Amish Invasion

Our Master Bedroom is finally complete with the addition of this furniture built by Amish Craftsmen. No, they didn't deliver it with a horse and buggy- too far for even the Amish to go. Laying in the bed for my first night's sleep I was thinking about the first night we ever slept in the house, in about the same spot, just after it was framed. In a sleeping bag on the concrete floor, with no insulation, electrical, plumbing, or anything else. And while this may look like just furniture to anyone else viewing this photo, it is so much more to me... it's a milestone which says in the not too distant future I'll get a chunk of my time back. Tea and scones anyone? Perhaps a week long spa retreat? More likely I'll end up spending the time on some other wacky adventure, but it still feels good to imagine the possibilities.

One More Aggie Photo

Can't resist posting this photo of Professor Booth scaling the tree on his way up to our very old and rickety tree-house. He did prove his wisdom in not actually getting onto said tree-house. Perhaps the outcry of all of those watching had something to do with that decision. Meanwhile, there I stood just watching in amazement, trying to figure out how I could make an Aggie joke about his endeavor.

Aggie Adventure

Last week Ann and I went to visit our friend Professor Geoffrey Booth at Texas A&M. I gave a talk to his graduate class about our Wimberley place as a case study in evaluating sustainability options. Here I am pictured with the students after the class; I especially admired the cute blond near the far right. I've always loved graduate school, both as a student and lecturer. Being around lots of smart, curious people trying to make a difference in the world gives me hope that we'll find some way to save the planet, despite all the trends to the contrary.

On Saturday Geoffrey, his wife Debbie, and some of these same students came out to the house itself to get a personal look at things. Here we are on the little deck down by the drought-stressed pond in our backyard.

Thanks Geoffrey, for a chance to get away from work for a bit and rediscover that the main ingredients in being happily employed have little to do with making money. Not that I'm complaining about making money. I'm just saying...

Another Soaking

Shower number two is getting close to being usable. I just need to grout the tile shown here and pop in the control handle. I said "usable" as opposed to "complete" since like most of my projects there will be little odds and ends incomplete for awhile. Like the tile on the threshold and around the door area. Oh, and a ceiling. Complete status won't happen for a few weeks or several years, depending on what other projects distract me. I did manage to learn a few lessons from shower number one which have made this one go a bit faster, like using bigger wall tiles instead of a thousand of the little 4" ones. And luckily this shower is bigger, which makes it a lot easier to work inside of when laying the tiles. So grab your soap-on-a-rope and plan a trip to Wimberley to visit us. Better double check that the shower passed the leak test before you hit the road.