Driveway

I now have a driveway that can be used in rainy weather. The crushed stone was delivered and one dump truck load covered the essential part. It is such a long driveway, that I wasn’t sure how much would be covered. I’ll drive on it a while to pack it down, then we’ll get another load and cover more, hopefully also over the muddy part of the traffic circle next to Sharon’s house. She has curbing between the lawn and driveway, but nothing back into the meadow, so I am using crusher run, a combination of gravel and crushed concrete which is porous and stays in place. We felt this was the most economical, the grid we had considered would take too long to have grass grow into it, and we have a very low spot that gets swampy with heavy rain, which the stone should prevent.

driveway across meadow (dome is not leaning, my bad camera skills)

 

driveway across meadow from dome

We have a neighborhood family of crows with the biggest crow I’ve seen. It’s nearly the size of a raven, must be the grandaddy who has survived a long time. Rabbits and squirrels are wandering near the dome, one rabbit was so big that one of my cats growled at it. I guess he’s never seen a rabbit before and it was bigger than he considered prey.

One bit of wildlife I am not happy to find is fire ants. It is taking a bit of adapting on my part to be able to tolerate them. I plan to kill what I can near the house, as Sharon does, plus she is trying to keep them out of her flowerbeds. I have mostly stopped wearing sandals in the yard, since slip-on canvas shoes are much easier to brush off and kick off when they swarm onto my foot. Right now I have over half a dozen bites on one ankle from standing too near a nest, not even on it. I am doing my annual spray around the inside and outside of the house, to keep the crawlies outside. One creature I hope not to see are timber rattlers. We definitely have black snakes, so hope the poisonous are far from the house. I don’t mind black snakes, but Sharon does. I have more insect and spider phobias. I had enough of palmetto bugs in Florida, I sure hope we are far enough inland and near the mountains that those monster bugs are not around.

The cats are using the windows in the doors, I always see one or two pairs of ears and eyes watching me pull up in the car. They like looking out onto the patio and back yard, too. For older cats, they do like to stay awake and watch outside.

view of green field across the highway, from top half of bathroom window

More Interior Pictures

In the personal part of the dome, I have cozier lights, a couple of chandeliers from IKEA that are modern but about as casual as a chandelier can be. I finally finished assembling and had the bathroom cabinets mounted securely to the wall. It gives me a full-length mirror and a lot of shelves inside, some outside with easy access for everyday use.

bathroom with storage

The solar tube in the small side of the bathroom/laundry gives wonderful light all day and a little on nights with a full moon. Somehow I overlooked putting an outlet in that side with water heater (has its own connection), toilet and storage. Now I need a nightlight, but I have a battery operated motion sensitive light that I put on a shelf where it won’t pick up cat movement. I will also be bringing a three panel room divider to block the water heater and give a little soft surface in that room. It is a tight little room, water closet I think is the proper description, not good for someone with really long legs, but it is sufficient. I intentionally left out a door between the two sides to prevent claustrophobia. There is a door from the bedroom that can be closed for privacy. I got a surprise the other day to find a cute orange face looking down on me, no privacy from cats.

Leo, my athlete, on top of bathroom wall

I keep moving the cat furniture around the bedroom. I got two large carpeted boxes for litter boxes, hoping to muffle sound and scent. I am keeping the openings pointed away from the bed, so I don’t hear scratching at night. Scent is not a problem if I scoop them daily. They do add a couple of seats in the bedroom, good height for putting on shoes or a cat’s nap.

Kinsey enjoying the window

corner office. no window

I have swapped the places I’d planned for desk and cat boxes, but they may swap back, as I just cannot decide what is most convenient. The bedroom is a good size, even with a queen bed and headboard. The drawers under the bed were a good choice for storage. I got a memory foam mattress, which I like, but would not have gotten one 11 inches deep, had I realized how little give there is. I really have to climb up into bed, between the mattress and platform height. The closet is surprisingly large, but I had to be careful of where the poles are attached – the one outer wall is foam, no stud to attach anything. It would not be great for someone with tons of clothes, but I’m retired and don’t have much to hang up, casual as much as possible. The patio doors with blinds between the glass are working very well. I am waiting to see if I want to bother with curtains – for either darkness for an afternoon nap or heat/cold through the glass.

bedroom

Having turned the headboard, I have a nice space to store my knitting and beading supplies, out of sight, yet handier than above in the loft. Since I’m not very steady on ladders any more, I may not store anything in the loft now.

craft storage

Settling into the Dome

It’s been a while since I last posted anything, busy times getting settled in the cottage. I keep rearranging things to find a best fit, every time I unpack something. I have most of the furniture ready. The router’s wi-fi signal doesn’t reach as far as the desk, but I can usually get connected at the front door on my netbook. It does keep me busy on other things since that’s not very convenient. We are working on a better connection.

As expected, now that I’m living here, I am finding things I would like to change, some right now and some later. Since I am planning to build another as my permanent home, this is my learning place. Some of the changes I am making here are minor but improve things a lot. For example, the headboard made the bed too long to fit on the one wall and still allow a decent passage alongside the bed. By rotating one corner, I have sufficient space to pass and have a good space behind the headboard for hiding/storing my yarn stash and other craft supplies.

More stuff stuffed into the living room.

I bought a small crystal chandelier for the dining room to give a little glitz to the place. I also found a light to go over the front door with matching crystals. Above the couch is a three light sconce with small crystals that add just enough sparkle to the front room. I do have other lighting fixtures in the kitchen, using LED lights for a lot of brightness. No floor lamps or table lamps to save space. Of course for my craft work I have a couple of magnifiers with lights, but those can be moved to where I am working.

kitchen and dining room nearly done

A few days ago I met a couple who were outside looking at my home, not realizing (landscaping has not yet happened) that it was occupied. It is the couple the building inspector told us about who had stopped by the office to see if a geodesic dome would be allowed in the county. The inspectors were surprised to see a set of plans for a second one so soon after I started mine. The couple is living near Asheville and bought property a little north of Seneca, planning to build when they sell their current home. I got to show it off without having to explain the dome thing.