the georges

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

BUILDING DAY 3

We are beginning to understand how big of a project the stove is. At first, I (Rachel) was really enjoying the clay and thought it was great fun. We have been told that you never really get the oven finished. I spent all afternoon getting the clay molded just right and still have tons to do. David worked on more of the structure for the benches and counter areas. He also began working on a bay window for our bedroom, which is not only really neat but also gave us 2 extra feet for our bedroom ( we can only build 16x20 houses).

All in all it was a pretty good day, we are hoping to see some more progress in the next few days other than just layers of clay on the stove. It has been a really great time so far though, many families have been bringing up snacks throughout the day, babysitting for us, and even making us meals all so we can have lots of time to work on our houses.

Behind David are the poles for the structure of the counter and benches

Working on our bay window

Putting the 2nd layer of clay on the outside

We had to line the inside of the oven with "bush dirt" as it's called here. And then put a layer of clay above it. We had to slope it around just right so that when we open the damper we would get a draft in the oven part to bake with and when it is closed it will heat up the plates at the front for cooking on.

This is our "fridge"! We really don't see much use for this besides storing chocolate, but it's done and out of the way now.

Here's the progress on our stove by the end of today, hopefully we can get a fire going in it tommorow. The beastly thing sticking out the side is a project David has been working on for weeks now. That beautiful tank will allow us to get hot running water! Isn't my hubby the greatest?!?

Hopefully tomorrow we will have more than stove pictures for you. Please keep praying for us and our class as the days are long and we need lots of energy and motivation to keep going!

thegeorgefamily06.blogspot.com

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

BUILDING DAY 2

Yesterday the house structure seemed to go up so quickly. Today projects moved at a much slower pace as the jobs are smaller and more detailed. The main job for today was to work on the structure for our oven to sit in. This is quite a job and will continue for days to come.

David spent pretty much all morning getting the poles into the ground and sized up for the entire stove structure. I joined him at lunch and used twine to tie all the poles in place. We then put a piece of plastic down and filled it with 3 inches of dirt. This will prevent the stove from burning the poles below, definately a must! Then we put the stove on top and are currently working on a layer of clay that will cover a good portion of the stove.

The oven structure

Me hoisting dirt into the bottom

Nice packed dirt, David jumped on it just to be sure it was good and packed

There's our beautiful oven :)

David made a fire for us and we roasted hot dogs for dinner!

Here you can see where I started putting on the layer of clay

thegeorgefamily06.blogspot.com

Monday, June 1, 2009

... and the building begins! Day One

David got up just after 4 this morning and was up working on our house by 5 this morning! By the time I was able to bring Elijah up there, he already had quite a bit done. One of the staff couples made us burgers for lunch so we were able to take a quick lunch and get right to work. I was able to help David all afternoon, thanks to a family who offered to watch Elijah for us! Most of the day was quite chilly with a little rain here and there. Hopefully the sun will come out for the rest of the week. All in all, we are quite happy with the outcome of day 1.
So, what was accomplished today?
*Holes were dug and main posts were put in
*Rafters were duct taped across the top
*We have a roof! The plastic was spread across and stapled to the cedar poles on the ends.