The Kitchen Sink

 It's greywater time! After thoroughly studying Art Ludwig's book on
 greywater, I went on to explore the unpleasant realities of digging a ditch in limestone-filled clay in 97-degree weather. It wasn't pleasant, but I was determined!

Here's what I started out with. Me and shovel vs. crazy-hard ground.

Here it is! A greywater ditch (I made this =)

After a day of digging, and a night of rain to make sure I had good drainage at this spot, I filled my ditch with a layer of course sand, a layer of charcoal, a layer of small pebbles, and two layers of larger rocks. Before it was all said and done, I had switched from my shovel to a hammer and spade in order to crack the larger limestone rocks so that I could pull them out by hand. I also transplanted a couple of native plants to make it prettier (if these take off, I'll put more plants in there).

And every greywater ditch needs a source of greywater, I suppose, so I built a kitchen sink.

Had to wait for this wall to be finished to install it.

I used this Ikea table top (that we've had for years and years) and, after using a

screwdriver to make guide holes, cut out the shape of the sink with a saws-all. 

Then I sprayed on four coats of Rust-oleum to make it more water-resistant.

(The Rust-oleum was 1/2 price at Home Depot because the lid was missing.)

Then I put in the sink, screwed it in place with the hardware 

that came with it, and sealed the edges with caulking.

I made this =) 

Eventually it will drain out of a long pipe that I've already cut, through the wall, and into the greywater ditch.

I built the base out of 2x4 scraps, and the legs are made from trimmings that came from 2x6s. I'll post a better picture later, because here I was just testing it out - it's not even anchored to the wall in this picture. I put the sink and counter onto the base, added the drain thingy that goes in the bottom (secured with plumber's putty), figured out where all the pipes should go, and cut the pieces that I needed from a larger pipe with a hacksaw. 

You might also be interested to know where the water comes from. The sky, of course! From the sky into a rainwater basin (aka a kiddie pool), and then into one of those big, clear buffet tea containers with a spigot at the bottom. Then where does it go? Through the pipes, and for now, into a designated greywater bucket that I empty into the ditch by hand. 

Did you know that greywater is really grey? It is. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Rearview Mirror

The clock is ticking. The countdown is on. We will soon be gone from this place (not existentially - I'm just referring to the move from city to country). Will things look clearer in the rearview mirror? Will we be homesick for a place that was not originally home to either one of us?

I've lived in this city since 1999. I've moved repeatedly, and have lived in seven apartments and one house, but I've stayed in this general area. I was happy to get here, but the city has served its purpose. BA and I met at our church. I saw him walking through the parking lot, thought that he was really cute, and wondered how I'd ever find him inside the building (it's a megachurch with 10,000+ members.) Miraculously, the usher sat me right in front of him, and after the service, he gave me his number. Even if that had been the only reason for me to move here, it would have been worth it.

Reasons that I will miss living here:

1. Our church
2. Our friends and the few family members that live nearby (although a lot of them have moved or are moving too)
3. A sushi restaurant on every corner
4. American Airlines Arena, where I can watch the Sharks beat the Stars (hey, it's happened before, it can happen again!) Like last night (April 3rd)...they won 5 to 2...we were there...yelling our lungs out...Go Sharks!!! And thanks for the hockey puck =) You made our 9th anniversary date night awesome!
5. The ability to walk to church, to the drugstore, the gym, a few restaurants and fast food places, the mechanic where we get our oil changed (just drop off the car and walk home)...basically, I'll miss the convenience of this location.    
6. Variety. Choices. The ability to be picky about where I buy the groceries or which movie theater we go to. (We'll have choices where we're moving to, as well, but they will be far-flung instead of a few blocks apart.) 

I could also say that I'll miss the close proximity of great healthcare services and world-class doctors, but it really doesn't matter how close they are when you don't have insurance and can't afford to use them...


Reasons that I won't miss living here:

635 at 9:15 on a Saturday night.
Yep, it's a traffic jam. Any time,
night or day, this hwy sucks.

1. Traffic!!!
2. Loop 635 (Yes, it still pertains to traffic, but it's so bad that it deserves its own number. Especially now that it is under construction...) 
3. I can't have chickens here. Anyway, where would I put them?
4. I can get pretty much everything I need online, so who needs all these stores?
5. BA can learn to make sushi rolls for me so that I won't have to drive to Austin to get them (though we'd probably have to order the seaweed online). I think this will save us some money.
6. There are few things to do outdoors, most entertainment options are overpriced, and club culture here is touristy and focused on 20-somethings (whereas in Austin there is lots of LIVE MUSIC (totally worth the drive), and there are plenty of fun, cheap, and outdoorsy options to choose from in the surrounding area =)
7. Noise. Even the very best of neighbors make noise. And if you do luck out and get some good neighbors, there's still no guarantee that they will stay put. You could have new noisy neighbors next month. 
8. Silly, silly people with broken turn signals and a complete lack of driving etiquette (Alright, so that one also pertains to traffic, but again, deserves its own category.)

I think that's it. And I totally admit that this was a great place to live - it's just time to go. Going off the grid, collecting rainwater and utilizing greywater, recycling and re-purposing materials, building our way, buying local foods from local farms, living off the land to some degree...all these things will be so much easier in the country. And those are the things that we value most right now - being good stewards of the earth that God gave us.

(Side Note: I've never understood why most Christians and most conservationists seem to be in two different camps. If you believe, like I do, that God made the Earth for you, then why wouldn't you want to do your best to care for it, nurture it, and protect it?)

Even Starbucks is doing it.

I saw an article on Yahoo today about Starbucks building a store from shipping containers. You can read it  here. The article also says that this building is using rain-water collecting and xeriscaping to conserve water. Good for them!

Isn't it beautiful? So glad to see a big corporation doing this.

Photo: Tom Ackerman, Starbucks

Catching up...

I need to get ya'll caught up on what we've done so far. Basically, we are trying to go from this:

To this:

And eventually to this:

OK. The first pic is of our first actual shipping container, which we refer to as "the box." The second pic is of the interior design of the first box, which we are working on right now. We will live in the first box for about a year before continuing construction. Why? We are paying as we go - we don't want to take out any loans for this house. 

The third pic is of how the house will look when we are completely done. We'll be adding four more boxes to the first one, and a roof over most of the structure that will be designed to direct rainwater into our rain catcher. Part of the structure will be left exposed and made into a "green roof" - a roof which will be covered with sod and plants. Additionally, a windmill will be added to generate electricity when we can afford one. We are also taking advantage of the hot, bright, ever-present Texas sun by utilizing solar lights where possible, and putting windows in optimal locations to provide light without adding too much heat. 

So what have we done so far? 

We've poured a foundation:

And framed out the inside:

And we've built a shed to put things in:

 Yay! So now we're all caught up on what's happened so far. We're kinda winging it here - there's not a lot of info out there on how to construct something like this. Sure, a lot of people are getting into building with shipping containers, and there are some great pictures out there for inspiration, but practical information (like how to frame out a window on  a structure that's naturally wavy) is hard to come by. So I hope documenting all of this will make container home building more accessible for anyone who wants to try it. AND I'm hoping to hear from people who have done this type of building before, cause we'd love some advice!