Hello to everyone and I hope you’re all healthy and having a cozy holiday season! We are still snug in our tiny house trailer in Independence. Our year didn’t turn out how we planned it, but that’s ok.
Besides a couple of injuries, we also thought we’d receive our plans from the architect, submit the permit application, prepare our site in Starlite with utilities and foundation, and have a healthy start framing our dome house by now. However, our architect is quite busy and we still don’t have the plans.
So, we made use of the time we would have been working on our house and did other stuff. We went on some backpacking trips, which felt really good. There is something exquisitely grounding about walking for days in the mountains and carrying all you need on your back.
Jon has spent many hours, as he says, committing maintenance: repairing, upgrading, and reassembling his Maule. He is a true programmer at heart and has many cool (and two uncool) projects rotating between the back and front burners. He also helps our friend, Jeff, on various surveying jobs and they have had some adventures, of course.
I volunteered at Manzanar for some reconstruction projects with a group of really friendly people and was honored to receive an award for Most Days Worked this year. My parents visited California twice this year and I loved catching up with them. And I ran a trail marathon in Death Valley on December 3rd and spent so much time (because I am a very slow runner) training for it.
Our cats love the catio, the cat bridge, the rotation of mail order boxes, the sun puddles, and all the cozy nests we made for them.
As for the house building and being able to move on to our property, we have a new plan to build in two phases and are working on the permits for that. Fingers crossed for 2023 house progress!
Lots of love and peace to you all!
Love your holiday update! Sounds like you made it a great year despite the disappointment of having to wait (a little longer) for your d/home.
Hello, Marie! It is so good to hear from you!!! Yes, we love living here again with all our favorite activities. Does it show? Hahaha!