A Living Magazine - Tap Root: Days 216 to 218 - Evolution of a Cottage

On February 22, I began property (and cat) sitting for my neighbors again. Gato still stays with me at the cabin too...

Gato, after being caught mid-air--just before landing on the keyboard of my laptop.

Gato is a snuggly, purring, squirmy, ultra-soft, bi-polar spazzola. He is still under a year old, and beginning to come into Tomcat mode, especially with it being spring and all. He has not started spraying (thank god!), but the odor-killing litter can't even touch his new manly fragrances. He, of course, revels in his new physical development sniffing the edges of the litter box, rubbing up against door frames where he has scratched - flemming--with that "t,t,t,t.." sound - and then pretending there must be another male cat in the house, by running around like a giant squirrel on meth looking for the ghost imposter.

He'll start his ghost attack in the bathroom, crouching down in there, but facing the kitchen--as low as one can on that linoleum floor. His little back paws try to claw into the floor with a scraping sound, trying to get a grip. His body quivers in muscular preparation, as his head bobbles side to side like a owl pinpointing prey in the distance... The difference here, is that Gato's "prey" is most likely a small ball of crumpled paper, or sometimes nothing at all (in the material world, that is). Finally, stopping his head in a motionless pause, his pupils dilate... Then he springs forth!...or, um, that is the intention. 

Instead his feet slip over the smooth floor in a flurry of navigational uncertainty before finally finding their holds, and then he springs forward, enters the kitty wormhole to hyperspace.

Upon observing this, suddenly time is suspended and my perception recedes into viewing a Matrix-like effect as Gato flies through the living room, up to the arm of the first couch, then using all that centrifugal force offers, grabs the fabric with all twenty claws, and then releases them, rounding the backrest, as if gravity itself had migrated sideways. 

Once in hyperspace, Gato is able to do circuits around all the furniture without ever being upright. In ultra slow motion, one might imagine the music behind the space scenes in 2001 (Johann Strauss II's 1866 Blue Danube Waltz) playing in the background. Then time returns to its normal duration and all I see is a series of hyperbolic blurs. I swear sometimes he is actually flipping head over tail!

He is SO hyper--more than I've ever seen before (and I've had a lot of cats). I've observed that he is most crazy before he needs to use the litter box. Yet, he seems happy, not in pain or anything and his litter results are perfectly healthy. It is just the way he is.

He's a rather small boned male, who almost has a female-cat kind of presence at times and in terms of affection. Perhaps he would check the mark next to "trans-cat" under gender preference? He does have the testosterone-driven aggression of a pre-neutered male occasionally though. It's that kind-of "I can't stop freaking out!" thing found in the dispositions of most mammalian species of pubescent males--including humans. Many of we adult men look back on puberty with astonishing embarrassment for how passionately we fought and cried, and threatened to die over subjects that (in hindsight) never should have been taken very seriously. Or, was that just me? Gato's energy is a scaled down version of that. He also spends a lot of down time napping. That literal up-in-the-air vs totally zonked out definitely reminds me of a small kid. Similarly, I try to wear him out at night so he won't wake me up so early in the morning.

In full disclosure though, Gato can also be a real pain in the ass too. Understanding that he doesn't mean it does very little to mitigate my irritation over certain things. When I'm working on my laptop (my preference for typing), he will do his spazzed-out thing around the room and then integrate jumping up onto the keyboard into his routine. I've lost work, had paragraphs of jumbled letters, lost the use of the track pad and had to restart...a hundred times! I now am getting good at catching him mid-air, just before he hits the keyboard, then putting him back on the floor, which I can tell surprises him. I'm not much for punishment, but even negative repetitive behavior modification doesn't seem to be working very effectively. Ha! In other words, learning is slow with this one. But after catching him in flight and turning him around so I can scowl scowl at him face to face, he just narrows his eyes in a cat-smile, starts purring and lovingly kneading my arm. As far as disciplining a cat? Maybe I am the only softy in the room...

The temperatures were remaining above zero more frequently each day. Sprinkling rain or heavy mist would come during some days with freezing wind at night, causing a sort of snow-crusted baklava effect when one observed the layers from the side. And I did this pretty often. 

The cabin water system needs a new filter. I have to let it run before showering to get rid of the sulfur smell. So for potable water I've been melting snow; just bringing in a bunch and let it melt over night for the next day. It is super clean and deliciously fresh water, once strained into a pitcher. To do this I need to dig through the icy layers outdoors to find clean snow, and can count the number of storms by counting the layers, like the rings on a tree stump mark years or striations on an archaeologist's cliff side mark millenia.

As the first book was starting to really gel, I'd regularly spent some time away from it, developing another architectural permutational design for a small, realistic cottage idea. 

I'm very interested in building with stone. I fully understand that the efficiency of outside stone in an insulating situation is not good, because because it is a bridge that cools to the temperature of the outdoors and takes a long time to heat up on the inside--mine will be double walled for that reason. I am not going to that be concerned for this part of the house, since the room is so small and will have a large fireplace (maybe with a wood stove). So, I want to use stone mostly as an aesthetic aspect, tying the walls into the construction of the fireplace and chimney as seen in the video below. I happen to have literally tons of stones available on my property. All I would need is premixed cement to begin building, rather than saving to buy lumber and waiting for delivery (which would also mean I would have to further clear my road for a large truck). I have a rock ledge area to which the foundation could be anchored. The stone walls will be combined with wood walls. And the idea would be expandable in many different ways, here is just one video example of a three-phase development plan... 

"Evolution of a Cottage"

© Copyright ACWall Designs 2018.

I have found it especially fortuitous to not have rushed into trying to construct something last fall. Although I have missed most of the first winter living on my own land, it has allowed me the luxury of evolving and perfecting my ideas about what I want for a house.

For the first time publicly, I think I should clarify my most current expectations for what I want in a living space... Although for brevity I tell folks who ask about my project, that I'm "doing the tiny house thing," this is really more of a half truth. Yes, initially there will be a tiny house, but it will grow. 

As I talked about in an earlier post, I want this property development and house construction to be an art project, from beginning to end. The house should be integrated into, and reflect the characteristics of, the land around me. Nature and I are co-creating a place that is meant to be perpetually beautified, embellished and perfected. That is why I want to do so much of the work for myself. I am the human part of this artistic relationship. I want to do the building as an almost meditational activity; or as much of the work as I can by myself. I'd love the help of friends in transporting and/or donating items, and there may be a few times when I will be happy for us to labor on the house as group (I'm thinking when the roof needs to be done). But for the most part it is going to be a private project--at least to start.

I have an offshoot technique when I build things, that mixes practical construction with careful finishing details; a process that I call "Jewelling." It is tangentially related to my POMA concept (Point of Maximum Affectability, that readers might remember from how I handled certain situations while I was Journeying?).

Jewelling is how the Temple at the Parthenon in Athens was finished. Even with the largest pieces of marble - and amazingly, using mostly small bronze tools! - the entire complex was treated as a giant sculpture--literally as a giant jewel. Every surface and frieze was as detailed and well-worked as the statues were. In the construction projects I have had the opportunity to work on, if given a chance I like to hone every detail of this building work until it is the best thing that it can be, even up close. I so-much look forward to doing that with my house and property. I have found that sometimes when I work without people who have industry routines and habits, I can often make improvements or innovations upon traditional ways (even with making some rookie errors).

But I need to explain that I am not necessarily interested about living in a tiny house as a final goal. I just want to build one that will become the core of a residential complex of small but interconnected buildings. 

I can imagine after the third phase of the cottage in the video above, that another small, connected building could be constructed in a different way, proportionally highlighting the new piece of land it will cover. Each hundred foot square on the property has its own characteristics worthy of honoring in the architectural plans of future structures. As things stand now, I want a structure for me personally, like the two floor master suite cottage that would be accomplished by the third phase shown in the video above. 

But, then I want a seperate house that can be a complete living space on its own, like a place for visitors, to be completely comfortable no matter what their living needs are, maybe even integrating a flush-style toilet (if a compatible composting system can be developed). I want a space on the property that even a disabled person could live in easily. Partially, this is out of pure curiosity--can I make an example of highly an efficient assisted living home in a remote place? 

I'm always thinking about how what I'm doing might help other people to live more simply. Can this be a model for low income and disability housing alternatives? There is much to improve upon when it comes to housing people in Maine (and all across America--something my book will address). Surely experimenting with self-sustaining and simplified lifestyles can't do any harm.  

The author enjoying warmer temperatures.

I went each evening to check on the other two cats, emptying their litter boxes, filling their food bowls and paying them some quality attention time. One of the cats (a calico) is not shy and always comes to greet me when I get there. The other kitty, is notoriously shy. Apparently past caretakers would never see her at all for the two weeks the owners were gone. The first time I looked after the cats, back before Christmas, I did discover her hiding places. But this time, she finally came out and offered her friendship, in all of its nuzzling, purring, shedding, drooling glory.

Now that we're bud's I can't do anything at the house without her begging to be snuggled. I guess I should feel proud to be let into her extremely tight circle of friends. The value of friendship is universal.