Very on-off weather lately, and I have to admit to feeling pretty down about how much it’s raining. I found another big puddle in the tarps covering the straw buildings. Well, I say puddle, I mean ex-puddle, since what I found of it was the remains of the leaf-drop and a big, dripping hole in the clay on the interior wall. Sigh.
I have no idea just how wet a straw building can get before you sort of sentence yourself to having to replace whole sections of it. I suppose we’ll find out.
Anyway, Tuesday was great, Anna came back and helped me finish the shower frame in the brief bout of beautiful weather. It’s no work of great craftsmanship; some of the joints don’t quite meet up, etc, but it’s good and sturdy, and with a set of tent-fabric walls (which I’m busy making today) and a shower curtain, it will make a shower cubicle and changing room that will be quite serviceable. Elmo reckons with four kettles of boiling water to add to the watering can, and a hot sunny day to make the thing like a sauna inside, even he might have a go.
The pulley system works really well, with a rope from the back handle of the watering can to the beam above, to the corner brace and down to a pedal on the floor, so you can control the flow with your foot, which, as anyone who’s ever tried to get shampoo out of their long hair with one hand will tell you, is crucial.
Toby came along and helped us finish it (very handy with a power drill, he is) and more importantly helped test the pulley system, which worked beautifully. I can’t wait to try it out as soon as it’s got some walls.
Elmo, meanwhile, has got the leisure battery in the caravan up and running to power his laptop, and has somehow managed a fast enough connection to successfully work and hold meetings over the internet up there, so he now disappears into the caravan and we don’t see him for hours, but it’s better than him being stuck at the house.
He did come out long enough to find, and take this picture of, a mysterious caterpillar. I’ve googled it and I think it’s an elephant hawk-moth (what a great name) and will be quite beautiful when mature. I hope I catch a glimpse.
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