Category Archives: Pictures

Plaster those Walls!

This will be a good news post, which is why we look so happy in the pic to the left. We found an awesome plaster crew. Rusty, a 30 year plaster veteran, has never done straw bale before, so he … Continue reading

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The walls are up!

Since late July, Beth and our daughter Serena have been working hard and doing a great job installing all the straw bale walls of the main house. They are true artists! Since the bales must be flush with both the … Continue reading

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Lots of Progress!

Since our last post in March, so much has happened! First of all, we now have underground power from a pole on our neighbor’s land to a transformer just inside the treeline near our NE porch. It hums… it is … Continue reading

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Slow Progress

Sometimes, when you work mostly alone, you just need a supervisor. Here’s mine. His name is Ninja and he’s the feral cat who takes care of our workshop/shed. He’s a lovey-dovey and almost always wants hugs and rubs. Except when … Continue reading

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Cross-bracing “fun”

Normal houses use plywood sheets at the corners to prevent the frame from racking in a high wind… but you can’t do that in a strawbale house, because the plywood traps moisture which will rot the straw. The answer is … Continue reading

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Sept. & Oct.

We’ve been working hard since the last post — and been too busy to update this site, unfortunately. We’ve made progress, though there have been ups and downs. The weather has been dry and helpful, and we’ve tried our best … Continue reading

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Mid to Late August

The “update list of links” idea is working well for timeliness, so this page will take Chenoweth East thru the end of August. Join us on the journey! We love visitors, so if you are in the area (see Maps, … Continue reading

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Update in Pictures – June to Early August

Now that we are in the thick of actually building, there doesn’t seem to be much time to do the posts! So, for a picture overview of progress, here are links to different folders that progressively bring us up to … Continue reading

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High Lift and Hoe Ram

Here is the hoe ram in action, breaking up the rock which is in the way of the footer for the annex foundation… It is a Bobcat lift with a special attachment on the front. In case you’re wondering, the … Continue reading

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Rock & basement

In the last few days we have been buying lots of #3 rock, plus something called “crusher run” by the dump truck load. Because of the rain, it has been going on the road and … sinking :-O Obviously, this … Continue reading

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Junk in the pipes – before/after

In previous posts I described the process (and hassle) of cleaning out the pipes which the crossing is built on. Since doing that, the pictures nearby represent the highest the creek has gotten since then. In point of fact, in … Continue reading

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Beth and Ginny

The lady of our future home has been a vital part of everything from the beginning … even when Ted was musing about building a rammed earth home (another story) back in the mid-80s! Now that we’re on our way, … Continue reading

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Found a claw

After roughly 10 tries last week, we found an excavator with a claw (the grabber thing above the bucket in the picture). It got the crossing cleaned out! Since then, the creek has been happy, and we’re moving forward… Notice … Continue reading

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Highlift, meet dead oak

A friend recently asked me, “What’s a highlift?” Behold… Our driveway, it turns out, needed to go right through a place where this huge, dead oak tree was standing. We got a bid of $800 to drop it, but then … Continue reading

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We Need a Claw!

…with a backhoe attached to it. That’s because the creek keeps cutting the ends of our crossing out every time the water gets high, and before we can fix it we need the culverts cleared of debris. See? We think … Continue reading

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