The wind whipped up on the Mesa as the excavator started digging the pit for the blackwater leachfield. Wind and dust blew from the west into eyes and ears and noses. The bottle wall grew higher and we found ourselves hanging over parapets and slip sliding down the steep slope with bottles and mortar in hand in fits of giggles.

Exhausted and crusted in cement and dust we couldn’t wait to get showered and on the road again for happy hour pizza, this time with nearly the whole gang of interns. Over dinner the conversation turned to best injury and of course Bris pulled out all the stops including teo broken arms at the same time and a massive gash on the head from friendly grappling. For me Sam won though with his skiing injury inflicted by a wayward grandma that left his spleen on show. Yum yum eat up!

Then with high spirits we drove to the hot springs, with headtorches on high we trekked the fifteen minutes into the gorge over rocks and boulders. Two people and a dog were already there and were unimpressed to share the small pool with seventeen odd extras. The water was perfect and the rocks soft with long silky moss. We chatted and watched out for shooting stars in oh so much sky, each star slowly twinkling out as the clouds rolled over. We didn’t know it then, but snow was waiting for the new day.

Finally we could rest from the render and get creative. Ron put the coloured bottle pattern into our hands because he said he didn’t have an artistic bone in his body. It was a bit daunting at first having heard stories of Mike Reynolds jack-hammering out work he didn’t like. Bottles stretched out before me in all directions, so many colours and shapes. In the end I just went for it lining up pattern of colours rainbowing from brown the blue and I was pretty happy with the result. Clear bottle halves were taped on the other side of colours to let more light in and were positioned so the coloured light from the south would shine through and illuminate the clear north side (I think I’m finally getting this northern hemisphere thing).

Inside they began staining the concrete floors with ferrous sulphate, a fertiliser, to give it a green tinge. They use to use some heavy duty chemicals that were expensive and extremely toxic, the stuff they use now is only $7 a bag and it does give a nice motley finish. In the other room slabs kept being poured, bottle walls were grouted and windows fitted.

Jerry and I only got the first row of bottled before the weather began to turn, it looked like it might actually rain so we covered everything with tarps. On the western plains huge sheets of sand were being whipped up and were coming towards us, we ran for home before the storm hit.

In the towers we could here the wind whistling in a mysterious cavity in the wall and lighting illuminated the dark bedrooms. Then the rain hit and began drip drip dripping in the outer greenhouse. We were snug and warm in the inner courtyard, sharing beers and snacks with our Tower neighbours we enjoyed the novelty of the wild night outside.

It’s funny what was first so alien is now so commonplace, just another day on the construction site building earthships, no worries. Today the site dogs were going wild with pure joyous energy, running through the piles of building sand wrestling and having the time of their lives completely disregarding Ron’s number one rule “tight site”.

We kept on shaping the retaining walls and let me tell you it takes a lot of shaping to make a tire and can wall look like a smooth curve. The windows were going in inside, made from plastic stapled to a timber frame, not a bad little idea, I think when i get back home I’m going to have a pretty rocking baby greenhouse made this way, perhaps I’ll even throw in bottle side walls for kicks.

What I really wanted to share with you today is the glorious sunset we get from the Towers. Each one is different, the view of the mountains always changing, sometimes they vanish in cloud and it looks like flat plains for miles then an hour later there theybare gleaming in the sunlight. It’s pretty special.

I’ve been working with Dan who is a professional concreter and render so although this isn’t the educational holiday he perhaps had imagined, I have learned a lot from him. Even if I choose not to use this much cement and use cans and bottles only for a little decoration (have a look at my last post on EVE to see how gorgeous both can be) the skills he has given me in mixing and trowelling are very valuable.

After knock off I had a head of cement dreads that had to be taken care of before we packed into Sam’s car to make it to Outback Pizza’s happy hour. On the way Bris said the reviews were terrible, with rude and slow service, but the girl who greeted us was a ray of sunshine calling everyone “Hun”. The best part of the night though was the paper tablecloths with crayons on every table. Portraits, sunsets and eyes bloomed between plates topped with huge and delicious pizza slices. After a hard day working on the Mesa a little drawing with friends and chocolate cake for desert was as near to perfection as there could be.