Then and Now

[warch]

I dont know if this is thread, but what the hell, eh?
I suppose this falls into the major navel gaze category. But I'm thinking today about my past. I've moved a lot and each move seems to bring a new chapter. New people, job, environment, new waves of interests, and always a new cluster of memories. Here's what triggered my random thought:

I have a loom. A beautiful, maple Nilus LeClerc 45' 4-harness loom. I fell in love with weaving when I was like 25 or so. I learned all I could, as I was making all I could. I was totally fascinated and obsessed. I would get lost in the color and the math. I started a business to support the obsession. For about 8 years I sold everything I made. I made more to sell. Till I burnt out. I was cranking out shit I didnt care about, wasnt interested in or proud of. So the chapter ends. The loom stands unused for months then finally gets dismantled and stored in the closet. Each time we moved house, 5 moves since- Should I sell this damn heavy thing? Look at what theyre asking in the paper. no. and there's that heart pang. It was still dear even if I couldnt stand the sight of it.

I have stuff, but next to Bruce I am a minimalist! I do tend to purge at the end of each sort of life chapter, usually marked by a move. But there is the stuff, that stuff of yours, letters, albums, books, goofy doodads and silly clothing items that are too dear, too resonant. They're you. And you'll carry them around forever if you can. Even if they are heavy, you'll want to know theyre in the closet. I can understand the pain of a house fire and losing your stuff.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up and saw the loom. I moved some furniture and set it all up. Oiled the wood, warped up a project. I felt the love still in me. Like riding a bike. I wont make what I would have back then. It'll be new again.

So its interesting to see all that goes into this life. How about you?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bingo. Deep down you knew all along that someday you'd return to what you loved so much. Of course the loom, unlike people didn't have a choice.
After moving a lot, not always by choice, I've been parked here since 1979 and 3 years before that in a big house only a couple miles away. My philosophy is, if someone needs it give it to them but never throw anything out unless it's to make room for something better.
"That stuff of yours" Oh what magic those words hold! Every piece of stuff is a "post-it note" holding a piece of your past. A piece of the puzzle that is you.
I have a glass insulator from a telephone pole. Just a clear glass generic insulator as unremarkable as possible. But I could talk for several hours on the memories it conjures up for me. Maybe it's my hedge against senility. When I die, it'll go in the dumpster with much cursing and grumbling about junk.
How come I haven't seen the loom in Dodads?????????

[warch]

I dunno, its a dodad, but I was thinking about this along the lines of what you do being so much of your identity or something. The skills or interests or experience that make you up, even if theyre not in the forefront, theyre still in there somewhere, blending and informing what your currently doing. And I think its good to have that evolution too.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's a Dodad because it's something that you're comfortable with having around you and comfortable because it is around you.
Now I'll bet it's almost like a religious icon to you. The hours (and hours) you spent on that loom, no matter how complicated the pattern or the level of surrounding distractions, allowed your mind to travel to some delicious places.
Thinking is the best way to travel.

[warch]

I thought today that this whole thing, the then and now nebulous navel gaze, is just me noticing that I was learning the whole time- and enjoying that realization.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Epiphanies can be warm and fuzzy can't they.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ok, you win. I'll beg..on my knees...ouch dammit, oow that hurts... I can hardly reach the keyboard now....ok, on my knees...please, pretty please with sugar on it.....show me the loom. If you feel Dodads too degrading to it, how about here? Or I'll pm my email and you can email it. Pweeze.

[warch]

Good lawd man! calm yourself. I just hafta "appropriate" that technology.

[Griff]

I'm still thinking... maybe my whole house is a doodad/life reflecting thingy?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Are we products of our environment or are our environments products of us?????

[Griff]

Its a circle.

[Elspode]

Have I ever mentioned how incredibly envious I am of:

1. Your choice of location for your house?
2. The opportunity to build your own house?
3. The fact that you possess skills adequate for the building of your house?

Awesome, man. Just awesome. I can't even paint a finished wall without maiming myself.

[Griff]

Many thanks Patrick, careful with that talk though, you're making me misty. I'm getting into the finish work which keeps reminding me that this the most wonderful phase (so far) of my life is slowly closing.

[warch]

I will add my admiration for the Griff and Pete house. So cool! (I'm particularly fond of the fine stone fireplace.) But you're never done, really, are you? I have a feeling you'll easily find more wonder to fill the next chapter, and that next chapter will be built on and rooted in the great experience of your homestead.
I imagine you've learned a lot. Maybe you covered this before, but what launched your decision to take on the house building? How long ago was it? Did you have any previous experience?

[Griff]

You're right about never really being done warch, we still have an unfinished basement, a sun room to build out front, a screened porch out back, and my home power generation fantasy to fulfill. Every new copy of Fine Homebuilders has something of interest in it. We were trying to decide between two subdued milk paint colors in our cabinet doors, until a bright blue showed up in FH in cherry cabinets very similar to my design. Its a neat problem using color to delineate space instead of walls.

Building a house has been in my subconscious since my teens. I always read Mother Earth News although back then my place would have been more remote, a much more extreme task. Pete and I often talked about building a little farm when we were dating which is cool because we know we're both on board with this thing. The thing that pushed me was probably being home with the babies as an at-home Dad. We've got that cultural barrier that taking care of kids isn't supposed to be enough and at the end of the day I needed something to do to blow off steam. We were in a log cabin, which was losing value a a pretty good clip. It was in a dark wet location and was of poor construction, in short it was going to rot into the ground. Building my own place became an economic imperative, it answered the question how can I improve our economic status without working outside the home. The answer was building our own place without a morgage.

I'd done some electrical wiring in the past but almost every other task was learned on the job and from books. The smartest move we made was taking the Shelter Institutes home building class in June of 1997 which broke the huge process down into smaller doable tasks. They gave us the confidence to do it. People keep telling me they couldn't do it but I'm not so sure about that. I started as a wood butcher during the rough construction and have improved as the work gets fussier. I'm even a little embarassed at some of my early work but I'm covering it up.

It was easier as a team effort, Petes work has financed the whole thing and its gotten easier over time as my wood shop is more capable than it was and the jobs are less money intensive. I keep reading about single folks and divorced Moms doing it and the key is using the resources available in your community. Nothing brings people together like helping to house another. I just got to help another guy raise his barn frame a couple weeks ago, its a great way to meet or renew aquaintances.

One huge thing that nobody seems to mention about building a house is the importance of finding property in a township which isn't overly concerned with the permitting process. In many places around the country and owner-builder could never get his own design past the regulators or build as an amatuer over an extended period of time. In my township I called my supervisor and he sent me a permit, done. Don't get me started on PA's septic laws though.