Spider's Last Days

The spider in my shower survives again. I give a him chance to run for cover every day, turning the water on slowly, urging him up into the drain vent every time. When I move into my new house and leave my small but luxurious upstairs adobe apartment in Taos I suppose his fate will be sealed along with all the other creepycrawlies I allow tenancy here. And why not? I'm just one more, with as much right to life as any.

Looking at the west side of the house.

The new addition will grow to the left(north).

Today I began making a trench for the underground telephone cable, the least protected of my new utilities, and the first to get hooked up. Wednesday the phone man installs the phone box outside the house and I'll be able to communicate from the job site.

The job site becomes my home full time on December 20th, 39 days from now. By then I hope to have water and electric lines to the house, as well as a septic system and, with luck the pad will be in place for the new addition. The existing house by then I hope, will be sealed against the winter, while work begins on the addition, which will consist of bedroom, bathroom and utility room.

Also, by then, god nosing, the yurt will be standing on a wooden platform nearby, extra space, a refuge from construction. Until the addition is complete, I'll also have an outhouse, kindly donated by my current landlady and longtime booster, Suzy Starr, a beautiful outhouse which has sat unused in the hard here in Taos for years, originally property of the National Forest Service.

Focusing on getting my ducks in a row - builder, electrician, excavator, septic installer, plumber all have been secured, plus many the necessary permits and signatures - has let me avoid thinking about the actual mechanics and scheduling involved in the construction itself, but today reality begins to set in.