Go speed racer, go

Things are continuing to move along at quite the pace. We are only three weeks in to owning the farm and we have done so much in just a few evenings and three weekends. Heat is ready to go waiting on gas hookup from the plumber. This weekend we finished getting the outside ready for the insulation guy. Not sure what day he is coming, but we are ready. J also took the chimney down and put a temporary patch in place. All set for the roofer. And hopefully the patch is ready for snow. It's in the forecast for Tuesday.

We still have several feet of brick/chimney under the roof to take down. We cleaned the bricks that J took down so far and stacked them near the back fence. We will be re-purposing them as a fire pit. This past summer our meditation community went camping in Wyoming. The camping hosts' property had this amazing fire pit dug into the ground that you went down several steps to enter into (see below). It could hold about 40 people on 2 levels of seating. It was built that way because it is so windy in Wyoming. We were thinking of possibly doing something similar, though on a much smaller scale. As long as I have a view of the front range, I'm okay with however we decide to build it.

Several people commented this week on how lucky I am that J is so handy. Handy is truly an understatement. If there is something to be done, J will not only figure out how to do it, but how to do it perfectly. I am in awe and feel so grateful that he can help me manifest what I see. I recently read the book Shopclass as Soulcraft. Excellent book, and so reminded me of him. It spoke of the loss of craftsman and tradesman, and how the education system has moved so far toward intellectual trades, that we limit a huge population of people from finding their place in the world, as well as lose our ability to create solutions. We also find that sense of pride in our accomplishments elusive. It speaks to how when we create or repair things, the level of problem solving and the ability one needs for contemplation are at a much higher level of thought than we give credit or place value.

I told someone it was a dangerous book for me to read, as it would make me want to leave office life for a life of work creating something real, rather than cerebral. Not necessarily a bad thing, except the pay doesn't quite equal the value of the work. (2 mortgages right now doesn't exactly help.) I probably read way too many memoirs of folks who leave the big city life in search of an agrarian dream. In reading this book, it touched upon something I think many people long for. Living a simple life of value, where you can readily see the result of your labor, and know that what you did helped others. Like feeding people. What has more value, creativity and beauty than that. Nourish the body, nourish the soul.

I think J is one of those people of lost arts. His skill and soul run deep. I am very lucky.