Straw Bale Building Updates - Lots of Progress and Lots of Pictures!
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Great news - We passed the electrical, plumbing, HVAC (heating and cooling vent stuff), and the framing inspection. We can now finish out the house. The only inspections left are the roof insulation and the final inspection when we are all done. By the way, the Dona Ana county inspectors are really nice. They were excited that we were building a straw bale structure and said they were wanting to do the same thing. We told them we'd have to stay in touch so we could swap ideas!

	Several girls from the Vineyard Northeast youth group helped out a couple of weekends stuccoing.
	They got the North side of the building done and started around the east corner.
	We had to slow down a bit on the outside stucco job since spring time in our region is pretty windy. We had to pick days that were 15 mph winds or less or the stucco would dry to fast and crack a lot.
	While we were working on stucco, the plumbers were able finish the rough in plumbing. Here is the tub and where the toilet will be.
	Air conditioning and heating ducts running through the trusses.
	We put two electric posts out back for hooking up RVs. (These are 50amp hook ups like in an RV park.)
	The electric box for the building was fixed outside. It hangs on the wall on bolts that go all the way through the wall and fasten to the other side. Electric outlets for the inside are fixed to 2x4 wedges driven into the wall. The electric wire is set under the stucco netting and we'll just stucco over it.
	Ernie and Linda moved their RV to this spot right behind the trees.
	We got the first door made and hung. This is for David & Marsha's room. It has a carving of a harp. The 5 strings symbolize the 5 wounds that Christ sustained for us. The seven rays of light from the sun symbolize God's perfection and the 3 jewels represent the Trinity. The 4 hills are the four families that are founding the community.
	This is a little sitting area that Sal & Rose put together. We hope to have lots of nice little areas of reflection like this around the community.
	This is a little gate that we built. With it, we can finally close in the front yard to keep the kids in. :)
	This was a great idea for sealing the air conditioner. Since the box had to sit on the ridged roof, the installer suggested putting a ramp from the top edge of the roof to the box. The water would run down the ramp off the roof instead of down the roof to the air conditioner and pool up at the edge in the ridges. We'll paint it red to match the roof.
	Someone had brought some pigs by for us last week, but we weren't able to keep them. But they were very cute. (The kids loved them.)
Rose & Linda started a nice little garden in one of the old horse pens. They've already grown some real nice squash and radishes.	They also have some lettuce, corn, pickling cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and other stuff.