Diddling would have been on Poe’s mind, and nearly everyone else’s, in mid-nineteenth-century America, when the capitalist frenzies that possess the country from time to time were rampant. When speculation runs amok, when stocks rise and fall overnight, when financial panics are regular occurrences, when currencies become worthless in a moment, when people are shorn today of the riches they gained yesterday and head off tomorrow to do it again, when it is every man for himself and the invisible hand against all—when, in short, the American dream is taking shape and the unfettered market is frustrating and occasionally fulfilling it, you can’t be sure about whom or what to believe. After all, the trusting are the diddler’s prey, their faith the sign of their weakness. It was a diddle-or-be-done world, and it still is.
Issues
I got this in an antique/coffeehouse in Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii last year. The entire bottle is 9-1/2″ long (the section shown here is about 5″ wide), 4″ high, 3″ wide; the neck, through which all of this had to fit, is about 1″ wide. How they ever did this is beyond me. Build it in collapsed form, slide in and pull erect? There are two human figures, a couple of baskets, a palm tree, and some fencing. Wonder of wonders!
We are running photos of our French carpenter friends Menthe and Yogan documenting the trip they took this summer along the Northern Pacific Coast, exchanging their carpentry skills for room and board.
This is a tiny home they built in 10 days on an old Dodge flatbed truck in Humboldt County, California.
We are posting one of their projects each day for a week here: https://www.theshelterblog.com/
Tags: adventures, builders, carpentry, design, natural materials, on the road, roadtrip, tiny homes, tiny homes on the move, tiny houses, travel, vehicles
Hi there Lloyd:
Check this out… here’s a recipe for how to make your own clay paint from three simple ingredients.
Clay paint can be used on a variety of surfaces, including drywall. That means you can easily give very standard interior walls a distinctive earthen texture and appearance. It looks really great — I just finished a wall in the bathroom here.
– ziggy
Brian ‘Ziggy’ Liloia
Natural Building Workshops & more at The Year of Mud
The big news around here regarding our next book, Small Homes, now in production, is that we decided to postpone the publication date until spring, 2017.
It takes us an enormous amount of time to put a book like this together.
Also, this book is looking so good, and will be so relevant to so many people, that we want to take our time and do it well.
Here (today) I’m working on the most complicated two pages so far in the book. When I started I had no idea how it was going to come together (or if it would).
But starting did the trick; in over two days it worked itself out. 22 photos with fact-filled captions.
Here’s an interview of me done a few months ago by Natalie So, where I talk about layout and beyond: https://www.editionlocal.com/lloyd-kahn-shelter-publications/?rq=kahn
Photo:Evan Kahn
Notice 3-sided popout windows with small roof above.
We’ve had (drywood) termite problems on and off for years. Since there’s no way I’m going to have the house tented and permeated with Vikane gas,* I would periodically get the bug guys to do the microwave treatment. It cost $2,000 initially, then about $500 per year for future treatment when needed.(I believe orange oil is also used these days for people leery of insecticides.)
A few years ago, I decided to try Greenbug spray, which is (said to be) made of cedar and natural ingredients. I’ve been spraying this stuff on the wood where I see termite frass (pellets) and to my amazement, there are no more pellets. I say “amazing” because this is topical treatment and it doesn’t seem it would get into the wood where termites live. (All of our termites are in ceilings.)
The stuff smells great, like cedar oil, and I am just now buying a 2nd gallon (about $60). I pour it into squeeze/pump bottles (like Windex bottles) and spray until it drips a little (it’s water-soluble). Haven’t had the bug guys out for many years.
Greenbug is one of the few products in the world not sold by Amazon.
https://shop.greenbugallnatural.com/Greenbug-Ready-to-Use-one-gallon-GRTU128.htm
*First, Vikane is made by Dow — red alert. And, if it can penetrate into the wood and kill termites, I am suspicious of residual effect.
