Cob: RE: CEBs

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Some have asked for a picture update of the CEBs, even though they are not
cob. This is still earth building and some may be interested. So here are
some pics.

It took some time to learn how to make nice blocks and they also need to
cure for a month, so I haven't been able to actually put them into a project
yet.

Darrel: I probably will be going with a standard store bought mortar for the
first few projects. That way I can reduce what I learn by error and proceed
with the trial part with more successes.

I might be able to make a small privacy screen in a couple of weeks. I am
deciding on a pattern for the claustra work, and will be sketching it up
this week. (Wife doesn't want anything done in the front yard without
clearing it with her.)

If anybody is interested in the details I can make up a longer post on block
making. I found a chapter in an old masonry book on making a patio with
earth cement that I just might try.

My little girls are loving learning to be country girls. Picking wild
strawberries, watching lightning bugs at night. Emma say," Papa, did you
know that the lightning bugs are fairies and the queen has called them all
to her? The girl fairies fly on butterflies and other pretty bugs and the
boys go on bumblebees." I say, "No, I didn't know that, but thank you for
sharing that with me. Now I know."

Life out here has a very different quality than my former urban existence. I
love it!

Michael Fitzgerald
Anthropologist/Woodcarver/Puppetmaker