Oh folks, sorry about the missed post last week. (Did you miss me? Awww.) I picked up some death-like virus from my nieces and nephews and was basically bed-ridden. My head was a rotten melon, leaking things I won’t describe.

That, and the fact that the Babylonian furnace [1] of summer is in full swing here in Boulder, means that not a whole hell of a lot’s gotten done on the studio rebuild. The old structure’s [1] still standing, half my junk is still piled inside [1], and we’re waiting, waiting, waiting. The architect is submitting his plans for the new studio today; we won’t know if they’re approved til maybe next week. A lot is riding on that approval process. We can’t start tearing things down until we get a demolition/deconstruction permit. I can’t start making a materials list or pricing those materials out before I know that the building dimensions we want – eight-foot-high walls, 400 square feet of roof – are the dimensions the city will approve. Until I know that the city’s gonna go for our jerry-rigged frost-protected shallow foundation [1], I don’t want to spend too much time calling around to ICF suppliers [1].

I mean, sure, I could do all that stuff, just keeping in mind that it’s all contingent and making alternative plans should things go sideways – but the truth is twofold: One, I don’t want to jinx anything. I know once I set my little heart on a foundation insulator [1], the city’s going to tell me I can’t use it. My luck just swings that way. Two, believe it or not, I actually have other work to do. Much as I’d like to do nothing but build and ruminate [1], I do in fact bring home half our bacon by other means.

So that leaves us approaching the second week of July without any solid detail about what happens when, or whether it’ll happen at all. And that’s if the permit office doesn’t take some extended Independence Week vacation. They are, after all, government employees. (Whoa, hey, guys – joke! I know you work hard in between every bank holiday on the calendar! Please approve my studio! Please?) I had originally wanted to move my office into the new place [1] by summer’s end, but early October is starting to look more realistic. The new goal for now is to get the thing torn down – and whatever salvageable material resold or sent to the Resource Yard [2] or stored for reuse in the new studio – by the end of July. We’re going away for three weeks in August – taking the dogs to Oregon [3] – so that month’s a scratch. So September looks like our big build month.

I know how you feel; I’m disappointed too at how slowly everything’s moving. I guess this is why normal human beings hire other people to do these sorts of things for them. The house down the street has put up a second story – six new bedrooms, four new bathrooms – in a matter of weeks. Perhaps not coincidentally, there’s not a building permit in sight.