirrels, stray cats, dogs on leashes, some real good neighbors, MSU field hockey team girls across the street, and a low-cost, record-breaking, watch-'em-grow, thrill-a-minute year for ants. And that's about it for the urban life.

What was my point here? Maybe that a person can start out talking about primer and pure white paint, can have a Procol Harem flashback, know people who are smart enough to find a bargain paint sprayer on Craig's List and download photos on a blog, but........you always need to keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you.....and watch where you step.

****Footnote: According to my hyper-research, Luna moth adults "do not eat or have mouths....emerge as adults, solely to mate....and as such, only live approximately one week.....and are more commonly seen at night."

That'll make you think.

We've got rock.

2009-07-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

"I been standin' on a rock......" (thanks to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils).....or, spoiled....a one-man-operation....and "how's the house coming?"

2009-07-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Spoiled.......the two guys who hung the sheet rock could have been stars of their own mini-series. One was as hyper as a buzz saw, an admitted video war game addict and probably slept about fifteen minutes a night. The other guy was as steady and deliberate as a priest at the communion rail and was a boxer and boxing coach in his spare time. Together, they were one mean sheet rocking machine and I pity anyone who tried to get in their way while they were hoisting, hollering, slinging, slapping and nailing those suckers in. I thought, "now we're talking......this is the way it's going to happen from now on." More than one person has said, "Once the sheet rock goes up, things really begin to happen." That spoiled me. I just didn't understand that "sheet rock going up" meant the buzz saw boys leaving and a one-man-operation coming in afterwards to put on the tape, the mud, sand the walls and put metal strips on the bottom. I'm not complaining, you understand, I just never seem to ask enough questions and get the vernacular in my head.

A one-man-operation.....I'm beginning to get the picture....this guy must be an artist, must prefer to work alone, and is probably constantly inspired as he gazes out the window at the various waterfowl and creatures of nature gathering at the river while he tapes, muds and sands. Nice work if you can get it, eh?

This sheet rock production seems like it has gone on forever....(and I'll try to get some pictures of it tomorrow or the next day)....but is making me happy every time I visit. The lines of the house look so much more sharp and defined now.....and combined with the whiteness of the walls, your eyes are almost forced to follow those lines to each window and what lies beyond. It's very dramatic and very fulfilling....because the view out of each opening is both dramatic and fulfilling. And I'm pretty sure that's exactly what that one-man-operation is feeling too. That takes time.

"How's the house coming?"....(I got side-tracked and a little carried away, just then.) I was going to say that during this lengthier phase of the operation, I continue to enjoy the people who ask, "how's the house coming?". I really do. I don't anticipate many more "happenings" of this caliber for the rest of my life, and I am constantly amazed at the folks who know about this project, who seem to genuinely care enough to ask, and also seem to know how much this house means to me. It makes me feel very wealthy on every level each time I am asked. Thank you.

I did manage to take a few pictures last week to send to a friend who wondered, "can you see the house now from the river?"...."can you see the house from the road?"....."how long is driveway going to be?"...."what kind of path do you have to the river from the house?"....."how do you get your kayak down to the river?".

The future driveway taken from the non-river side of the house. (You can't see the main road from the house....and you can't see the house from the main road.)
Taken from the not-so-steep, switchback path to the river.
Taken from halfway down the steep path down to the river.
Standin' on a rock..........in front of the house looking down river.
Standin' on a rock......in front of the house looking up river.
Standin' on a rock...... looking up at the house.....contemplating dragging the kayak back up the steep or not-so-steep path to the house.

And, as the Ozark Mountain Daredevils also say, "better get back to the country, look around and find you a home....."

I knew I was having some fun lately......

2009-07-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

I knew I was having some fun lately, but I actually had to refer to the invoices to see just how much fun I was having....and with whom. Jason's outstanding photographs (and how about that flikr, eh?) tell the story of what's been going on, but there's a whole lot more, according to the invoices, that doesn't show up in the pictures but that sure has made my life interesting these days.

I've become a "hand" in this project. I'm not terribly smart or fast, nor do I have the ability to "pick things up quickly".....I'm unfamiliar with most of the terminology, nearly all of the tools and have had no life experience to prepare me for a day on this job....but I'm heavily invested, totally interested and will drop most anything to see that this house gets built.

My part usually begins with a visit to the house site where something needs to be done before the next thing can happen.....or with a phone call from Michael or Jason to pick up or deliver materials or paperwork. Some of these excursions have been to Lowe's to get bits of lumber, insulation stuff, hardware.....a shop vacuuming session at the house to clean out the external wall channels in preparation for the insulation.....a trip to Air Gas for a spool of wire....a drive to Brookline to pay the insulation installers....getting a lien waiver signed from the portable toilet folks....a call to the propane man to see about installing and servicing the tank....trips to the bank to take invoices for the next draw on the construction loan....a conversation with a Missouri Conservation representative about options for the ground between the house and the river.....a visit to CV Glass to deliver the checks and lien wavers for the door and windows.....a morning spent spraying "Great Stuff" into the spaces that needed filling and clearing out the house of all that had accumulated (chairs, coolers, water bottles, tools, trash, buckets) before the sheet rock hangers arrive.....several trips up to the church on the hill and back (where I can get cell phone service) to get questions answered for the sheet rock guys....and several (yet to be completed) moments scraping excess insulation off of the underbelly of the containers.

Most of that activity can be gleaned from the growing stack of invoices and from now having the most elegant glass front door to walk through....or from feeling the differences the insulation has made in the temperature and overall comfort inside the containers....or by the cedar backing strips that Michael is beginning to install on the porch walls....or by the holes that have been dug and are now being filled with concrete to anchor the storage/carport container...or by how awesome the sheet rock makes the inside AND the outside look by defining the walls and windows and skylights....or by the plans being made for the cabinets in the bathrooms and kitchen.

What cannot be gleaned from looking at the invoices and from appreciating the progress that is being made on a daily basis, is the human factor. Each and every person I have encountered and dealt with from the very beginning of this project has been efficient, honest, talented, reliable, energetic and genuinely interested in the house and proud of their own participation and workmanship. That's pretty amazing.

Maybe I should flip through those invoices again and consider trading my position as the "world's oldest living truant officer" for a career as a full time "hand".

It was about 3:00p.m. on Friday when I stopped by Superior Interiors to pay for the work the sheet rock hangers had done.....(by the way, is "sheet rock" one word, or two?)......and the boss and two young men were getting into their van and just leaving for a float trip on the Current River. He took the check and said he would be out there the next morning (SATURDAY!!) to start taping and putting the mud on the walls.

I knew I was having some fun lately.

Polka-dots, Double Breasted Jackets, MIGs, and Foam Parties.......photographs by Jason Mitchell of theworkshop308

2009-06-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

"a multi-disciplinary studio of architecture + design....."

2009-06-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

"....a multi-disciplinary studio of architecture + design......." is what you will find if you visit http://www.theworkshop308.com/. And that is what you will find if you visit the 8747house site in Webster County these days.

Since Jason Mitchell and Michael Mardis took over the construction services for this project, I would imagine that "multi-disciplinary" has taken on some new meanings ......such as Michael's heroic rescue of a wren nest with five chirping babies from the duct work and the subsequent search for worms in an effort to keep them alive.....such as me holding a board to prop up a flashing strip while Jason welded the other end with sparks flying in every direction....such as having to find exactly the right pile of dirt over by the well to stand on in order to OCCASIONALLY get a cell phone signal....such as keeping fishing tackle in the storage container in case the fish are biting when it's time for a break....such as my hollering at the door installers and Jason and Michael to stop work and come watch a five foot long black snake as it made its way across the path and up to the top of a thirty foot tall tree......aaaagggggh......such as dealing with mosquitoes, ticks and wasps while standing on a ladder....such as politely answering questions and giving "tours" to the folks who may drop by to see "what is going on over here".....such as having the patience to explain the systems, the processes and the outcomes to me over and over again when I ask.....such as having the ability to guide and oversee and follow up on the "outside" work and workers involved....such as having the flexibility and the technical ability to make changes as they go that could be either more functional, more economical or of a better design as the house evolves....such as, above all else, having the astounding gift of being able to not only design an incredible house, but to have the knowledge and the experience to be able to construct that design themselves......and with an ever present work ethic that makes the ultimate difference in everything that they do.

I couldn't be happier with how things are going these days. It's definitely a multi-disciplinary experience.

2009-06-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

All work and no play.....
Loppers, Weed-wacker, brush piles, blood, sweat and ticks.....cleared this front yard...
Michael finishing the first skylight of three......
Hard to tell whether it's American Gothic Design-Builders or M-I-C, K-E-Y....
Jason doing stuff......
Michael holding baby wrens.....formerly residing in the duct work....
Michael investigating a strange chirping noise ringing in his ears.........
Getting ready for the cedar wrap and for the door men.....

Michael applying black rain-screen paper to back the cedar wrapping on the porch...

Hi-HO, Hi-HO....

2009-06-12T14:49:00.001-07:00

..........and a new dawn is breaking for the8747house........Phase II.....

Jason starting the process for the open deck off the screened porch.....
Jason and Michael with their version of an "open deck frivolity check".........
No-grass-fire welding takes years of practice.......

Keep your eye on this steel beam........
The view from the soon-to-be-screened porch to the soon-to-be-deck.....

It's gonna be nice, eh?..............

Primed and ready to flash........

Michael preparing the porch for the cedar that will wrap it.......

And, here we have a sample of the cedar that will wrap the porches.......

One skylight in.......two to go.......

........I wanted little butterfly decals, but this is all they had....

Someone has been walking on my roof.............

Pretty darned awesome.......that's what I think.......

Speaking in tongues......showing off......

I wish everyone could live like this.......

Much lighter with the skylights in....(standing in living room looking towards into the kitchen and down the hall past the furnace/laundry area).......how about those windows?

Yep........that's the river down there......the James.

The door guys arrive........and everything is ready for them.

Judy and Jon (sister and brother-in-law) got the clearing project underway last week.......and I am following up........working with sharp objects on a slant is NOT yoga-like......

Send any suggestions for non-mowing, low-maintenance, legal plants for this field of dreams....

This is my bedroom side of the house......(porch area presently obstructed by rare plant)....

If one is operating the shop vac in the living room, this is the view one would see......

Enthusiastic old lady (looking very manly) with her SHINDAHWAH weed eater.......on a slant.

Structures change.....and structure changes....

2009-06-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Structures change.....and structure changes. Todd Slack and Chris Kennard of Keyway Construction can now be found in the midst of the ongoing process to revive and restore the heart and soul of Springfield's downtown. While they will be missed and missing from the 8747 house, downtown can surely use their help. Jason Mitchell and Michael Mardis of theworkshop308 will complete the project.....and have been its heart and soul from the very beginning two years ago, when I walked into their place with my plastic shoebox full of house plans.

Lots of fond memories of Keyway Construction......that very first day when I pulled up to what had been a gnarled and thorny house site to see Garrett on his bulldozer and Nathan directing traffic, as they forged out the driveway....Nathan owning up to his one-time ballet experience, as we all stood around the septic hole making polite conversation.....beautiful and sweet Lacey, handling the paperwork AND the boys AND me....Chris responding to my leach field whining with "IF YOU DON'T WANT A LEACH FIELD, THEN DON'T LIVE IN THE COUNTRY" comment.....and his willingness to undertake this shipping container project on the day we determined we needed to "rethink" the first plan....and Todd with his daredevil, yet precise orchestration of the setting and anchoring of the containers, and the accompanying media attention.....his continuing counsel and conferencing...and, especially, his tolerance of my multi-polar approach during this whole process. Keep your eye on downtown Springfield for their work.

So....that's the internal structure change of the moment. Externally, Michael and Jason are very much on the job with their plasma cutter..... cutting and knocking out the last container wall of the living room porch...... working on the windows to be sure they are getting the proper framing and flashing treatments......preparing to install the skylights and doors. They would like to get the house closed up by the end of the week, so the insulation can be sprayed the following week.

The porch off the living room is going to be awesome. It is now open on two sides (the back side, flooor and ceiling will be wrapped in cedar), and will be screened with a small open deck extending off the side. Tom Netzer, the structural engineer, will be meeting with the designers today to put his final stamp of approval on that.

It feels like we're getting to the point where things are going to be happening on a more regular basis....maybe even daily. Structure changes....people do what they need to do....and structures change....people do what needs to be done. At the end of the day, it's all good.

Roof raised....trailer trash gone....more dirt.....

2009-05-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

"Roof raised"....."trailer trash gone"......"more dirt".......sounds like Fox News at Nine, eh?

It was pretty exciting to drive out to the site Friday afternoon and see the roof on the house. It looks great. Perfect color, great material, good lines and the balance couldn't be better. The roof looks like it belongs to the structure. I hadn't been able to visualize what it was going to look like.....even with the decking in place.....but I couldn't be happier with the results.

And more dirt makes it look even more established.

As for the the trailer trash (metal scraps, plastic sheeting, wire, wood chunks, packing material, empty cartons, Dairy Queen cups, cans, stuff like that.....all piled on a trailer)......it's gone. A lot of potential "outsider art" material there for the taking......but gone.

I'm thinking that the roof is the beginning of the end. Stay tuned.

Missouri Monsoon Ends...."Enthusiastic Old Lady" Seeks Therapy.....

2009-05-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

On tonight's weather report, the guy said that we were having the first five days without rain since March 3rd through the 8th. That's a lot of rain. That's a whole lot of days without much (if ANY) work being done on the house. But, now we are on a two-working days-roll and maybe there will be something to write about other than magazines, blogger battles, human characteristics of immovable objects and how to find the recipe for Munchies Buttermilk Cake with Warm Caramel Icing. (I'd pay big bucks for that one.) (I even tried, unsuccessfully, to bribe a CHILD into getting that recipe from his mother who MIGHT have it.)

Back to the shipping containers. Other than Todd moving a lot of dirt around the house so that it looks a whole lot more decent, it has pretty much been sitting there "as is". There is glass in all of the windows, but no front door and both porches are still not completely cut out in readiness for the screened walls. In other words, I can sit in the living room in my lawn chair, eating my lunch, and look out through the glass window and watch the river, then turn my head toward the porch and have to shoo the wren out of that open space so it won't be nesting while I am........then I can wander into my bedroom, while eating an apple, look through those windows, walk over to that porch with its open space and throw the apple core off the edge and down the hill. (It's organic, so it's okay.)

The more days I spend doing that, and there have been quite a few, the harder those habits may be to break when the house is finished.....and, talk about the potential for a messy house.......birds, bird droppings, apple cores, peanut shells, lawn chairs. Rural/trash chic. But, for now, there isn't a better place to eat lunch in the world, as far as I'm concerned. Easy in. Easy out.

The plan for these non-rainy days is to get the (TPO) roof on and then insulate and start with the sheet-rock. I think the small container that will be the shelter/storage area and support for the canopy/carport will be put in place as well. Then it will have to be painted.

Meanwhile, I'll be working on the path that goes down to the river and attempt to get it clear enough to drag my kayak down to the gravel bar and back up to the house. That's where the "Therapy" comes in. There is a lot to be said for lopping and weed-eating and its beneficial effect on the mental health of "enthusiastic old ladies". One can definitely see where one has been...where one has made improvements.....and where one needs to go. A therapeutic life lesson, for sure. And when this is executed on a forty-five degree slope that is chock full of very old brush, brambles, junk trees, bugs, ticks, snakes and poison ivy, you can bet that the therapy intensifies. Have you noticed? I think I seem to be a little more subdued and rational the last couple of days. My shins are itching like crazy and I have a huge crop of rock-flying bruises, but serenity doesn't come without a price.

Stay tuned for a progress report after these dry working days. I expect things to really "take off" now. With the shipping container house, that is......not the shins and bruises.

Notes from an enthusiastic old lady caught up in the emotion of my build......a blog about a blog about a blog.

2009-04-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

"Overzealous"? "Countess of Containers"? "Overcompensating"? "Attention Whore"?

Hmmmmmm. If my mother were alive today, she would say "Well, that's what you get...."

I'm referring to a blog that was forwarded to me in an email the other day. I started to copy the whole thing right here....right now..... but the original is way more colorful and italicized than I am smart enough to re-create and can be found at

http://renaissanceronin.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/1959/

See what you think. And I'll have a few words to say after you have read it.

*************************************************************************************

So..........after reading what renaissanceronin has to say.....let me just say, to begin with, that it also turns MY stomach a bit to read that "Yessirree! Sign up NOW.....Jump up and down......." excerpt from one of my previous blogs.....and a few others, I'm sorry to say. What was I thinking? Was I THAT caught up in the moment? And he is absolutely right about my being "overcompensating" and "overzealous" and using circus antics. That's pretty much how I've gone through life....much to the annoyance of a whole lot of folks. Just ask 'em. But I do think I've improved in the "look at me....I'm so cool.....center of the world" department, in my golden years. More often than not, in spite of what has gone on lately, I will go out of my way.....WAY out of my way....in pursuit of anonymity. These days, it's more like "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it fall....."
Until the blllllllllloooogggggg, that is.

To be honest, I am extremely flattered, surprised and grateful that people have read about this project and think that any reaction, bad or good, serves the very purpose that initiated my "spreading the word". And I won't deny that I have gotten a lot of mileage from all of the feedback. Thanks for all of it. You, too, renaissanceronin.

Now, let's talk about DWELL magazine. I DO NOT EVER REMEMBER "COMPLAINING" ABOUT DWELL MAGAZINE, as I was accused. As a matter of fact, it is possible that I would not have a shipping container house-to-be if it weren't for DWELL magazine.

It all started with a house-sitting job for friends Betty and Carter in Sacramento, California. In that one memorable week, I had a blind date with a chiropractor, bought the premier issue of ReadyMade magazine, floated down the American River, found Ozomatli, and discovered and bought my first issue of DWELL (Volume 3, October 2003). That trip and those discoveries (with the exception of the chiropractor) may have been the catalyst I needed to realize that I really could build a house on my land....and the beginning of my search, in earnest, for the perfect modern, simple, efficient and affordable house plan. I don't think I have missed, or thrown away a single issue since then, and consider my basement collection of DWELL the best resource imaginable for most anything that has to do with how I plan to live. That plastic shoebox I carried into theworkshop 308 a couple of years ago (see blog archives) was full of DWELL clippings and websites and essays and details.....along with slim pickings from the Internet and library books. And what did I see when I walked through their door? (Besides Jason, Michael, Natalie, the big dog Mater and a space filled with some of the most incredible handmade modern design furniture ever seen in Springfield....) I saw some of those same DWELL magazines on their shelves and tables......which I interpreted as yet another sign that I was in the right place at the right time.

Talk about "spreading the word". DWELL has been the best ambassador for a conscientious, well-designed way of life that a person could ever ask for. And I'm talking any segment of the home owning population...not just the rich and famous. No, I would NEVER complain about DWELL. If, in any past blogs, I have mentioned the barefooted, serene and uncluttered inhabitants of those pages, believe me, it is with love and admiration in my heart. How's that for overzealous, eh? ".....with love and admiration in my heart." A magazine? Yes.

Renaissanceronin had a lot of good stuff to say. And good for him for saying it. It certainly separates him from a huge segment of the more silent population. As for my part, I plan to continue in my overcompensating, attention whoring ways and will love every single minute of this whole house building operation. "Well, that's what I get."

Meanwhile, back to the house........

2009-04-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, back to the house.......(I think I've become one of those lame people who come out on the stage during an all-school talent show to make small talk to the audience while the baton twirlers are getting in formation behind the curtain.....blah blah blah and everyone is thinking "let's get on with it so I can get home and watch the 10:00 news....."). This bllllogg is SUPPOSED to be about the HOUSE.

So, I'm excited to report that ALL of the windows are now installed....and that looks and feels really, really good. The electricity is all but hooked up in the house, I think.....but I'm not touching anything until I know for sure. The septic system is installed, complete with an alarm light that flashes when there is a problem.....and also complete with some words of wisdom from Chris when I started to whine about the leech (?) field. I saw a rendering that Jason made that shows how the ramp is going to tie in to the front porch and will lead to the carport/storage container. Very cool. And very practical. No stairs, just a ramp. Michael has been planing (not planning, but planing) the cedar boards that are going to "wrap" the porches and continue onto the ceiling in the kitchen and living area....and they look and smell really good. And I had a small session with Michael yesterday to talk about cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom and the three (count 'em) closets. Talk about winnowing. I am going to have to get rid of some real treasures before I move into this house. Minimalism is going to be my middle name. And I'm going to try to apply that practice not only to the closets and drawers, but to my daily life as well. Watch out. I will end up being very serene and knowing. My friend Sally led a Lunch Bunch tour to see the house yesterday in the rain, and told me that they left "a little something" for me in the living room. I bet it's either a Garden Gnome or a red shag rug. There goes serene.

And now, let's have a nice round of applause for the best little twirlers this side of Panther Creek.......(and I'll try to confine this space to my shipping container house). When possible.

It all started with red shag rug and tomato garden comments.......

2009-04-09T18:17:00.001-07:00

It all started with red shag rug and tomato garden comments. I'm referring to the suggestions, thoughts, and notably, to some of the interesting ideas that people so graciously and enthusiastically have offered after reading about the house, or while visiting it.

"What you need on these concrete floors are some red shag rugs to add a little color." "You ought to put your carport/storage container right there so you'll have room for a nice little tomato garden." "How are you gonna get your kayak down that hill to put it in the river?" "If I were you, I'd use that crawl space down there for a storm shelter....but it's too late to put a trap door in your floor." "You'll have to get a dog." "You'd better get yourself an Audubon Society Bird Book....not just a bird book." "I'd cut that tree right there, for sure....and wire that other one so it leans the other way." "You could take some of those scrap container slabs, fill 'em up with concrete, scatter 'em down the slope like pods, and have a nice place for lawn chairs and such." "You're not tall enough to see out of that window." "If I were you, I'd just put some more containers on top of these and make yourself a whole lot more room." "Why not sink one of those containers in the ground and make it into a lap pool?" "You'll have to get a dog." "All you really need here is a zip line....that'll take you right down to the river." "You're probably going to see some critters out of those windows." "Why not make your deck a triangle instead of just a rectangle?" "If you welded a ladder to the side of that little container, you could sit up there and get a suntan or watch the stars." "Do you have a church home?" "You need a windmill out here." "You could make a miniature replica of a crane hooked onto a shipping container dangling in the air, like the one we saw in Mexico, and use that for your mailbox." "You're gonna want another door in this place." "With the river on one side, it seems like you would want a water feature of some kind....maybe a fountain.....on the other side." "You'll have to get a dog."

Could it be possible.......now, here's a question for you......that it's not a matter of folks simply offering their ideas and suggestions as they visit and experience this project.........but could it be the shipping container house, ITSELF, which evokes some latent, inventive, imaginative impulse in ALL WHO WALK THROUGH THOSE DOORS (of which there are none yet) to envision....to concoct....to manufacture....or to merely ruminate? A sort of Stephen King phenomenon? Or some mutant cerebral/vocal fallout from those reported UFO lights seen at the Northview Exit on I-44 a few years ago? You're standing there, surrounded by the brute force of corrugated metal.....a faint essence of salt water lingering at the seams....and you just can't help yourself. Lap pool...ladders....mailboxes...concrete...crawl spaces...water features. And when you think about it, it really does make sense.......not worthy of a Christine novel...no, no, no, no, no... nor an urban legend like the Joplin spook lights......but simply a collection of four shipping containers that have been who-knows-where, stowing who-knows-what, for who-knows-whom......a definite "Oh, if these walls could talk" attitude....and with both the innate and acquired characteristics that go with it. It's no wonder that the vibes are there. And......the vibes ARE there.

One innovative and imaginative project begets another....and another....and who knows where this will all end? A nice little tomato garden, perhaps. But NOT a red shag rug.

Trouble in paradise.......

2009-03-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Trouble in paradise.....was the subject of the email I sent to Jason and Michael at 10:10 this morning. It's not enough for them to know about structure, planning, engineering, construction, drawing and all of that other stuff that architects and designers know....what kind of pens to use, coffee to drink, phones that work, socks that are warm. They have to be prepared to deal with the dysfunctional and psychotic mood swings of the deadbeat client.

Still high on the Black Fox paint fumes and a little glass in some windows from last week, I decided to set off for Chicago on Sunday to search for the perfect couch for my perfect house. (We have Bass Pro, Macy's, Sears and Lazy Boy here in Springfield.) I got a $45 room on Priceline.com at the Residence Inn on the end of runway #17 at O'Hare, drove into town Sunday afternoon after an 8+ hour trip, and spent two and a half days sitting on every couch and every chair at Room and Board, CB2, West Elm and Ikea. It was definitely the kind of trip that could only be made alone. Fueled by Chinese food and whole sacks of kettle corn, I drove thousands of miles.....mostly within the Chicago city limits....and found three, count 'em, three possible couch choices and a few likely chairs. It was a great time. But no place for sissy drivers.

I took all of my Chicago literature, fabric swatches, possible couch measurements, tape measure, and blue masking tape out to the house yesterday, so I could get an idea of where the couch would go, when I got it, and how it would fit with a dining table that theworkshop 308 was going to make for me. That's when the trouble in paradise began.

Dear Jason and Michael:

I had a hard day at the house yesterday. I had my tape measure...BLUE masking tape to stick on the floor...measurements for the couch I found...and the plan to put a table (that you will build) on casters, behind the couch, about in the middle of the room. I just couldn't get it right. I just couldn't get it right. And I didn't like it. I worked on it for 2 hours there...changing the location of the couch, of the table, paring the couch down to a love seat, changing the table to a free-standing round one, making the table a drop-leaf with two chairs, having no couch at all but chairs instead. DAMMIT. The house looks best empty I think. Then, I found a plan that might work: put the couch against the back wall...eliminate my small counter/chair space at the end of the kitchen counter...put the table (and I know it will be the most fantastic table known to man) in front of the spectacular window. It may block some of the view, but it will (1)allow me (and anyone else) to sit at the table and look out, (2) put me at a more comfortable distance from the fireplace/TV, maybe even allow for a chair facing inward at the other window, and make a clear passage to either kitchen or hall. Boy, do I need your help. And, boy, am I ever glad that you weren't there yesterday to see me whining and carrying on. I was even ready to glass in the screened porch to put the table out there. So, what do you think? And don't just say, that's fine. Really think about it and tell me what you think. Think. I'm losing it, I think. I have to eat my stupid lunch now. Let me know. I had nightmares last night. A truant's mother was taking too many shoes from the Kiwanis Shoe Bank and I knew it, but didn't know what to do about it....and she was keeping her children OUT OF SCHOOL.....but amassing a pile of new shoes....to sell for drugs. Do you have the name of a good counselor? marti

Today.......I took a hot shower, ate lunch with my sister and two cousins, met Michael at the house, discussed the options available, (like a mature and reasonable 65-year-old woman who wants to live in a Black Fox Shipping Container house), measured and put BLUE tape where the couch would go against the wall, talked about the table.......and now, all is right in the world. All is right in the world.

People everywhere are starving, the economy is changing lives daily, there are problems around each and every corner.........and I'm worrying about couch placement? Saying DAMMIT in an email? Putting parentheses around numbers that detail my personal comfort level? Having nightmares about shoe thieving?

When I over-dosed on popcorn, a couple of weeks ago, I felt moved to write about Gabe sticking his tongue in a wall socket, for example, and how he turned that into the ability to be a successful engineer.....and a whole page of more random and disconnected thoughts. I later called that a bit of "bad blogging". I'm now thinking that it may have been the Chinese food and kettle corn that sent me into this latest episode of inappropriate behavior. Sorry. I'm over it now. It's not my fault.

Black Fox with windows......yessiree.

2009-03-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Black Fox with windows.....yessiree bob......windows. It looks like something you would see in a magazine ALREADY. It made me laugh out loud to drive up and see that muddy, brown beauty of a shipping container with real glass in the windows and a new sense of style that I didn't realize was missing.

Todd warned me on Saturday, while we were standing around admiring the paint color and talking about what was happening next. He said he thought the windows could possibly be installed this week.....but he sure didn't prepare me for how they were going to look.....all framed in aluminum inside of those massive steel frames that have been lying on the ground waiting to be welded into place. (I may not be describing the process correctly.....I'm more into results.) Anyway you look at it, it's a milestone, for sure.

Jason called me at work to let me know there were some windows in the house, and he had just been out there to take some pictures. Lo and behold, while I babbled and whooped on the telephone, he told me to log onto the computer and I could see them with my own eyes. And I did. Logged on and talked on the phone at the same time. (I believe they call that multi-tasking.) Does he take great pictures, or what? And he's even smart enough to know what to do with them next.

Needless to say, I got out there after work as fast as I could possibly go. They look absolutely great. The whole house is looking better than I ever thought possible. And when you go inside and look OUT of that front window and see the river and not another building nor another human being in sight......it just takes your breath away.

If you are out on a Sunday drive, any day of the week, it's worth checking out. Keyway Construction Company and theworkshop 308. Remember those names. You heard them here first.

I hope everyone else is having as much fun as I am.

Thanks a lot.

2009-03-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

About that color......

2009-03-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

After submitting to months of wisecracks about my need for red shag rugs, rusty-smokey-pumpkin versus mossy-oak paint for the outside of the shipping containers, and other colorful topics, I got THE CALL that it was time to decide on the exterior paint color.

It was to be Jason, Michael, Me, Natalie and cheese burgers at Ebbet's.....Natalie as a possible mediator....cheese burgers as a probable deal maker....Ebbet's as a too-little-elbow-space for any significant violence or hand-wringing. (And don't think this wasn't planned in advance.)

Lunch was polite....the cheese burgers were good, and then it was time for a SHOWDOWN IN THE SUN-DRENCHED SILENCE OF THE PARKING LOT.......with Michael packing the chain of paint chips from Sherwin Williams, and the rest of us empty-handed. Names of colors like Laughing Orange....Amazing Gray....Balanced Beige.....Adano Bronze......Gusto Gold.....clacking through the air with piercing possibilities. We picked seven.....spit out their names while Jason wrote them down....and then went our separate ways.

Jason got a small can of each color, went out to the house and painted a long stripe of each on the side of the container.....propped up some of the cedar boards next to them that we will use on the porches......and a few hours later, I rolled in to stand back and look and.........decide. Jason had already picked his favorites, but kept them to himself. I picked the darkest one on the end, thinking it looked best with the cedar and it certainly looked like it belonged with the tree trunks and the river that were there first. BLACK FOX is the name of the shade, and that also happened to be Jason's pick.

We were standing there, firming up our decisions, and Todd (the builder) happened by. He made a smart remark about the seven-color rainbow painted on the wall of the container, and how it would look much better if we could just narrow it down to one color.......and agreed then, that the dark charcoal-brown looked the best. As did Michael, later on. As did Natalie.

It's going to be awesome. Jason remarked that the tree-trunk-charcoal-brown shade makes it less about the containers themselves and more about the land where they sit. And he may be right. (I wonder if that was part of the plan.)

Gabe has finished all of the wiring for the security, entertainment, and network systems....a one-tetanus-shot-only job....for which I will be eternally proud and grateful.....the insulation is in the roof....the inside looks real clean and organized in preparation for the next insulation phase....and I'll try to keep a more silent tongue and a clear head for whatever showdowns are next.

A quick tour and some...color

2009-03-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

That was some bad blogging the other day......

2009-03-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

That was some bad blogging the other day. I apologize. It's pretty sad when, after re-reading what I had written, I had no clue as to what I was trying to say. I think it was possibly diet-related. Too much popcorn in a short amount of time. And I mean TOO MUCH. The sad thing is, I would do it again right this minute if I had the chance. (Eat too much popcorn, that is.)

I was blathering about so many random and obscure people and things, for no apparent reason.......but my heart was in the right place even though my mind was very porous.

Here's what I wanted to say: 1) The degree of devotion to this project is far greater than the salaries earned by those involved. 2) The amount of support and interest we've experienced has been incredible....and appreciated. 3) It is a big help to have people in my life who can keep me on track. 4) I sure am having fun here.

From now on, I won't be blllllloging just for the sake of blllllloging. I'll wait until I have something to say and will try my best to understand what I am saying.

Sorry.

Perspective: I'm the only one getting rich here.....

2009-02-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

I'm finding that perspective is sometimes hard to come by during this house-building process.....that I sometimes forget that I'm the only one getting rich here.....and that I am certainly grateful to those who contribute on a regular basis.

#1 PERSPECTIVE. theworkshop 308 HAS OTHER PROJECTS AND LIVES BESIDES MINE: But you sure wouldn't know it. This may go down in architectural history as the longest designer/client relationship (a couple of years now) associated with a project, the least lucrative, but occasionally, one of the most diverse. Price-shopping for appliances, renting sanders for Jason's home improvement undertaking, picking up Stella at Miss Jo's and sitting next to her in the back seat, and the never-ending conversations about the world and about house stuff. (That's just in the past week or two.) And then, to log on to their website and see pictures of the great play station centers they have recently designed, built and installed at the James River Assembly Reallife Student Center, and the many other spectacular works-in-progress (and those that have been completed).......and STILL they accommodate my on-going questions and need for undivided attention.

#2 PERSPECTIVE. Keyway Construction Company HAS OTHER PROJECTS AND LIVES BESIDES MINE: But you sure wouldn't know it. The questions usually hit me at about 4:30 a.m. as I enter that final deep sleep before the alarm goes off. I have the decency to wait until mid-morning to call them or to add those items to a running list for the next drop-by visit, but I always get the feeling that mine truly is the ONLY structure they're building. And I always get a whole lot more than what I'm asking.....philosophy, education, stories, hot tips, recipes......you name it. It sure makes it easy to forget that "time is money" and that they could actually be driving nails or writing contracts instead of discussing shower "swirls" or bedside lamps.

#3 PERSPECTIVE. ALL CONTACT IS GOOD CONTACT: That has always been my philosophy while making home visits for the school district to deal with truancy and attendance issues. Sometimes I think it is enough to merely show up at a house and knock on the door to let families know that someone at school really cares and would like to help. (That sounds pretty flowery.....and a little bit lazy....but there's usually MORE...) And that same philosophy holds true with this shipping container house, as I've mentioned before. All of the people who have made a comment, written an email, stopped by to check it out, worked on it, made a delivery, taken a picture are people who have now become a very meaningful part of this process and of my life, and in perspective, who may NOT have been a part if it weren't FOR this process. Phew. And thank you. You are not flowery and you are not lazy.

#4 PERSPECTIVE. FOCUS: I better quit wallering(?) in all of this blah blah blah and start paying attention to the matters that are going to be important when I am actually LIVING in this house. My brother-in-law Jon and my sister Judy are the two people most responsible for my being where I am right this minute.....but that's another blog and another story.....and they keep asking me the questions that I really need to answer. How deep is the well? What is the flow? What goes in that crawl space? How far is the septic from the house? What is your power emergency back-up plan? When something goes wrong, do you know where to find the source of the problem? All of that stuff that you can't see but really need.(In life, as well as in houses.) In Second Place for the number of relevant questions asked, is my friend Sally. What kind are your faucets? What have you chosen for your electrical plates? Have you thought about your outdoor lighting? Are the cabinets built? Yes, I need to focus on the here and now. Yes, I need to focus.

#5 PERSPECTIVE. WALL SOCKET-ROOFTOP-GRAVEL BAR-MAILBOX: The day son Gabe turned one-year-old, and I was a basket case trying to throw a birthday party for him with all of the grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins....moments before the first guest arrived....Gabe calmly and deliberately stuck his tongue in a wall socket.....and suffered a bit of a shock, to say the least. Last week, thirty-some-odd years later, he was on top of the shipping container utilizing that very same interest in electricity and engineering and was installing the wiring for my network, security and entertainment systems. And that was in his spare time after his REAL job as an engineer with Tank Components Incorporated. Further perspective.... son John R. proposed to Nicole, back in October, on the gravel bar that is down in front of the new house, and they will get married a week from today. Yet another perspective, my every-other-week roommate and daughter Morgan has been making regular trips to check out the progress of the building and the parameters of her room.....is a bit anxious (and obsessive/compulsive) about the huge change that will come with living in the country, and observed: "We're probably going to need a mailbox."

This all drives home the fact that I keep getting caught up in details, keep putting myself at the center of each operation, keep assuming that everyone else is as invested as I am in how things are turning out, and keep forgetting that with a budget of $150,000 this is more of an adventure and a mission than a financial windfall.....for everyone except me.....for sure.

Perspective: I'm the only one really getting rich here......and I am genuinely and eternally grateful to ALL of my donors.

Moving right along.......

2009-02-18T18:48:00.001-08:00

Yes, indeed. Things are definitely moving right along. The outside of the shipping containers look pretty much the same, with the exception of some more walls cut out and two of the three skylight holes cut.......but the inside is really coming together. The framing (metal) is finished, so now you can walk around and tell where the closets are, the bathrooms, bedrooms, etc. and it is looking like a real house. I've been spending quite a bit of time standing in each room....and standing....and standing....and smiling...and thinking....and smiling some more. I can't identify some of what's happening, but a lot of the electrical and plumbing work has been done. There is decking on the roof, so that is taking shape. Lots of mud and strange litter around the construction site.....empty high energy drink bottles, deli receipts, donut boxes, malfunctioning space heater, three gloves and two Ghiradelli chocolate wrappers. A pretty high class operation, all in all.

We're still getting calls and emails generated by that flood of media attention, but this batch is not your basic hometown coverage. Steven from a publication in Atlanta called WASTE AGE, aimed at the solid waste and recycling industry, interviewed Jason on the telephone and then talked to me. He seemed to have an exceptional grasp of what was going on with this project, asked some really great questions, but did NOT offer to feature me as a centerfold. Vicki from AMERICAN PROFILE, an insert magazine in Sunday Papers of smaller towns, called to see what this was all about. We talked for quite a while on the phone and as it turns out, she has also interviewed a man in Halfway, Missouri who is a human cannonball and lives in a geodesic dome. That was a highlight. And Monday, Elizabeth called to talk about the possibility of featuring this house in WEND, a publication in Portland, Oregon that "is a forum for real people, writing real stories about real adventures and real environmental issues.......realizing that part of going off the beaten path means making sure the path doesn't get beaten." (www.wendmag.com) Check it out. It sure makes sense.

Michael reported today that Jason went to Forsythe to get a load of re-cycled cedar that will be used on parts of both the inside and outside of the house. I'm anxious to get the story behind that adventure.

This time last year, most of my excitement was centered around encounters with pit bulls on the front porches of truants or watching the miracle of Tero Ant Killer in action. I'd say I've bumped it up a couple of notches, eh?

There has been nothing mundane about this entire process so far. Each conversation I have, each field trip, each comment I've listened to or word I have read, and each person who is involved, has been absolutely alive with uniqueness. I love every minute of it.

Here's a shameless sales pitch in these challenging economic times.......

2009-02-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a shameless sales pitch in these challenging economic times........I've got some fantastic river-front property I'd like to sell you.....39.25 acres on State Highway B....overlooking the James River and Panther Creek......sold in its entirety or Tract 1 (12.35 acres), Tract 2 (13.42 acres), or Tract 3 (13.48 acres) for $12,000.00 per acre. Currently listed with Bob McCroskey Real Estate www.mccroskeyrealestate.com

The first time I drove Jason Mitchell out to see the house site, I told him that my original plan was to sell at least one Tract and use that money to build my house. The older I got, however, the more anxious I became to "get on with it" before I got run over by a truck; and I had now decided to get a loan and build the house anyway, with the hope that the land will sell at some point. I had never given much thought to who might buy the land......I just wanted to SELL it. Jason asked, "Have you ever thought about developing that land as one of Springfield's first GREEN areas for contemporary, sustainable homes?" Wow. What a concept.

All of these years, spending every free minute of my time either down on the gravel bar, paddling up and down the river in my kayak or inner tube, hacking sprouts and thorns to make trails along the bluff, camping in the field to watch the meteor showers, fishing for small-mouth, watching the heron, eagles, wild turkey, and deer....dreaming about the house I would build someday.....all with a casual disregard for what kind of neighbor I may eventually have. Huh. Once again, it was all about me, me, me, me, me.

I'm not quite smart enough nor available enough to do justice to Jason's suggestion, but it sure would be nice if someone else would take up this eco-friendly gauntlet and run with it. I have made a lame, but very earnest, attempt to honor this "green" endeavor (called WOODSIDE) by drawing up a document entitled "PROTECTIVE COVENANTS AND EASEMENTS" to be considered by prospective buyers. It's not the most thrilling reading, but it does include a very clear purpose that recognizes "the privileges and responsibilities that come with living aside the James River and the Panther Creek and their supporting ecosystems" and the statement that "the owner of each tract is encouraged to apply the practices found in the attached CHECKLIST FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION (www.BuildingGreen.com) to the building of any structure on their land and/or to the maintenance of their acreage as a whole.

The way I see it, land is a darned good investment in these economic times.....it's difficult to find a place on a river where a person can build a house.....and I could sure use a neighbor to help finance this project and to boss around with a bunch of covenants.

(These covenants do not necessarily include the playing of loud music. Especially Bob Dylan, Ozomatli, The String Cheese Incident, Widespread Panic and even The Legendary Shack Shakers. I HATE THE EAGLES.)

[The blurs are not currently included in the sale price... but it's certainly negotiable.]

More cowbell, please....

2009-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

A word of thanks to the Springfield Business Journal....

2009-02-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

A word of thanks to the Springfield Business Journal for a photo-journalistic adventure I didn't know I wanted or needed....but did.....and for the accompanying article and pictures by Jeremy Elwood and Aaron Scott that were just great.

The pictures were taken last Tuesday......the first day after the treacherous snow and ice storm......with a purpose and devotion and thoroughness that would befit the finest National Geographic photographer.

And the only words missing from the accurate and stimulating account of this project, were "if only these [shipping container] walls could speak of their journeys". And a phone call to Memphis was even made in an attempt to capture those.

All these years of reading, and I thought it was merely a Business Journal. I had no concept of the death-defying, global lengths to which these people will go to inform and to enlighten our community.

I am proud to have experienced this first-hand and have a new and better appreciation for all that you do and for all you have done for the Springfield Business community.

Thank you.

Smoky Pumpkin.....Mossy Oak.......?

2009-01-29T13:52:00.000-08:00

WARNING: THIS ENTRY MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME READERS FOR REASONS OF ABERRATIONS AND ABNORMALITIES THAT HAVE LITTLE OR NOTHING TO DO WITH A PERSON LIVING IN A SHIPPING CONTAINER.....(OR, ON SECOND THOUGHT, IT MAY HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH A PERSON LIVING IN A SHIPPING CONTAINER).

Without delving into any possible reasons that may have caused a Late-Life, Self-Induced, Oppositional/Defiant Color Disorder, let me just say that for quite some time now, I prefer to be surrounded (house, clothes, office, vehicle) by NO red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo or violet. My rainbow of choice would be shades of black, gray, brown, and white....with the possible inclusion of olive drab in the brown department, and dark navy blue that looks like black.

I haven't always been this way; in fact, it may have been an overdose of color throughout my life, and the resultant accumulation, that caused the onset of this dysfunction. To my credit, however, I am not the least bit sensitive nor judgmental about color in the rest of the world. In fact, I love color in the rest of the world. Just not for me.

I share this anomaly because we are approaching the time when the outside paint color will be chosen for the house.....and this may also be the time for possible conflict or the time for some polychromatic (thesaurus word) intervention. Or both.

Jason and Michael have been aware of this idiosyncratic issue from the very beginning of our relationship, and have been very professional and accepting for the most part......give or take the occasional smart remark about red shag rugs. Lately, however, they have said things like, "We need to start thinking about the color of your house" and, "We have seen some interesting paint chips that we think would be really nice on the outside of the containers". (All the while, exchanging cautious, yet knowing glances between themselves.) And so, it begins.

On a recent photographic outing with The Springfield Business Journal, during the worst weather and road conditions possible, Aaron Scott was privy to one of these non-colorful discussions on our way back to town. In the spirit of mediation and safe-driving, he remarked, "How about Mossy Oak?" (Not bad for a first-timer.) Later, that same day Natalie Mardis leaned forward with sparkling eyes and said, "Smoky Pumpkin.....not really a color....more like a shade. Smoky Pumpkin." (I'm sure she was well-coached.) And Jason and Michael keep bringing up orange.

My friend David has the best approach...even though he lives in California (and we all know about people in California and their ideas about color). He agrees with my "less (color) is more (better)" theory and selected colors that were actually visible in some of the blog pictures....dirt.....gravel....the hill across the river......dead grass....he even mentioned the eagle that has been visiting the house site (possibly attracted by a dead deer in the nearby field, according to Todd).....that may or may not have been color-related.

Meanwhile......regarding the color or non-color of the house, I am approaching a degree of flexibility and understanding. Let me repeat, I am APPROACHING a DEGREE of flexibility and understanding. How's that?

P.S. Before writing this, in my never-ending quest for self-actualization, I typed in "AVERSION TO COLOR" on Google, and found a most interesting site all about chromotherapy. www.deeptrancenow.com (It said I was mostly okay.)

So much hoopla....so little time.....

2009-01-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I'm mostly in negotiations with Regis and Kathy Lee these days.....they're just dying for me to come sit on one of those bar stools and gush about my house....my life....my plans....my friends....my family....my agent....my public....my dogs.......so, I'm very sorry for the delay in writing. (I don't have dogs.)

I have loved every minute of this interest and attention and thank anyone who took the time to comment about this project. It made me more aware of how thoughtful it is to merely look at and listen to what else is going on in the world. I could do a whole lot more of that myself, and will from now on. Thank you.

So.....now the HVAC system is being installed on the roof.....the coils for the radiant heating were put down, the concrete floors were poured, and as the sun was setting over Panther Creek yesterday, Todd was bundled up, all by himself, applying some potent sealer stuff (probably addictive) on top of the concrete and making very polite conversation with a neighbor who dropped by to see what was happening. (Or maybe he was just attracted by the fumes........both Todd and the neighbor seemed in excellent spirits.)

The floor looks great.....and as The Dude would say, "it really ties the room(s) together......" Later.

A little bit here, a little bit there...

2009-01-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

One of the top five days of my life......

2009-01-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

Thursday had to be one of the top five days of my life. I can't put it into words.....I can't begin to describe my feelings.....I can't put enough sentences together to make sense out of seeing something I have wanted for so long and have wanted so much come to fruition before my very eyes. It was and is too much. Too much.

For starters, just look at those pictures that Jason posted on the last blog.....double click each one to make it bigger.....and just see if you don't get goose bumps.

It would be too much blather to try and give you a play-by-play, but a guy in a crane with tinted windows (I'll have to get his name) that you could see for miles away would pick up a shipping container, gently move it over the piers,lower it very slowly, release it, do a sort of arabesque ballet turn to the left while Todd would have his welder (and newest employee) start welding it in place.......then Todd would do his high wire act on top of the next container, hooking the crane to the corners of the container top, sashay (or maybe it was more like a tour jete') down to go to the next one. And the crane man would do his dance again. This ballet was repeated four times, without a hitch, and the only thing missing was a symphony orchestra to accompany this moving and dramatic experience in the mud.

In probably less than four hours, a few good men had turned four shipping containers (that had yet to attract a wasp nest or a transient) into the house that, when finished, will take your breath away. Less than four hours.

Now, when I last wrote, I was a little mealy-mouthed about sending out the news release.....wondering if anyone would show up. HAH! This has become one of those "be careful what you wish for" deals that is downright amazing.....and I couldn't be happier. The only person I haven't heard from, is Oprah, herself.....but I'm ready to tell my WHOLE LIFE STORY when she calls. And I will be naming names.

Donna, from the News-Leader, was there with her camera and tape recorder and got the best parking place.....and probably more pictures and more words and more emotions than a person or paper could ever use. Joel, from KSPR, was there filming AND interviewing....at the same time. And Chad and his camera man from KY3 were there in time to not only stand inside the future living room and look down at the river through the would-be door/window, but must have been all over the place taking pictures and talking to folks and having a great time doing it.

Here is the KY3 story: Living in a box: architects create unique home in Webster County

And here is Donna Baxter's News-Leader story: Woman gains house of shipping containers

As a result, there has been an unbelievable....and I mean UNBELIEVABLE reaction to what has been aired. Keyway Construction, theworkshop 308 and I would like to
express much gratitude for the way in which the project was presented by the media, for the fact that it WAS presented, and in turn, for the response by those who were reached by the coverage. If I had written this yesterday, I would be speaking "regionally". After learning, this morning from a phone call or two, that it was aired on CNN / HNN's Morning Express with Robin Meade, and maybe MSNBC, I am now speaking "globally". So, what do you think about that?

There are some serious issues to be studied here. Too bad my brain is mostly mush these days or I'd study them. Sending out press releases isn't exactly in my comfort zone nor my normal realm of experience these days, but, in this case, it felt both thrilling and educational. Strange combination, huh? And the news sources must have agreed. The project itself has such validity where cost, efficiency, practicality and design are concerned......and the people who are making it possible are of the highest, most interesting, most ethical and most talented caliber you could ever find. Seems like the world is hungry for each of these elements.....and they can be found right in our own back yard.

One of the top five days of my life. That's a pretty big deal. Thank you.

P.S. One person who responded to the television report was Janice Harrison of ConGlobal Industries in Memphis. She was disappointed that I had never mentioned that the shipping containers were purchased from her company. She also included a website with a great slide show that features some very creative uses of shipping containers. (No wasp nests, no transients.) Maybe the 8747house will be included in that slide show one of these days. jharrison@cgini.com

A big day indeed...

2009-01-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

It's a media event......

2009-01-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

As momentum builds....electric ditch.....well-drilling.....dirt smoothing....plans to move the containers to the site.....crane-booking to hoist them up to the piers.....a frenzy of activity in my otherwise predictable life.....I determined that this was definitely news-worthy, by any standards. This was a media event. I checked with theworkshop 308, they said to go ahead, and I typed up a press release and sent it out to television stations and some newspapers; Jason added a rendering and some photos, and I sent it out again. No one else around here, that I know of, is building a house from shipping containers. And when that crane arrives tomorrow and starts lifting them up and placing them on the concrete piers, now that will be something to see. It's not exactly TIME or NEWSWEEK, but it's not your everyday Shriner parade either.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else shows up, but a very nice person from The News-Leader called today to say that she would sure be there and hopes to get a picture of a container swinging from the crane as it is put into place; and I heard that KSPR may be in attendance.

Yesterday it was Carharts and muddy boots.....tomorrow it's power suits and pumps. My career as the world's oldest living truant officer may be coming to an end. I may be Webster County's newest media "personality". Whooee.

This is only a test......

2009-01-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

This is only a test. Please stand by. I just wanted to see if I could figure out how to 1) take a picture with my $60.00 Sears camera, 2) put it on the computer with the USB card that was EXTRA, 3) find it again, and 4) put it on this bllllllog page like Natalie showed me.....a long time ago.

Picture or not, it was pretty darned exciting when I drove out to the house site the other day....just to tromp around and check on the concrete piers and the ditch for the power stuff....(my idea of cheap thrills)....and when I got to the top of the last hill before the driveway I saw this magnificent, towering piece of equipment....roaring through the atmosphere like there was no tomorrow. I jumped out of my truck and they (Garrett-the-bull-dozer-man, and Todd, and Garrett's cousin and some other people) were drilling the well. Drilling the well. Pretty darned exciting. I felt like Elizabeth Taylor watching James Dean. And if that wasn't enough, here came Webster Electric to finish hooking up the transformer (or some such big deal) with enough manpower and flag men and pylons to do a routine for the Olympic Games. Impressive, to say the least. I had to get their permission, with a nod and a wave, to pull out and go home when I was ready. It's a miracle. Everyone seems to know exactly what they are doing. Everyone.

Now, let's see if that picture of the drilling rig appears.....yeah, I'm calling it a rig.

Back in the planning days of this project....

2008-12-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

Back in the planning days of this project, whenever I would politely ask Jason if there was going to be a coat closet by the door or a place big enough in the laundry room where I could put my sewing machine and ironing board, his response was, "This is going to be a different way of living."

I have pondered that statement several times over the past few months, and I think that would be worthy of an interview in a future blog: A Different Way of Living by theworkshop 308. I'll see what I can do.

Meanwhile, I take those words to mean not only "space is money", but the more stuff you have the more space you need and the more space and stuff you have and need the more you have to take care of it, both mentally and physically.....and that certainly leads to less time and freedom to be happy and at peace with yourself, the people you care about and with the life you will live both in and out of this uniquely designed house. In other words, enough IS enough, and less IS more.

When you flip through the pages of DWELL magazine, you don't see stacks of year-old magazines in rotten baskets, abandoned craft projects, future craft projects, fashion mistakes and ill-fitting clothes hanging in closets, drawers of hotel shampoos and conditioners, old college textbooks and half-filled notebooks, old trophies and plaques, empty plastic ice cream containers, rolls of wrinkled gift wrap, useless and broken tools and gadgets, cracked styrofoam coolers, shells from a 6th grade trip to the beach, 5K T-shirts, feel-good poetry books, old birthday cards, ugly wind chimes, expired coupons, cheap pens, empty film containers and cardboard boxes, wrinkled tin foil loaf pans, off-brand plastic wrap gone astray, tapes and CDs that were never liked, cookbooks never used, jewelry never worn, old keys, TV offers, old dog collars, worn-out gloves, cigarette lighter collections, souvenir ticket stubs, broken suitcases, photos of perfect strangers, wrong-shade lipsticks or metal lawn chairs that need re-webbing. (Or if you do see them, they have been re-worked and re-priced and are now considered "art objects".)

So.....what did those hip (and usually bare-footed), casually chic folks in DWELL do with all of those things of theirs? And, is that why they all look so calm and smart and reasonably happy?

A different way of living. Ahhhhhhhh.

I bet it would take a whole shipping container to hold all of that stuff you never see in DWELL.

Sign up NOW for a tour.......

2008-12-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

Yessirree! Sign up NOW for a tour of a shipping container house in progress. Touch it! Stand inside! Look out the windows! Jump up and down! Close your eyes and imagine where this vessel has been! (or maybe not) Close your eyes again and imagine that this will be a real house someday soon! Self-guided tours are always welcome....day or night.....or make arrangements for an informative PCO/D (plasma cutter operator/designer) guide to show you around and tell you hair-raising stories of sparks and grass fires and a transient support team nearby. And all of this is just a step away.....downtown....in the Queen City of the Ozarks.....Main Street, U.S.A.

I have taken a few folks through the containers myself lately, and have gotten rave reviews on this entire project of theworkshop 308. And I've been sending word of the blog to the out-of-state supporters and have heard nothing but oooohs and aaaaahs.

A few years ago, before theworkshop 308 existed, and I was in the midst of my search for the perfect plan.......I signed up to go to an Open House for the LV Home that Rocio Romero designed in Perryville, Missouri. It was a very long, but very scenic drive to a place where you would never expect to find a very modern, galvalume and glass pre-fab house in a million years. I passed through the town of Perryville and a few miles out of town turned off on a small, rural road. I saw a nice-sized typical Missouri barn beside the road, drove a bit through a field....and there it sat. There were about eight or nine other people there, milling around and looking at the house, and Rocio Romero and her husband and her sales manager Marshall were answering questions. Rocio, herself, took me through the house, and I absolutely loved it. It was so open, so simple, so efficient. We all then wandered down a dirt road to the banks of a river to where The Fish Camp, another of her designs, was perched. It was an extremely simple shed-like space, up on piers, with a nice big deck.....no plumbing, no partitions, just an open space where you could enjoy the river and then close it up when you were ready to go home. They served some wine and cheese.....had a little small talk.....then got in my truck and drove to Greenville, or thereabouts, ate at a Dairy Swirl, camped out in a State Park and came home.

Plenty of inspiration came with that trip, and I'm sure glad I went........but I'm more glad that I've ended up with shipping containers in the middle of town, almost ready for the trip to the James River......and some very amiable, knowledgeable and hands-on designer/tour-guides. It's not too late to sign up.....BYO wine and cheese.

You gotta love a man in Carhart clothes......

2008-12-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

You gotta love a man in Carhart clothes.....they know stuff, they can do stuff, they aren't afraid to get dirty, climb ladders, make sparks, start fires, haul tanks around or squat. Seems like, all of a sudden, there's Carhart everywhere. No white collars or tasseled loafers or @#$#%*#* after shave cologne for miles. I never had it so good.

I got the call about noon on Friday. The plasma cutter was fired up and ready to go. Jason and Michael were in high gear by the time I got there to watch......and by the time I left, I had some windows in my new house. They are fearless. And I always thought designing houses was an inside job.....that didn't require Carhart.

Of course I can't be hanging out in vacant lots in the middle of my day job, but that whole scene is, conveniently, right in the midst of my territory and just cries out for surveillance every time I get close. I've driven by twice today, twice yesterday, brought my sister and brother-in-law on Saturday and re-visited later to take some pictures.......and still find it hard to believe that some day I'll be making fried egg sandwiches in one of those shipping containers....and looking out one of those windows.

And yesterday was a great day to tromp around the house site for a few hours and eat lunch on my future-porch. A lot of dirt....a lot of holes...the remnants of a campfire where we had a post-plasma-cutting session Friday night and one of the best visits with two of the best designers a person could ever have. Overalls by Carhart.

According to "Blogging For Dummies"......

2008-12-05T07:34:00.001-08:00

According to "Blogging For Dummies", one needs to be sensitive to the rhythm of the readers. The same person who wrote that (and the book, I presume) says that he (or she) writes in the evening to be considerate of the European readers.

So....let me apologize for my insensitivity in not bllllloging for a few days.....and let those folks in Europe know that if I could stay up past 10:00 I would be more considerate.

I just looked at my last entry, and was delighted and amazed at the pictures that had magically appeared. Sure is nice to have multi-taskers in your circle of friends. So what do you think? Are we rolling now? Can you see dreams realized before your very eyes? It has been one soap-opera, how-to documentary, epic film moment right after another......and the real fun is just beginning.

The holes are in the ground for the piers.....concrete and rebar will be next.....four containers are standing proud and glistening in the sunshine and shadows of the Grant Street Bridge.....plasma cutters are poised for door and window surgical removal.....all staff members are in a focused frenzy....and I will give you an eye-witness report in my next report. (With a slight delay for European readers.)

A couple of days later, after that not-so-dark day....

2008-11-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of days later, after that not-so-dark day on Main Street (turned bright with challenges, said Michael's mom Betty)......theworkshop 308 called to say, "We hope you were serious about your comments on building a shipping container house, because we've been doing some drawing and think we've got a pretty neat house put together....but wanted to check before we went any further...." There you go.

They asked me to come by in a couple of days to see what they had come up with and, once again, they nailed it. A perfect design. Everything I wanted and a whole lot more. One 20' shipping container for storage/shelter with a canopy to make a carport.....four 40' x 8' x 8'6" containers for the main house: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, fireplace, dining area, utility closet and kitchen....a screened porch with a deck overlooking the river, off the living room, and a screened porch, off my bedroom, cantilevered over the slope, and as close to the river as I could possibly get without putting on my wading shoes. I will be able to count the scales on a smallmouth bass....see the spots on the back of a frog.....hear a turtle plop off a log.....and live happily ever after. YEE HAW! The 8747 house is on its way.

What I'd really like to know, is what transpired from the day the words "shipping container house" were uttered until the day(today)when Nathan from Memphis brought the fourth and final container and dropped it (and I mean that both literally and figuratively) on the lot behind theworkshop 308. In other words, how did Michael Mardis and Jason Mitchell manage to sell this idea to a bank and two builders and their friends and family in one of the more conservative areas in the state of Missouri? (see '08 election results for Greene County) Where else in the world could you find an unqualified enthusiasm about such a project during the most dismal economic times many of us have ever known? And who do you know these days who would embrace this innovative-yet-utilitarian, uncertain-yet-verifiable endeavor with a menial budget, by today's standards, of $150,000?

I think the best answer to those questions and the reason this house is going to be built is that each person who has been involved in this experience, from the very beginning, is a person first, and a professional second; and as people, you couldn't find a better selection anywhere. They are hard-working, ethical, funny, kind, polite, multi-talented, intelligent, visionary, creative, and most of all.....open-minded. That open-mindedness has to be one of the most important elements, whether you are surveying the land, drawing the plans, loaning the money, engineering the stucture, building the house, or driving the components from Memphis to Springfield.....and there's not a closed mind in sight from where I'm standing....and never has been. I just wonder what they said and what they did from then until now.

So.....the money has been loaned, the shipping containers are lined up in a row, a plasma cutter has been purchased and tested, structural engineer Tom Netzer will check the drawings one last time, Garrett will come smooth out the house site on Monday, Todd will have an augur and skid steer making the holes for the piers on Tuesday, and if he fits some hunting in today, may even have venison meatloaf samples for everyone involved. Life is really good. I am very happy.

[The 308 back yard with various parts of my house]

[Nathan from Memphis, he's really good at backing up]

[And then there were 4]

[Making sure Chris doesn't screw up]

[Showing the boys how to use the plasma cutter. I hope you're taking notes Mardis]

And this is what i'm getting...

It was a dark day on Main Street.....

2008-11-23T18:36:00.001-08:00

It was a dark day on Main Street when we gathered around the table with Chris Kinnard (Keyway Construction), Michael and Jason (theworkshop 308) and me. No Cheeto and Hot Tamale combo this time...no Stella in a playpen....no coffee from the Coffee Ethic.....no Great Lake Swimmers playing in the background. Just us. Just the facts. And, unfortunately, just too much of an incredible house design for too little money to spend to get it built. The storefront glass, the large amount of concrete and the two separate structures were the vital elements of the project that couldn't be compromised, yet couldn't be afforded.

The lower Chris got on the list of what each component would cost, the lower my hopes got. It was pretty quiet for a moment or two when he finished and when all of the questions and all of the "what if we cut these...." were uttered.

My first thoughts during the moments that followed were...."Everything I had always wanted and much, much more." (gone) "They nailed it." (gone) Not only had I been "living" in that house over the past few weeks, myself, but I had garnered support and envy and unanimous appreciation for the gifts and talents of the designers for every facet of the plan, from family and friends who knew what this house meant to me.

My next thoughts were....Remember that day I walked into theworkshop 308 with my plastic shoebox full of ideas? Remember the enthusiasm....the confidence....the acceptance....and the commitment with which I was received? Not to mention the sheer admiration I had for their design talents and abilities which attracted me to them in the first place. And did I say "commitment"? I knew when I left their building that first day, that they were committed to my project and they were committed to my budget for the project and that I trusted them to honor those commitments beyond any doubts, and that I would have a house that I would love and live in for the rest of my days when everything was said and done. That kind of trust doesn't come along too many times in a lifetime......and it sure takes precedence over the me-me-me thoughts I had in that first moment.

And then, I think I remember saying, "Well, I could always just live in a shipping container"....thinking back to several years ago when I was so intrigued by Adam Kalken's "Architecture and Hygiene" website that I ordered his book and seriously thought about the shipping container houses he had designed. Chris had an extremely polite but non-committal look on his face, but Jason and Michael took that comment and ran with it. The more they talked and the more Chris got the picture, the more "The Montgomery Residence" began not to be the ending of my life-long plan, but more the beginning of a new one. A few minutes later, we were all walking up the street to visit a shipping container that had just been used as part of a First Friday Art Walk exhibition space.....and I guess you might say, that was the beginning of Phase II: the 8747 house.

And did I say commitment?

Unveiling "The Montgomery Residence".....

2008-11-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

The night Jason and Michael came over, plugged in their computer and unveiled "The Montgomery Residence", I had tears in my eyes. They had designed two separate structures....one with my bedroom and bath, kitchen-living-dining room, pantry and utility room and desk space in one structure......corrugated metal siding with a wooden "rain screen", concrete floors, a deck over-looking the river with an outdoor fireplace, storefront windows, high ceilings, fireplace, bedroom deck.....and the other structure for Morgan a few steps away had a bedroom and bath, desk space connected to a storage/shelter area and carport. It was an absolutely perfect design. Everything I had always wanted and much, much more. They nailed it.

I started "living" in that house the minute I had it on paper. Sitting on that deck, stocking that pantry, eating supper in front of the fireplace, taking showers, reading on the couch, building fires outside and watching the moon.

The difficulty came when I couldn't IMMEDIATELY transpose that house on paper to the ground where it was supposed to be. There was plenty of action, but there was also plenty of inaction. I had to keep remembering that I was closer to what-I-had-wanted-all-of-my-life than I had ever been. And getting even closer.

I got an email from Ian and Courtney from Chicago, before they moved to Springfield with thoughts they had about the approach to the house and how the space in the house could be compatible with my use and needs.......MODOT came out and selected the best place for the driveway according to visibility.....Jason and I staked out the driveway (keeping Ian's ideas in mind)......the soil scientist came and found the best place for the septic system....we had a meeting to hire Keyway Construction to be the builders of the house....two days later, Nathan and Todd came out and supervised the beginning of the driveway with Garrett moving the earth and me standing beside the road with tears in my eyes (again) at the thought that this was REALLY happening.....I started reading Natalie's blog (still the only blog I've ever read) about the process of adopting Stella......transferred ownership of a pink kayak to theworkshop 308.......had Webster Electric come out and talk about where to put the power......listed the remaining 40 acres on the river with Bob and Katy McCroskey to be sold in three tracts for potential "green" building sites.....Brian Viele came and staked out the house site for the excavation......had a combination site visit and grapevine swing when Courtney and Ian came to town......was invited to a celebration picnic when Stella finally arrived......had an amazing trip to the land and the river during The Flood of '08.....and waited and waited for the builders to get the pricing compiled so we could take the figures to the bank and get the construction loan.

Things could have turned ugly right then and there.........I would suggest reading an essay by Dan Maginn that appeared in DWELL magazine in February 2007 entitled "Your House, Your Sandwich: an architectural drama in five parts". That says it all.

CLICK HERE for Dan Maginn's article.

Back to the Phase I planning period:

2008-11-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

Back to the Phase I planning period. Subtitle: the Springboard to Intimacy. I had no idea that the process of designing a house and getting it built was so intimate...but once you have bared your closets, basement, garage and kitchen drawers to a person, the mystery is pretty much gone.

And then there is this feeling of gluttony: people asking you what you want, and how many, and how much, and what do you like, and what do you need.....an all-you-can-eat-mentality of options and choices offered by people who can really make it happen.

So we had more meetings, during which Jason and Michael were beginning, working on and then finishing the Coffee Ethic...which then became another great place to have a design session or two....now also involving the friend/engineer Tom Netzer.....and being surrounded by the living testimonial to theworkshop 308's most interesting, endurable and ethical craftsmanship and design....not to mention, Jim Hamilton and Tom Billionis and Blue Batok coffee to die for.

Jim and Tom and their families have to be some of the best people to move to Springfield in a very long time. They have brought so much with them and have accomplished more since they arrived than some people do in a lifetime. And they certainly picked the right designers to work their plan....and a whole lot more.

The bits and pieces of the Coffee Ethic project I was able to absorb, as an outsider, were both inspirational and encouraging to my own developing plans. For instance, Jason and Michael brought Jim and his wife out to see my land when they mentioned that some day they would like to design and build a place in the country....they found and used resources for the shop that ran the gamut from historical ice storm wood to Bourbon, Missouri flea market bargain chairs....and rather than staying perched atop their stools at drafting tables, they put the hammer to the nails until wee hours of the morning and used every facet of experience they may not have known they had.

It just occurred to me what makes them so unique....or at least one thing: their work has no boundaries. And I mean both out-going and in-coming. They allow people and objects and places and ideas to enter into their designs....in so many ways...and, as a result, their projects have a truly endless impact.

Phew. I am WAY off the subject here. WAY off. theworkshop 308...design without boundaries. Huh. I'm sure that's already been used....but it's the truth.

Yes, this segment was supposed to be about the Phase I planning period...I just got a little side tracked.

I'll never forget the night Jason and Michael came over and unveiled the design of my house on their computer. (I believe refreshments for that evening included a Hot Tamale and Cheeto combo and beer.) Stay tuned.

I'm naming names......

2008-11-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

I'm naming names, for just a moment......instead of continuing to recount the historic past year......because for an instant today we were all in the same place at the same time. Yesterday, I referred to the big fat meeting with the banker, the builders, the designers and me. The banker, Michael Garner of UMB, and friend of theworkshop 308, is the sort of banker who, with his wife Jess, tromped with us all over the 48 acres.....up hills and down.....along narrow trails with bluffs straight down to the river.....watching for eagles and heron from the rookery......nearly stepping on a snake.....listening to plans for the house we were building as we walked..... ever congenial and careful....and a very smart man to put his trust (and money) into such an endeavor as this. Since that first meeting, I've seen him both on and off a mountain bike, saw him do a cartwheel in Phelps Grove Park, and met with him dressed-fit-to-kill in his suit and tie behind his desk with the same combination of acceptance, caution and adventure it takes to be a banker you love to do business with. The builders at the meeting were Chris Kinnard and Todd Slack who, with their staff and crew, are Keyway Construction Company. The two of them also spent a huge chunk of an afternoon looking first at the house site, then walking down to see the best gravel bar on the river, talking about wives and children, hunting and fishing, jobs they had done, places they had lived, and seemed genuinely interested in doing this project.....and confident that I would be thrilled with the outcome. (I doubt that they said "thrilled", but I was sold on them and on their approach to the house, to the land, and to me. And still am.)
And then Jason, Michael, Natalie, Ian and Courtney were all there today, as well. And I'll have a whole lot more to say about them, as time goes on. The meeting went well....I laughed a lot.....had a little Hot Damn cinnamon schnaaps in Dixie cups to launch this deal.....I'll go sign a deed of trust tomorrow.....I'll get some project insurance....try to keep up my day job......attempt to learn another blllllloging trick.....be grateful for the way things have happened......and the people involved.....and off we go.

[That meeting I was talking about]

Bear with me for a while.......

2008-11-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

Bear with me for a while until I fill you in on that first year of this over-the-road-shipping-container-house saga. It may take several more bllllllog sessions before we reach tomorrow: the day the money gets released to start construction. Big meeting with the banker, the builder, the designers, and the frau. I won't name names until I know it's safe.

So......after the artistic and fiduciary requirements were delivered to Jason and Michael, I supposed I would have a pretty long wait, with very little communication, and then a meeting to look at some drawings. And I was already ecstatic just thinking about it.

What I got in the months that followed was a whole lot more. It began with a trip in the pouring rain to see the building site with Jason.....who was not the least bit hesitant to get wet and muddy and cold (with a few ticks) and to explore not only the site, but the 40 acres that adjoin it, as well. A week or so later, Michael and Jason came over to the house where I am living to examine that space, and everything in it, and to talk about my daily living habits.....where I spend the most time and why....what do I have in the garage and the basement that I can do without or not.....what kind of space my daughter Morgan needs and actually uses.

Dang. I forgot another important element I laid on the designers that first time around: My thirty-two-year-old daughter Morgan was born with Down Syndrome and lives with me one week and with her dad (we are divorced) the next week. Nobody likes isolation better than I do, and Morgan seems to like her own space with everything in its own place in her own space. Separation under the same roof is essential to both of us. Add that to the previous list of nine requirements and the $150,000.00 budget and you can see how valuable this relationship with Jason and Michael is becoming, eh? (And what must they be thinking at this point?)

Back to Jason and Michael's visit.......I was very impressed with the fact that they came to my present house and were so thorough with their questions and their tour.......even taking pictures of belongings they thought I might want in the NEW house. That certainly makes sense. What if they had planned that house tour and found me living in a French Country Villa with flocked wall-paper and turquoise vanities.........then what?

There were more planning sessions.....sometimes at their building on Commercial Street.....sometimes at my dining table......sometimes at the site with curious friends or potential participants.....sometimes with beer....sometimes not......but every moment was better than the last and every day was closer to the fulfillment of a life-long hope.

I'll talk about the unveiling of the first design and snakes and ticks and a monster truck moment in the mud.......later.

[a few additional 'people' to accomodate for in my NEW house by artist Ken Richardson]

I forgot one tiny detail yesterday.....

2008-11-11T18:06:00.000-08:00

I forgot one tiny detail yesterday when I was laying some of the groundwork for telling what messiahs theworkshop 308 really are. I laid out my nine-item "must have" list and my agri-industrial chic concept and all of the blathering about how long this journey had been and how "no one understands me".......and then I told them that my budget for this project was $150,000.00. And they didn't blink an eye. That is not an arbitrary figure. That is all of the money I can ethically and practically and realistically spend and still afford to live in it. And they nodded and smiled and agreed that they could design a great house for me at that figure. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen any place else around here.

To back up a little.....

2008-11-10T18:29:00.000-08:00

When I first started this search for the perfect houseplan, DWELL magazine didn't exist. To find modern design houseplans, a person had to go to the library and look in fat, slick books by architects whose names were unpronounceable, or find the one and only modern house in a collection of "500,000 Budget Plans You Can Build" in the grocery store magazine aisle, or hope that the "Plan of the Week" in the News Leader had fewer than five bedrooms and three porches with a four car garage and a boat stall. DWELL brought hope and possibilities and websites other than the over-stuffed collection sites that had a different understanding of what "contemporary" was than I did. For the next few years, I looked at a billion houseplans on the internet, read DWELL, communicated with a few people who had some real promising plans they offered as "stock" plans, and started stashing pictures and articles from people like Gregory La Vardera, Atkison Studio, Dan Rockhill, Adam Kalkin, El Dorado Architects, and Rocio Romero. I had a list of 9 things I thought I needed in my house: kitchen, laundry/pantry area, bathroom, 2 bedrooms with closets, living room, fireplace, dining area, screened porch, storage. I wanted an agri-industrial-modern-galvanized metal siding house with concrete floors and high ceilings that looked like it belonged on a ridge in Webster County over-looking the James River.

During that same time, I used to give my old New Yorker magazines to Tom Netzer to read. In exchange, Sally Netzer would give me her old Springfield Business Journals. Who's to say who got the best deal, but that's where I first read about theworkshop 308 in the year-long series they did called "Evolution of an Enterprise" and that's what got me in their front door during that Summer of 2007. I could tell by looking at them, they would understand. And they did.

March 8, 2008 Site Visit

2008-10-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

( Serious Corporate Types )

March 14, 2008 site visit.

2008-10-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Staking of house location.

Jason Mitchell and myself.

Staking ceremony.

and it all began . . .

2008-10-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

I can't really remember if I was carrying my clear plastic shoe box full of magazine clippings, internet renderings, philosophical essays from Dwell magazine and a plethora of likes and dislikes about houseplans culled and copied from every imaginable source when I walked into theworkshop 308 that first day..........I might have saved that for the very next day. I only know that if any other designers had seen a 65-year-old, white-haired lady pull up to the curb in a pickup truck with glimmerings of a $150,000-modern-house-with-lots-of-glass dancing in her head, shoebox or not, they would have locked the door or sent her down the street to the Victory Mission.

To their credit.....no, it wasn't just to their credit......it was more like a back-lit miracle......they told me to make myself at home on the couch, or look through their books, and tell them what it was I had in mind.

Yes. That day was definitely the start of a good, good time.....the start of a shipping container house perched over the most beautiful rocky and wooded slope down to the James River.....and the partnership with theworkshop 308 ......namely, Michael Mardis, Ian Ford, Natalie Mardis, Jason Mitchell, and Courtney Ford.