Now that the Y2K "Crisis" has come and gone--well, almost: "localtime()" in the Perl programming language still returns "100" in the year field, and we haven't fixed all the reports yet, but, other than an extremely volatile stock market, life goes on in this last year of the 20th century. Anyway, the Y2K Bunker Project has, indeed, reverted to a low-tech weekend getaway. No pond, but it is taking on the character and spirit of Emerson's retreat. We do have a few late-20th century touches such as battery-powered touch lights, a propane camp stove, and a wind-up radio that only gets disco nostalgia, country, and gospel stations.
Continuing with the "habitability phase" of construction, we have focussed on roughing out the interior, with bathroom walls up and 'rocked on one side and most of the furnishings in place, so we have finally been able to stay overnight. After a few frozen weekends, we got the insulation up in the loft sleeping area and warmer weather is here at last. The addition of rain gutters have made possible a gravity-powered irrigation system for our four fruit trees.
Here are the first interior views, taken on Mother's Day: Judy was in Illinois at conference, and I got the insulation up after the last really hard freeze of the season. Since, the freezing levels have moved up the mountain a few hundred feet. We still have a lot of insulation to go, but what we have is finally starting to be effective. This milestone was reached one week before the first anniversary of the start of construction.
The loft is a cozy 7'5" by 8'. Access is by a 15' vertical ladder up the left wall. Finishing touches planned include a railing at the foot of the bed and a low platform for the bed. We found a nightstand for $12 at the pawn shop that fits in the corner. |
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By the end of the year, we had 90% of the insulation installed, the permanent tile stove base built, the glass block windows built for the north side (hall and bath), and the front door replaced with a half-light unit that opened into the hallway instead of the corner. Here's the view as we arrived for the Christmas weekend: