she's crafty

I’ve been involved in a few projects lately—painting the tourist center in Molly’s village and windows + other fun in my hut.

Here’s Molly white-washing. She did two sides of the building and a whole lotta wall. Two coats.

My masterpiece, still in-process:

Then Josh, Tom, and Rachel came out to help me knock holes in my hut for windows.

Here’s Josh and Tom starting on the hole for the big window:

We were pretty sure the whole thing was going to come down with the first hit, but luckily it didn’t. There’s a pretty great sequence of videos of the process of cutting and pushing out chunks of wall.

Best tool of the day: a bike chain, used like a saw to cut lines through the walls. Brilliant!

Best find of the day: two earrings, encased in one of the mud bricks of the wall. I only wish I knew why.

Most disgusting sight of the day: earwigs, streaming out of a hollow roof pole I’d cut the end off of. Hundreds of them, like in a horror movie about an insect invasion. It was truly gross. And even grosser to know that there are more up there, living in other poles.

Josh finished up the window frame the next day, then made me a nice little front step.

So I decided to repaint as well—thing is, the only paint I could buy by the gallon was school bus yellow and a gloss finish. My walls are now… bright. Veeeery bright. And shiny.

I’m now making a screen door to keep out large unwanteds. (The bugs will just go through the cracks around the door, the gap between the walls and roof, or the wide-open back door… but the sheep? The sheep will be foiled!) More pictures to come as work progresses.

I didn’t do all of this stuff last year because of the supposed second batiment that was going to be built where my hut currently is. Since it’s clear that’s not going to happen this coming dry season, either, I figured now was the time. It’s kinda nice to make improvements now—makes my hut seem new and exciting for my second year. Plus it’ll look good for my parents’ visit ; )