Helmet fire

The little calf who can't get up is pretty much the same today. She tries to get up, and she acts like she wants to get up, but she can't. It's very frustrating. Other than the inability to get up, she seems perfectly healthy and normal.

Well, we'll just keep trying for as long as we can.

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Last week I mentioned my plan to build a guest home. I had the cart rather before the horse in stating that I had a "plan." What I actually had was an idea. It was a very good idea last week, and it looks even better this week. But an idea is not a plan.

That's where the helmet fire comes in.

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All I gotta do is figure out how to build and outfit a house, and then collect money from people who want to pay to stay in the house. How hard could it be?

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From the start I've been sold on the idea of using a steel "Q" or Quonset-style structure. There are a lot of advantages in cost and strength and durability. And if done right it would be eye-catching, quirky, and aesthetically pleasing. It would be the kind of home that people would be attracted to and want to spend some time in.

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Done wrong, it would be a hideous eye sore.

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So I've been working on end wall design and floor plans. This is tricky as I'm not an architect or engineer or designer. But I am making some progress, and I think I've found a good local talent to assist with some of the nuts and bolts.

There are so many details! The steel building is nothing. It's well designed and precision engineered and will go together seamlessly and with minimal time and effort. And that's a big plus.

Before it goes up, though, it has to have a place to go. I've got the location figured out, so that's no worry. But I have to decide on a foundation. Do I want a slab, crawl space, or full basement? Should be simple, no? I'm pretty sure I want a full basement. The incremental cost is pretty small. But I find myself dithering. And I really do have to pick an option and pull the trigger, because I can't get the water and septic in until I decide. Why does this seem so hard?

As for the living space, I'm looking at master bedroom/bath across one end of the building. This will be the northwest exposure, and the end wall will be mostly windows to serve up a panoramic view. The rest of the interior will feature a central kitchen, a dining room/family room on the northeast, paired bedrooms with a bath on the southwest, and a large living room/library across the southeast end, again with panoramic windows. A spiral stair will lead to a loft bedroom and bath above the kitchen.

I'm planning on high efficiency central heating and air, with gas heat and hot water, and a backup whole house generator.

I'm still waiting on bids for the frameout of the interior, but I've got good numbers on everything else, and they're not as eye-watering as I feared. For purposes of due diligence, I did a bit of shopping for modular and new-build and those numbers were really eye watering.

So the build plan is starting to come together, and the helmet fire is starting to die down a bit. But I can already tell that the finish work, fittings, appliances, furnishings, paint and wall treatments, fabrics, kitchen equipment, entertainment, wi-fi................

I feel another helmet fire coming on.