Progress At Last

Just got back from our property yesterday.  I say "our property" because Wanda will always be an important part of my life there.  This is the third trip I have made since she passed away.  I finally feel like I am making progress on the house. 

I hauled the papercrete bricks that I have made out there and began to set them up for a stem wall.  As so much has changed in my life, I have decided that in order to get the house built sooner and with as little effort as possible I will be changing from all papercrete walls to strawbale walls on top of the papercrete stem wall. 

If anyone knows where I can buy strawbales close to Terlingua, please let me know.  I may have a source here in Fredericksburg, but it would be less costly if I don't have to haul them so far. 

My current plan is to spend 4-5 days a month to prepare everything for putting the walls up.  Then by September or October have the walls built and a roof on.  I hope to have the house ready to be occupied before Christmas.  Wanda's sons and a couple of friends are anxious to come and help.  The biggest problem is scheduling a time that all of us can go together.

My Soulmate

Yesterday I lost the most precious thing in the world to me.  At 6:05 am November 3, 2011 Wanda was taken away from me, from her two sons - Jeremy and Lucas, her mother - Wynelle, and sister - Lisa by the cancer that she fought so long and hard to defeat. 

On Oct 20 we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the day we met.  Ten years is not long enough, but I know in my heart that I will see my soulmate again and that we will be together once more. 

Update on Wanda

It has been nearly 5 months since my last post.  These past 4 months have been very trying for both Wanda and me.  Wanda began to feel ill while we were on vacation in June.  It began feeling like muscle spasms in her right shoulder, spine and below her ribcage.  After seeing the Dr. and given pain killers for the pain and only getting worse over a 5 week period, the Dr. finally ordered an ultrasound.   When the ultrasound found spots on her pancreas and liver they also did a CT scan, and 2 weeks later a biopsy which was positive for cancer.  They diagnosed her with pancreatic cancer which has spread to her liver.  It is inoperable and the Dr says that the only choice is whether to have chemo or not.  Wanda has decided not to go through the chemo and we are treating her with alternative treatments. 

We had planned on being in Terlingua in September, but have had to put our plans on hold.  We have received a great deal of support from family and friends, as well as the local Hospice.  For now we are taking things one day at a time.  But one way or another, we will get our cabin built.

Don't know how soon I will be posting again but I hope to be back soon.

Slow going!

Nothing to report since last post.  We went to the coast last week for a family gathering.  It was nice to get away from work for a few days.  Things went pretty good for the most part.  Wanda and her son tried to do some fishing, but the fishing weren't biting.  Good thing we brought plenty of food!

We did run into a problem when our vehicle died on us at the campground.  We had to have it towed about 30 miles away to the nearest dealer, since we had someone check it out and he said the problem was the vehicle's computer.  And of course, only the dealer can program a new one.  The computer had to be ordered and shipped so it would take several days before it could be fixed.  We left the next day in Wanda's son's truck and headed for home - had to be back to work for a busy weekend.

We are now back in Houston to pick up our car and return the truck.  We will spend the night here and get the car in the morning and head back to Fredericksburg. 

It looks like another busy weekend for us, so we have to wait til next week to get back to making our papercrete bricks.  We are starting to get a lot of interest from our neighbors who have seen us out in the yard working on them.  We enjoy telling them what we are doing, and they are very fascinated.

I am hoping to get up to 40 - 50 bricks a week. (maybe wishful thinking?)

Papercrete Mixer Improvement

Yesterday I used my new mixer for the first time.  At first it seemed to take longer to mix the papercrete with the new mixer than it did by hand.  But after getting my routine down things began to speed up.  Today I took another step and modified the mixer so that I could turn the tub, making it easier and faster to mix. 

Wanda came up with the idea of making a turntable to set the tub on.  We have an old square end table that swivels and a small round table.  Her idea was to take the hardware from the end table and the top of the round table and attach them to the stand that the tub sits on to make a turntable. 

 

The more we get into this the harder it is to have to wait to get back to Terlingua and our property.  It would be so much better if we had more time to get away.  But we knew it would be this way at least until I retire next year. 

In the meantime we will just have to keep building our bricks.

Meanwhile, Wanda is learning to can food with a pressure canner.  She's starting with Pinto beans.  Before long we should have plenty of veggies from the garden to can.

Well, its been a long day.  Time to relax!

Testing New Papercrete Mixer

We found a new papercrete site the other day.  They used a drill press to mix the papercrete.  So we decided to try that ourselves with a drill press we bought some time ago and have hardly ever used.

First I had to build a sturdy workbench to attach the drill press to.  Another trip to the lumber store!

Once I got the workbench built I bolted the drill press to the end of it and attached the stucco mixer on the drill press.  I then made a small table to set the bucket on.  after several tries I finally got the table the right height so that the mixer just cleared the bottom of the bucket for good mixing.

I am still getting used to using this to mix the papercrete, so it is still slow going.  I don't know how much faster this will be than hand mixing with a hand drill, but it is saving a lot of wear and tear on my hands and wrists.

Testing the mixer

Making Progress

Well, it's been a while since my last post - much too long!  Things have been busy here, and I just don't seem to have the energy at the end of the day to think about what to say.  But here goes.


We have made progress on making our papercrete bricks.  After my first attempt - which didn't turn out too well - I think I have the right proportions of paper, cement, and sand.  We started out doing only one brick at a time to make sure they were coming out.  The first form was only for two bricks, so it was slow going at first.  But after our tenth successful brick I figured it was time to start "mass producing".  I made a new form which holds ten bricks at a time.  However, we are still not completely up to full speed, as we still have to mix the papercrete in small quantity.  We have moved from mixing in a 5 gallon bucket to one about 17 gallons.  This allows us to mix up enough for two bricks at a time.  Within a few hours we can mix up enough to fill the form, making 10 bricks total at once.

I'm researching how to make a larger mixer to speed up the process allowing me to make more bricks per day.  A 200 gallon tow mixer would be impractical for us , so I am looking for something in between that and what I am using now.  I've see one made out of a 55 gal drum with a lawnmower engine attached and a L-angle driveshaft connected to a lawnmower blade. 





Along with making the papercrete bricks, we have also been searching for used windows and doors for our cabin.  This past weekend we had time to go to the monthly Trade Days here in Fredericksburg.

We found the perfect door for our main entrance.  Among a yard full of old windows and doors (most of them rotting and falling apart) we found this door.  It is old, made of sturdy hardwood, with no rot.  One side was coming loose, but was easily fixed with wood glue. 

The small window is removable allowing for fresh air without having to open the door.

My personal favorite is the large metal door handle.

I think we got a good deal for $30.

Next time maybe we can find some windows.